Atlantic Lyman conf.1972-02 Studies in Daniel 08 — Joseph Balsan

Well, it's a good thing our brother can eat those cookies and still keep his figure the way he does. I'm afraid some of us couldn't do that. Nice to see you all out tonight. Let us open our Bibles to Daniel chapter 8, shall we?

Daniel’s Vision of the Ram, the Goat, and the Little Horn

Daniel chapter 8 and verse 1. In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel. After that, which appeared unto me at the first. And I saw in a vision, and it came to pass when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace which is in the province of Elan.

And I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai. Then I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns. And the two horns were high, and one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.

I saw the ram pushing westward and northward and southward, so that no beast might stand before him. Neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand, but he did according to his will and became great.

And as I was considering, behold, an eagle came from the west on the face of the whole earth and touched not the ground. And the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power.

And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with color against him. And smote the ram, and break his two horns. And there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and stamped upon him.

And there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. Therefore the he-goat waxed very great, and when he was strong, the great horn was broken. And for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.

And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great toward the south and toward the east and toward the pleasant land. And it waxed great even to the host of heaven. And it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground and stamped upon them.

Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And a host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground, and it practiced and prospered.

Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint with spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot?

And he said unto me, Until two thousand and three hundred days. Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. And it came to pass when I, even I, Daniel, had seen the vision and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man.

And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was afraid and fell upon my face.

But he said unto me, Understand, O son of man, for at the time of the end shall be the vision. Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground. But he touched me and set me upright, and he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation, for at the time appointed the end shall be.

The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia, and the rough goat is the king of Grisha, and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.

And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance and understanding, dark sentences shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power.

And he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper in practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand, and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many.

He shall also stand up against the prince of princes, but he shall be broken without hand. And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true. Wherefore, shut thou up the vision, for it shall be for many days.

And I, Daniel, fainted and was sick certain days. Afterward I rose up and did the king's business, and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it. That is, none of those to whom Daniel communicated it understood it.

It doesn't mean that Daniel didn't understand it, because it was said in the 16th and 17th verse that Gabriel was sent to make this man understand the vision. And in the 17th verse he said, Understand, O son of man.

Prayer for Understanding Daniel’s Prophecy

Shall we look to the Lord in prayer? Our Father, we bow before thee now and thank thee for thy word that is before us. We thank thee for all who are in this service, and our expectation is from thyself.

We thank thee that thy spirit has been given to us to show us things to come, and that though these things were sealed in time past, we thank thee that now they are made known to us by thy spirit. And so we ask thy help and understanding, and if there should be amongst us any tonight who are unsaved, we pray that thy spirit will speak to them, and to thee we'll give thanks in the Savior's precious name.

Amen. Now as I mentioned, one of the first nights this book of Daniel is written in two different languages. Now of course we don't have that in our English version of course, but that is in the translations or in the originals in which it was written.

We know that it was written in two languages. It was written in the Chaldean or Aramaic, and it was also written in the Hebrew. That is, verse chapter 1, verses 1 through the whole chapter 1 and into verse 4 of chapter 2 is written in Hebrew.

And then from Daniel chapter 2 and verse 4 through the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th and 7th chapters, those chapters and portions are written in Aramaic or Chaldean. And then starting with the 8th chapter, which we have read tonight, and going to the end of the book, it is in Hebrew.

The Languages and Structure of Daniel

Now of course there is a special reason for these two languages in this book. We have been noticing how that in the 2nd chapter and through the 7th chapter we have brought before us especially the character and the dominion of the Gentile world powers.

And so of course, these things are written in language that the Gentiles could read, and so that they could get some measure of understanding about the length and the order of the dominion of the Gentile powers.

What would be the character of those Gentile powers? As we saw in chapter 3, the worship of the image. As we saw in chapter 4, the pride. As we saw in chapter 5, the impiety of those Gentile powers. And as we saw in chapter 6, the deification of a person who is the head of those Gentile world powers.

And then we saw last night, we saw how the vision that was given to Nebuchadnezzar in the form of a man with 4 or 5 different kinds of materials, gold, silver, brass, iron, and then a mixture of iron and clay, picturing for us the deterioration of those Gentile powers.

And deterioration in this sense, and I want to impress this upon our minds, and that is that a power deteriorates the farther it gets away from God. And as I said concerning democracy, which is considered by God as the very weakest form of power, because it is that which is the product of the people, the voice of the people.

The voice of the people, the Latin saying goes, I didn't study Latin so I can't give you the Latin quotation, but the English translation is, the voice of the people is the voice of God. Now that's what democracy says, but that is not true.

The voice of the people is not the voice of God, it is the voice of the people. And so, the Gentile powers deteriorate because the farther they get away from God, the more they become the expression and the desire of the people.

Gentile Powers as Beasts and the Danger of Popular Rule

Now we know that is also true in the history of the church. What is Laodicea? Laodicea is the rule of the people. Now we know how the people, so-called, rule in the church today. In many so-called churches, why the people decide who they want for a minister.

The people decide what they're going to do. It's not a question of what does the Lord say. I remember hearing about a woman who knew the Lord, and she was very disturbed about what was going on in their church, because the people were voting for a new preacher.

And she says, well, whoever heard of the sheep electing the shepherd? Whoever heard of the sheep electing the shepherd? But you see, it's the voice of the people. And so, we find that in that sense, in that power descends from God and becomes actually, eventually, the people's power.

Why, therefore, it's deterioration. And we saw how that from the first, after the first kingdom, we saw how people had more and more of a voice and more and more of control. But when Daniel saw it, Daniel saw it as four beasts.

Because he saw that those Gentile powers are beasts. And you know, it's very significant. You don't find any world power today that, for instance, has a dove as its representative. England has a lion.

Russia has a bear. China has a dragon. The United States has an eagle. All of these are beasts of prey. They're all beasts that devour. No gentleness. They're destructive. Every one of them. And so, we find that Daniel sees how that in the last form of those kingdoms, there is to be a little horn, a ruler who is going to exert tremendous influence and he will get his power from Satan and he will reign until our Lord Jesus Christ comes and a Gentile power is going to become an enemy of the people of Israel.

Distinguishing the Little Horns of Daniel 7 and Daniel 8

Now, when we come to the eighth chapter of Daniel, which is perhaps one of the most difficult chapters in the book, we have another little horn brought before us. And we don't want to confuse these two little horns.

This little horn here that we read about in the seventh chapter of Daniel and that we will read about again in the ninth chapter of Daniel, this Gentile horn is in the western world. He comes out of the fourth world empire.

In other words, he comes out of Rome and his seat will evidently be in the western world. But this power, and this power as we will see when we study tomorrow night's lesson, we will see that this man begins as a patron of the Jews.

Now, the reason why, beginning with eighth chapter of Daniel and on to the end, I'll just mention this, the reason why we have this in Hebrew is because this is especially concerning the Jews. And these things are written because the Jews are the prominent ones who are the objects of enmity, of prophecies, and of what is to take place.

The Jews are the important ones that are brought before us in Daniel 8 to the end of the chapter. And while, as I said, this Roman head, this head of this ten kingdom confederacy, we'll call it for convenience sake, I don't believe it will be called the Roman Empire.

I don't believe it will be called the revived Roman Empire. I believe they'll have a more modern name for it. Something like the United States of Europe, or the Confederacy of States in Europe, or something, you know, United Nations of Europe.

But nevertheless, of the western world, this political head here, he has, as we are going to see, he has a partner in Palestine, who is the Jewish head, and he is the Antichrist, a religious leader, who is also going to be their political leader in Palestine, and they make an agreement between them for the safety and security of the nation of Israel.

And for a while, this Gentile Roman head, he agrees and protects them against their enemy. But who is their enemy? Well, that is the one that we are going to speak about tonight. The one who is going to be the special enemy of Israel in this tribulation period.

The one against whom the people of Israel will need special protection. And this political head here, another little horn, as you notice, because as you notice here in Daniel chapter 8, it tells us here that, it tells us in the 9th verse, and out of one of them came forth a little horn.

Now, here we find a little horn in the 8th chapter of Daniel, and what I want to bring out is that we do not want to confuse these two little horns, which, of course, are individuals. Now, why are they called horns?

Why are they called horns? Why does the Bible call them little horns? Well, where is the strength of the symbol of the strength in a bull or a wild animal? It's in his horn. The horn is the symbol of his power and of his strength.

And so the reason they are given this title of little horn is because they are personalities with power. And so they are called little horns. So the horn is a symbol of power, but it is also a symbol of a person with power.

Now, here we have that this little horn of Daniel 8 is not to be confused with the little horn of Daniel 7. The little horn of Daniel 7 is in the western world. The little horn of Daniel 8, as we are going to see, is in the eastern world.

And that's why we have this Daniel 8 and we're carried, as it were, back here. Notice, in the 8th chapter, in the first verse it says, In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first.

And I saw in a vision, and it came to pass when I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam, and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai. Now we know that actually Daniel was not in Shushan, which was the easternmost extremity and which eventually became the capital of the Medo-Persian Empire.

When Belshazzar was ruling, Daniel was still in Babylon. Babylon was in authority. We saw in the 5th chapter how the Babylonian kingdom came to an end with the death of Belshazzar. So when Daniel says, In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, I saw a vision, where was he?

Actually he was in Babylon. In fact, Daniel never left Babylon to the end of his days. But in vision, he was carried into the extreme eastern part of what was eventually to be the Medo-Persian Empire.

And that took in not only all of Asia Minor and of Europe and Asia Minor and parts of Africa, but it extended as far east as the Indus and other easternmost places. And we find that Daniel was transported to these places, and he saw a vision.

The Ram as a Symbol of Medo-Persia

He was standing by the river. And he saw a ram. And this ram had two horns. And this ram was very powerful. This ram had two horns, and one was higher than the other, we read in the 3rd verse. And the one which was higher than the other, the higher came up last.

I saw the ram pushing westward and northward and southward, so that no beast might stand before it, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand, but he did according to his will and became great.

Now Daniel brings before us this ram. And this ram, of course, is a symbol of the Medo-Persian Empire. And he saw this ram pushing westward. He saw it pushing northward and southward. It was coming from the east.

And this empire was sweeping everything before it, to the west and to the north and to the south of it. Nothing could stand against it. It had two horns, one was higher than the other, and the highest one came up last.

And as we mentioned about the beast that Daniel saw on the bear, we saw the bear was lifted up on one side, picturing for us how that the Persians, who were the more modern of that combination of two nations, Media and Persia, they eventually became the strongest of these two nations, which were forming one nation, one union.

And Cyrus, the Persian, and the Persians eventually were the prominent and the strongest part of that union. And then he saw something else. He says, As I was considering, behold, an he-goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth and touched not the ground.

Now, we're not left in doubt as to who this ram and this he-goat are, because the Bible interprets it for us in the 20th and 21st verses. The ram which thou sawest, having two horns, are the kings of Media and Persia, and the rough goat is the king of Grecia.

Alexander the Great and the Notable Horn

Now, here we have in the goat, we have the symbol of the Grecian Empire. Now, the first two empires, the Babylonians and the Medes, both came from the west, east. You know, the human race began in the east.

After the flood, the ark rested in the east. The tower of Babel was built in the east, and people moved westward. And the first great civilizations all came from the east. Prior to Babylon, there was the Assyrians, but they were from the east.

And the Babylonians and the Medo-Persians, they came from the east, and they pushed westward. But here, for the first time, there is a new power, and this comes from the west. It comes from Greece. And this goat has one horn, and it has a horn, a notable horn between his eyes.

It tells us here in the fifth verse, and we're not left in doubt as to what that horn stands for, because in the twenty-first verse it says, and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.

Now that is Alexander the Great, who within a period of ten years conquered the entire known world of his day. If you and I were to recite how he stepped into place after place, there wasn't a single country that could stand against him.

Josephus, in his history, makes mention that as Alexander was marching towards Jerusalem to destroy Jerusalem, why the priests realized that they couldn't stand against him, and so they all dressed in white, and the chief priest carried a copy of the book of Daniel.

And he came to meet Alexander, and he read to Alexander, this prophecy from the eighth chapter of Daniel. And they say that as Alexander saw this chief priest, why he had had a vision of him the night before, and when he met him with this book in his hand, and he pointed out to him how that he was going to conquer the world, why Alexander spared the city.

And while he put them in subjection, as he did all other parts of the world, he spared the city, and spared their temple, and spared their lives because of the prophecy that he had been shown. He was the notable horn.

He was the leader of that great empire, and it says concerning that goat that his feet did not touch the ground. Notice what it says in the fifth verse. The goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth and touched not the ground.

In other words, he moved so fast that to symbolize or express that tremendous rapidity with which he conquered the world, it says his feet touched not the ground. Like sometimes driving, well, I don't know whether you're driving an automobile or an airplane, you're going so fast, you touch the ground.

Well, that's exactly the picture that we have here of Alexander. But notice what it says. It says, I saw him come close unto the ram, the seventh verse, and he was moved with colar against him and smote the ram, and break his two horns, and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and stamped upon him and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.

Now I want you to notice it says that he was moved with colar. Notice the sixth verse, he ran unto him in the fury of his power. Now it's true that the Medo-Persian Empire took the Babylonian Empire and it's true that the Roman Empire took the Grecian Empire in the order of war and so on, but the special relationship between Greece and Medo-Persia was that Alexander and the Greeks were filled with hatred and enmity against the Medes and Persians because a number of years ago when the Greeks were only small tribes and only small cities fighting amongst themselves, the Medes and the Persians had come in and done such hammock and destruction and bestowed such indignity and shame upon them that the Greeks never forgot it.

And so when they went against the Medes and Persians, it was not only an empire against another empire, but it was an empire that was filled with such enmity and hatred and fury that they would leave nothing of it to remain.

And so we find that they beat them down so terribly that the armies of Persia could not stand against the Greeks. And it says in the 8th verse,. Therefore the he-goat waxed very great, and when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and forth came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.

The Fourfold Division of Alexander’s Kingdom

Now we're not left in doubt as to what that means because in the 22nd verse it says,. Now that being broken, in other words, the big horn being broken, the notable horn being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.

In other words, when Alexander died, there was no one to take over the kingdom. No one was strong enough to pursue the policy of Alexander. No one was strong enough to make that empire the powerful weapon that Alexander had made it.

And so it was finally divided amongst the four generals. And those four generals divided that empire into four and there were four parts of it. Syria, Egypt, Macedonia, and Asia Minor. And those were the four parts into which that kingdom of Alexander was divided.

Antiochus Epiphanes and the Syrian Little Horn

Now why does he go back in the 8th chapter of Daniel to take us up with the 2nd and 3rd empires? Because as you notice here, it says in the 9th verse,. And out of one of them came forth a little horn which waxed exceeding great toward the south and toward the east and toward the pleasant land.

In other words, out of one of those four kingdoms into which the kingdom of Greece was divided, out of one of those kingdoms would rise a personality who would be a power, who would be a special enemy of the people of Israel and do things to Israel which were not only of great shame and sorrow and grief to them, but he was also going to foreshadow an enemy who would rise in the Middle East against Israel and who would be their special enemy against whom they would need protection.

Now if we study the Middle East situation today, Israel is surrounded by enemies. To the south is Egypt. We know that when Nasser was ruling, Nasser wanted to unite all the Arab nations into a single confederacy.

And he tried to do this by saying we are all against Israel. We want to destroy Israel and in order to do this we must be united. But Nasser was never able to unite the Arab nations into a single unified force.

And to this day they are not united in a single unified force. Though they all hate Israel and though they all want to get rid of Israel, nevertheless they have personal, national ambitions amongst themselves that causes them to be unwilling to yield all their power and all their authority to a single unified force.

And when we get to the 11th chapter of Daniel, we are going to see that of these four kingdoms there are two especially who are enemies of Israel in the past and who are enemies of Israel in the present and who will be enemies of Israel in the future and one of them is this Grecian little horn.

Now this Grecian little horn here was that part of the kingdom which was taken over in Syria. The other enemy that we find and we are going to find them both in the 11th chapter mentioned by name, one the king of the north is Syria and the king of the south is Egypt.

But I want you to notice that concerning this little horn it says in the 24th verse and his power shall be mighty but not by his own power. Now I don't know whether you remember it or not but you know Russia has sunk an awful lot of money and effort and materiel and manpower into the Mediterranean area.

Russia has sunk an awful lot of money and materiel and manpower into Egypt. And if you remember that when Nasser died remember what Russia did? Russia had its man right there in Egypt. Why? They were afraid that with a change of administration they might lose their power and so they tried to get their man into authority but they were unable to.

Sadat was put into authority and Sadat has thus far been able to as it were continue a course of moderation talking about warring against Israel but still not able to launch a war against Israel because there has been a balance of power maintained for Israel against the Arab nations and so there has been no effort to start anything of any serious consequence in the Middle East.

But at the same time that Egypt is fearful of starting anything there is a growing power in the North. Now when we talk about the North and the South we don't want to think of the United States as that which is the point from which we think and North of the United States and South of the United States.

When the Bible speaks about North and South in the book of Daniel it is speaking of North in relation to Jerusalem and South in relation to Jerusalem. It is all in relation to the people of Israel in the land of Palestine.

Now concerning the king of the North some people think well that's Russia. No the king of the North is not Russia. We are going to see that when we come to the 11th chapter of Daniel. The king of the North who we believe is this little horn that is spoken of here in Daniel chapter 8 is Syria or what was it what it was at one time the Ottoman Empire or part of the area which today is covered by Turkey.

And so we find that North is that part of this kingdom here that became Syria. And Syria embraces not only Syria but other little nations that are right around it and from these is going to come this great leader who is going to be the enemy of the people of Israel and against whom Israel will need protection.

Antiochus’s Defilement of the Temple

Let's look a little bit down about this man. It says in the 9th verse and out of one of them came forth a little horn which waxed great toward the South and toward the East and toward the pleasant land.

Now the pleasant land there of course is Palestine. It is the land of Israel. And it waxed great even to the host of heaven and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground and stamped upon them yea he magnified himself even to the prince of the host and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away and the place of his sanctuary was cast down and a host was given unto him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression and it cast down the truth to the ground and it practiced and prospered.

Now what is this about? Well here you notice we have an expression Antiochus defiles the sanctuary the 2300 days. Now here we have a man who rises out of the Syrian part of that empire and this man reaches toward the south toward the east and toward the pleasant land and this of course was a man in history who is known as Antiochus Epiphanes.

Now that's quite a name isn't it? Antiochus Epiphanes. Sometimes they called him Antiochus Epimandes and of course Epimandes meant the mad man. Epiphanes means the great man. Antiochus the great. But his carrying on was so awful that they called him Epimandes Antiochus the mad man.

Well what did he do? Well we find first of all he was a great military genius. He was a tremendous military genius. He reached toward the south he reached toward the east he reached toward the pleasant land toward the land of Israel and there was no one that could stand against him.

It says he waxed great even to the host of heaven and he cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground and stamped upon them. Now of course these are not literal stars. If we go to the 12th chapter of this book we'll find that they that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever.

What are stars? Stars are light bearers. Stars are guides. We were talking the other day about planting your potatoes by the moon. Well people are influenced by the stars. Stars are light bearers. What is pictured for us here is that he rises against the host of heaven.

That is those who were the rulers in Israel and those who were the religious light in Israel and he brings them down. He brings them under his power. He puts some of them to death. He corrupts others by getting them to swerve over to his side and we find he magnified himself even to the prince of the host and from him the margin says the daily sacrifice was taken away and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.

In other words, he swept into the land of Palestine. He came into the city of Jerusalem. He did away with their sacrifices. He did away with their priesthood. He turned their temple into a heathen temple by calling it the temple of Jupiter and actually took a sow and offered it upon the altar and he took the grease and the fat of that sow and he smeared the whole temple of Jerusalem so that it was defiled and corrupted so that Antiochus Epiphanes not only did that but he slew and killed thousands and hundreds of thousands of the godly Israelites who would stand against him.

Now if you want to read about Antiochus Epiphanes and what he did you'll find it in the first book of Maccabees which is in the Apocrypha which is not of course a part of the scriptures but nevertheless it is recognized as a reliable history of the people of Israel in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes and in the time of the Maccabees.

The 2,300 Days and the Cleansing of the Sanctuary

Now this man who defiled the temple he cast down the truth to the ground and practiced and prospered and then it says I heard one saint, the thirteenth verse, speaking and another saint said unto that certain saint which faith how long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot and he said unto me until two thousand and three hundred days then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

Now here he found two holy beings this word saints here really means holy ones and they were evidently two heavenly beings who were talking and they were asking the question how long are these sacrifices going to be taken away how long is the sanctuary going to be defiled how long is this going to continue and the angel said for twenty three hundred days and then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

Now you know this expression here twenty two thousand three hundred days now they tell us and I notice that in my margin that word days is evening morning in other words twenty three hundred evening mornings bringing before us that these were literal days of twenty three hundred days and it is a historical fact that after defiling that temple Antiochus Epiphanes lived a few more years and after twenty three hundred days they began cleansing the temple and reinstituting it for the worship and the sacrifices that Israelites were responsible to carry out and do.

Now the reason why I mention that it was actually twenty three hundred literal days evenings and mornings is because there are people that take this expression twenty three hundred days and they try to say well twenty three hundred days especially the Seventh-day Adventists they'll say well twenty three hundred days from the time that the temple was defiled well those twenty three hundred days each day stands for a year so it represents twenty three hundred years and it's a fact they said well I might go back a little you know about 1840 why the people of Seventh-day Adventists they decided that Christ was coming and the way they figured it out was by this twenty three hundred days and they said well that's twenty three hundred years and so they figured out and they figured out that it came to 1844.

So in 1844 why these Seventh-day Adventists why they sold their things and they were all on top of a mountain waiting for Christ to come back but you know he didn't come back and so they began wondering well why didn't he come back.

We better we better start. Oh here it is. Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. Well it was not until 1844 that Christ who died and rose again he finally entered into heaven in 1844 and he cleansed the sanctuary in heaven and made it a fit place.

When they couldn't explain that Christ didn't come literally according to their figures. Why then of course they had to come up with that and they said the heavenly sanctuary was cleansed. But these twenty three hundred days mean literally twenty three hundred days.