What is the “Daily” of Daniel 8?
Israel was commanded to offer, in the courtyard of the sanctuary, two lambs every day, one in the morning and the other in the evening. (Numbers 28:1-8). The fire was to be kept going continuously; it was never to go out. (Lev. 6:8-13). These were a “sacrifice” or “burnt offering,” pointing to Jesus Christ, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:36), who was slain from the foundation of the world (1 Pet. 1:19-20; Rev. 13:8).
The “daily” is simply the daily sacrifice. There is no other interpretation that makes biblical sense. Yes, the translators of the King James Bible have supplied the word “sacrifice,” but they supplied it because that is the proper translation.
And the translators of the 1611 English Bible are not alone. Almost every other group of translators has also included the word “sacrifice” or “sacrifices” after “daily,” including the Geneva Bible, the New International Version, Young’s Literal, the Common English Bible, the Contemporary English Version, Darby’s, the Good News, the Holman Christian Standard Bible, the International Children’s Bible, the Jubilee Bible, the Living Bible, the Modern English Version, the New American Bible, the New Century Version, the New English Translation, the New Living Translation, and the Orthodox Jewish Bible.
If the translators did not supply “sacrifice,” they supplied an equivalent term, such as “continual burnt offering” (American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, Word English Bible) “offering” (Tree of Life) “sacrifice (burnt offering)” (Amplified Bible) “regular sacrifice” (Christian Standard Bible, Expanded Bible, Legacy Standard Bible, New American Standard Bible, ) “regular burnt offering” (Complete Jewish Bible, English Standard Version, International Standard Version, Lexham English Bible, New Revised Standard Version) “continual sacrifice” (Evangelical Heritage Version, Wycliffe Version) and “daily burnt offering” (God’s Word translation)
Every translator of Scripture is clear that the meaning of the “daily” is the daily temple sacrifices. So let us entertain the possibility that the entire Christian world outside of Adventism might be right about the “daily” meaning the daily temple sacrifices. Would the prophecy then make sense? Let us explore.
How to Interpret the Prophecy if the “Daily” is in fact the Daily Sacrifice
Before we dig into this, we must acknowledge that Daniel was a Hebrew, and what would be most interesting to him would be the fate of his people, the Hebrew nation. This does not mean that Daniel was not shown events in the Christian era; clearly, he was. But he was most concerned about the fate of his own people. Hence, we should not expect that everything shown to Daniel will pertain to the Christian era, the part of prophecy that most interests us.
1. It Cast Down Some of the Stars and Stamped upon Them
In part 1, we established that this horn that was “another horn” or “a little horn” in Daniel 8:9 was pagan Rome. Let’s look now at Daniel 8:10:
“And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.”
The stars are the seed of Abraham: “I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;” (Genesis 26:4; Ex. 32:13) “The LORD your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven in number.” (Deut. 1:10; 10:22; 28:62) “But David did not count those twenty years of age and under, because the LORD had said He would multiply Israel as the stars of heaven. (1 Chronicles 27:23) “You made their sons numerous as the stars of heaven, And You brought them into the land Which You had told their fathers to enter and possess.” (Nehemiah 9:23)
In Joseph’s dream the sons of Israel are represented as stars: “Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, ‘Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.’” (Genesis 37:9)
Jesus was heralded by a star (Num. 24:17; Mat. 2:2, 7, 9-10) and He is called the bright, morning star (2 Peter 1:19; Rev. 2:28)
What we are being shown here is that the little horn power that waxed great, pagan Rome, would kill a great many of the Jews and would even, in a sense, take on heaven itself by presuming to condemn to death the Messiah, the Prince of the Host, as in the next verse.
2. He Magnified Himself Even to the Prince of the Host
Now, let’s look at the first clause of Daniel 8:11:
“Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host” -- KJV.
Often in Scripture, the “host” or heavenly host is the army of heaven, or the army of God (CEV, NIV, Living Bible, New Living Translation; Psalm 103:21; 148:2). The Prince of the host, or Lord of the host, is Jesus Christ, who stands at the head of the army of heaven as its commander. (Psalm 24:7-10; Heb. 1:5-14; Hag. 2:4). Jesus described himself to Joshua as “the commander of the Lord’s armies.” (Joshua 5:13-6:5; CC 117.3) Although there are hints of the Trinity in the Old Testament, e.g., “let us make man in our image” (Gen. 1:26) and the use of a plural noun—Elohim—for God, the doctrine is not clearly taught there, hence we should expect that Jesus Christ will be named just as He is named here.
Did pagan Rome ever “magnify itself,” or make itself as great as Jesus Christ? Obviously, yes. A pagan Roman governor of Judea sentenced Jesus Christ to death, not because Jesus was guilty of anything—Pilate knew Jesus was innocent—but because Pilate sought to mollify a Jewish mob. Roman soldiers carried out the sentence of death by crucifying Jesus (Rome’s fearful method of execution, preferred because it was a long and torturous death, and thus deterred Rome’s enemies). Yes, pagan Rome magnified itself to the place where it purported to be larger—more powerful, more authoritative—than the Prince of the Host, Jesus Christ.
Does this describe Anitochus IV Epiphanes? No. By the time the “Prince of the Host” submitted Himself to the power of earthly kingdoms, the Hellenistic kingdoms were either gone or were the vassal states of Rome. It was pagan Rome that executed Jesus Christ. Again, Antiochus does not fit this prophecy.
3. The Place of the Sanctuary was Cast Down
Now, let’s look at the last clause of Daniel 8:11:
“and the place of the sanctuary was cast down.”
The permanent place of God’s sanctuary on Earth was Jerusalem: “In Salem also is His tabernacle, and His dwelling place in Zion.” He “chose the tribe of Judah, the Mount Zion which He loved. And He built His sanctuary like high palaces.” Psalm 76:2; 78:68-69.
Solomon’s Temple, called the first temple, was completed around 957 BC, and had been erected at the height of Israel’s power and glory. This temple was the most magnificent building the world had ever seen. During Jesus’ earthly sojourn, Herod had built a magnificent structure to rival Solomon’s. Constructed of white marble, and filigreed with solid gold. This forty-year project, reaching for monumental magnificence, had captured the attention of the Roman Emperor, who had contributed the massive stone blocks:
“Wealth, labor, and architectural skill had for more than forty years been freely expended to enhance its splendors. Herod the Great had lavished upon it both Roman wealth and Jewish treasure, and even the emperor of the world had enriched it with his gifts. Massive blocks of white marble, of almost fabulous size, forwarded from Rome for this purpose, formed a part of its structure; and to these the disciples had called the attention of their Master, saying: “See what manner of stones and what buildings are here!” Mark 13:1. Great Controversy, p. 24
Daniel’s prophecy in verse 11 that this temple would be “cast down” was echoed by Jesus Christ to his disciples:
“And Jesus said unto them, ‘See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.’” Mat. 24:2. See, also, Mark 13:2; Luke 21:6.
Can you imagine the shock of the disciples upon being told that this magnificent structure, one of the wonders of the world in its day, was to be torn down? But notice the parallel language: Daniel says, “cast down” and Christ says, “thrown down”; the meaning is the same: the huge stones of the temple would be thrown down so that not one stone would be left upon another. Their prophecy would be fulfilled to the letter by the legions of Titus in 70 AD.
“It was an appalling spectacle to the Roman—what was it to the Jew? The whole summit of the hill which commanded the city, blazed like a volcano. One after another the buildings fell in, with a tremendous crash, and were swallowed up in the fiery abyss. The roofs of cedar were like sheets of flame; the gilded pinnacles shone like spikes of red light; the gate towers sent up tall columns of flame and smoke. The neighboring hills were lighted up; and dark groups of people were seen watching in horrible anxiety the progress of the destruction . . . The shouts of the Roman soldiery as they ran to and fro, and the howlings of the insurgents who were perishing in the flames, mingled with the roaring of the conflagration and the thundering sound of falling timbers. . . . Both the city and the temple were razed to their foundations, and the ground upon which the holy house had stood was “plowed like a field.” Jeremiah 26:18.” Great Controversy, pp. 34-35.
All that remains today is part of a massive retaining wall that Herod had built to expand the temple mount; it is called the “wailing wall.” Nothing of the Second Temple above the foundation remains.
By Him the Daily Sacrifice was Taken Away
Now, let’s look at the middle clause of Daniel 8:11:
“and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away,”
The destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD finally brought an end to the sacrificial system. The Jews never practiced animal sacrifice again—not anywhere in the world. If you talk to a Jew today, the odds are overwhelming he will not know that Jews ever practiced animal sacrifice. I once asked a Jew why, if Jesus was not really the Messiah who fulfilled the system of animal sacrifices—and Jews will never admit He was—why hadn’t the animal sacrifices continued? I got a blank stare, followed by a firm insistence that Jews had never sacrificed animals. Animal sacrifice is not talked about—just as Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 are seldom discussed—because it would point unerringly toward Jesus Christ as the Messiah.
But let’s look again at verse 11:
“Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of the sanctuary was cast down.”
I see another pronoun with an unclear antecedent. “He [little horn or pagan Rome] magnified himself even to the Prince of the Host [Jesus Christ], and by him [him who?] the daily sacrifice was taken away . . .” Obviously, a pagan Roman governor condemned the Prince of the Host to death by crucifixion, but by which “him”—pagan Rome or Jesus Christ—was the daily sacrifice taken away?
By both. Jesus Christ took away the spiritual significance of the daily sacrifice with His own sacrificial death on the cross of calvary (Mat. 27:51; Heb. 9-10). The temple sacrifices were a system of types and shadows that pointed forward to a reality, and that reality is Christ (Col. 2:17; Heb. 8:5-6)
But the temple sacrifices continued (Acts 21:1-29) because the Jews—including many who had become followers of Jesus Christ—refused to recognize that Jesus had fulfilled them and made them unnecessary. (As we read in Acts 21, even the great anti-Judaizer, the Apostle Paul, was guilty of playing along with a system that Christ’s death had made obsolete.) So, although Christ had fulfilled the temple sacrifices, it took pagan Rome, through Titus and his legions, to put a permanent end to them by utterly destroying the Second Temple, as well as the entire city of Jerusalem: “and the place of the sanctuary was cast down.”
4. Daniel Nine Sheds Light on Daniel Eight
In Daniel, each prophetic section of the book expands on certain aspects of the preceding prophetic section—Daniel 7 builds on Daniel 2, and Daniel 8 builds on Daniel 7, so we would expect that Daniel 9 will shed light on Daniel 8, and indeed it does.
a. Jesus and Rome both “take away” the Daily Sacrifice
The fact that both Jesus and pagan Rome were involved in “taking away” the daily sacrifice is confirmed in Daniel 9: “Then [Messiah the Prince] shall confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.” (Dan. 9:27) How does the Messiah “bring an end” to the sacrifice and offering? “Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself.” (v. 26) Jesus dies a substitutionary death for all who will claim it by faith, hence type meets anti-type and the sacrificial system is fulfilled and obviated.
Interspersed within the description of the sacrificial role of “Messiah the Prince” is Titus’ sinister and destructive role: “And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood [a catastrophe], and till the end of the war desolations are determined.” (v. 26) The siege and sack of Jerusalem were accompanied by terrible atrocities, horrific “desolation.” “And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.” (v. 27) In other words, God allowed Rome to play the role of destroyer because of the Jews abominations, culminating in their demand that Christ be crucified. Their desolation was “determined” beforehand, meaning that it was a judgment from God.
b. Daniel 9 Tells Us When These Things Happen
Daniel Nine also foretells when these events will happen. Daniel was told that his people, the Jews would be given a probationary period of 490 years: “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city . . .” 70 weeks are 490 prophetic days, which are 490 literal years. “. . . to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.”
Notice that the 490 years are given to, among other things, “anoint the most Holy,” so this is clearly a Messianic prophecy. We are being told that the Messiah will come at the end of the 490 years, a point reemphasized in the next verse: “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince [Jesus Christ]” there shall be sixty-nine weeks. (Dan. 9:25)
When does the command go forth to restore and rebuild Jerusalem? This takes us back to the reign of Artaxerxes, as described in Ezra; Ezra 7:8 tells us, “They arrived at Jerusalem in the fifth month of the seventh year of the king’s reign.” Historians believe that Artaxerxes’ father, Xerxes, was murdered in 465 BC, by the commander of his palace guard, but Artaxerxes did not become king until 464, which would make his seventh year 457. Sixty-nine prophetic weeks is 483 years, which, added to 457 BC, brings us to 27 AD, which is when Christ began his earthly ministry. His public ministry lasted for three and a half years, ending at his crucifixion in 31 AD, fulfilling the prophecy “but in the middle of the week, He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.”
The 70th prophetic year ends three and a half years later, in 34 AD, with the stoning of Stephen, but God extended mercy to the Jewish people for 36 more years before finally allowing judgment to be executed. Ellen White gives insight into the reasons behind this extra period of grace:
“For nearly forty years after the doom of Jerusalem had been pronounced by Christ Himself, the Lord delayed His judgments upon the city and the nation. Wonderful was the long-suffering of God toward the rejectors of His gospel and the murderers of His Son. The parable of the unfruitful tree represented God's dealings with the Jewish nation. The command had gone forth, ‘Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?’ (Luke 13:7) but divine mercy had spared it yet a little longer. There were still many among the Jews who were ignorant of the character and the work of Christ. And the children had not enjoyed the opportunities or received the light which their parents had spurned. Through the preaching of the apostles and their associates, God would cause light to shine upon them; they would be permitted to see how prophecy had been fulfilled, not only in the birth and life of Christ, but in His death and resurrection. The children were not condemned for the sins of the parents; but when, with a knowledge of all the light given to their parents, the children rejected the additional light granted to themselves, they became partakers of the parents’ sins, and filled up the measure of their iniquity.” Great Controversy, p. 27.
The “abomination of desolation” language “spoken of by the prophet Daniel” nails down with absolute certainty that we are talking about the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. Christ clearly stated (Mat. 24:15-18; Luke 21:20-21; Mark 13:14-15) that Jerusalem’s encirclement by Roman armies, and its eventual destruction, is the event to which Daniel’s language in Daniel 8:13 points. We know this event as the first Jewish-Roman War.
5. The Abomination of Desolation
A Jewish rebellion against Rome began in 66 AD; the following year, Cestius Gallus, the Roman legate of Syria, brought the Syrian army, the 12th Legion with additional auxiliaries, to quell the revolt. This Roman army fought its way south and surrounded Jerusalem with little difficulty, but for reasons unknown, Cestius lifted the siege and retreated to the coast. The Jewish zealots followed him and inflicted a severe mauling on the Romans at the Battle of Beth Horon; 6,000 were killed, and the XII legion’s eagle was taken.
This decisive defeat shocked the Roman world. A more experienced general, Vespasian, was tasked with crushing the revolt; his son Titus was appointed second-in-command. But civil war postponed any attempt to deal with rebellious Judea, and three years passed before the legions returned. The pen of inspiration tells that Cestius’ otherwise inexplicable retreat was divine Providence overruling events to spare the Christians of Jerusalem:
“Not one Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. Christ had given His disciples warning, and all who believed His words watched for the promised sign. ‘When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies,’ said Jesus, ‘then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out.’ Luke 21:20, 21. After the Romans under Cestius had surrounded the city, they unexpectedly abandoned the siege when everything seemed favorable for an immediate attack. The besieged, despairing of successful resistance, were on the point of surrender, when the Roman general withdrew his forces without the least apparent reason. But God's merciful providence was directing events for the good of His own people. The promised sign had been given to the waiting Christians, and now an opportunity was offered for all who would, to obey the Saviour's warning. Events were so overruled that neither Jews nor Romans should hinder the flight of the Christians.” Great Controversy, p. 30
Interestingly, Jesus warning about seeing Roman armies compassing the city was not the only time Christ used the word desolation:
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling! Look, your house is left to you desolate.” Mat. 23:37-38.
The language of “desolation” is all throughout Daniel eight and nine. Dan. 8:13 speaks of “the transgression of desolation,” and the portions of Daniel 9:26-27 that describe the activity of Rome state, “unto the end of the war desolations are determined” and “for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”
What does “desolation” mean? The noun has two components, a physical one: “a state of complete emptiness or destruction, devastation, ruin” and a psychological one: “anguished misery or loneliness, grief, sadness.”
Only the destruction of 70 AD can be described as “desolation.” First, there was the complete physical destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, of which not one stone was left upon another. It had been one of the great cultural and architectural landmarks of the entire Roman Empire, and the pride of the Jewish nation, but now it was completely destroyed. Second, there was the mental anguish suffered by the survivors, because not only had there been physical devastation, there had also been a near-complete destruction of the people and the nation:
Terrible were the calamities that fell upon Jerusalem when the siege was resumed by Titus. The city was invested at the time of the Passover, when millions of Jews were assembled within its walls. Their stores of provision, which if carefully preserved would have supplied the inhabitants for years, had previously been destroyed through the jealousy and revenge of the contending factions, and now all the horrors of starvation were experienced. A measure of wheat was sold for a talent. . . . Thousands perished from famine and pestilence. Natural affection seemed to have been destroyed. Husbands robbed their wives, and wives their husbands. Children would be seen snatching the food from the mouths of their aged parents. . . .
The Roman leaders endeavored to strike terror to the Jews and thus cause them to surrender. Those prisoners who resisted when taken, were scourged, tortured, and crucified before the wall of the city. Hundreds were daily put to death in this manner, and the dreadful work continued until, along the Valley of Jehoshaphat and at Calvary, crosses were erected in so great numbers that there was scarcely room to move among them. . . . Titus would willingly have put an end to the fearful scene, and thus have spared Jerusalem the full measure of her doom. He was filled with horror as he saw the bodies of the dead lying in heaps in the valleys.
“In the siege and the slaughter that followed, more than a million of the people perished; the survivors were carried away as captives, sold as slaves, dragged to Rome to grace the conqueror's triumph, thrown to wild beasts in the amphitheaters, or scattered as homeless wanderers throughout the earth.” Great Controversy, p. 35.
The survivor’s only response to this epochal national catastrophe would have been all that the word “desolation” imports: anguished misery, loneliness, grief, extreme sadness. This was national desolation on an epic scale.
Compare this severe and lasting desolation with the transitory persecution of Antiochus IV Epiphanes: First, Antiochus interrupted the temple sacrifices for just a few years; Titus permanently ended them. Second, Antiochus did not destroy the temple; he temporarily profaned it. Titus permanently destroyed the temple; it has never been rebuilt. Third, the revolt of Judas Maccabeus was not put down; to the contrary, the Maccabean revolt was successful, and when the Maccabees reached out to Rome, they achieved a lasting measure of autonomy from their Hellenistic rulers. By contrast, the events of 67-73 AD—and their sequalae in the second Jewish War and finally the Bar Kokhba revolt—were devastating to the Jewish people, killing many of them and scattering the rest to the four winds of heaven. Who caused the most desolation, Antiochus or Titus?
6. By reason of Transgression
Now let’s look at the first clause of verse 12:
“And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression”
This “him” clearly refers only to pagan Rome. Titus was given a huge army to quell the rebellion. Here, “host” means simply a great number of people; it does not mean the heavenly host. Historians tells us the Fifth, Tenth, Twelfth, and Fifteenth legions took part in the siege of Jerusalem, which would total at least 25,000 troops, but some say that as many as 100,000 Roman soldiers were involved in the siege and ultimate destruction of Jerusalem. Clearly a great host was involved in finally putting an end to the daily sacrifice.
This desolation resulted “by reason of transgression,” which is why Dan. 8:13 calls it “the transgression of desolation.” Whose transgression was it? The Jews. This awful calamity was a judgment on their nation. Their transgressions consisted chiefly in rejecting God’s prophets, culminating in rejecting the Son of God, and demanding that the Roman governor crucify Him; this behavior was the literal fulfillment of Jesus’ parable of the vineyard (Mat. 21:33-41; Mark 12:1-9; Luke 20:9-16).
“So terribly was visited that awful imprecation uttered before the judgment seat of Pilate: ‘His blood be on us, and on our children.’ Matthew 27:25.” Great Controversy, p. 32.
“The Jews had forged their own fetters; they had filled for themselves the cup of vengeance. In the utter destruction that befell them as a nation, and in all the woes that followed them in their dispersion, they were but reaping the harvest which their own hands had sown. Says the prophet: ‘O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself;’ ‘for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.’ Hosea 13:9; 14:1. . . . By stubborn rejection of divine love and mercy, the Jews had caused the protection of God to be withdrawn from them, and Satan was permitted to rule them according to his will. The horrible cruelties enacted in the destruction of Jerusalem are a demonstration of Satan's vindictive power over those who yield to his control. Great Controversy, p. 35.
This was not the fate God wanted for the Jews. It was a fate they chose for themselves: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling! Look, your house is left to you desolate.” Mat. 23:37-38.
Conclusion
The interpretation of this prophecy slides easily into place if we accept that the “daily” is indeed the daily sacrifice, just as almost all Bible translators believe. Accepting this does not mean that Antiochus IV Epiphanes fulfills the prophecy; to the contrary, we have seen that only pagan Rome fits the details of the prophecy.
The purpose of this article is to present the correct interpretation of the prophecy. In part 3, we will delve into other Adventist interpretations. For the moment, suffice it to say that Uriah Smith was not inspired, and got many things wrong. His interpretation of this passage was one such error.
Here is a very good short video about the construction of the Temple Mount and the Second Temple:
Here is an excellent short video about Titus’ destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD: