Index and summaries of all articles is here: https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1403-index-and-summaries-of-articles/

Part 2 Conclusion

“a time of an end”

Daniel 8:17 …כִּי/because לְעֶת־/for a time of קֵץ/ an end [is] הֶחָזֹֽון/the vision/revelation.

“…because the vision is for a time of an end.”

– not “the time of the end,” as this is generally mistranslated. (There is no ה/“the” before קץ.) That interpretation has imposed within it the presumption that there is only one time when there will be an end. But other prophetic, already-fulfilled times, ends, and time-of-end passages can be seen in Ezekiel 7:2-12 and 21:25, 29 (the latter verses generally mistranslated).

Daniel 8:19 …אֲשֶׁר־/what יִהְיֶה/shall happen בְּאַחֲרִית/in the latter (part/time) of הַזָּעַם/the fury/rage, כִּי/because [it is] לְמֹועֵד/for an appointed time קֵֽץ/of an end.

“…what shall happen in the latter part of the fury, because it is for an appointed time of an end.”

Again, the Hebrew does not say, as this is generally mistranslated, “at the appointed time (shall be) the end.” Like with verse 17, nothing of this event relates to our day either. To give a similar example, Daniel 11:29 prophesies “at the appointed time he [Antiochus] shall return and go toward the south,” but that “appointed time” prophecy was fulfilled in 168 B.C.

Daniel 8:23 וּֽבְאַחֲרִית/And in the latter (part/time) מַלְכוּתָם/of malkutham/their kingdom, כְּהָתֵם/while bringing to fullness [Hiphil Infin. with prefixכ: “while, when”] הַפֹּשְׁעִים/the transgressing/rebelling ones [Qal Active Participle, plural], מֶלֶךְ/a king יַעֲמֹד/shall arise…

“And in the latter part of their kingdom, while the rebelling ones/transgressors are bringing to fullness their apostasy, a king shall arise…”

These three verses, 8:17, 19, 23, are where translators and commentators often go astray, imposing words and understanding not expressed in the Hebrew. In these and similar Hebrew prophetic texts, a common default presumption of translators has been that every “time of an end,” “Day of the LORD,” and “latter day/time” must refer to the end of OUR age. This is not true at all: there have been many “ends” of kingdoms and eras prophesied that have already come to pass. For example:

Jeremiah 46:2 Against Egypt. Concerning the army of Pharaoh Necho, King of Egypt, which was by the River Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar King of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah. … 10 For this is the Day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance…

This historically-famous “Day of the LORD” battle took place in 610 B.C. Other fulfilled Day of the LORD prophecies include Joel 1:15 (but not Joel 2-3), and Ezekiel 7:19 and 13:5. The final “end”/Day of the LORD/last of the last days does not come until the end of the 7th Millennium, “when He [Christ] delivers the kingdom to God the Father…[having] put an end to all rule and all authority and power.” 1 Cor. 15:24

Daniel 8:23 defines the very era of the 2300-day abasement of Jerusalemʼs Temple: “in the latter part/time of their [the Greek] kingdom.” By 168 B.C., only the significantly-diminished Seleucid and Ptolemaic kingdoms remained out of Alexanderʼs once vast empire. Therefore, the “fierce king” and ha-poshim/“the rebelling ones” of verse 23 can only be Antiochus Epiphanes and the Jewish apostates, respectively. All of the verses from 8:23-28 prophesy about the qualities and acts of Antiochus: they do not prophesy about OUR times.

Was Antiochus Epiphanes a type and foreshadower of the coming King of the North of the yet-unfulfilled prophecy of Daniel 11:40-45? Yes. (See Antiochus Epiphanes and the End Times, Part 3.) Can the attributes and acts of Antiochus described in Daniel 8, and/or the period of 2300 days, be expected to apply to the coming King of the North? No. Beware of any such presumptions. Daniel 11:29 specifically prophesies that one “appointed time” fulfilled by Antiochus “shall not be like the latter” event fulfilled by Daniel 11:40ʼs King of the North. Certainly there will be other significant differences between the attributes and acts of these two rulers.

A final note: the Hebrew text of Daniel 11:40 also does not say “at the time of the end,” but rather, again, “at a time of an end.” This future event marks the end of an age, but not the end of history, that is, the end of ends.

Summary

Danielʼs experience with his vision of Daniel 8 was so taxing that “he fainted, and was sick for days…but none/no one caused understanding [Hiphil Active Participle] of it.” 8:27 In Daniel 9, Gabriel, the angel who had originally been sent “to make this man understand the vision” (8:16; 9:21), returned to finish his assignment:

Daniel 9:22 “…I have now come forth לְהַשְׂכִּילְךָ/(in order) to cause you to have insight/intelligence [Hiphil Infinitive]. 23 …therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision.”

So when Gabriel speaks of “ha-pesha/the transgression/rebellion” in 9:24, there can be no doubt that he is referring back to the apostasy from the Jewish faith that took root in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, described in the vision of Daniel 8:12, 13, 23. Therefore, no presumption can be made that this passage of Daniel 9 has anything to do with the end of OUR age, the Church Age.

With this historical background in mind, we shall now return to verses 25-27 of Daniel 9.