One of the most perplexing puzzles of Daniel is the differing way the author referred to the length of time the rebuilt Temple would be defiled during the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes IV (175-163 BC). Historically, the period is known with some precision; the heathen altar (the "Abomination of Desolation" of Daniel and 1 Maccabees) was installed on 15 Chislev 167 BC and the Temple was rededicated on 25 Chislev 164 BC -- a period of almost exactly 3 years (1 Maccabees 1:57, 4:52). The desolation of Jerusalem however began some several months prior to this (cf. 1 Maccabees 1:37-39), and the Temple was first plundered by Antiochus back in 169 BC (cf. 1 Maccabees 1:21-28). Antiochus, meanwhile, did not die until sometime after the Temple was rededicated -- the spring of 163 BC, to be precise. The author of Daniel did not, in fact, know of the actual circumstances of his demise, as Daniel 11:40-45 makes clear; the book was probably published sometime before this. Nevertheless, the length of time predicted for the period of oppression was pretty accurate: roughly 3 1/2 years spanned between the time Jerusalem fell and the complete suppression of the Jewish Law began (i.e. July 167 BC) and Antiochus met his doom (i.e. spring 163 BC). The prediction of 3 1/2 years is stated twice in Daniel:
"He is going to speak words against the Most High and harass the saints of the Most High. He will consider changing seasons and the Law, and the saints will be put into his power for a time, two times, and half a time. But a court will be held and his power will be stripped from him, consumed, and utterly destroyed" (Daniel 7:24-26).
"How long until these wonders [e.g. the resurrection] take place? ... A time and two times, and half a time; and all these things are going to happen when he who crushes the power of the holy people meets his end" (Daniel 12:6-7).
This last statement is interesting because it gives away the actual time period in which the book was written; the putative prophet supposedly lived in the sixth century BC but here he lets slip that 3 1/2 years remain until "he who crushes the power of the holy people meets his end" and the resurrection is due to begin. The statement also implies that the resurrection is expected to happen shortly after Antiochus meets his ignoble end, an unfulfilled eventuality that clearly still lay in the future for the author (who thus did not know that such events would not eventually transpire).
The length of the period itself, while perhaps being a lucky guess, is itself derivable from the artificial schema of the 70 weeks of years, introduced in ch. 9. This schema presents an apocalyptic "review of history" to the end-times, and is similar in form to other periodized schemas from the second and first centuries BC, such as the Apocalypse of Weeks in 1 Enoch 91-93, the "seventy weeks" of years delineated in Testament of Levi 16-18, the "seventy weeks" in the Ages of the World (4Q181), the "ten jubilees" of the Melchizedek Scroll (11QMelch), and the "ten full jubilees" of the Pseudo-Moses Apocryphon (4Q387, 390). All these present a gradual decline from either creation or more commonly, from the sixth century BC all the way to the eschaton, and most involve a stereotyped period of 490 years (= 70 weeks, 10 jubilees) as an apocalyptic leitmotif. What is important to realize about such schemas is that they involve a non-chronological periodization of history; what matters were the periods themselves, not the specific years at which specific events occur. Although the Seleucid period itself had a standardized chronology, there was no generally-accepted chronology for the Persian and earlier periods -- as clearly demonstrated by the widely divergent results gained from the chronological attempts of Josephus, Demetrius, and others. It simply was not known to most Jews exactly how much time had transpired from the fall of Jerusalem at the hands of Nebuchadnezzer. Periodized attempts to indicate the immediacy of the eschaton were effective because they generally did not supply a specific date for the end that could be disconfirmed. The exact date at which the 490-year period is supposed to begin was not commonly known, or was debatable, and vague starting points for the 490 years were sometimes provided as well (as is certainly the case with Daniel 9:25, as scholars cannot agree on what date the author intended to start his 490-year period with).
The author of Daniel, while vague on his starting point, is not at all vague on the date on which the whole period was to come to a close. This is because he broke the "70 weeks" into three shorter periods, 7 + 62 + 1 = 70. The two division points within the 490-year period are marked by the activities of certain "anointed" individuals. In harmony with the Testament of Levi and other contemporaneous data, the "anointed" individuals at the focus of the "70 weeks" were specifically high priests. This is made clear by Daniel 9:24 which decrees "70 weeks" for, among other things, "anointing the Holy of Holies". The "anointed prince (of the covenant)" whose arrival marks the beginning of the 62 weeks (during which the Temple is rebuilt) is generally thought to be Jeshua, the first high priest of the restored priesthood under Zerubabbel (Daniel 9:25; cf. Ezra 3:8; Haggai 1:1; Zechariah 3:1-9), while the "anointed one" whose departure marks the end of the 62 weeks is accepted by nearly all scholars to be Onias III, the last "legitimate" high priest before the Hellenizing party took control of the priesthood for Antiochus Epiphanes (Daniel 9:26; cf. 2 Maccabees 4:33-35). The assassination of Onias III is also alluded to in the parallel vision of Daniel 11:22 (where he is referred to as the "prince of the covenant"), and it is also a central event in the Animal Apocalypse of 1 Enoch 90:8 (the event that makes the rest of the sheep "open their eyes"). This event occurred in 170 BC, and since it marks the end of the 62 weeks, it also marks the beginning of the final 70th week. This final week is itself split in half, the critical event in the middle of the week being the installation of the Abomination of Desolation (i.e. the heathen altar installed on 15 Chislev 167 BC):
"After the sixty-two weeks, the anointed one will be cut off with no one to help him. The forces of a ruler who is to come will destroy the city and sanctuary. His end will be in a cataclysm and unto the end of the decreed war there will be desolations. He will make a strong alliance with the multitude for one week (i.e. the 70th week). For half the week he will suppress sacrifice and offering, and the abomination of desolation will be in their place, until the predetermined destruction is poured out on the desolator" (Daniel 9:26-27).
The alliance made by the "multitude" with Antiochus is reported in 1 Maccabees 1:11, in which Hellenizing Jews led "many people" astray by saying: "Let us go and make an alliance with the Gentiles round about us". This led to the first set of reforms and the assassination of Onias III, all of which preceded the campaign of Antiochus against Egypt in 169 BC. This fits well with the chronology of the 70th week as spanning between 170-163 BC. This campaign of 169 BC also involved a despoiling of the Jerusalem temple: "After his conquest of Egypt ..., Antiochus turned about and advanced on Israel and Jerusalem in massive strength. Insolently breaking into the sanctuary, he removed the golden altar and the lampstand for the light with all its fittings ... and the golden decorations in front of the Temple, which he stripped of everything" (1 Maccabees 1:20-24). Two years later, in 167 BC, when the mysarch Apollonius attacked Jerusalem again, "he pillaged the city and set it on fire, tore down its houses and encircling wall" (1:31-33; cf. 2 Maccabees 5:24-26). The desolation of the city and the sanctuary is thus something that indeed occurred within this 170-163 BC period. Compare the wording of Daniel 9:26 with 11:31, describing the events of 167 BC: "Forces of his will come and profane the sanctuary citadel; they will abolish the perpetual sacrifice and instal the abomination of desolation there". Daniel 9:27 then says that "for half the week" the abomination of desolation will replace sacrifice and offering in the sanctuary, and this fits indeed with the 167-163 BC period. The 3 1/2 years of Daniel 7:24-26, 12:6-7 is thus derivable from the sabbatical "70 weeks of years" schema, which happily turned out to be roughly correct. Unfortunately for the pseudonymous prophet though, the expected restoration did not immediately follow the death of Antiochus in 163 BC -- a promise made in Daniel 12:6-7 and implicit in the end of "70 weeks of years" of penance in ch. 9.
THE 1,150 OR 1,290 OR 1,335 DAYS VERSUS THE 3 1/2 YEARS
There is general consensus among Bible scholars about the above (despite the popularity of the christological interpretation of the "70 weeks" among evangelicals and conservative writers). But what there is much confusion about is the reason why the author of Daniel departed from the neat 3 1/2 year trope in favor of odd specific durations like 2,300 half-days, or 1,290 and 1,335 days. The main texts are below:
"It challenged the power of that army's Prince; it abolished the perpetual sacrifice and overthrew the foundation of the sanctuary, and the army too; it put iniquity on the sacrifice and flung truth to the ground; the horn was active and successful....How long is this vision to be -- of perpetual sacrifice, disastrous iniquity, of sanctuary and army trampled underfoot? ... Until two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings have gone by, then the sanctuary will have its rights restored" (Daniel 8:11-14).
"From the moment that the perpetual sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation erected: one thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he who stands firm and attains a thousand three hundred and thirty-five days. But you, go away, and rest; and you will rise for your share at the end of time" (Daniel 12:11-12).
The first text numbers 2,300 "evenings and mornings" during which the sanctuary is "trampled underfoot" and daily sacrifice is abolished and these 2,300 half-days (which are literal days because they have mornings and evenings and because they are days during which daily sacrifice is suspended) equate to 1,150 literal days. The terminus ad quem is clearly 25 Chislev 164 BC, as this was the date "the sanctuary had its rights restored", but the full period during which the Temple was defiled by the Abomination of Desolation was almost exactly 3 years, not 3 years and 2 months (= 1,150 days). Some, such as Driver, explain the discrepency by noting that the pillaging of Jerusalem began some months earlier and the 1,150 days should begin counting sometime before the installation of the Abomination of Desolation. However, if we grant that the book of Daniel was published in the midst of the persecution, the original author would not have actually known what the actual date of rededication would be. The attempt to harmonize the 1,150 days with history is thus probably gratitutous. What is more, the author clearly expects that the end of Antiochus would occur at the same time the Temple is restored. This is patent from Daniel 9:27 which has two events occurring at the end of the second "half-week": (1) the conclusion to the 3 1/2-year ban on sacrifice and daily oblation and (2) the doom assigned to the desolator. Moreover, Daniel 11:31 refers to the installation of the Abomination of Desolation but the Temple's restoration is still future, "for the appointed time is still to come" (v. 35), and the author's attempt at genuine (failed) prophecy of what happens "when the time comes for the End" in v. 40-45 describes the end of Antiochus but mentions nothing about the restoration, tho is the implicit in what happens subsequently in 12:1-3, and 12:7 claims that the restoration of the people occurs at the end of the 3 1/2 years "when he who crushes the power of the holy people meets his end". In other words, the original prophecy of Daniel had no expectation that the Temple would be restored before Antiochus met his end, but that is what happened in 164 BC. The Temple was restored several months earlier than expected, before Antiochus made his final onslaught against Judah described in 11:40-45 -- in fact this final attack never happened.
The usual explanation of the differing lengths is that the text of Daniel was revised shortly after its publication to update the time for the impending "end". On this view, the original length was 1,150 days which would have concluded when the Temple was restored (8:11-14). This is understood as a more specific ennumeration of the length than the more formulaic 3 1/2 years. The original ending of the book would have been 12:9-10 which works much better as a conclusion of the book than the current ending at v. 13: "These words are to remain secret and sealed until the time of the End. Many will be cleansed, made white and purged; the wicked will go on doing wrong, the wicked will never understand; the wise will understand." This ending however follows a statement that claims that Antiochus would meet his end at the conclusion of the 3 1/2 years. When the Temple was rededicated in December 164 BC but Antiochus failed to meet his end, the author interpolated his own text (so R. H. Charles, and others) with the claim that actually 1,290 days would pass from the time the Abomination of Desolation is installed. This stretches out the original 1,150 days with an additional 4 1/2 months. Although the prophecy had heretofore expected the end of Antiochus to coincide with the restoration of the Temple, the ill-fit between the seemingly literal 1,150 days and the rounded 3 1/2 years (half of a periodized "week of years") can here be successfully exploited: 1,150 days passed until the restoration of the Temple in December 164 BC, while Antiochus himself would come to an end in 163 BC at the end of 3 1/2 years. Hence, the interpolation in 12:11, specifying 1,290 days. At it turns out 3 1/2 years equates to 1,260 lunar days (i.e. 42 lunar months according to the lunar calendar) or 1,277.5 solar days (i.e. 365 x 3.5). Both of these are pretty close to the period specified in v. 11. But this date also came and went. Antiochus, to be sure, was dead, but the final assault of 11:40-44 never occurred and certainly the resurrection of the dead and the appearance of Michael and the restoration of God's kingdom (cf. ch. 2, crushing all earthly kingdoms) never happened. So a copyist interpolated the text further and added 12:12 to stretch out the period further to 1,335 days -- adding another 45 days for the fulfillment to come to pass. This hope failed to realize itself as well, but the gloss has remained in the text nevertheless.
There are several reasons why this explanation is unsatisfactory. First of all, if the author wanted to stretch the 1,150 days into the full 1,260 days or 1,278 days, why did he not use those numbers rather than 1,290? Did he add another month or fortnight to hedge his bets? More importantly, what is the point of adding a mere 45 days to a failed prophecy? That is a remarkable brief window of time to salvage a prophecy. Wouldn't it be safer to make it longer, or even to leave it open-ended? It also assumes that the 1,335-day period includes the 1,290 days mentioned in the prior verse. But this is not clear from the text. It is equally possible that v. 12 is postulating a 1,335-day period that follows the 1,290 days. This would certainly buy out more time for the prophecy to come to pass. Finally, why is 1,335 days the length chosen here? Is there something special about this number, a reason why this number is chosen and not something else?
PYTHAGOREAN NUMEROLOGY IN DANIEL?
Indeed, there is one compelling reason for considering the theory that the 1,335 days are supposed to follow the 1,290 days. When both these numbers are added together, they total 2,625 days. This is the equivalent of a solar "week of years" (365 days x 7), plus 70 days (i.e. 365 x 7 + 70 = 2,625). In the sabbatical framework of Daniel, 70 is a very important number -- representing a completion of 10 sabbaths. The "weeks of years" schema in ch. 9 is heavily influenced by the jubilees and sabbatical years of Leviticus (cf. 9:11 = Leviticus 26:14-39), such that the 70 weeks of years equals 10 jubilees, and the first week of 9:35 corresponds to 49 years of exile with a jubilee of return in the fiftieth year (cf. Leviticus 25:8-19). The expansion of Jeremiah's 70 years into a period of 490 years is also dependent on the "sevenfold curse" of Leviticus 26:21-26, 34-39 (70 x 7 = 490). The specific periods of 1,290 and 1,335 days both have intelligible significance in the sabbatical framework of Daniel.
Of course, the derivation of 70 days could well be a coincidence. On the other hand, what is the result if 1,335 days are added to 1,150 -- the other period mentioned earlier in Daniel (8:11-14) -- preceding the restoration of the Temple in December 164 BC? The total is 2,485 (1,150 + 1,335 = 2,485) and oddly enough, this number is 70 days less than a solar "week of years" (2,485 + 70 = 2,555). It is quite striking that the main two numbers (1,290 and 1,150) are both 70 days out from a solar "week of years" when added with 1,335. From this point of view, 1,335 is a sort of "magic number" that can derive a solar "week of years" when combined with either length of desecration and the subtraction or addition of 70 days.
The motivation for this can be sought in ch. 9 of Daniel. The 70th week is the critical week during which the Temple is desecrated by the Abomination of Desolation and the desolator meets his end. But since the prophecy of the "seventy weeks" pertains to the promised full restoration of God's people that had been delayed for a periodized 490 years, the end of the 70th week should bring the blessings promised in ch. 12 and the kingdom expected in the vision in ch. 2. In 163 BC the Maccabean revolt had not yet thrown off the Syrian yoke and established full Jewish independence; indeed in 162 BC Antiochus V and Lysias defeated Judas Maccabeus and besieged Mount Zion. The interpolator of ch. 12 would have thus inserted an additional 3 1/2 years to buy out more time for the blessings to be realized, creating a new "70th week" that would still end sometime in the future. It was an attempt to reinterpret the original "70 weeks" prophecy; the half-week of desecration of the Temple would then belong to the first half of the week, not the second half. The specific number of 1,335 was deliberately chosen to harmonize the 1,150 and 1,290 reckonings. That is to say, in the case of the 1,150 days (reckoned to the end of the desecration), an additional 70 days is needed to reach a total of 7 years because the Temple was rededicated a few months before Antiochus met his end. The 1,290 days however are reckoned from the start of the period of desecration and end at the death of Antiochus and thus include the 70 days. Then 1,335 days follow from the death of Antiochus until the full blessing of God's kingdom is realized -- completing the second half of the 70th week.
It should be remembered of course that because of the highly stylized nature of these numbers, we should not necessarily expect that Antiochus died exactly 70 days after 25 Chislev 164 BC. It was sometime in the spring of 163 BC, the exact date is not known, but the number 70 was likely chosen not for purposes of historical accuracy but because of its symbolic value and the arithmatic ease with which it harmonizes the two other numbers.
In a recent article, Susan Matthews provides an additional reason for considering that the 1,335 days are meant to complete a 70th week. As mentioned above, the sum of the 1,150 days of Daniel 8 and the 1,335 days of Daniel 12 is 2,485, which is 70 days less than a solar "week of years". Richard Baukham in prior work has shown that Pythagorean plane numbers play a major role in Jewish and Christian apocalypse. These numbers represent sums of whole number series represented on geometric planes of different shapes. To give a simple example, a triangle of four units of length on its bottom row (with 3 units of length on its third row, two units of length on its second row, and one unit at its first row) has a sum of 10 (e.g. 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10). This means that "10" is the triangle of 4, or put another way, is the 4th triangular number. All triangular numbers are sums of the entire series, including the last number. A square number is the sum of all successive odd whole numbers to and including the last number. Each shape has different numerical properties. Some well-known examples of plane numbers in the NT include the 153 fish of John 21:11 (which is the triangle of 17), the number of the Beast in Revelation 13:18 (666 is the triangle of 36), and the 144,000 of Revelation 14:3 (which is the sum of the squares of 10 and 12). As it turns out, 2,485 is the sum of all consecutive whole numbers up to and including 70; in other words, 2,485 is the triangle of 70. This sum, when added to another 70, results in 2,555 -- the number of days in a solar "week of years". Adding another 70 brings the total to 2,625 -- exactly the sum of 1,335 and 1,290. Thus the 70th week would represent the 70th triangular number and is 70 days in excess of a week of solar years. The culminative nature of triangular numbers also represents the comsummative function of the 70th week. Finally, the incentive to use plane numbers to represent the number of days in the 70th week (with the remainder itself indicating the (1) number of the week within the 70 weeks and the (2) triangular value of the total) may lie in the fact that 490 in the original prophecy of ch. 9 is itself a sum of two plane numbers (the second square of 7 and the second square of 10).
In conclusion, a revision of the usual understanding of Daniel 12:11-12 may furnish a more intelligible explanation of the numbers employed in the text. Rather than just putting off the End of Days a matter of mere months or days, the interpolation puts it off by roughly 3 1/2 years and supplies a number that combines well with the other numbers and lends itself easily to a reinterpretation of the original "70 weeks" prophecy in ch. 9. The addition of another like length encourages the reader to interpret the final "week of years" as spanning from 167-160 BC -- beginning with the desecration of the Temple by the Abomination of Desolation for a "half-week". Rather than interpreting the "anointed one" that is "cut off" as an individual high priest (e.g. Onias III), the "anointed one" would instead be viewed as the anointed sanctuary itself (cf. "anointing the Holy of Holies" in 9:24, so that the sanctuary itself is the "anointed", and "the sanctuary will be destroyed" in 9:26, so that the "anointed" being "cut off" is another way of saying the same thing). This reinterpretation salvages the prophecy and saves the unfulfilled 11:40-44 and 12:1-3 for the ongoing second half of the 70th week. But when 160 BC passed without the realization of the promised kingdom, the readers of Daniel would have likely sought new ways to reinterpret the heretofore unfulfilled prophecies.
As a sidenote, if Daniel does indeed use a solar calendar and Pythagorean numerology as the above discussion suggests, this would constitute further evidence of a late Seleucid date for the book.