Thoughts on the Book of Daniel.
CHAPTER VIII. (CONTINUED.)
VERSE 13. Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? 14. And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed The Time. These two verses close the vision proper of chapter 8; and they introduce the one remaining point which of all others would naturally be of the most absorbing interest to the prophet, and to all the church; namely, the time the desolating powers previously brought to view were to continue. How long shall they continue their course of oppression against God's people, and of blasphemy against High Heaven? Daniel, if time had been given, might perhaps have asked this question himself; but Heaven is ever ready to anticipate our wants, and sometimes to answer, even before we ask. Hence two celestial beings appear upon the scene, holding a conversation, in the hearing of the prophet, upon this question which it is so important that the church should understand. Daniel heard one saint speaking. What this saint spoke at this time we are not informed; but there must have been something either in the matter or the manner of this speaking, which made a deep impression upon the mind of Daniel, inasmuch as he uses it in the very next sentence as a designating title, calling the angel “that certain saint which spake.” He may have spoken something of the same nature as that which the seven thunders of the Apocalypse uttered, Rev. 10: 3, and which, when John was about to write, he was restrained, for some good reason, from so doing. But another saint asked this one that spake an important question: How long the vision? and both the question and the answer are placed upon record; which is prima facie evidence that this is a matter which it was designed that the church should understand. And this view is further confirmed by the fact that the angel did not ask this question for his own information, inasmuch as the answer was addressed to Daniel, as the one whom it chiefly concerned, and for whose information it was given. “And he said unto me,” said Daniel, recording the answer to the angel's question: “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” The Daily Sacrifice. We have proof in verse 13 that sacrifice is the wrong word to be supplied in connection with the word daily. If the daily sacrifice of the Jewish service is here meant, or in other words, the taking away of that sacrifice, as some suppose, which sacrifice was at a certain point of time taken away, there would be no propriety in the question, How long the vision concerning it? This question evidently implies that those agents or events to which the vision relates, occupy a long series of years. Continuance of time is the central idea. And the whole time of the vision is filled by what is here called the daily, and transgression of desolation. Hence the daily cannot be the daily sacrifice of the Jews, the taking away of which, when the time came for it, occupied comparatively but an instant of time. It must denote something which occupies a series of years.
The word here rendered, daily, occurs in the Old Testament, according to the Hebrew Concordance, one hundred and two times, and is, in the great majority of instances, rendered continual, and continually. The idea of sacrifice does not attach to the word at all. Nor is there any word in the text which signifies sacrifice. It is wholly a supplied word, the translators putting in that word which their understanding of the text seemed to demand. But we think they took an erroneous view, and that the sacrifices of the Jews are not referred to at all. We therefore suggest, as being more in accordance with both the construction and the context, that the word daily refers to a desolating power, like the transgression of desolation with which it is connected. Then we have the daily, or continual, desolation, and the transgression of desolation; the daily or continual desolation, signifying paganism, and the transgression of desolation, the papacy. From a religious point of view, the world has presented only these two phases. Hence although three earthly governments are introduced in the prophecy, as oppressors of the church, they are here ranged under two heads: the daily, and the transgression of desolation. Medo-Persia was pagan; Grecia was Pagan; Rome in its first phase was pagan; these all composed the daily; then comes the papal form, which was to be the leading persecuting power to the end of time, a marvel of satanic craft and cunning, an incarnation of fiendish bloodthirstiness and cruelty. No wonder the cry has gone up from suffering martyrs, from age to age, How long, O Lord, how long? And no wonder the Lord, in order that hope might not wholly die out of the hearts of his down-trodden, waiting people, has lifted before them the veil of futurity, showing them the consecutive events of the world's history, till all these persecuting powers should meet an utter and everlasting destruction, and giving them glimpses beyond, of the unfading glories of their eternal inheritance. The Lord's eye is upon his people. The furnace will he heated no hotter than necessary to consume the dross. It is through much tribulation we are to enter the kingdom; and the word tribulation is from tribulum, a thrashing sledge. Blow after blow must be laid upon us, till all the wheat is beaten free from the chaff, and we are made fit for the heavenly garner. But not a kernel of wheat shall be lost. Says the Lord to his people, Ye are the light of the world, the salt of the earth. In his eyes there is nothing else of consequence or importance on the earth. Hence the peculiar question here asked, How long the vision respecting the daily and transgression of desolation, concerning what? The glory of earthly kingdoms? the skill of renowned warriors? the fame of mighty conquerors? the greatness of human empire? No; but concerning the sanctuary and the host, the people and worship of the Most High. How long shall they be trodden under foot? Here is where all Heaven's interest and sympathy are enlisted. He who touches the people of God, touches not mere mortals, weak and helpless, but Omnipotence; he opens an account which must be settled at the bar of Heaven. And soon all these accounts will be adjusted, the iron heel of oppression will be lifted, and a people will be brought out of the furnace prepared to shine as the stars forever and ever. To be one who is an object of interest to heavenly beings, one whom the providence of God is engaged to preserve while here, and crown with immortality hereafter—what a privilege! Reader, are you one of the number?