The
question asked in Daniel 8:13, “until when the vision,” pertains to the
whole vision (chazon), which began in 8:1 while Daniel was in Shushan
by the river Ulai, and which encompasses the activity of the ram, the goat
and the horn from littleness in both its pagan and papal phases. More
specifically, the activity within the entire vision results in giving or
making (natan) both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled down.
The Hebrew root ramas and its derivative mirmas both connote
the sense of “trampling”106
and when connected with God’s sanctuary (Is. 1:12), ramas conveys
the sense of trampling the sanctuary in terms of hypocritical and false
worship in Is. 1:11-13. The sanctuary in 8:13 (qodesh) is Jehovah’s,
both His earthly and heavenly sanctuary. The question in 8:13 concerns the
limit of time (time of the end; 8:17) when the activity within the vision,
which results in trampling the sanctuary and the host, will be exposed in
order that the sanctuary (exclusively heavenly at the time of the end) will
be put right (nisdaq), restored, vindicated from error and cleansed.
The Hebrew root (sadaq) embraces all of these concepts.107
Nisdaq (to put right) in Daniel 8:14 is the corrective response to
the trampling (mirmas) in Daniel 8:13 revolving around the sanctuary.
The focus in 8:13 is on the duration of the trampling down the sanctuary;
the focus in 8:14 is on up-righting the sanctuary at the termination of the
vision. It should be re-emphasized that the emphasis on duration in 8:13
comes from the phrase describing the on-going activity in the vision,
namely, “to give (make) both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled.”
This clearly implies duration, not termination. It is acknowledged that `ad
(until) designates termination108
but only in the context of terminating the 2300 years (duration) of
trampling activity. A summary of lexical evidence for “trampling down”
and “putting right” the sanctuary is shown in the following chart.
2300
EVENING-MORNING
EFFECT ON THE SANCTUARY |
2300
Year Duration (8:13)
(Trampled Down) |
2300
Year Conclusion (8:14)
(Put Right) |
| mirmas
(root: ramas) |
nisdaq
(root: sadaq) |
- Basic Meaning:
- Stamp down
- Trample down
- Walk over
- Result:
|
- Basic Meaning:
- Put right
- Be straight
- Justify
- Vindicate
- Make upright
- Result:
|
Although this exposition has
established that hattamid (the daily) is the negative, self-exalting
character of paganism and not the positive, beneficial high priestly
ministry of Christ, the question in 8:13 confirms this conclusion. The
question deals exclusively with negative consequences resulting from the
activity of the ram, the goat and horn to give both the sanctuary and the
host to be trampled down. Both “hattamid (the daily)” and “the
transgression which desolates,” which appositionally modifies “the
vision” in 8:13, are set forth in the context of negative consequences
which permeate the entire vision. The interpretation that “the daily” is
the positive, beneficial high priestly of Christ contravenes the context and
leads to a oxymoron. That “the daily” is indeed associated with both
paganism and the trampling of the sanctuary will be demonstrated in the
following discussion.
8.3.1
The Daily and the Trampling of the Sanctuary |