What is the meaning of Daniel 8:14?

He said to me

• The speaker is the angel Gabriel, sent to give Daniel precise understanding (Daniel 8:16–17).

• God initiates the conversation; Daniel is not guessing but receiving divine revelation (Amos 3:7).

• The personal address (“to me”) assures that prophecy is meant for real people in real history—encouragement to every believer who needs clarity in dark times (John 15:15).

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It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings

• “Evenings and mornings” repeat the creation pattern (Genesis 1:5); the phrase naturally denotes complete, literal days.

• 2,300 days equals about six years and four months. That span fits the historical interval from Antiochus IV’s desecration of the altar in 167 BC to the temple’s cleansing under Judas Maccabeus in late 165 BC (Daniel 8:11–13; 1 Maccabees 4:52–56 gives the same date historically).

• Other prophetic day-counts (Daniel 9:27; 12:11–12) show God’s habit of setting exact limits on evil, assuring His people that oppression has an expiration date (Luke 21:24).

• The literal fulfillment under Antiochus becomes a pattern previewing a future, larger desecration under the final Antichrist (2 Thessalonians 2:3–4; Revelation 13:5).

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then the sanctuary

• The spotlight is the earthly temple in Jerusalem, the place God chose for His Name (2 Chronicles 6:6).

• By attacking the sanctuary, the enemy tries to strike at God’s covenant presence among His people (Psalm 74:7–8).

• The prophecy assures that the sanctuary, though defiled, will not be abandoned forever (Isaiah 62:1).

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will be properly restored

• “Restored” means brought back to rightful use—sacrifices resumed, furnishings cleansed, worship renewed (Exodus 29:36–37).

• History records that on the 25th of Kislev, 165 BC, the altar was rebuilt and rededicated, an event still remembered at the Feast of Dedication (John 10:22).

• Every physical cleansing anticipates God’s ultimate plan to purify a people and, one day, to establish a perfectly holy dwelling forever (Ezekiel 37:26–28; Revelation 21:3).

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summary

Daniel 8:14 promises that after a fixed period of 2,300 literal days of desecration, God Himself will move to cleanse and restore His sanctuary. Historically fulfilled in the Maccabean era, the verse confirms God’s sovereignty over timelines and tyrants while foreshadowing an even greater, final restoration still to come. The message: evil is real but temporary; God’s holiness and faithfulness are permanent.