12:5,6
The main vision is over and we now have the epilogue. Daniel sees two others, one on either side of the bank. Somewhat surprisingly, it is one of these two men, rather than Daniel, who asks the question, “how long before these astonishing things are fulfilled?”.
12:7
The man “clothed in linen” says it will be “time, times and half a time”. This phrase has occurred before in Daniel, and occurs in Revelation. The lifting of his hands towards heaven signifies the solemness of what he is saying. He then adds “when the power of the holy people has finally been broken, all these things will be completed”. There are those who try to tie this into historical events. This seems to me to be a futile exercise. A lot of the stuff Daniel has seen in earlier chapters is clearly related to historical events, in particular Antiochus Epiphanes. However, Epiphanes did not break the power of the Jews. The Maccabees were rather successful in their resistance. This would indicate that we are looking at events far in the future.
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