Understanding Daniel 8:14

Q. I was recently reading commentary about the temple mount and Jewish vs Muslim control of the site. One commentator wrote, “He (God) made a promise that from the shattering of Persia in 333 BC it would be 2,300 years until the sanctuary would be returned. Read Daniel 8 subtract 333 from 2,300 and see the date of a promise kept?” The date is 1967, after the Six Days’ War. Is what this person is saying true? Was the outcome of the Six Days’ War prophesied in the bible? Or are these verses talking about something else? Thank you for your time.

A. This interpretation is incorrect in almost every way. First, the prophecy of Daniel 8:14is about the first Abomination of Desolation under Syrian King Antiochus Epiphanes in 168 BC long after the Persians were defeated.  Second the figure 2300 is described as the number of evenings and mornings.  Since it takes 1 of each to make a day what we’re talking about here is 1150 days, or 3 years and 70 days, not 2300 years.  This was the duration of time the Temple lay desolate, being reconsecrated by the Maccabees in 165 BC.  And finally, the Temple was not reconsecrated in 1967. It didn’t even exist.