Application of the Prophecies Contained in Daniel From Chapters 8 to 11,

Remarks designed to show the proper and extended application of the prophecies contained in Daniel from chapters 8 to 11, inclusive, with a particular reference to the texts chapter 8.13-14 And 12.7-12.

 

NUMBER 2

 

Brother Beebe: I will now continue and conclude my remarks on the above-named subject.

 

To establish, if possible, more clearly the position I have taken on this subject: that Antiochus is presented in these prophecies of Daniel as typical of, or as representing Mohammedan Antichrist, in distinction from the western Antichrist, I will just glance at some of the characteristics given of Antiochus, and show their strict correspondence with the Mohammedan interest. 1st. Antiochus is represented as a vile person, standing up in the Kingdom, “to whom they should not give the horns of the kingdom,” but that he should come up in peaceably, Chapter 11.21. Antiochus had been a hostage at Rome, and in that sense, he might be spoken of as a vile person, or as coming to the throne from a low origin; otherwise, he was a son of the preceding king. But of Mahomet, this is all strictly true. He was of a low origin, he hatched up his system of religion in obscurity; when he undertook to develop his religion at Mecca, where he resided, the citizens were so enraged against him, that he fled to Medina for safety; here he was allowed to teach his religion, and having by persuasion, flatteries, obtained the number of followers, he armed them, and sallying forth, he overran as with the swarms of a flood, the whole of Arabia and the adjacent countries, subduing all before him, according to what is said, verse 28. He also, according to verse 24, scattered among the people the prey, spoil, etc.. Both the government he established and his religion are a system of rapine and plunder, and he taught his followers to live thereby. As Antiochus was grieved with the ships of Chittim coming against him, that is, Roman ships (verse 30 ) the Mohammedan powers were disturbed by the Crusades from Europe. And as Antiochus returned to Jerusalem with greater indignation, and polluted the temple, (verse 30-31) sold the Turks, a Mohammedan people, retook Jerusalem from The Crusaders, built a splendid mosque on the site of the former temple; Turned the most prominent places of professed Christian worship into mosques, stationed janizaries there to prevent either Jews or Christians from entering those places of worship; to extort tribute from all who visit Jerusalem for religious purposes; And who keep the Jews that from attachment to their country still reside there, in the most oppressed and abject state. Again what is said of Antiochus versus 37-38. “Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers nor the desire of women; But you'll honor the god of forces,” is strikingly illustrative of Mohammed and his religion. He brought a new order of religion, a new order which had not been known. His religion degrades females to a state of mere slavery; it even denies their having souls. It honors the God of forces or war. He taught that “the sword is the key of heaven and of hell, a drop of blood shed in the cause of God, or a night spent in arms is of more value than two months of fasting and prayer, whosoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven in the day of judgment. “Edom and Moab and the chief of the children of Ammon shall escape out of his hands,” verse 41. By these may be understood the tribes of wandering Arabs, as they composed in part of the descendants of these nations; And although they have embraced Mohammedanism, they have never been brought into subjection to the Turkish or otherwise established governments. The planting of the tabernacles of his palaces, between the seas in their glorious holy mountain (verse 45), in reference to Antiochus, could mean nothing more than his building a tower on Mount Zion to overlook the temple and give his soldiers power to prevent any from entering it. But in reference to the Turks, they have their most splendid mosque on the spot where the temple once stood, and have their Janissaries there to control all worship in Jerusalem. And it may indeed refer more fully to what may yet take place, that the Turks being driven from Constantinople, may establish the seat of their government at Jerusalem, for the space that will remain unto them under being driven from Constantinople: from the year 1844 to 1872, when, “they shall come to their end, and none shall help them.” Thus, it is seen that these descriptions given of Antiochus seem as if designed more particularly for Mohammedanism. But were we to undertake to apply this description to the western Antichrist, we should find it not corresponding in any one important particular. From the whole view of the subject, I think it is very manifest that Antiochus in these prophecies is intended as a representation of the Eastern Antichrist, and not of the Western.

 

I will now notice the proposed texts. The first is that contained in Daniel 8.13-14. In this passage, we have, first, an inquiry, “How long shall be the division concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot?” Notice that this inquiry embraces the period of the transgression going before as the cause of the desolation, as well as the period of the desolation. Secondly, we have the answer, “unto 2300 days; Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” This. As relating to Antiochus polluting the temple, it must be taken literally. 2300 days, at 360 days to the year, would be six years and four months and two days. The period from the time that Antiochus set up his image on the altar and prohibited the Jews from going into worship until the temple was retaken and cleansed by Judas Maccabeus was but three years old in 10 days. But if we go back to the transgressions, occasioned by the corruptions brought in by Menelaus, who had obtained the high priesthood by treachery and bribery from Antiochus, we shall find the 2300 days fully made out. Whether this. Was designed only to be understood literally, and to be applied to Antiochus's persecution, I am unable with certainty to say. But from the manner in which it is given, and from the circumstance that Antiochus appears so manifestly to have been typical of the Mohammedan Antichrist, one would suppose that it was designed to point out the whole period of the transgression and scattering of the Jews since the time of the Babylonian captivity. All the time I wrote the letters on the image of the beast, I considered it as having this further reference. But I then supposed it, as well as to. In 12.7, to have reference to the duration of the Western Antichrist. And from the fact that the Persian as well as the Grecian monarchies are presented to view in this vision, eight. I inferred the period of 2300 years represented by the 2300 days must be dated from the commencement of the 70 weeks or 490 years of Chapter 9, which terminated with the death of Christ. Thus, dating the 2300 years and allowing for four years of error in the date of the Christian era, it would terminate in the year 1842, and I suppose it might thus point out the time of the slaying of the witnesses. But in this calculation, as before noticed, I was mistaken both in applying it to the romish Antichrist and in dating it from the commencement of the 490 years; For the expression of the text, “then shall the sanctuary be cleansed,” in this anti typical application of it, can intend nothing less than the cleansing of the Jewish people according to Ezekiel 36.24-31; And indeed it most likely refers to the full cleansing of the whole house and land of israel, after the destruction of the army of God, according to Ezekiel 39. But in such an application of this prophecy, there is a serious difficulty in determining the proper date from whence this period commences. The beginning of the 70 weeks, that is, from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, chapter 25, is evidently too early a date. The cleansing supposed above to be intended cannot take place until after the destruction of the Mohammedan power in Asia, and that manifestly, will not take place for several years. If we were to suppose this period to commence with the time of Antiochus's persecution, as that was only 169 years before the Christian era, it would extend this. On to 2131 AD; a much later period than other prophecies seemed to allow us to suppose the restoration of the Jews will be deferred to. I know of no discrimination given in the scripture of the time when this. Commenced, unless indeed what the Angel says, Daniel 10.13, is designed as a clue to it. It is this, “but the Prince of the Kingdom of Persia withstood me one and 20 days.” I never could suppose that literally this heavenly messenger being sent to teach Daniel, could have been hindered in his journey, 1 and 20 days, by the Prince of the Kingdom of Persia; hence the passage has been a very difficult one to meet. Were we to admit that this was designed to mark the commencement of the 2300 years, then, as Alexander entered Asia in 326 BC or 352 BC, and from this, we may date the reign of the goat or Grecian monarchy. I must answer that I cannot point to any particular event in the history of the Jews as that which can with certainty be said to be the beginning of the transgression of desolation. But the following considerations will, I think, afford very probable reasons for the periods then commencing. 1st. As was shown before, this. Includes the time of the transgression which occasioned the desolation, as well as the time of the desolation. 2nd. The former part of the Persian monarchy was occupied by the Jews returning from the Babylonian captivity, the rebuilding of their temple and the city, and the reestablishment of their natural privileges and the observance of their laws. As this was therefore the conclusion of one period of chastisement, there is certainly a propriety discoverable in this part of the Persian monarchy not being included in the period of the future desolation. 3rd. Nehemiah died 420 years before Christ, and Malachi's prophecy is dated at about 390 years before Christ. Now, from the instructions and reproofs of these, and Ezra and others who preceded, we may suppose that Jews were kept from the transgression of desolation; and indeed that their instructions and influence would extend to restraining them in a great measure during the succeeding generation, which would bring them down to the year 353 before Christ. And from the general history of those people in all preceding ages, we might expect them again by that time to be growing restless under the restrictions of the Sinai covenant. 4th. Eliasbib, who was a high priest in the time of Nehemiah, was succeeded by Joida, and he again by Jonathan. Jonathan was murdered in the temple. This looks like transgression, which would ultimately cause desolation, Matthew 23.29-36. The time of the death of these several high priests is not known; but it would not be unreasonable to suppose that the priesthoods of the three might have occupied the 67 or rather 70 years which intervened between the death of Nehemiah and a year 353 before the Christian era, at which. We date the beginning of the 2300 years. The above considerations may appear to be good reasons why that. Should thus include 21 years, and no more, of the Persian monarchy. But another objection might be made to this application of the passage in chapter 10.13. On the ground that the one was spoken in the vision and the period of 2300 days was given in another period but in answer to this, I need only to say that both visions relate to the same subject, the desolation of the Jews under Antiochus, and of course under his antitype. And it is plain that in both visions, the Persian monarchy seems but touched so as to introduce the Grecian.

 

In the texts Daniel 12.7-12 to which I now come, we have 3 periods of different lengths given. The first, a time, times and a half, prophetically answering to 1260 years; The second, to 1290 years; And a third, to 1355 years. It is presumable that these periods commence on the same date, said to be (verse 11,) “from the time the daily sacrifice be taken away and the abomination that makes desolation set up.” In chapter 8.13, the expression is somewhat varied as has been noticed; it is the transgression of desolation. In chapter 9.26, we read, that, “the people of the Prince shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, And the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.” In verse 27 “and for the overspreading of abomination, he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation and the determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” By the people of the Prince, we are evidently to understand the Roman armies that came against Jerusalem. And by the expression, for the overspreading of abomination, we may understand the Roman standards as placed upon, or around the walls of Jerusalem. Hence the declaration of our Lord, Matthew 26.15, “When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel, the prophet, stand in the holy place.” But while these expressions according to our Lord's own application of them, referring immediately to the Roman standards, as being abominable to the Jews, both on account of their being the ancient of foreign government, and that of the images on them, and when planted in the holy place indicative of the desolation speedily coming upon their city and nation; yet the further remarks in those verses 26 and 27 of Daniel chapter nine. “Unto the end of the war desolations are determined;” and “he shall make it desolate even until the consummation and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate,” can import nothing less than the continued desolation upon that people even down to this day. For the war then commenced against them, in its bearing upon that nation has not yet ended. Since the taking of Jerusalem by the Romans to this time, had the Jews, though existing as a distinct people, been acknowledged in their national rights, or has any nation made treaties of peace and amity with them? And when have ceased to be poured upon them, in their desolation, the judgments determined, or denounced against them? That the commencement of the periods under consideration could not have been when the Roman armies encompassed Jerusalem is evident from the above remarks, for the longest of these periods, dated then, would have terminated as early as 1405 AD. We must therefore seek another abomination that makes desolate the Jews, being in its effects a continuation of the other, as being the one intended in this instance. We find in the Mohammedan standard. For its merits consideration, the Roman flag continued to wave over Jerusalem, that is, Judea continued in subjection to that government, in the eastern division of the empire, until it was taken by the Mohammedans, and the Crescent took the place of the Roman equal or cross; With two exceptions which I shall notice. 1st. The king of Persia took Jerusalem from the Romans in 613AD, but it was retaken by the emperor of the eastern division in 627; nine years later, that is in 636 according to the account before me, it was taken by the Mohammedan Khalif Omar. Although it has been taken and retaken repeatedly by one and another of the contending Mohammedan khalifs, it has remained in the possession of the Mohammedans from the time it was taken by Omar until now, with the exception of the time the Crusaders had an in possession, which was about 90 years. But the possession of it by the Crusaders neither relieved the Jews nor the country at all from desolation.

 

One circumstance which may be considered an attempt to remove the desolation of the Jews I will notice. The emperor Julian about 350AD or 300 AD assembled the Jews to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple, with the design, to give the lie to the prediction of our savior, but, as we are assured by the historians, in their attempts to clear away the rubbish, they were completely frustrated; Globes of fire are rising from the ruins drove off the workmen. From the whole then, Mohammed setting up his religion, alike abominable to Jews, and Christians, and erecting his standard, may be considered the abomination that makes desolate, of our text; It is that power which has stood in the way of the Jews gaining the possession and occupancy of their own land, since the fall of the roman standard in Judea.

 

The Mohammedans reckon their era from 612 AD, as being the beginning of their religion and power, some say from 622, though the other is the more general chronological date given. Allowing then the period in verse 7, to commence with 612 AD, being 1260 years represented by the time, times, and a half, or three years and a half, and it will terminate in 1872. When the Turkish or Muhammad didn't have power over Judea would most probably be broken. In like manner, the second period of that in verse 11 dated from 612, being 1290 years, will terminate in 1902 AD. At this time, it is probable the Jews will generally be gathered to their own land. And the period of 1355 days or years of verse 12 commencing with 612 AD, will terminate in 1947. The same year as I have before shown in the period of 22,300 years will terminate if it commenced 21 years before the beginning of the Grecian or Alexandrian empire in Asia. At the termination of this. It may be expected that the army of Gog will have been destroyed, the land cleansed, and the Jews settled in their own land under their own government, and in subjection to the gospel of Christ. Hence the expression in the text, verse 12, “Blessed is he that waits and comes to the 1305 and 30 days.” Thus, the three periods in this chapter answer to the three great events which yet await the Jews, I think, according to the prophecy.

 

Prior to the termination of this last. If not of the second, the western Antichrist in all its branches, of the 7 horned, and two-horned beasts, and the image will all have been destroyed by the brightness of the Lord's coming, and the fullness of the Gentiles be brought in according to what Paul says Romans 11.25, “that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles is come in.”

 

I have thus given the conclusions to which my mind has been LED upon re-examination of this subject. Although I make no pretensions to any divine revelation being made to my mind, assuring me of the certainty of these conclusions, from a comparison of scripture with scripture, the old school standard, I feel a good deal of confidence in the correctness of some of these conclusions. Such as that the witnesses will not be killed until after the breaking of the Turkish power in Europe, which will take place in 1844 if the chronological dates we have are correct. I feel equally confident that expositors have committed an error in committing the Eastern and Western Antichrist in their explanations of prophecy. The western Antichrist, in its bearings upon the gospel church, with peculiar propriety, is principally pointed out in the prophecies of the New Testament; while the eastern Antichrist in its bearing upon the Jews is particularly the subject of these prophecies in Daniel, which we have been considering.

 

The times of the several periods which have been under consideration relating to their commencements and endings, as given above, are such as appear to be consistent with the general tenor of prophecy, and likely to be found correct. There is a difficulty in deciding which certainty on the true periods of prophecy before their accomplishment, both from the manner in which they are given being decidedly obscure and from the uncertainty with regard to the correctness of the chronological dates we frequently have. But the accomplishment of these prophecies will show the correctness or incorrectness of our calculations. The safest way to avoid being mistaken on these points is to wait thus the expositions of divine Providence.

 

I remain your companion in the tribulations of the gospel,

 

Samuel Trott

Centerville, Fairfax County, Virginia, March 30, 1840