“As we have confirmed, in chapter 9 of Daniel we do not find a single verse that mentions or alludes to the main elements or events of the prophecy of Daniel 8; such as the little horn, the desecration and vindication of the sanctuary, and the 2,300 evenings and mornings. Nor do we find in chapters 4, 6, and 7 of Ezra the order to rebuild Jerusalem, much less the implementation of such order. Because of this, some scholars claim that it is historically verifiable that Ezra traveled to Jerusalem in the year 457 B.C.; which confirms that in that year Daniel 9:25 was fulfilled. It is not being denied that Ezra traveled to Jerusalem in the mentioned year; what is questioned is whether at that time the order to rebuild Jerusalem was fulfilled, because in the considered chapters of Ezra there is no biblical support for such interpretation.
Having mentioned the above, we will proceed to review what has been revealed and explained in the prophecy of the 2,300 evenings and mornings in chapter 8 of Daniel. The biggest problem of our interpretation, that the 2,300 evenings and mornings started in the year 457 B.C.; is to explain: How was it possible for the little horn -represented by the papacy according to our traditional interpretation- to desecrate the sanctuary, as prophesied in verses 9-11, during the Persian Empire; approximately 500 years before the emergence of Christianity, and a thousand years before the papal supremacy began in the year 538 of our era? We cannot deny that the prophecy is categorical in verses 8-11, pointing out that the little horn would arise from one of the four notable horns, and would magnify itself against THE PRINCE OF HOSTS, and would take away the daily sacrifice, and cast down the place of His sanctuary; which is ratified in the angelic explanation, by revealing in verses 22-26; that at the end of the four notable horns a haughty king would arise -the little horn-, who would rise against THE PRINCE OF PRINCES and would destroy the saints of the Most High.
Faced with such conclusive biblical revelation and explanation, our scholars, for some reason unexplainable, argue the following: 1- That the little horn did not take away the daily sacrifice or desecrate the sanctuary; but rather, both events were taken away from it -the little horn-. 2- That the question: How long shall the vision of the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation be, handing over the sanctuary and the army to be trampled on?, does not refer to the vision of the sanctuary desecration by the little horn, but to several different visions in which the little horn may or may not have been involved. Regarding the first argument, that the little horn did not desecrate the sanctuary; we encounter the problem that this assertion obliges us to ask ourselves: Then what power desecrated the sanctuary in the year 457 B.C., for the prophecy of the 2,300 evenings and mornings to begin? Faced with the previous question, an honest and objective answer is needed, which we still do not have. The first argument is based on the fact that in the original Hebrew, verse 11 is recorded as follows: “Indeed, he magnified himself, even to the Prince of the host, and from him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.” Because punctuation marks do not exist in Hebrew, the aforementioned verse can lead to the interpretation that the phrase “and from him” is referring to the little horn; but if seen in a broader context, it is evident that the phrase “and from him” alludes to the fact that the daily sacrifice was taken away from the Prince of hosts.
The Hebrew Bible confirms the above by translating the verse in consideration as follows: “Yes, (the little horn) magnified itself even against the Prince of the celestial armies, and from him the daily burnt offering was taken away; and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.” The Peshitta Bible records it as follows: “And it came to the captain of the hosts, and removed his daily offering and toppled his holy place’s foundation.” The second argument asserts that in the question posed in Daniel 8:13, which in English reads: “… the vision of the daily sacrifice…,” the translation is incorrect because the Hebrew does not include the contraction “of”; for this reason, the question does not refer to the vision of the daily sacrifice mentioned afterward.
In relation to this, one of our most prominent scholars states the following: “… it should be pointed out that the word ‘of’ written in some translations… is an added term that is not found in the Hebrew text. The syntax and punctuation of the Hebrew text do not allow for these expressions to be interpreted as a genitive construct chain (which would read as the vision of the continuity). The central idea that the question proposed can thus be understood as: How long the vision, (how long) the continuity and the transgression that causes horror, (how long) for both the sanctuary and the army to be trampled underfoot? The previous interpretation aims to dismiss that the question is referring to the abolition of the daily sacrifice by the little horn, which would allow justifying the emergence of said horn at any time in history, completely divorced from the desecration of the sanctuary in the year 457 B.C.
The problem with this interpretation is similar to that of the first argument, which once again forces us to ask ourselves: So, what power really desecrated the sanctuary in the year 457 B.C. for the prophecy of the 2,300 evenings and mornings to begin, ending in 1844? Returning to the interpretation that in verse 13, the contraction “of” that gives a sense of continuity does not appear, it is important to highlight that in Hebrew, in some texts, the preposition “of” or the contraction “of” is omitted; this does not mean that there is no continuity relationship between a phrase and the one that precedes it. An example of this can be found in the same chapter 8 of Daniel in verse 26, where in English it is translated: “… the vision of the evenings and mornings…” and in Hebrew, it is recorded as: “… And vision: the evening and the morning…” In the aforementioned Hebrew text, the preposition “of” does not appear either, but that does not mean that in the first phrase of that text, a vision that is disconnected from what precedes it, which in this case are the evenings and mornings, is being narrated. Just as in Daniel 8:26, the correct translation is “the vision of the evenings and mornings”; also in Daniel 8:13, the correct translation is “the vision of the continuous sacrifice” for contextual and grammatical reasons.
At this point, we must ask ourselves: Is it possible that the little horn in Daniel 8, which was supposed to desecrate the sanctuary in the year 457 B.C., is represented by the papacy, which emerged many centuries after the Persian Empire? If the little horn did not desecrate the sanctuary, as Daniel 8:9-11 prophesies, what power desecrated the sanctuary in the year 457 B.C., for the prophecy of the 2,300 evenings and mornings to begin, ending in 1844? Blessings.”
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