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The 1290 and 1335 Days of Daniel 12:11-12

Standard translation of Daniel 12:11-12

Dan. 12:11 And from the time that the daily/continual service shall be taken away, and an abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be 1290 days. 12 Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the 1335 days.

Literal translation of Daniel 12:11-12

And from the time the daily/continual service has been caused to be taken away and/even to the placing of an abomination of desolation: 1290 days. Blessed/happy is the one who earnestly waits, and comes/attains to 1335 days.

“has been caused to be taken away”: Hophal Perfect 3ms of the verb סור [soor]. Hophal stems express causative action with a passive voice. Perfect tense means completed action (past, present, or future, here obviously being future).

“and/even”: the Hebrew conjunction vav, ו. It usually is translated “and,” but also can mean “but, or, even, yet, when.”

“to the”: ל This is the Hebrew preposition lamed, which means “to” or “for.” It has been omitted from the translations of nearly all versions of the Bible. Of the many versions I have consulted, it is found only in Youngʼs Literal Translation. Normally, this preposition would have a Shewa vowel pointing [ ְ ] underneath; but in this case it has a Qamats [ ָ ] underneath, which signifies that it includes within it the definite article “the,” the Hebrew letter ה . So this is to be read, “to the placing of an abomination of desolation…”

“placing”: This is the correct translation of the Infinitive Construct of the verb root נתן [naw-than´], which means “to give, put, place.” An infinitive is a verbal noun, here being “placing.” The standard translation – “is set up” – distorts the meaning of the verb and the phrase.

The addition of the preposition “to” significantly alters the understanding of the text. The standard translation is rather ambiguous – at least, it has been to me – about the relationship of the 1290 days to the two acts: 1) the ending of the daily religious ritual, and 2) the placing of an abomination of desolation. But the inclusion of the simple preposition “to” indicates that the first act begins the 1290 days, and the second act concludes the 1290 days: “from the time of the [removal] even to the abomination of desolation: 1290 days.”

A Historical Precedent

There is a historical precedent, under similar circumstances, for such a prophesied lapse of time. Antiochus Epiphanes (r. 176 - ca. 164 B.C.) was the historical King of the North who brought Temple services to an end, and later caused to “place the abomination of desolation” in 168 B.C. Dan. 11:31 In his case, lawful Temple services were brought to an end years before the final desecration in 168:

2 Macc. 4:23 After a period of three years [of the high priesthood of Jason, who had usurped the high priesthood of the Jewish Temple from his brother, Onias III, by bribing Antiochus]…Menelaus… 24 …secured the high priesthood for himself… 25 [Being a Benjamite,] he… possess[ed] no [lawful] qualifications for the high priesthood… 29 Menelaus left his own brother Lysimachus as deputy in the high priesthood… 32 But Menelaus, thinking he had obtained a suitable opportunity, stole some of the gold vessels of the temple and gave them to [Antiochusʼs deputy] Andronicus… 34 [Then] Menelaus, taking Andronicus aside, urged him to kill [the legitimate Jewish high priest] Onias. Andronicus came to Onias, and resorting to treachery…urged Onias to come out from [his] place of sanctuary; then, with no regard for justice, he immediately put him out of the way. … 39 [Meanwhile,] many acts of sacrilege had been committed in [Jerusalem] by Lysimachus with the connivance of Menelaus…

2 Macc. 5:1 [Not long afterward,] Antiochus made his second invasion of Egypt. Dan. 11:29 At the appointed time he return[ed] and [went] toward the south; but it [was] not like the former time or like the latter. 30 For ships of Kittim [a Roman fleet commanded by Popilius Laenus] c[a]me against him; therefore he [was] grieved, and return[ed] and [was] enrage[d] against the holy covenant, and so acted…and show[ed] regard for those who forsook the holy covenant. 2 Macc. 5:11 … raging inwardly, [Antiochus] left Egypt and took [Jerusalem] by storm. 14 Within a total of three days, 80,000 Jews were destroyed…and as many sold into slavery… 15 Not content with this, Antiochus dared to enter the most holy Temple in the world, guided by Menelaus, who had become a traitor to the laws and to his country. 16 He took the holy vessels with his polluted hands… 1 Macc. 1:54 Now on the 15th day of Chislev in the 145th year [~Dec. 16, 168 B.C.], they erected a desolating sacrilege [likely an idol of Zeus] upon the altar of burnt offering.

This era was prophesied in Dan. 8:12-14, and its “pesha/transgression/lawlessness” was to continue “for 2300 days; then the sanctuary [would] be cleansed.” According to the history provided by the Books of the Maccabees, the ultimate overthrow of the Aaronic priesthood by Menelaus lasted from the latter 170s B.C. (no precise dates given, but enough information to make a rough estimate) up to the cleansing of the sanctuary by the Maccabees in 165 B.C. Now, 2300 days = about 6.3 years, a seeming fit for the length of that period, which reasonably could have begun in 171 B.C.

The 1290 Days

Keeping these things in mind, letʼs go now to the 1290 days of the End Times, which equal 3.53 solar years. We read in Dan. 11:41 that early on, the King of the North “shall enter the Glorious Land, and many shall be enfeebled/overthrown…” Following this, “he shall stretch out his hand against lands, and the land of Egypt shall not escape…also the Libyans and Cushites…” 11:42-43

An unspecified number of months or years later,

Dan. 11:44 …news from the north and the east shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury… 45 And he shall plant the tents of his pavilion…at the glorious holy mountain… 12:1 And in that time Michael shall stand up [cf. Rev. 12:7]…and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was…

– which is the same wording Jesus used in Matthew 24:21 to describe the Great Tribulation.

So to sum it all up: if the Latter Day King of the North “takes away” Daniel 12:11ʼs “daily services” when he first “enters the Glorious Holy Land,” through subverting its political and/or religious leaders – “many shall be enfeebled/overthrown” (Dan. 11:41) – then the 1290 days would begin at that point, and conclude with the Abomination of Desolation some 3½ years later. The subjection of “lands” – Egypt and Islamic North Africa – could easily take that long, prior to the final crisis. Just as Antiochus was successful in first subverting many of the priests and people, and subsequently succeeded in his original invasion of Egypt, a number of years before he committed his utter defilement and desolation of the Temple in 168 B.C.

This sequence seems to me to be the most likely fulfillment of Daniel 12:11. Whether or not it is how things will play out remains to be seen. So this is something to watch out for: the acts of the King of the North when he (or his men) first enter Jerusalem. Those acts should reveal whether or not this understanding of the 1290 days is valid.

1290 days works out to 43 lunar months + 20 days. There are 43 lunar months between Rosh Hashanah = Tishri 1 and the Nisan 1 of 3½ years later. Adding the 20 days comes to Nisan 21, the last day and second special sabbath day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This was the day the Israelites crossed through the Red Sea, being finally delivered from Egyptian bondage. Also, in my understanding, Nisan 21 was the day the dead rose (were delivered) from the graves “after His (Jesusʼ) resurrection…” Matt. 27:53

The 1335 Days, Pentecost, Firstfruits, and Rapture

Adding 45 days to Nisan 21 – that is, completing the full 1335 days – comes to Sivan 7, potentially the Feast of Shavout/Pentecost, depending on the year. Rabbinical Jews celebrate Sivan 6 every year for this feast day, the date God gave the Ten Commandments from Mt. Sinai. The next day, the 7th, was when the Israelites entered into their blood covenant with God to keep His law, and those whom God called ascended up before His Presence upon Mount Sinai. Exodus 24

Whether or not the end of the daily services in Jerusalem takes place on Tishri 1 is therefore something else to watch for.

These 45 days (or part thereof) would be the Great Tribulation, which begins with “the placing of an abomination of desolation” on the last of the 1290 days:

Matt. 24:15 “Therefore when you see the Abomination of Desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet… 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. … 21 For then will be the Great Tribulation…”

A short tribulation fits my understanding for other reasons, which I provide in my blog post Forty Days. The full 1335 days may well end on Pentecost and/or the day before, which two days were the original date of (1st day) Godʼs descent accompanied by earthquake, clouds, and shofar upon Mount Sinai, and (2nd day) His chosen being called up into His Presence. Being a type and shadow of Christʼs descent and His peoplesʼ ascent amidst the very same signs.

Besides being called the Feast of Weeks (Heb. Shavuot), Pentecost is also called “the Day of the Firstfruits.” Num. 28:26; cf. Ex. 23:16; 34:22; Lev. 23:15-17 This is significant, because the elect of Christʼs Church are called both firstfruits and firstborn (i.e., the firstfruits of the womb):

James 1:18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

Heb. 12:22 But you [will] come unto Mount Zion and to a city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem… 23 to a whole assembly and church of the firstborn having been registered in heaven…

Under the typology of the Mosaic Law, only the firstfruits and firstborn of Israel were to be brought to Godʼs sanctuary. Those who are to ascend in the Rapture will be brought to Godʼs heavenly sanctuary. These things are more fully explained in the blogs The Firstfruits and the Harvest and The Innumerable “Great Multitude” of Revelation 7:9.

Conclusion

Under the more literal translation of Daniel 12:11, the meaning of the verse indicates that the 1290 days will begin with the complete annulment, by the King of the North, of Judeo-Christian worship in Jerusalem. Or, at the least, such worship in the most holy place: on the Temple Mount or in the ancient City of David, if the latter is found to be the original site of the Temple. The 1290 days will come to an end when the Abomination of Desolation is placed; then the Great Tribulation ensues for all or part of 45 days.

These things mean that the 1290 days will be both Pre-Tribulation and Pre-Wrath. Those “blessed/happy [ones]…who earnestly wait, and attain the 1335 days” are ones who successfully both “flee to the mountains/wilderness” and are “accounted worthy to escape all these things [of the Great Tribulation] that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:36; Rev. 7:9 Quite possibly a day of Pentecost will be when the elect/worthy ones ascend upon the heavenly Mount Zion.

The 3½ times/1260 days found in Daniel 12:7 and other Scriptures will be the topic of a later blog. That period is Post-Tribulation.