In this part of the chapter, we continue from the point where Daniel saw the small horn emerging from one of the four horns and growing exceedingly large. From here on, the vision describes the Greek empire's assault on the Jewish people, the salvation that arose through the Chashmonaim, the destruction of the Second Temple at the hands of Rome, and finally, the calculation of the end of days conveyed to Daniel by the angels. We will follow the order of the verses, explaining primarily according to the Malbim, and in certain places also according to Rashi.
וַתִּגְדַּל עַד צְבָא הַשָּׁמָיִם וַתַּפֵּל אַרְצָה מִן הַצָּבָא וּמִן הַכּוֹכָבִים וַתִּרְמְסֵם׃ - "And it grew great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and trampled them."
The horn grew so great in its power that it struck the host of heaven. The Jewish people are called the "host of heaven" because they believe in Hashem, may He be blessed; furthermore, Israel is compared to stars. And what did that wicked tyrant seek? To force them to abandon their religion. This was something we had not encountered under the previous empires: earlier empires wanted taxes, honor, dominion, and slaves - but forcing us to abandon our faith was never their goal. He, however, came to wage war against the Jewish people specifically to force them to abandon their religion.
This is the meaning of "and it cast down some of the host to the ground" - it threw them down from heaven to the earth, so that they would no longer be on the level of the host of heaven, servants of Hashem, but rather reduced to being "earthly": no longer a holy nation, but like all other idolaters. "And of the stars" - these are the Kohanim, the priests of Hashem whom he murdered, who embody the verse "and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever." "And trampled them" - he killed the pious servants of Hashem and trampled them with his power and cruelty. Chazal record terrible accounts of the cruelty and murderousness of that wicked Antiochus.
וְעַד שַׂר הַצָּבָא הִגְדִּיל וּמִמֶּנּוּ הוּרַם הַתָּמִיד וְהֻשְׁלַךְ מְכוֹן מִקְדָּשׁוֹ׃ - "Even to the Prince of the host it magnified itself, and from him the daily offering was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down."
The Malbim explains: all of this oppression will continue until the prince of the host rises to greatness. The "host," as we explained, is the Jewish people - the servants of Heaven; and the "prince of the host" is Matisyahu the Kohen Gadol and his sons, the Maccabees. In other words, this subjugation will persist until a commander arises from within the Jewish people to wage war against him. "And from him the daily offering was exalted" - through him the Tamid offering was restored and elevated. For the Greek empire desecrated the sacred and abolished the Temple service, until the Chashmonaim entered, breached the gaps made by the Greeks, purified the Sanctuary, kindled the lights of the Menorah, and offered the Tamid. Thus, through the commander who rose to greatness, the daily offering that had been suspended was elevated and returned to its proper place.
"And the place of his sanctuary was cast down" - the Malbim notes that this already refers to another vision. After the Tamid was restored and the Temple rededicated, the angel tells him: know that ultimately, the foundation of His sanctuary will be cast down. The wicked Roman Empire will come and bring about destruction, during which the Tamid offering will once again be abolished.
Rashi interprets this in the opposite manner: "Even to the Prince of the host it magnified itself" - the horn acted with great arrogance in its war against Israel, until it reached the Prince of the host. And who is the Prince of Israel's host? The Holy Temple. He gave himself no rest until he desecrated the House of the Holy One, Blessed be He, the Commander of Israel's hosts. Then, "from Him the daily offering was taken away" - by his legions of troops; and "huram" according to Rashi is in the sense of "the crown was removed," meaning the daily offering was abolished. We thus have two opposite interpretations: according to Rashi, this describes the tragedy, whereas according to the Malbim, it foretells the salvation - until the commander of the host, Matisyahu, rises to greatness, and through him the Tamid will be elevated and restored to its place.
וְצָבָא תִּנָּתֵן עַל הַתָּמִיד בְּפָשַׁע וְתַשְׁלֵךְ אֱמֶת אַרְצָה וְעָשְׂתָה וְהִצְלִיחָה׃ - "And a host will be given over alongside the continual offering in transgression, and it cast truth to the ground, and it acted and prospered."
One interpretation: Daniel sees in the vision that the host - the Jewish people - will be handed over along with the Tamid into the hands of Antiochus. And why? "In transgression" (befesha) - because of the sins of Israel. "And it cast truth to the ground" - the Torah, which is the Torah of truth, was cast down to the earth. "And it acted and prospered" - that horn, Antiochus, acted and succeeded in his deeds.
A second interpretation: The word al here means "with," just as in the verse, "And the men came with (al) the women," which means together with the women. That is, the Jewish people together with the Tamid will be given over into the hand of an adversary, "in transgression" - through the transgressions unleashed by the lawless among our people. And one must remember: everything being spoken of here concerns the Second Temple. The First Temple was destroyed by Sennacherib; the Greek kingdom ruled for about two hundred years during the Second Temple era, and the Roman Empire destroyed the Temple afterward, with the entire Second Temple era lasting 420 years. These are the men of violence and the Hellenizers, and those zealots in Jerusalem who refused to submit to the leadership of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai and the Sages, and during the siege went and burned the storehouses of grain, oil, and wood that were vital for their survival.
Through this, "and it cast truth to the ground" - the Roman Empire cast truth to the earth, namely the Jewish religion and the Torah of Israel, and they too enacted decrees to abolish the observance of mitzvot. Furthermore, "and it acted and prospered" - they would succeed and their empire would endure for many days; unlike the Greek kingdom whose period of success was limited, their success would endure for a prolonged time.
וָאֶשְׁמְעָה אֶחָד קָדוֹשׁ מְדַבֵּר וַיֹּאמֶר אֶחָד קָדוֹשׁ לַפַּלְמוֹנִי הַמְדַבֵּר עַד מָתַי הֶחָזוֹן הַתָּמִיד וְהַפֶּשַׁע שֹׁמֵם תֵּת וְקֹדֶשׁ וְצָבָא מִרְמָס׃ - "Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the anonymous one who spoke, 'Until when is the vision of the continual offering and the desolate transgression, giving over both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled?'"
Here Daniel describes how these things were conveyed to him. The ram, the buck, and the little horn descending to the ground upon the host - these he saw in a vision. But regarding what is stated, "and it magnified itself even to the Prince of the host, and from Him the continual offering was removed," he did not see this; rather, he heard it from one of the angels informing him of it in prophecy. This is no longer mere vision, but prophecy.
Afterward, he heard another angel asking the exalted angel who delivered the prophecy: "Until when is the vision of the continual offering and the desolate transgression" - how much longer will all this continue? For we saw that the Tamid was restored in the days of the Chashmonaim through the Prince of the host of Israel, and afterward the transgressions of the lawless among our people would cause desolation and the removal of the Tamid, during the destruction of the Second Temple; "giving over both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled" - the Beit HaMikdash will be trampled and destroyed. Until when will this state of destruction and cessation of the Tamid continue? In simple words: when will the exile end?
And what is palmoni? It is a compound of peloni almoni (a certain unnamed one). Peloni refers to a person standing in a specific place, as in the Aramaic expression duch pelan, "a certain place." Almoni denotes someone hidden, and because he is hidden we call him almoni, an unknown person. And the two together yield: palmoni.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי עַד עֶרֶב בֹּקֶר אַלְפַּיִם וּשְׁלֹשׁ מֵאוֹת וְנִצְדַּק קֹדֶשׁ׃ - "And he said to me, 'Until evening and morning, two thousand and three hundred; then shall the sanctuary be vindicated.'"
Rashi writes that he saw an interpretation in the name of Rav Saadia Gaon, but already in Rashi's day that calculation had passed, because Rav Saadia Gaon calculates from the First Temple, and therefore the date had certainly already elapsed. Therefore, Rashi sought another calculation: "evening and morning" (erev boker) is a calculation based on gematria, totaling 574. Add to this the 2,300 mentioned here, and it all amounts to 2,874. "Then shall the sanctuary be vindicated" (venitzdak kodesh) means that the sin of the exile of Israel will be atoned for, the evil decrees will be annulled, and the Jewish people - who are a holy nation - will be vindicated.
When does this calculation culminate? Rashi explains that this calculation concludes at the end of 1,290 years from the day the daily offering was abolished, as stated explicitly at the end of the book: "And from the time the daily offering is removed and the desolating abomination is set up, there will be 1,290 days." The calculation proceeds as follows: the Egyptian exile lasted 210 years; from there until the construction of the First Temple was 480 years - totaling 690; the First Temple stood for 410 years - reaching 1,100; seventy years of the Babylonian exile and 420 years of the Second Temple, which equal 490 - bringing it to 1,590, which marks the destruction of the Temple. Add to this the 1,290 years of exile explicitly mentioned at the end of Sefer Daniel - totaling 2,880. Subtract six years from this, since the daily offering was abolished six years before the destruction of the Second Temple, and the calculation begins from the removal of the daily offering rather than from the actual destruction; thus, from the destruction it is 1,284 years. In all, the calculation reaches 2,874, corresponding to the numerical value of "erev va'voker" (evening and morning) plus 2,300.
According to this, the time falls approximately in the year 5123 (or 5112), and we are currently in the year 5769 - we have already passed that date by more than six hundred years. Rashi adds that there remain an additional forty-five years beyond the 1,290, explaining that Mashiach is destined to be revealed and then concealed, and during those forty-five years the revelation and concealment will take place. However, in terms of historical reality, this calculation clearly did not materialize, for had a revelation occurred, those forty-five years would have long since passed. Therefore, as explained earlier regarding the previous calculation made by the Malbim - which has likewise already passed - calculating the end (ketz) does not designate an exact time at which Mashiach must arrive, but rather a time uniquely auspicious for redemption. This was one of the opportune times during which the Redeemer was meant to come, but we were not ready for him.
The Malbim explains: "Until evening and morning" - until there is a time of evening, for evening symbolizes exile and destruction, namely the destruction wrought by the Roman Empire; and afterward morning, which symbolizes redemption and light, referring to the future redemption. From evening to morning, from destruction to redemption - 2,300 years. "Then the sanctuary shall be cleansed (venitzdak kodesh)" - the holy realm will be restored to its rightful status as of old: the Beit HaMikdash will once again be established on its site, and the sanctity of Israel will be restored to its place, for the iniquity of Israel will be atoned, since exile is the manifestation of sin.
If we calculate from the destruction of the First Temple, which took place in the year 3338, the time would arrive in the year 5638 (1878). However, since the angel stated the matter without qualification and did not specify that the count begins from the destruction, it implies that the count begins from the very moment the angel spoke to him - the third year of Belshazzar, which was the year 3388, approximately fifty years after the destruction of the First Temple. Accordingly, the end would arrive in the year 5688 (1928). In the Malbim's day, this was imminent, but in our time, the year 5769, it has already passed roughly eighty years ago.
The Malbim raises a difficulty: in the previous calculation of "a time, times, and half a time," we arrived at the year 5673 (1913), which leaves a fifteen-year gap between the two! He resolves this by explaining that in 5673 the power of the small horn would cease and its strength would be exhausted, as seen earlier, and fifteen years later, in 5688, the Beit HaMikdash would begin to be rebuilt. Another explanation: it is written that when the son of David comes, there will be one Shemittah cycle - seven years - of the wars of Gog and Magog, followed by Mashiach's coming, giving us approximately fourteen years of turmoil until Mashiach arrives, which accounts for the difference. However, as noted, these dates have also already passed: Rashi's date some six hundred years ago, and the Malbim's some eighty years ago, and we still await the future redemptions. At the end of the chapter, with God's help, we will present several other calculations made by the great sages of Israel on this matter.
וַיְהִי בִּרְאֹתִי אֲנִי דָנִיֵּאל אֶת הֶחָזוֹן וָאֲבַקְשָׁה בִינָה וְהִנֵּה עֹמֵד לְנֶגְדִּי כְּמַרְאֵה גָבֶר׃ - "And it came to pass, when I, Daniel, had seen the vision, that I sought understanding; and behold, there stood before me one like the appearance of a man."
When I saw the vision, I sought to contemplate and understand what was shown to me. And what specifically did he seek to understand? The Malbim explains: the matter of the "prince of the host," whom he interprets as Mattisyahu, who would rise up and magnify the stature of the daily service, after which the Beit HaMikdash would be destroyed - this he understood intellectually. But the vision he had perceived with his own eyes, the ram and the he-goat, he did not understand, and concerning this he sought understanding: "What you showed me earlier, that is what I wish to understand." And indeed, this is what the angel proceeds to explain to him.
וָאֶשְׁמַע קוֹל אָדָם בֵּין אוּלָי וַיִּקְרָא וַיֹּאמַר גַּבְרִיאֵל הָבֵן לְהַלָּז אֶת הַמַּרְאֶה׃ - "And I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Ulai, who called and said: Gavriel, make this man understand the vision."
"Between the banks of the Ulai" - within the river, the Ulai River. And who is the angel commanding Gavriel? The Malbim says: this is Michael. Chazal state that Michael's rank is higher than Gavriel's, and Michael is the angelic prince of Israel, as they remarked, "Michael in one and Gavriel in two" - Michael moves from place to place in a single bound, while Gavriel requires two. This should not be taken literally; rather, it refers to Michael's immense intellectual and spiritual grasp, comprehending in a single perception, whereas Gavriel's power of comprehension is on a lower tier, requiring two stages.
And who is this "human voice"? This is the "palmoni" who was speaking, mentioned earlier, who is the angel Michael, who bestows influence upon Gabriel, and from whom Gabriel receives. Because Michael is in the category of "palmoni", hidden and concealed, Daniel did not merit to see him, but only to hear his voice from afar, from across the river. Daniel did not possess the capacity to perceive Michael, but he was able to perceive Gabriel. And the fact that scripture specifically says "a human voice" comes to teach that his level was far more elevated.
וַיָּבֹא אֵצֶל עָמְדִי וּבְבֹאוֹ נִבְעַתִּי וָאֶפְּלָה עַל פָּנָי וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי הָבֵן בֶּן אָדָם כִּי לְעֶת קֵץ הֶחָזוֹן׃ - So he came near where I stood, and when he came, I was terrified and fell on my face; and he said to me: "Understand, son of man, for the vision belongs to the time of the end."
When he approached me, I was startled and terrified. From here we learn what it means to perceive an angel. In truth, it is beyond human capacity to grasp an angel; a person who beholds an angel is overwhelmed by dreadful fear and awe. One who sees even an evil spirit is gripped by terrible panic and drained of all strength, and how much more so one who beholds an angel! And for one who seeks to see and speak with Hashem - how could one even begin to conceive or comprehend? It is written that when a person stands before an angel, all his limbs loosen and he collapses in total exhaustion. We are not speaking here of a coarse, materialistic person, who could be consumed in an instant, but of Daniel, an exalted holy man - and yet, see what dread seized him.
"Understand, son of man, for the vision belongs to the time of the end" - he tells him: Exert yourself to understand these matters, because they were spoken for later eras and distant times. The further away a prophecy or message is directed in time, the greater the depth of understanding required to comprehend it; whereas a matter concerning an imminent era can be understood simply.
וּבְדַבְּרוֹ עִמִּי נִרְדַּמְתִּי עַל פָּנַי אָרְצָה וַיִּגַּע בִּי וַיַּעֲמִידֵנִי עַל עָמְדִי׃ - Now as he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep on my face to the ground; but he touched me, and set me upright where I had stood.
As he spoke with me, I swooned into a trance-like sleep, and then he touched me and stood me upright - restoring me so that I was able to stand as I had stood initially.
וַיֹּאמֶר הִנְנִי מוֹדִיעֲךָ אֵת אֲשֶׁר יִהְיֶה בְּאַחֲרִית הַזָּעַם כִּי לְמוֹעֵד קֵץ׃ - And he said: "Behold, I will make you know what shall be at the end of the indignation; for it pertains to the appointed time of the end."
"At the end of the indignation" - at the end of the era in which Hashem expresses wrath against His people Israel. The Malbim observes with precision: initially the angel told him "the vision belongs to the time (et) of the end," whereas here he says "for it pertains to the appointed time (mo'ed) of the end." What is the difference? There are two kinds of time: "et" is natural time that arrives on its own course, whereas "mo'ed" is an appointed time, designated for the specific purpose for which it was set. Initially, the angel told him that from the perspective of natural time, the period for the world's rectification has arrived, and the end must come in its time. Now, however, after the angel clarifies the matter in prophecy, he tells him "for it pertains to the appointed time of the end" - meaning that even according to the designations foretold by the prophets in advance, the time has arrived. The difference between them is immense: what is dictated merely by natural time, Hashem can alter, for if our deeds deteriorate, Heaven forbid, the outcome may shift; but a favorable designation delivered through prophecy never changes, for Hashem never retracts His decrees of good.
הָאַיִל אֲשֶׁר רָאִיתָ בַּעַל הַקְּרָנָיִם מַלְכֵי מָדַי וּפָרָס׃ - The ram that you saw having the two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia.
Now the angel explains the entire vision to him from the beginning: the two-horned ram that you saw at the beginning of the vision represents Media and Persia.
וְהַצָּפִיר הַשָּׂעִיר מֶלֶךְ יָוָן וְהַקֶּרֶן הַגְּדוֹלָה אֲשֶׁר בֵּין עֵינָיו הוּא הַמֶּלֶךְ הָרִאשׁוֹן׃ - And the shaggy male goat is the king of Greece, and the great horn between its eyes is the first king.
The he-goat that came to gore the ram is the king of Greece, and the great horn between its eyes is the first king - Alexander of Macedon, who was the primary king and ruled over all of them.
וְהַנִּשְׁבֶּרֶת וַתַּעֲמֹדְנָה אַרְבַּע תַּחְתֶּיהָ אַרְבַּע מַלְכֻיוֹת מִגּוֹי יַעֲמֹדְנָה וְלֹא בְכֹחוֹ׃ - As for the one that was broken, in whose place four stood up, four kingdoms shall arise from the nation, but not with his power.
The broken horn hints that this Alexander of Macedon would be broken, and as we have seen, he died in his prime, at the age of thirty-two. In his place, four kings would arise. Yet the angel tells him: know that those who stand in his place will not be his sons or traditional heirs to the throne who inherit the kingdom from him, but will rule on their own. This is the meaning of "four kingdoms shall arise from the nation, but not with his power" - they will not arise from his lineage or authority, neither his descendants nor his crown princes, but rather individuals who emerge and rule by their own power.
וּבְאַחֲרִית מַלְכוּתָם כְּהָתֵם הַפֹּשְׁעִים יַעֲמֹד מֶלֶךְ עַז פָּנִים וּמֵבִין חִידוֹת׃ - And at the end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have run their course, a king of bold face and understanding riddles shall arise.
At the end of their rule, when the transgressors of Israel have reached their end - and here it is already speaking of the period after the destruction of the Temple - a king of bold face will arise. "A king of bold face" - meaning he will not possess the strength and valor of the sword and battlefield, but rather the boldness and insolence of countenance. "And understanding riddles" - meaning they will be very clever people, understanding the riddles of the Holy Scriptures and adept at analyzing the Torah. This reflects what we saw earlier: "and behold, there were eyes like the eyes of a man in this horn," indicating that this horn would have human-like intellect, and that is what he is referring to here.
וְעָצַם כֹּחוֹ וְלֹא בְכֹחוֹ וְנִפְלָאוֹת יַשְׁחִית וְהִצְלִיחַ וְעָשָׂה וְהִשְׁחִית עֲצוּמִים וְעַם קְדֹשִׁים׃ - And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power, and he shall corrupt astonishingly, and prosper and act, and destroy the mighty and the holy people.
He will wield immense power, but not through military might and physical prowess, as we explained, but rather solely through the power of speech. "And he shall corrupt astonishingly, and prosper and act" - the true wonders found in the holy Torah, which the prophets promised to us, he will manage to corrupt and distort, as if to nullify the holy Torah. "And destroy the mighty and the holy people" - he will harm the people of Israel, who are both mighty and a holy nation.
וְעַל שִׂכְלוֹ וְהִצְלִיחַ מִרְמָה בְּיָדוֹ וּבִלְבָבוֹ יַגְדִּיל וּבְשַׁלְוָה יַשְׁחִית רַבִּים וְעַל שַׂר שָׂרִים יַעֲמֹד וּבְאֶפֶס יָד יִשָּׁבֵר׃ - And through his cunning, he shall cause deceit to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and in tranquility he shall destroy many; he shall even rise against the Prince of princes, but he shall be broken without hand.
"And through his cunning" - everything will be accomplished through his intellect and schemes, for he will have no natural martial strength; neither through prophecy nor through divine inspiration, but through the sheer intellect and intellect-driven craft he will possess. He will prosper until his heart swells with arrogance. "And in tranquility he shall destroy many" - he will not wage wars at all, but rather through the speech of his mouth he will corrupt many. "He shall even rise against the Prince of princes" - he will stand for many days exalted above all princes and rulers. Yet know that in the end, "he shall be broken without hand" - his strength will run out, and the power of his dominion will be broken. All of this corresponds to what was shown to him in the previous vision, and here he is already speaking of the Roman Empire, the kingdom that follows.
וּמַרְאֵה הָעֶרֶב וְהַבֹּקֶר אֲשֶׁר נֶאֱמַר אֱמֶת הוּא וְאַתָּה סְתֹם הֶחָזוֹן כִּי לְיָמִים רַבִּים׃ - "And the vision of the evening and the morning that was told is true; but you, seal up the vision, for it pertains to many days hence."
What you saw at the end of the vision, that there will be another evening followed by morning - meaning another exile followed by redemption - is true, and it requires no interpretation other than its plain meaning: evening will arrive and the morning after it, and this will last 2,300 years from the day of the vision, as we explained. "And as for you, seal up the vision, for it pertains to many days" - he tells him: I do not want you to interpret this and reveal the matter. Since these things are destined for the distant future, there is great concern that if the people hear that thousands of years still remain until the redemption, they will despair and be broken. Therefore, do not disclose it and do not publicize it, so as not to break the people's spirit and lead them to give up hope of redemption.
וַאֲנִי דָנִיֵּאל נִהְיֵיתִי וְנֶחֱלֵיתִי יָמִים וָאָקוּם וָאֶעֱשֶׂה אֶת מְלֶאכֶת הַמֶּלֶךְ וָאֶשְׁתּוֹמֵם עַל הַמַּרְאֶה וְאֵין מֵבִין׃ - "And I, Daniel, was broken and fell ill for days; then I arose and performed the king's work. And I was appalled at the vision, but no one understood it."
"I was broken" (nihyeiti) - meaning shattered, as in the phrase "his sleep was broken upon him" (shenato nihyetah alav). From the fear and dread that gripped me from the vision, I was sick for days. "Then I arose" - after I got up and recovered, "and performed the king's work": this was the very task we saw, where on the palace wall of Belshazzar was written "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin," and Daniel was summoned to decipher the cryptic writing.
"And I was appalled at the vision" - I was astounded by what I had seen, for here I saw with my own eyes how the two-horned ram was standing; that very vision shown to me, I suddenly saw materializing openly. And from this, he knew how to interpret "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin" - that the kingdom would be given over to Persia. For in the first ram he had seen two horns, one horn of Media and one horn of Persia, with the horn of Persia larger than that of Media; from this he understood that the kingdom of Media would be brief and the kingdom of Persia long, and now he was shown how the kingdom was passing to Persia. "And no one understood" - it was impossible to comprehend the matter, and only I understood it, because these things had been shown to me in advance; but whoever had not seen it beforehand was bewildered and truly could not understand.
In this part of the vision, we saw the little horn growing great even unto the host of heaven, seeking to force Israel to abandon their religion - something unprecedented in the previous empires; and afterward, the salvation that arose through the prince of the host, Mattisyahu and his sons, through whom the daily offering (Tamid) was restored, contrasted with the destruction brought about by Rome due to the sins of the renegades of our people. From there, we moved to the calculation of the end: "Until evening and morning, two thousand and three hundred," which Rashi calculates via the gematria of "evening and morning" along with 1,290 from the removal of the Tamid, and the Malbim calculates from the evening (which is the destruction) until the morning (which is the redemption), dating from the time the angel spoke with Daniel. Both calculations have already passed, and we learned from this that designated times of the End are times ripe for redemption rather than absolute, inevitable dates. Finally, we saw the resolution of the vision from the mouth of Gavriel at the instruction of Michael, the sheer terror of perceiving an angel, the distinction between a natural "time of the end" (eit keitz) and the "appointed time of the end" (mo'ed keitz) promised in prophecy that never changes, and the command to seal the vision so that the people would not despair - and we continue to look forward and yearn for the future redemptions.