Singlecell, you'll like this... The book of Maccabees, although not inspired contains historical information, and it's the revolt against Antiochus that I am going to focus on here for a moment. So it appears that the events during this time were the first fulfillment of the chronology of the time of the end. We will focus on 171-164 BCE and a time period of 2300 days. "Matthew Henry’s Commentary of 1825 applied Daniel 8:9-14 to Antiochus IV. “But it is less forced to understand them of so many natural days; 2300 days make six years and three months, and about eighteen days; and just so long they reckon from the defection of the people, procured by Menelaus the high priest in the 142nd year of the kingdom of the Seleucids, the sixth month of that year, and the 6th day of the month (so Josephus dates it), to the cleansing of the sanctuary, and the reestablishment of religion among them, which was in the 148th year, the 9th month, and the 25th day of the month, 1 Mac. 4:52. God reckons the time of his people's afflictions he is afflicted.†SOURCE Now in 171 BCE the first event to come about (as its importance to prophecy) is Jason's rise to high priesthood. High priest Jason bought his way to the office of high priest by offering Antiochus 360 talents of silver and as well permission to erect a gymnasium, and then he switched the people to a Grecian way of life, worshiping Greek Gods. As well it is known he robbed the temple to pay for his position. Therefore this depicts the revealing of the Man of Lawlessness. (2Th 2) Next we see the constant feature removed when the sacrifices end at the temple starting the 1290 day period in 171 BCE. Then in 167 BCE Antiochus sets up the disgusting thing causing desolation in the temple. Most likely a statue of Greek gods such as Zues accompanied by the sacrifices of unclean animals like the pig. This marked the end of the 1290 days from the start when the sacrifices ceased at the temple and the MOL bought his way to the top, until 1290 days later when the disgusting thing was placed in the temple. 1 Mac 1:10-15 *171 B. C. desolating covenant to worship Greek gods 2 Mac 4:7-18 neglected sacrifices 1 Mac 1:16-19 Antiochus plunders Egypt 1 Mac 1:20-28 169 B. C.; plunders temple 1 Mac 1:29-64 167 B. C. plundered Jerusalem 1 Mac 1:39 completely stopped sanctuary services 1 Mac 1:43-53 sacrificed pig; death decree 1 Mac 1:54-64 sets up a desolating sacrilege inside the temple 2 Mac 6:1, 2 “compel the Jews to forsake the laws of their fathers and cease to live by the laws of God, and also to pollute the temple in Jerusalem and call it the temple of Olympian Zeus.†1 Mac 4:42-58 **164 BC; sanctuary cleansed; Antiochus died 2 Mac 10:1-8 sanctuary purified It is important to notice that in between the sacrifices ceasing and the disgusting thing placed, Egypt is plundered, this will also occur in the time of the end. Now what occurs at the end of the 2300 days? The holy place is brought into its right condition and starts the celebration of lights known as Hanukkah that will have the exact same fulfillment in the time of the end. {2300 Starts} Watchtower News Reports: Rosh Hashanah | {965 Days Pass} | {1260, 1290, 1335 Starts} Watchtower Goes Down: | {777 Days Pass} | {1742nd Day} Call to Rebuild Jerusalem: | {108 Days Pass} | {1850th Day} Anglo-America Collapses: Sukkot | {375 Days Pass} | {1260 Ends} Jesus Enthroned: Yom Kippur | {30 Days Pass} | {1290 Ends} Disgusting Thing Placed: | {45 Days Pass} | {2300[SUP]th[/SUP], 1335[SUP]th [/SUP]Day} New World: Hanukkah
Yes, indeed! I meant to message you earlier about some of this -- I've changed my mind a bit on Daniel 11: It's safe to say verse 11:31 - 12:4 are future prophetic events. Then Daniel 12:5 - end is a summary from the angel, duplicating the 'flow' of the rest of the chapters in Daniel. Basically, Daniel 10 - 12 is ONE prophecy, spanning thousands of years dealing with Jews and Christians, with a break point at 11:31 into the future regarding the 8th king. I'm on board with Daniel 11 now, including some of the KoTN and KoTS.
You bet... Dan 11:31-12:4 are still future, and if you look at the events that will occur during that time you will see that Robert and others who believe the next event to occur is the collapse of western political powers is wrong. The apostasy comes first, the constant feature is removed, the people knowing their God (Two Witnesses) will act effectively in spreading the truth, then the king of the north will once again come against the south and this time succeed when the world governments collapse, bringing about the 8th king. This isn't just the western economies, but in fact includes Rome itself. Basically it could be understood as a suicide bomber, in order for the north to take down the south it also takes out itself as well in order to rise from the ashes. This prophecy is described here: Dan 7:11,12 "I watched until the beast was killed and its body was destroyed and it was given over to be burned in the fire. But as for the rest of the beasts, their rulerships were taken away, and their lives were prolonged for a time and a season." Here we see Rome going down, and then the ten horns give their powers to the eighth king just like in Rev 17:12; “The ten horns that you saw mean ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they do receive authority as kings for one hour with the wild beast." So then it tells us in Dan 7:11,12 how long these bests will rule with the 8th king, it says a time and a season. A time equals 360 days and a season is a fourth of that or 90 days. Therefore 360+90=450 days. This is the chronology...
Also as to this part of your post I wanted to point out that I do not believe the 8th king comes against the constant feature, I believe it is the small horn that does so as part of that fourth beast, and this is before the final battle between north and south at which point the 8th king rises. Although the identity of the two are the same, we are talking about two different time periods. That's why Dan 11:31 can say this entity will both remove the constant feature and put in place the disgusting thing, because it's the same entity, but different times. It looks like this; Fourth Beast/Small Horn/Rev 13 Beast = Removes the constant feature. 1290 days pass... During which time the first beast in Rev 13 goes into the abyss and comes out as the 8th king. Then; 8th King = Puts in place the disgusting thing. This is what is meant in Dan 11:45. PS: So that means the 8th king rising occurs in verse 40 when the kotn finally concurs the kots.