Lesson 9, February 22-28
Sabbath Afternoon
Memory Text: “And he said to me, ‘For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed’.” Daniel 8:14
The vision reported in Daniel 8 was given to the prophet in 548/547 B.C., and it provides some significant clarifications about the judgment referred to in Daniel 7. Unlike the visions of Daniel 2 and 7, the vision of Daniel 8 leaves out Babylon and starts with Media-Persia, because at this time Babylon was in decline and the Persians were about to replace Babylon as the next world power. The vision of Daniel 8 parallels that of Daniel 7. The language and the symbols change in Daniel 8 because it brings into sharp focus the purification of the heavenly sanctuary in connection with the heavenly Day of Atonement. Thus the distinctive contribution of Daniel 8 lies in its focus on aspects of the heavenly sanctuary. Whereas Daniel 7 shows the heavenly tribunal and the Son of man receiving the kingdom, Daniel 8 shows the purification of the heavenly sanctuary. So as the parallels between these two chapters indicate, the purification of the heavenly sanctuary depicted in Daniel 8 corresponds to the judgment scene of Daniel 7.
