Appendix Two: The day-for-a-year principle.

David Bird

Bible prophecy in Revelation and Daniel sometimes includes important time periods. In the interpretation of these periods it is essential to have an understanding of the day-for-a-year principle. This principle means that for periods of time mentioned in Bible prophecies like Daniel and Revelation a prophetic "day" stands for a literal year.

The day-for-a-year principle is a well-established method of prophetic interpretation that has been used by both Jews and Christians for centuries.¹It relates to time prophecies in the apocalyptic sections of Daniel and Revelation. As Revelation 1:1 points out,² material in apocalyptic literature is to be taken as having a symbolic meaning unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. With this is mind the day-for-a-year principle is a commonsense way of approaching these time prophecies that are obviously symbolic and which don’t make any sense if taken literally. But it is not just commonsense because the Bible itself points out that this is the method to be used.

In non-apocalyptic scripture the idea of a day standing for a year is relatively common. Examples include Numbers 14:34, Ezekiel 4:6, Genesis 29:27 and Leviticus 25:3, 4.³

Concerning the prophecy of Daniel chapter 7, the "time and times and the dividing of time" of verse 25 cannot mean a literal 3 1/2 years. The kingdom of the horn with eyes and a mouth referred to in this verse is a more significant kingdom in the vision than the empires that reigned before it (the previous kingdoms were Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Imperial Rome, please see the answer to Question 43 for more details). All these previous kingdoms lasted for many decades. Also God judges the horn with eyes and a mouth towards the end of earth's history when He gives the dominion to His Son (Daniel 7:21, 22; 24-27). So it must continue for a long time after the downfall of the previous empire (Imperial Rome).

In Daniel chapter 9 the prophecy about the seventy weeks or 490 days is incomprehensible without the day-for-a-year principle being applied. The angel tells Daniel that a period of "seventy weeks" is determined (literally "cut off") for the Jews "to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy" (vs. 24). Also after 69 of these weeks the Messiah will come (vs. 25). How could all this happen in a literal seventy weeks, which is less than one-and-a-half years?

The seventy weeks (490 years) of chapter 9 are cut off from the longer period of chapter 8.⁴This indicates that the day-for-a-year principle must also apply in Daniel 8. In Daniel 8:13 it says "How long will the vision be…?". This vision of chapter 8 runs from the ram (Medo-Persia, Daniel 8:20) right through to the activities of the exceedingly great horn (Daniel 8:9, symbolizing both Imperial and Papal Rome ⁵). Therefore the 2300 period of Daniel 8:14 must cover Medo-Persia, Greece, Imperial Rome and Papal Rome. Obviously 2300 days would never do here and 2300 years must be accepted as the meaning of the symbolism. Furthermore, while the prophecy of Daniel chapter 8 starts with Medo-Persia, we are told it relates to the "time of the end". Therefore the 2300 period must certainly be a long period of time to take us to the time of the end.⁶

If we compare the 2300 "evening-mornings" or "days" of Daniel 8:14 with the years of Daniel 11:6, 8 and 13 we have another example of the day-for-a-year principle being taught. Events portrayed in the largely symbolic vision of Daniel 8 are given in more detail in the mainly literal descriptions of Daniel chapter 11. The vision of Daniel 8, which began in the Persian realm and continued through the Greek period, and beyond, uses symbolic days. But the material in chapter 11 describing the same Greek period as is covered in Daniel 8 uses literal years. Thus we have days in Daniel 8 turning into years in Daniel 11.⁷

To re-emphasize a point mentioned earlier, these time periods in apocalyptic prophecy are characterized by symbolic language.⁸ This should at least point us to considering the day-for-a-year principle as applying. After all, why would one want to use symbolic language unless there was some deeper meaning behind the time period mentioned?

Footnotes

1. Froom L. E., The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Washington DC, Review and Herald, 1950, vol. 1, pp. 176, 203.

2. Revelation 1:1 says that this prophetic revelation was "sent and signified ". The original Greek word for signified is semaino from sema, a mark. This points us to the important principle that in the book of Revelation what is written is to be taken as symbolic or figurative unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. This is the opposite of what happens in the rest of the Bible where what you read is to be taken literally unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

3. In Leviticus 25:3, 4 the week is used to symbolize a seven-year cycle with the seventh-day Sabbath representing the seventh year of rest.

4. In Daniel 9:24 the word "determined" comes from the Hebrew word chathak and means, "to cut off" (Strong J, A concise Dictionary of the words in The Hebrew Bible with their renderings in the Authorised English Version). So verse 24 literally says "Seventy weeks are cut-off for your people…". What are these seventy weeks cut off from? Notice that the same angel Gabriel, who was commissioned to make Daniel understand in the chapter 8 vision (Daniel 8:16), comes in chapter 9 to finish his task (Daniel 9:21). In Daniel 9:23 Gabriel says "understand the vision". The part of the chapter 8 vision that Daniel did not understand was the 2300 evening-mornings (Daniel 8:26, 27; c.f. Daniel 8:14). Gabriel takes up the explanation where he left off in the previous chapter, on the subject of time. The seventy weeks are obviously cut off from the beginning of the longer 2300-day period. Therefore the two time periods have the same starting point.

5. The exceedingly (the KJV uses the older word exceeding) great horn of Daniel 8 symbolizes Rome, both Imperial and Papal. Most of the description in the vision is about the activities of the papal phase.

6. By studying Daniel 11:35 and 12:7-10 along with Daniel 7:25 we can see that the "time of the end", when Daniel's prophecies would be unsealed, started at the end of the 1260 years of persecution i.e. 1798.

7. For further details on this and on the day-for-a-year principle in general please see Shea W. H., Selected Studies on Prophetic Interpretation, Rev. Ed., Daniel and Revelation Committee Series vol. 1, Hagerstown, Maryland, Review and Herald Pub. Assoc., 1992, p. 67-110.

8. E.g. "a time and times and the dividing of time" (Daniel 7:25), "two thousand and three hundred days" (Daniel 8:14), "seventy weeks" (Daniel 9:24).