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nature of the desolating activity involves “making” or “giving”
the sanctuary (qodesh) and the host to be trampled. Qodesh
always connotes the sense of holiness and may either apply to God’s
earthly or heavenly sanctuary as was previously discussed. It is suggested
that qodesh in verse 13 applies both to the earthly and the
heavenly sanctuary. The vision (chazon) in v. 13 refers to the
entire vision extending from Media-Persia to both phases of Rome.
The sanctuary (qodesh) at
the commencement of the vision in the third year of Belshazzar (BC
553-552) lay in ruins following the conquest of Nebuchadnezzar. Thus, the
question, “until when the vision: the daily...making both the
sanctuary.... to be trampled” includes the “continual” exalting
behavior activity (“the daily”) associated with pagan power resulting
in the trampling of God’s earthly sanctuary. The earthly sanctuary (qodesh)
was again trampled in AD 70 following the anointing of the heavenly
sanctuary (qodesh) in AD 31 (Dn. 9:24).
Any attempt to suggest that hattamid
(“the daily”) is trampled in verse 13 and restored in verse 14 would
require, by the Hebrew syntactical relation, that the “the transgression
which desolates” must be also be trampled and restored in the answer of
verse 14; however, this is a non sequitur. The sanctuary and the host are
trampled in v. 13 and “the daily” (hattamid) and “the
transgression desolating” cause (tet is the infinitive construct,
“giving” or “making,” of natan, “to give” or “to make”)
the trampling of the sanctuary and the host. The infinitive construct, tet
(making) requires both a receiver of the action, namely the sanctuary and
the host, and an initiator of the action, namely hattamid and the
transgression which desolates. The vision (chazon) cannot be
responsible for initiating or “making” the sanctuary to be trampled.
If “the daily” and “the transgression which desolates” are
responsible for “making...the sanctuary...to be trampled” as the
syntax would suggest, then hattamid of Daniel 8 must be of
counterfeit origin which is exactly what the context of 8:1-14 suggests.
The sanctuary cultic terminology related to the ram, the goat, and the
horn are all counterfeit symbols pointing to a counterfeit hattamid
which was demonstrated in Sections 6.0 & 7.0.
While the trampling of the qodesh
includes the earthly sanctuary, the primary application and emphasis is on
the terminus of the vision and concerns the trampling of the heavenly
sanctuary. The trampling of the heavenly sanctuary is directly associated
with the casting down of truth by papal Rome in v. 12. The trampling of
the host or saints in v. 13 is also alluded to in v. 10 and is carried out
by the feminine or papal phase of the horn from littleness as discussed
earlier. The 2300-year trampling of the sanctuary will be examined in
greater depth in the cultic context of the 2300 Evening-Morning in the
following Section.
8.2
2300 Evening-Morning: Cultic Significance |