Daniel 8:14

Charismatic leader of the Millerite Movement, William Miller, believed that he had predicted the Second Coming of Christ through the insights he derived from the Bible verse Daniel 8:14. 

And he said to me, ‘For two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.’ (ESV) 

Miller and his followers believed that the "2,300 evenings and mornings" mentioned in Daniel referred to a period of years that began in 457 BCE and would end around 1844 CE, the approximate date of Miller's predicted rapture. 

When I first learned of this particular verse being one of the greatest predictors of "The Great Disappointment," I began to think about the various Christian denominations and Jewish interpretations of the Old Testament's teachings. 

In the Catholic and Jewish traditions, Daniel 8:14 takes on a more historical interpretation in which the prophecy refers to the Greek ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes and his desecration of the Jewish Temple. The temple was then later cleansed and rededicated by the Maccabees in 164 BCE. In these traditions, the 2,300 days refer to the period of oppression faced by the Jews; not in reference to any end-times predictions as Miller and later, the Seventh-day Adventists, interpreted the verse to be about.

The various interpretations of Daniel 8:14 are reminders to me that scripture speaks to different communities in different ways depending on the experiences and spiritual needs of the people. While one interpretation cannot be considered right and the other wrong, it does go to show that biblical interpretation is complex and vast.