Here is another cut and paste from an older post of mine. This concerns how the Hebrew apocalypse of Daniel seems to construe the death of Antiochus and the resurrection occuring in the spring:
The date of I/24 in Daniel 10:4 has special meaning in the schematic calendar that is consistent with the time periods of Daniel. It ends a period of fasting lasting "twenty-one days" (v. 13), or "three weeks" (v. 2). Since he fasted a whole three weeks, receiving his angelic visit on I/24 (a Friday), he must have started his fast on I/3 upon receiving his original vision -- the day of man's creation in the schematic calendar (a Friday, with the sun being created on I/1, the fourth day of creation, a Wednesday). This is an appropriate day to have received the vision foreseeing the resurrection of the dead (12:1-3; the dead are brought to life from the "dust of the earth" just as Adam was brought to life from the dust of the earth in Genesis). What is especially interesting is that unlike the lunar calendar, the sabbatical schematic calendar obligatorily started the year directly upon the (schematic) spring equinox. If we count from the equinox (between XII/30 and I/1), I/24 is exactly 3 1/2 weeks later (from evening XII/31 to morning/day of I/24). Since Daniel elsewhere shows interest in periods of 3 1/2 "times" (7:25, 9:27, 12:14) and in weeks (ch. 9), this may have been part of the author's plan. The counting of weeks from the equinox to I/24 is also meaningful since the second week ends with Passover, the third week starts with the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the third week ends with the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Moreover, I/24 is the day before the sabbath in the sabbatical calendar, and the angel concludes his explanation of the vision by telling Daniel that after going his way he will rest until the resurrection. The reference is to the prophet's own death, but there may be a sabbatical overtone in this reference to rest. Finally, I/26 is the day of the waving of the Omer (cf. Leviticus 23) in the schematic calendar, which starts the counting of weeks to the Festival of Weeks (Shavu'ot) on III/15. With only the sabbath separating him from the counting of weeks to Shavu'ot, the timing is quite appropriate for the author's counting of weeks to the end of the 3 1/2 "times" in ch. 9 and the counting of 3 1/2 "times" in 12:6-7 "before all these things are fulfilled".
The periods of 1,290 days and 1,335 days also may point to the feast of Shavu'ot in the sabbatical calendar. These exceed the period of 3 1/2 years by 30 days and 30 + 45 days respectively (a month, another month, and an added half-month according to the schematic 360-day sabbatical calendar), and since the 3 1/2 years correspond to the final half-week in ch. 9, these periods of 30 and 45 days transpire after the conclusion of the "seventy weeks" (which conclude with the death of Antiochus, as does ch. 11). The moment that divides the two periods of 3 1/2 years in the apocalyptic survey in ch. 9 is the abolishing of sacrifice and offering after "the people of a ruler who shall come destroy the city and sanctuary", followed later by the installation of the appalling abomination in the Temple (9:26-27). This corresponds to the events concerning Antiochus related in 11:31, which follows the "ships of Kittim" (= Rome) frustrating Antiochus' campaign against Egypt. We know from historical sources that the Roman legate Laenas sailed to Egypt in late June 168 BC and he forced Antiochus to leave Egypt on 30 July 168 BC. Antiochus and his mysarch Apollonius then turned their attention to Judea and they plundered and razed Jerusalem sometime around September 168 BC, allowing them to "forbid burnt offerings, sacrifice, and oblations in the temple and profane the sabbaths and festival days" (1 Maccabees 1:20-53), and then on 15 Chislev (17 December 168 BC) they set up the appalling abomination on the altar and then sacrificed on it on 25 Chislev (i.e. 27 December 168 BC) (cf. 1 Maccabees 1:54-59), around the time of the winter solstice. This shows that September 168 BC, around the time of the fall equinox of 168 BC, marked the point separating the 3 1/2 years that started with the death of the "anointed one" (high priest Onias III, assassinated in 171 BC, cf. also Daniel 11:22) from the 3 1/2 years that span between the forbidding of sacrifice and oblations to the death of the desolator, i.e. Antiochus. That last event would be placed around the spring equinox of 164 BC, after the restoration and purification of the Temple in December 165 BC (exactly 3 years after it was defiled by the appalling abomination, cf. 1 Maccabees 4:52-55, cf. Josephus, Antiquities 12.320, Jewish War 1.32, who regarded this as fulfilling the prophecy of Daniel). Then the extra 30 days would extend beyond the completion of the seventy weeks of years to cover the first month of the year with the observance of Passover and the Festival of Unfermented Bread. Then the extra 45 days to complete the 1,335 days would lead up to III/15, the festival of Shavu'ot. This is the exact same date that Moses received his revelation of the covenant according to Jubilees, and in Judaism this day was kept sacred for covenant renewing. This is especially appropros, since Daniel was especially interested in the covenant -- both the false covenant that Antiochus imposed on the people (9:27, 11:32, cf. 1 Maccabees 1:11) and the holy covenant that those being resurrected had kept under the pain of death (11:22, 33-35, cf. 1 Maccabees 1:63). The "blessing" experienced at the end of the 1,335 days has its natural referent in 12:2-3 (cf. v. 13). It is also worth noting that this only works with the schematic calendar, as in the lunar calendar Shavu'ot is a moveable feast that can fall anywhere between 4 Sivan to 11 Sivan -- never the 15th of the month.
