And I Daniel looked, and behold, there stood other two, the one on this side, on the bank of the river, and the other on that side, on the bank of the river.
Daniel's last vision ends beside a great river. Two figures stand on opposite banks and a third stands above the water, and the question they raise closes the book: how long will the trouble last?
Verse 5 does not start a new subject. The place has not changed either.
From verse 5 we have the conclusion of Daniel's prophetic visions. He is still by the river Hiddekel, and he tells us that two others stood there, one on each bank of the river.
The "other two" are angels. One of them speaks, and his question is about the time of trouble already described.
The prophecy closes with this last vision of two angels standing one on one side of the river Hiddekel and one on the other. Daniel hears one ask, "How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?" "These wonders" refer to "the time of trouble" of which the angel has been speaking.
The third figure stands over the river, not on a bank. Writers trace Him back to chapter 10 and forward to what John saw.
"The man clothed in linen" points us back to the vision in chapter 10, verses 5 and 6, by the side of the river Hiddekel. That vision matches the vision John had of one like the Son of Man, in the first chapter of Revelation. So there can be no doubt that the man clothed in linen, whom Daniel saw, is Christ.
One writer weighs whether this figure is an angel at all.
The magnificent description in chapter 10, verse 6, is of One whom Daniel alone sees. He does not appear to have been a mere angel. He may have shown some features of angelic glory, but I believe this is One who often appears in both New and Old Testament history — the Lord of glory Himself. He appears now as a man — as One who had the deepest sympathy with His servant upon the earth.
The question raised at the river is one we ask too.
When we think about God's dealings, especially in judgment, the question that always comes to our minds is — How long? That was the question between these angelic beings, who appeared as men and had brought the prophecy to Daniel.
The reply sets a limit on the suffering and ties its end to God's action for His people.
After this, one of God's messengers speaks to the man clothed in linen, who stood above the waters of the river. He asks how long it will be until the end of the wonders — that is, until the tribulation ends through God stepping in to deliver Israel. The answer is three and a half years, or 1260 days. When God has put an end to the scattering of the holy people, all these things will be finished.
The guarantee behind that answer also says something about who gives it.
This reveals two things. The tribulation will not last beyond the half week. And at its close, having helped His people already in the land, God will gather His outcast people from every place where they have been scattered. A divine oath confirms both — one of the two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie. Compare this scripture with Revelation 10:5-7, and you will surely conclude that the One who speaks this oath is more than man.
Daniel wants more, and the answer draws a line.
Daniel asks for a fuller revelation about the end, but the oracle is sealed until the time of the end. Many will be tried and purified and made white, but the wicked will do wickedly.
That leaves a question: who can take in what God has said?
So we see clearly that understanding the words of God is a spiritual thing, not a matter of mere intellect. If it were only intellect, the wicked might understand as much as the righteous. Scripture says plainly: none of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand.
- Place. Daniel is still by the river Hiddekel. Verse 5 opens the closing section of his prophecies.
- Persons. Two angels stand on opposite banks. A third, the man clothed in linen, stands above the water — the figure of Daniel 10, whom these writers identify as Christ Himself.
- Question. The messenger asks one thing only: how long the wonders — the time of trouble already described — will last.
- Answer. God confirms it by oath: three and a half years, or 1260 days. Then the scattering of the holy people ends.
- Reserve. The rest stays sealed until the time of the end. The wicked will not understand; the wise will, because understanding God's word is spiritual, not a matter of intellect.
And he said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, How long [is it to] the end of these wonders?
Daniel has just heard about a coming time of trouble for his people. Now, as the prophecy closes, someone asks the man standing above the waters of the river the question every sufferer asks: how long?
The figure addressed here is not new in chapter 12. Daniel saw Him earlier by the same river, and that earlier description settles His identity:
"The man clothed in linen" takes us back to the vision in the tenth chapter, verses five and six, by the side of the river Hiddekel. That vision matches the one John had of "one like a son of man" in the first chapter of Revelation. So there can be no doubt that "the man clothed in linen," whom Daniel saw, is Christ.
The word does not mean marvels in a happy sense. It points back to the trouble described at the start of the chapter, and the question is about when God will step in:
After this one of God's messengers asks the man clothed in linen, who was upon the waters of the river, how long it should be to the end of the wonders — that is, of the tribulation — when God intervenes to deliver Israel. The answer is three and a half years, or 1260 days; and that when God has put an end to the dispersion of the holy people, all these things will be finished.
Sometimes a reply shows what the question meant. The measured period given in verse 7 identifies the subject of verse 6:
The answer brings in the familiar period "a time, times, and half a time" — that is, the last half week. From this we understand that the question referred to the length of the "time of trouble" mentioned in verse 1. The answer limits that time to three and a half years, or 1,260 days. The second part of the answer adds more. When God has gathered His scattered people, having accomplished His purposes in their dispersion, all these things will be finished.
Some readers stretch this period across centuries. One writer answers that the text names who is in view:
The same is true of the three and a half years (Dan. 12:5-7). People may apply it to others on a longer scale, but there can be no doubt that it speaks plainly of the Jews at the end.
The answer does more than name a length. It also lists what ends when that length runs out:
The prophecy closes with this last vision of two angels standing, one on one side of the river Hiddekel and one on the other. "These wonders" refer to "the time of trouble" the angel has been speaking about. Now Daniel learns from God's word, confirmed with an oath, that the time of trouble will last for three and a half years. Further, when this period ends, the scattering of God's earthly people will be complete. The persecution of the godly will stop, and God's judgments on the living nations will end.
Daniel must shut up the words he has heard. John later sees a similar scene, and the difference between the two matters:
God commands Daniel to "shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end" (Dan. 12:4). John, however, sees the "little book open." The reason, I suppose, is that the time of the end has now come — that is, the end of the age, or seventieth week, or the last half of it. The question in Daniel is, "How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?" The answer is that it will be "for a time, times, and half a time," or three and a half years. In Revelation, the words should not be translated "there should be time no longer." They mean that there should be no longer any delay.
- Question. "How long?" asks about "these wonders" — the time of trouble the angel has already described.
- Person. The One asked stands above the waters. The matching description in chapter 10 identifies Him as Christ.
- Oath. The reply is not a forecast. God's word confirms it with an oath.
- Limit. The trouble lasts a time, times, and half a time — 1,260 days — and it concerns the Jews at the end.
- Result. When that limit runs out, the scattering ends. Persecution of the godly stops, and God's judgments on the nations end.
And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river; and he held up his right hand and his left hand unto the heavens, and swore by him that liveth for ever that it is for a time, times, and a half; and when the scattering of the power of the holy people shall be accomplished, all these things shall be finished.
Daniel's last vision ends with a question no reader can avoid asking — how long will this time of trouble last? The answer is not a guess. It comes as an oath, sworn with both hands raised, and it sets a limit on the worst time Israel will ever know.
The verse answers the question asked in verse 6. One writer says this question always rises in us when God judges, and he reads the reply as the measure of the trouble already described.
When we think about God's dealings, and above all His judgments, the question that always rises in our minds is — How long? That was the question these angelic beings asked each other. They appeared as men, and they had brought the prophecy to Daniel. Verse 7 gives the answer, and it shows what the question meant: how long to the end of the time of trouble, once it had begun? The answer was "a time, times, and half a time." We understand this to mean three and a half years — no doubt the second half of the seventieth week, pointed to in Daniel 9.
The one who swears is called "the man clothed in linen." That clothing links him back to a figure Daniel had already seen by the same river.
"The man clothed in linen" points us back to the vision in chapter 10, verses 5 and 6, by the side of the river Hiddekel. That vision matches the one John had of "one like a son of man" in the first chapter of Revelation. So we can have no doubt that "the man clothed in linen," whom Daniel saw, is Christ.
Much depends on whether "a time, times, and half a time" means ordinary years or a symbolic 1,260 years. One writer argues from the way Daniel uses "times" elsewhere — quoting an older translation — and from the lifespan of one man.
By "a time, times, and half a time" I understand three and a half literal years. This period is still future. It is a short and terrible crisis... "Times" always means literal years, I believe. Daniel 4:32 says, "seven times shall pass over you," and Daniel 11:13 (margin) says, "at the end of times, even years." In these places the term means literal years, not "prophetic" years... If the little horn stands for one man, it must be so here too. No one will argue that a single man lives through three and a half "prophetic years" — that is, years of years, or 1,260 ordinary years.
The phrase is not praise for their spiritual state. It is how the prophet still speaks of the nation.
Despite their state of treachery and rebellion as a nation, the Jews are, to the prophet, the holy people.
The verse contains its own test of fulfilment. Whatever Israel has suffered so far, the clause about scattering has not run its course.
This is another proof that the date belongs to the end. It is clear that he has not finished scattering the power of the holy people. "And I heard, but I did not understand."
Commentators differ on the last clause. The ESV speaks of the "shattering" of the power of the holy people; older translations read "scattering." One writer takes it as the crushing of Israel — the point where the godly have no strength left.
When that last week ends, all power will have gone from "the holy people" — the God-fearing remnant in Israel. They will be utterly weak, and their enemies will seem to stand at the height of their power and splendour. Then the Lord suddenly appears in glory and might. He delivers His poor saints, and crushes their enemies beyond recovery.
Another writer takes it as the end of God's purpose in scattering them, so the scattering closes in gathering. He also weighs the oath that seals it.
The second half of the answer says more. When God has gathered His scattered people, having accomplished His purposes in their dispersion, all these things shall be finished. So two things are revealed. First, the tribulation will not last beyond the half-week. Second, at its close God will help His people already in the land, and then gather His outcast people from every place where they were scattered. A divine oath confirms both — one of the two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie. Compare this passage with Revelation 10:5-7, and we must conclude that the One who swears this oath is more than man.
- Question. The verse answers "How long?" — it measures the time of trouble, not the whole of history.
- Oath. The One who swears is the man clothed in linen of chapter 10 — understood to be Christ Himself, so His oath cannot fail.
- Limit. "A time, times, and half a time" means three and a half literal years — the second half of Daniel's seventieth week. Elsewhere in Daniel, "times" means ordinary years.
- People. The prophet still calls the Jews "the holy people," even in their treachery and rebellion.
- End. The scattering is not finished, so the verse still waits. When it ends, weakness gives way to deliverance. Commentators read the clause as Israel crushed, or as Israel gathered home.