Sabbath 14/8/29/120
Dear Friends
The prophet Daniel speaks of the King of Grecia and uses it to relate to 2,300 evenings and mornings. This prophecy is of a dual nature and relates to the ascendancy of the Greeks, and from that ascendancy he links it to the activities of Israel.
It was of importance to Israel, as the death of Ezra was coincidental with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE and the closure of the canon of Scripture from that time. There was no prophecy after the death of Ezra and the compilation ca. 321 BCE. The canon was closed until the First Advent of the Messiah. It was then added to by the record of the works of Messiah, John the Baptist and the letters of the apostles.
Daniel was a given a vision of the time of the end that was only explained to him in part. The dating was from the conflict of the Medes and Persians. These were the two horns of the Ram, and one was later than the other, and the higher one being the later one. Darius the Mede was the king mentioned in Daniel and he was subordinate to the more powerful Persians. They were in turn defeated by the Greeks. The Greeks in turn were replaced by the Roman system. All of this activity is played out under a strict timetable culminating in the Last Days.
Daniel Chapter 8
1: In the third year of the reign of King Belshaz'zar a vision appeared to me,
Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first. 2: And I saw in the vision;
and when I saw, I was in Susa the capital, which is in the province of Elam;
and I saw in the vision, and I was at the river U'lai. 3: I raised my eyes and
saw, and behold, a ram standing on the bank of the river. It had two horns;
and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher
one came up last. 4: I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward;
no beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue from
his power; he did as he pleased and magnified himself.
Elam is Persia, the nation of the sons of Elam. They are Semitic. They are modern Iran. The Medes are sons of Madai, son of Japheth, and were allies of the Persians and constitute the modern day Kurds.
The Persians had issued a proclamation, and assisted to construct the second Temple in Jerusalem. The Temple was ordered to be completed, and was completed in the reign of Darius II, Darius the Persian in 423 BCE. In the year 334 BCE Alexander, king of the Macedonians, entered Persia and made war on the Medes and Persians ruled by Darius III.
5: As I was considering, behold, a he-goat came from the west across the face
of the whole earth, without touching the ground; and the goat had a conspicuous
horn between his eyes.
6: He came to the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing on the bank
of the river, and he ran at him in his mighty wrath. 7: I saw him come close
to the ram, and he was enraged against him and struck the ram and broke his
two horns; and the ram had no power to stand before him, but he cast him down
to the ground and trampled upon him; and there was no one who could rescue the
ram from his power. 8: Then the he-goat magnified himself exceedingly; but when
he was strong, the great horn was broken, and instead of it there came up four
conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven.
The story of Alexander is well known. He died in 323 BCE and was succeeded by his four generals, who divided the empire among themselves. From that division emerged what became the Roman Empire.
9: Out of one of them came forth a little horn, which grew exceedingly great
toward the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land. 10: It grew
great, even to the host of heaven; and some of the host of the stars it cast
down to the ground, and trampled upon them.
The Romans occupied Judea and were instrumental in the death of Christ; for
Christ is the Prince of the Host. The continual burnt offering was taken away
and the Temple destroyed in 70 CE. That prophecy is covered in Daniel chapter
9 and is explained in the paper The
Sign of Jonah and the History of the Reconstruction of the Temple (No. 13).
11: It magnified itself, even up to the Prince of the host; and the continual burnt offering was taken away from him, and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown. 12: And the host was given over to it together with the continual burnt offering through transgression; and truth was cast down to the ground, and the horn acted and prospered.
The horn was to create an empire and then it was to be cast down, and a religious
system was to take its place as an image to the system of the empire of iron
in Daniel chapter 2.
13: Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to the one that
spoke, "For how long is the vision concerning the continual burnt offering,
the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary
and host to be trampled under foot?" 14: And he said to him, "For
two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary shall
be restored to its rightful state."
The restoration to its rightful state is a very interesting comment and concerns
Jerusalem. Jerusalem was given over to the Romans and was trodden under foot
for centuries. Jerusalem was rightfully the capital of Israel after its conquest
by David and his entry ca. 1005 BCE, and it became part of Judea.
Daniel did not understand the vision and asked for it to be explained. The Archangel Gabriel was told by the Archangel Michael to explain the vision.
15: When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it; and behold, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. 16: And I heard a man's voice between the banks of the U'lai, and it called, "Gabriel, make this man understand the vision." 17: So he came near where I stood; and when he came, I was frightened and fell upon my face. But he said to me, "Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end."
The vision was thus for the time of the end, but there was a direct relationship between the activities in the prophecy and the time of the end.
18: As he was speaking to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he touched me and set me on my feet. 19: He said, "Behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of the indignation; for it pertains to the appointed time of the end. 20: As for the ram which you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia. 21: And the he-goat is the king of Greece; and the great horn between his eyes is the first king. 22: As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power. 23: And at the latter end of their rule, when the transgressors have reached their full measure, a king of bold countenance, one who understands riddles, shall arise. 24: His power shall be great, and he shall cause fearful destruction, and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people of the saints. 25: By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall magnify himself. Without warning he shall destroy many; and he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes; but, by no human hand, he shall be broken. 26: The vision of the evenings and the mornings which has been told is true; but seal up the vision, for it pertains to many days hence." 27: And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days; then I rose and went about the king's business; but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it.
The explanation of the vision is this.
We know from the explanation that it relates to the Medes and the Persians and their successors, the Macedonians and Greeks. Their kingdom under Alexander became great, and on his death it was divided into four among his generals.
Alexander died in 323 BCE. He left no heir to the throne. This power vacuum led to intense struggle among his generals for control of the empire. His wife, Roxana, princess of Bactria, gave birth to a son shortly after his death. The child was the rightful heir to the throne. However, Cassander, one of the generals, killed both Roxana and her baby.
The struggle for power among the generals continued until 315 BCE, when the parties headed by the top four generals decided to divide the kingdom four ways. Daniel prophesied of this division in Daniel 8:21-22. These four generals were known as the Diadochoi, meaning Successors in Greek.
The generals and their areas of rule were:
Ptolemy Lagi ruled over Egypt, Palestine, Arabia, and Peterea. He was assisted
by the general Seleucus. General Seleucus had originally been given Babylon,
but was forced out by Antigonus.
Antigonus ruled Syria, Babylonia, and central Asia.
Cassander ruled over Macedonia and Greece.
Lysimachus ruled Thrace and Bythinia.
Continuing conflict among the Diadochoi saw Antigonus, the worst of the generals, subjugated by an alliance of the others in 312 BCE. His family fled to Macedonia where they set up a small kingdom.
The subsequent divisions were reduced to two, based on Egypt under the Ptolemies and Asia under the Seleucids. The Romans later defeated the Seleucids and the empire that grew from that system was Roman. The religious system they created was based on deceit, and truth was cast to the ground. They have destroyed many mighty men, and the people of the saints have been killed by them for almost two thousand years. They became magnified in their own minds and declared themselves to be gods both as emperors and as religious leaders or popes.
Without warning he shall destroy many and shall rise up against the prince of princes. That tells us that this system will survive until the last days and it will destroy many, and shall rise against the Messiah as prince of princes when he comes to save the elect.
Time of the Vision
The vision dates from the Battle of the Granicus in May 334 BCE.
The Persians were under control of Darius III, named Codomannus (ca. 380-330 BCE). He was the last king of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia.
Wikipedia notes that the ambitious chiliarch Bagoas murdered King Artaxerxes III of Persia in 338 BCE and then murdered his son Arses in 336 BCE. Bagoas installed Codomannus thinking he would be easy to control. Codomannus was a distant relative of the royal house who had distinguished himself in a combat of champions in a war against the Cadusii [1] and was serving at the time as a royal courier [2]. Codomannus was the son of Arsames son of Ostanes, one of Artaxerxes's brothers and Sisygambis, daughter of Artaxerxes II Memnon.
Bagoas tried to poison Darius when he proved hard to control. Darius was warned, and forced Bagoas to drink the poison himself. The Persian Empire had become unstable. Large portions were governed by jealous and unreliable satraps, and inhabited by disaffected and rebellious subjects.
In 336 BCE, Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander, was authorised by the League of Corinth as its Hegemon to initiate a sacred war of vengeance against the Persians for desecrating and burning the Athenian temples during the Second Persian War. He sent an advance force into Asia Minor under the command of his generals Parmenion and Attalus to "liberate" the Greeks living under Persian control. They took the Greek cities of Asia from Troy to the Maiandros River. Philip was then assassinated. The campaign was suspended on his assassination while Alexander as his heir consolidated his control of Macedonia and the rest of Greece.
In the spring of 334 BCE Alexander, who was 20 at the time, after being confirmed as Hegemon by the League of Corinth in his father’s place, invaded Asia Minor at the head of a combined Macedonian and Greek army. He was immediately confronted by the Persian Army with 8000 Greek mercenaries at the Granicus River in May 334 BCE near the site of what was ancient Troy.
The battle took place on the road from Abydos to Dascylium (near modern day Ergili, Turkey), at the crossing of the Granicus River (modern day Biga Cay).
The details are listed in the Wikipedia site at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Granicus
“He crossed the Hellespont
from Sestos to Abydos, and
advanced up the road to Dascylium, which is the capital of the Satrapy of Phrygia.
The various satraps of the Persian empire united and offered battle on the banks
of the Granicus River. A Greek mercenary, Memnon
of Rhodes suggested a scorched-earth policy of burning the grain and supplies
and retreating in front of Alexander, but his suggestion was rejected” (ibid).
Accounts of the battle don’t make a lot of sense to soldiers as the Persian army positions are odd, and seem to be the result of a previous encounter that may have been covered up by Alexander to disguise a serious error in his generalship. He almost died in this battle. His leadership was in serious question. The Macedonians won a hard fought battle, fought against a mixed force of Persians and 8000 Greeks mercenaries. They remarkably suffered few casualties if the accounts are correct.
The forces are listed by Wikipedia as follows.
Macedonians and their Greek Allies, led by Alexander, with about 5,000 cavalry
and 30,000 infantry, against:
Persians under a "committee" of satraps with some 10,000 Persian infantry
(peltasts), 8,000 Greek mercenaries and 15,000 Persian cavalry.
The numbers involved vary according to different accounts, with the Macedonians numbering anywhere between 30,000 to 35,000 and the Persians numbering between 25,000 and 32,000.
The magnificent training of the Macedonian Phalanx was largely responsible for the victory. They were able to win under indifferent leadership.
Subsequent battles with the Persians
In 333 BCE Darius himself took the field against Alexander. The much larger Persian army was outflanked and defeated at the Battle of Issus, and Darius was forced to flee. Alexander captured the baggage including Darius’ chariot, camp, and family. In 331 BCE, Darius' sister-wife Statira died in childbirth whilst in captivity. In September of that year Darius tried to negotiate with Alexander who rejected his overtures and defeated him at the Battle of Gaugamela. Darius’ chariot driver was killed, and Darius was knocked off his feet. The Persian force, thinking him killed, were routed. Darius subsequently fled to Ecbatana to attempt to raise a third army. Meanwhile, Alexander took possession of Babylon, Susa and the Persian capital of Persepolis.
Darius was deposed by his satrap Bessus and assassinated on Bessus’ order in July 330 BCE to slow Alexander’s advance. Bessus assumed the throne as Artaxerxes V. Alexander was slowed as he gave Darius a magnificent funeral. He later married Darius’ daughter Statira at Opis in 324 BCE. According to Plutarch Alexander took one of Darius’ catamites, the eunuch Bagoas (see also Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darius_III_of_Persia).
Conclusion
It was in this first battle of the Granicus River in 334 BCE that the He-goat
that was Alexander came over the earth and threw himself at the king of Persia.
This battle marks the start point of the prophecy.
It should be obvious that 2300 prophetic days from 334 BCE ends in 1967 (there is no year 0).
In 1967 the Israelis had fought the seven days war and were victorious. The Arab legion was committed in spite of Israeli requests that Hussein of Jordan remain neutral. The Arab legion was defeated and Jordanian-controlled territories on the West Bank of the Jordan were occupied by Israel. That included Jerusalem. Thus after 2300 years from the first battle of the Greeks on Persian soil Jerusalem passed back into Jewish hands. The Holy Land had been trodden underfoot for 2300 evenings and mornings from the Ptolemies and the Seleucids to the Romans and on to the Arabs.
However that sequence merely marks the start point of the Last Days before the coming of the Messiah and leads up to the final conflict where this body of military and political force under religious leadership literally attacks the Prince of the Host, which is Jesus Christ, at his return. It is not by humans that this system is destroyed but by Christ and the Host.
The prophecy concerning its return to its former state did not mean that the Temple would be built after 2300 days but rather it would be returned to Judah at the end of the period. There will also be another specific period of 2300 days and also seven years over the time of the end that sees the prophecies brought to a close and Messiah subjugate the false system. He will then subjugate the nations.
The year 1967 is the beginning of the sixty years before the millennial occupation of the Holy Land under Jesus Christ. It is marked in the Exodus prototype as the thirty days Mourning for Aaron. It concerns the loss and subjugation of the saints as referred to by Daniel. It was to last thirty years to 1997, when the final thirty years of the end was to commence represented by the Mourning for Moses which ends in 2027 (see the paper The Last Thirty years the Final Struggle (No. 219)).
In this sixty-year period we will see the entire conflict and fulfilment of the prophecies of the last days. Jerusalem and Israel will see war over that time until the subjugation of the nations at the battle of Megiddo in the War of Hamon Gog (No. 294).
When it is over Israel will extend to the Euphrates and Jordan, Syria and Lebanon
will be provinces of the greater nation of Israel under Messiah.
Wade Cox
Coordinator General
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