Bible Discussion Thread

Actually, concerning the 'ereb boqer (evenings, mornings) of verse 14, the Adventists are not in error on this point. It's all in the word order. "Evening and morning" is the Biblical language used for meaning one day. This principle is set forth in the book of Genesis:

"So the evening and the morning were the first day." (1:5)

"So the evening and the morning were the second day." (1:8)

"So the evening and the morning were the third day." (1:13)

And so forth. In the Bible, days begin in the evening. Hence the reason the Lord said "from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath" ( Leviticus 23:32). The morning, then, would be the second part of the day.

However, with regards to sacrifices, this order is reversed. Instead of evening and morning, the language use for offerings is morning and evening. This is made plain in the following examples:

Exodus 29:39
One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight ['ereb].

Numbers 28:4
The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, the other lamb you shall offer in the evening.

2 Kings 16:15
On the great new altar burn the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering...

1 Chronicles 16:40
to offer burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of burnt offering regularly morning and evening...

2 Chronicles 2:4
...for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, on the New Moons, and on the set feasts of the LORD our God...

2 Chronicles 13:11
And they burn to the LORD every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense...

Thus the phrase "morning" and "evening" became the staple for signifying sacrificial offerings all throughout Scripture. As Siegfried Schwantes points out, this expression perpetuated into the post-Old Testament when the Apocrypha came about. 1 Esdras 5:50 says, "and they offered sacrifices according to the time, and burnt offerings to the Lord both morning and evening."

Now, if the text in Daniel 8:14 had stated 2300 mornings and evenings, then a case could be made that the passage was, indeed, talking about sacrifices (though, I think, it would still seem that each morning and evening would stand for a day). However, the text doesn't use that order. Rather, it says "evenings and mornings" which, as indicated above, is the language used for a day. So, the KJV rendering of 'ereb boqer as meaning "days" may be a bit interpretive, but it is by no means inaccurate. The translators knew what they were doing in this case. So, understanding that the expression means 2300 days and applying the year-day principle to this text (which had also been done from time to time prior to the Millerite movement), the doctrine that this is a 2300 year prophecy stands upon firm ground.