Page 370 - Daniel

be the main idea. Montgomery interprets it in the light of Amos 8:12:
“They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall
run to and fro, to seek the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it.” 31

Calvin translated it, “Many shall investigate, and knowledge shall
32
increase.” Leupold says, “Many shall diligently peruse it, and
33
knowledge shall be increased.” The Hebrew word for “word” is
hadda’ta, literally, “the knowledge,” that is, understanding of this long
prophecy. Some consider the sentence as referring to the eyes of a reader
running “to and fro” in reading the Word of God (cf. 2 Chron. 16:9). The

implication is that attempts to understand the truth will require
considerable effort.
Young agrees with Montgomery that the key is Amos 8:12 and says,

“The verb appears to describe a vain travelling about in order to
34
discover knowledge.” As Young explains, the angel is telling Daniel
that for the immediate future, attempts to understand these prophecies
will be in vain, but in the time of the end, when these prophecies will
become especially pertinent, additional understanding will be given.
Accordingly, it is not too much to say that a modern interpreter of

Daniel may understand these prophecies with greater clarity and be able
to relate them to history in a way that was impossible in the sixth
century B.C. There is also the intimation that the ceaseless search for
knowledge will often go unrewarded, either because the searchers do not
look in the right place for it, or because their time and circumstance do

not justify their understanding of prophecy that does not immediately
concern them. No doubt those living in the end times will have far
greater understanding of these things than is possible today.

HOW LONG UNTIL THE TIME OF THE END (12:5–8)

12:5–8 Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others stood, one on
this bank of the stream and one on that bank of the stream. And
someone said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters
of the stream, “How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?”
And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of

the stream; he raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven
and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times,