Daniel 12

6. one--namely, of the two ( Daniel 12:5 ).
man . . . in linen--who had spoken up to this point. God impelled the angel to ask in order to waken us out of our torpor, seeing that the very "angels desire to look into" the things affecting man's redemption ( 1 Peter 1:12 ), as setting forth the glory of their Lord and ours ( Ephesians 3:10 ).
How long . . . to the end of these wonders--This question of the angel refers to the final dealings of God in general, Antichrist's overthrow, and the resurrection. Daniel's question ( Daniel 12:8 ) refers to the more immediate future of his nation [AUBERLEN].

7. held up . . . right . . . and . . . left hand--Usually the right hand was held up in affirmation as an appeal to heaven to attest the truth ( Deuteronomy 32:40 , Revelation 10:5 Revelation 10:6 ). Here both hands are lifted up for the fuller confirmation. NEWTON, referring this prophecy to the Eastern apostasy, Mohammedanism, remarks that the same period of three and a half years, or 1260 prophetic days, is assigned to it as the Western apostasy of the little horn ( Daniel 7:25 ); and so, says PRIDEAUX, Mohammed began to forge his imposture, retiring to his cave, A.D. 606, the very year that Phocas made the grant to the bishop of Rome, whence he assumed the title, The Universal Pastor; Antichrist thus setting both his feet on Christendom together, the one in the East, and the other in the West. Three and a half is the time of the world power, in which the earthly kingdoms rule over the heavenly [AUBERLEN]. "Three and a half" represents the idea of spiritual trial; (besides this certain symbolical meaning, there is doubtless an accurate chronological meaning, which is as yet to us uncertain): it is half of "seven," the complete number, so a semi-perfect state, one of probation. The holy city is trodden by the Gentiles forty-two months ( Revelation 11:2 ), so the exercise of the power of the beast ( Revelation 13:5 ). The two witnesses preach in sackcloth 1260 days, and remained unburied three days and a half: so the woman in the wilderness: also the same for a "time, times, and a half" ( Revelation 11:3 Revelation 11:9 Revelation 11:11 , Revelation 12:6 Revelation 12:14 ). Forty-two connects the Church with Israel, whose haltings in the wilderness were forty-two ( Numbers 33:1-50 ). The famine and drought on Israel in Elijah's days were for "three years and six months" ( Luke 4:25 , 5:17 ); there same period as Antiochus' persecution: so the ministry of the Man of Sorrows, which ceased in the midst of a week ( Daniel 9:27 ) [WORDSWORTH, Apocalypse].
scatter . . . holy people--"accomplished" here answers to "the consummation" ( Daniel 9:27 ), namely, the "pouring out" of the last dregs of the curse on the "desolated holy people." Israel's lowest humiliation (the utter "scattering of her power") is the precursor of her exaltation, as it leads her to seek her God and Messiah ( Matthew 23:39 ).

8. understood not--Daniel "understood" the main features of the vision as to Antiochus ( Daniel 10:1 Daniel 10:14 ), but not as to the times. 1 Peter 1:10-12 refers mainly to Daniel: for it is he who foret ells "the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow"; it is he who prophesies "not unto himself, but unto us"; it is he who "searched what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ in him did signify."

9. Daniel's desire of knowing more is thus deferred "till the time of the end." John's Revelation in part reveals what here is veiled

10. There is no need of a fuller explanation as to the time; for when the predictions so far given shall have come to pass, the godly shall be "purified" by the foretold trials and shall understand that the end is at hand; but the wicked shall not understand, and so shall rush on to their own ruin ( Daniel 11:33-35 ) [MAURER]. The "end" is primarily, of Antiochus' persuasion; antitypically, the end of Antichrist's. It is the very clearness in the main which renders necessary the obscurity. The fulfilment of God's decree is not a mere arithmetical problem which the profane may understand by arithmetical calculations, but a holy enigma to stimulate to a faithful observance of God's ways, and to a diligent study of the history of God's people [AUBERLEN]. To this Christ refers ( Matthew 24:15 ), "Whose readeth, let him understand."

11. from . . . sacrifice . . . taken way . . . abomination--( Daniel 11:31 ). As to this epoch, which probably is prophetically germinant and manifold; the profanation of the temple by Antiochus (in the month Ijar of the year 145 B.C., till the restoration of the worship by Judas Maccabeus on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month [Chisleu] of 148 B.C., according to the Seleucid era, 1290 days; forty-five days more elapsed before Antiochus' death in the month Shebat of 148 B.C., so ending the Jews' calamities [MAURER]); by pagan Rome, after Christ's death; by Mohammed; by Antichrist, the culmination of apostate Rome. The "abomination" must reach its climax (see AUBERLEN'S translation, "summit," Daniel 9:27 ), and the measure of iniquity be full, before Messiah comes.
thousand two hundred and ninety days--a month beyond the "time, times, and a half" ( Daniel 12:7 ). In Daniel 12:12 , forty-five days more are added, in all 1335 days. TREGELLES thinks Jesus at His coming will deliver the Jews. An interval elapses, during which their consciences are awakened to repentance and faith in Him. A second interval elapses in which Israel's outcasts are gathered, and then the united blessing takes place. These stages are marked by the 1260, 1290, and 1335 days. CUMMING thinks the 1260 years begin when Justinian in 533 subjected the Eastern churches to John II, bishop of Rome; ending in 1792, when the Code Napoleon was established and the Pope was dishonored. 1290 reach to 1822, about the time of the waning of the Turkish power, the successor to Greece in the empire of the East. Forty-five years more end in 1867, the end of "the times of the Gentiles." See Leviticus 26:24 , "seven times," that is, 7 X 360, or 2520 years:652 B.C. is the date of Judah's captivity, beginning under Manasseh 2520 from this date end in 1868, thus nearly harmonizing with the previous date, 1867. [CLINTON] begins in 1862. Seven years to 1869 (the date of the second advent) constitute the reign of the personal Antichrist; in the last three and a half, the period of final tribulation, Enoch (or else Moses) and Elijah, the two witnesses, prophesy in sackcloth. This theory is very dubious (compare Matthew 24:36 , Acts 1:7 , 1 Thessalonians 5:2 , 2 Peter 3:10 ); still the event alone can tell whether the chronological coincidences of such theories are fortuitous, or solid data on which to fix the future times. HALES makes the periods 1260, 1290, 1335, begin with the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and end with the precursory dawn of the Reformation, the preaching of Wycliffe and Huss.

13. rest--in the grave ( Job 3:17 , Isaiah 57:2 ). He, like his people Israel, was to wait patiently and confidently for the blessing till God's time. He "received not the promise," but had to wait until the Christian elect saints should be brought in, at the first resurrection, that he and the older Old Testament saints "without us should not be made perfect" ( Hebrews 11:40 ).
stand--implying justification unto life, as opposed to condemnation ( Psalms 1:5 ).
thy lot--image from the allotment of the earthly Canaan.