| By
“exegetically” forcing “the daily” in Daniel 8:11 to be the
positive, beneficial high priestly ministry of Christ, Adventist scholars
have recreated a framework in which Daniel 8:11 and Daniel 8:14 must be seen
in a thesis-antithesis relationship. That which is positive and good
is taken away and cast down in 8:11 and restored and made right in 8:14.
This is the same framework in which all pre-Millerite views were set-forth
where “the daily” represented
the positive Jewish temple sacrifices which were restored at a later date in
8:14. Following the disappointment of 1844, the “time setting” effort of
one group, similar to others, which tried to re-establish the date for
second coming of Christ, was intimately linked with the identification of
“the daily” as the positive Jewish altar of “daily sacrifice” which
was taken away in 446 BC. This was used as a starting point for a new
2300-year time span to end in 1854. The Cummings 1854 “prophetic chart”,
“published at Concord, New Hampshire, in 1853, was typical of charts that
commenced the 2300 days with what was said to be the taking away of the
`daily sacrifice.’”111
All efforts to identify “the
daily” as a positive and beneficial substantive immediately create a
thesis-antithesis relationship between 8:11 and 8:14 and destroy the
integrity of the 2300 evening-morning time prophecy with a commencement date
of 457 BC.112 For
example, this anomaly is exposed by forcing “the daily” to be the
heavenly ministry of Christ and the miqdash 8:11 to be His heavenly
sanctuary. If the foundation of Christ’s heavenly sanctuary (miqdash)
was cast down by the papacy in Daniel 8:11, this would require a “putting
right”, restoration and vindication after the 2300 year time span
described in 8:13-14. This would mandate a commencement date of the time
prophecy no earlier than AD
300-538 when popery began to blossom leading to the papal usurpation of
Christ’s heavenly high priestly function. This would force the termination
of the of the 2300 years to conclude no earlier than AD 2600. By identifying
“the daily” to be a positive and beneficial substantive, the integrity
of the 2300-year time prophecy commencing in 457 BC, which is internally
confirmed from Daniel 9:24-27, becomes utterly decimated by the
thesis-antithesis relationship created between Daniel 8:11 and Daniel 8:14.
Alternatively if the negative, self exalting character associated with
paganism is assigned as an interpretation of “the daily” in 8:11 which
exhibits itself by the trampling down of the sanctuary, (both earthly and
heavenly) through all the activity of Media-Persia, Greece and Rome, the
2300-year time prophecy retains its integrity with a commencement date of
457 BC. The correct assignment of “the daily” as a negative substantive
precludes the creation of a thesis-antithesis relationship between Daniel
8:11 and Daniel 8:14, and the 2300 evening-morning time prophecy with a
commencement date of 457 BC becomes confirmed and self-consistent with the
activity of “the daily”, and AD 1844 now becomes firmly anchored.
Although a counterfeit “thesis-antithesis”
relationship exists between Daniel 8:11 and Daniel 8:14, the genuine “thesis-antithesis”
relationship exists between Daniel 8:13 and Daniel 8:14. The positive and
beneficial function of the sanctuary (qodesh) of Jehovah is trampled
in 8:13, which is a summary statement for the continuing trampling caused by
“the daily” and “the
transgression which desolates” described throughout the vision (8:1-13).
The function of the sanctuary which has been trampled and despised is “put
right” (sadaq) in Daniel 8:14. A summary of the genuine and
counterfeit thesis-antithesis relationships in Daniel 8 is presented in the
following chart.
THESIS-ANTITHESIS
Daniel 8 |
| Counterfeit |
Genuine |
-
Thesis
Dn. 8:11
|
-
Thesis
Dn. 8:13
|
Heavenly
ministry removed
|
Sanctuary
trampled
|
- daily taken away
- sanctuary found. cast
down
|
- by “the daily”
- by trangr. desol.
|
-
Antithesis
Dn. 8:14
|
-
Antithesis
Dn. 8:14
|
Sanctuary put right after
2300 years
|
Sanctuary put right after
2300 years
|
-
Effect
on 2300 Eve-Morn
|
-
Effect
2300 Eve-Morn
|
- Commencement AD 300
- Conclusion AD 2600
- Result: 1844
|
- Commence 457 BC
- Conclude AD 1844
- Result: 1844
- integrity
- self-consistent
|
8.3.3
The Termination of the 2300 Evening-Morning |