Albert Barnes Commentary Daniel 12:11

"And from the time that the continual [burnt-offering] shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand and two hundred and ninety days." — Daniel 12:11 (ASV)

And from the time - Though the angel had said (Daniel 12:4, Daniel 12:9) that his communication was closed, and that he had imparted all that he was commissioned to communicate to Daniel, yet, it would seem, in reply to Daniel's earnest request, he volunteers an additional statement regarding certain important periods that would occur in the future. The language, however, is very obscure; and it would appear, from Daniel 12:13, that the angel scarcely expected Daniel to understand it. The statement relates to certain periods that would follow the time when the daily sacrifice would be taken away. Two such periods are mentioned as marking important epochs in the future.

That the daily sacrifice shall be taken away - This is the point of reckoning—the terminus a quo. The phrase the taking away of the daily sacrifice refers, undoubtedly, to some act, or some state of things, by which it would be made to cease; by which the daily offerings at Jerusalem would be either temporarily suspended or totally abolished. See the notes at Daniel 8:11; Daniel 9:27; Daniel 11:31. The language here is applicable to either of two events: to the act of Antiochus, causing the daily sacrifice to cease in Jerusalem (Daniel 8:11; Daniel 11:31), or to the final closing of those sacrifices by the death of the Messiah as the great offering to whom they referred, and the destruction of the temple and the altar by the Romans (Daniel 9:27). The view taken in the interpretation of this passage will depend on the question of to which of these the angel alludes here, or whether there is an allusion to both.

The language evidently is applicable to both and could be employed with reference to either.

And the abomination that maketh desolate set up - See these words explained in the notes at Daniel 8:13; Daniel 9:27; Daniel 11:31. The same remark may be made here that was made regarding the previous expression—that the language is applicable to two quite distinct events, events separated by a long interval of time: the act of Antiochus in setting up an image of Jupiter in the temple, and a similar act by the Romans when the temple was finally destroyed. The view taken of the time referred to here will depend on the question of which of these is to be regarded as the standpoint or the terminus a quo, or whether the language is intentionally so used that an important epoch was to occur in both cases within a specified period after these events. On these points, there has been great diversity of opinion.

There shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days - If this is to be taken literally, it would be three years and two hundred and ten days (reckoning the year at 360 days) and is thirty days more than the three and a half years referred to in Daniel 12:7. Professor Stuart, who supposes that the time is to be taken literally and that the passage refers exclusively to Antiochus Epiphanes, explains the application of the language in the following manner:

“Antiochus took away the daily sacrifice as is here declared. This was in the latter part of May, 168 B.C. Secular history does not indeed give us the day, but it designates the year and the season. As we have already seen (compare the extract copied from Professor Stuart on Daniel 7:24-28), about three and a half years elapsed after the temple worship was entirely broken up, before Judas Maccabeus cleansed the temple and restored its rites. The terminus ad quem is not mentioned in the verse now before us, but it is still plainly implied. The end of the 1290 days must, of course, be marked by some significant event, just as their commencement is so marked. And as the suppression of the temple rites constitutes the definitive mark of the commencement, so it would seem clear that the restoration of the same rites must mark the conclusion of the designated period.

The ‘time of the end’ (that is, the period at whose close the persecutions of Antiochus would cease) is distinctly referred to in Daniel 7:25; Daniel 11:30–35; Daniel 12:7. The nature of the case, in the verse before us, shows that the same period is tacitly referred to in the speaker's words. No doubt remains that his march (the march of Antiochus) from Antioch to Egypt, for hostile purposes, was in the spring of the year 168 B.C. He was delayed for some time on this march by ambassadors from Egypt, who met him in Coele-Syria.

Very naturally, therefore, we may conclude that he arrived opposite Jerusalem in the latter part of May, and that then and there he commissioned Apollonius to plunder and profane the temple. The exact time from the period when this was done, down to the time of the cleansing, seems to have been, and is designated as being, 1290 days.” —Hints on Prophecy, pp. 94-95.

It is evident, however, that there is no clear determination of the exact time here by any historical records, though it is not improbable in itself. Still, the great difficulty is that, in the supposition that the time, and times, and an half refers to Antiochus, denoting the period of his persecutions and thus limiting it to three and a half years—a period that can be established without material difficulty (compare the notes at Daniel 7:24-28)—another time or period of thirty additional days should be mentioned here, for which there is no corresponding event in the historical facts, or at least none that can now be demonstrated to have occurred.

See the remarks at the close of the next verses.