Explaining how a 2,500-year-old prophecy in the Book of Daniel foretold the capture of Old Jerusalem and the Temple Mount during the Six-Day War
Dan Bruce’s The Liberation of Jerusalem 1967 presents a bold and meticulous argument: that the modern recapture of Old Jerusalem and the Temple Mount by Israeli forces in the Six-Day War was the literal fulfillment of a 2,300-year-old prophecy recorded in the Book of Daniel, chapter 8, verses 13–14. This compact yet rigorous book is a distilled presentation of Chapter One from Bruce’s larger work Daniel Unsealed, and it serves as a provocative entry point into his unique interpretive framework.
At its core, Bruce’s thesis hinges on a reevaluation of the “2,300 evening-morning(s)” mentioned in Daniel 8:14. While most conservative Bible scholars have traditionally interpreted this figure to represent either 1,150 days (two sacrifices per day) or 2,300 literal days, Bruce argues that both approaches fall short of aligning with recorded historical events. Instead, he proposes an alternative understanding: that the “evening-morning(s)” represent annual Passover observances—thus marking a span of 2,300 years.
Bruce’s approach is both textually and historically grounded. He critiques common scholarly interpretations, including those of respected theologians such as Leon Wood and John Walvoord, demonstrating that their reliance on approximations undermines the principle of literal fulfillment often championed by conservative scholars. His method of exact fulfillment, in contrast, yields a precise alignment between the prophecy’s stated duration and the historical interval between the Battle of Granicus in 334 BCE—when Alexander the Great first clashed with the Persian empire—and the liberation of the Temple Mount on June 7, 1967. According to Bruce’s detailed timeline, the first Passover following Granicus occurred in 333 BCE, and the 2,300th Passover occurred just weeks before the Six-Day War, fulfilling the prophecy “to the day.”
One of the book’s strengths lies in its detailed yet accessible chronology. Bruce includes tables and diagrams to demonstrate how the 2,300 Passovers are counted across centuries, even navigating the calendrical complexities of BCE/CE dating without a “year zero.” He draws on historical sources ranging from Josephus to Plutarch to solidify his dating of key events. This precision lends weight to his argument and allows the reader to independently verify the timeline.
The narrative is more than a mathematical exercise; it’s also deeply emotional and patriotic. Bruce includes a moving transcript of Israeli Defense Forces radio communications from the liberation of the Temple Mount, allowing the reader to experience the tension, reverence, and euphoria of that historic moment. The vividness of those scenes—soldiers weeping at the Western Wall, prayers rising from the Old City, and the shofar sounding after two millennia—adds a human dimension to the otherwise scholarly argument.
However, readers will likely fall into one of two camps. For those open to the possibility of modern-day prophetic fulfillment, Bruce’s argument will be both exciting and spiritually affirming. For skeptics, especially academic critics who deny the possibility of predictive prophecy, Bruce’s claims may seem implausible. He addresses this head-on, critiquing the scholarly tendency to date Daniel’s prophecies to the second century BCE and dismiss their predictive nature. He argues persuasively that if Daniel 8:14 was written before 1967—and it demonstrably was, as evidenced by the Dead Sea Scrolls—then its exact fulfillment cannot be explained away as post-event fabrication.
Perhaps most compelling is Bruce’s claim that the 1967 fulfillment “unseals” the prophecies of Daniel for modern understanding, echoing Daniel 12:9’s statement that the words were “sealed until the time of the end.” This interpretive key, he contends, unlocks a broader prophetic framework that extends Daniel’s relevance from antiquity to the present day.
In sum, The Liberation of Jerusalem 1967 is a thoughtful, well-researched, and compelling work that challenges conventional timelines and interpretive boundaries. Whether one accepts Bruce’s conclusions or not, his insistence on precision, his reverence for Scripture, and his clear, logical presentation make this a must-read for anyone interested in biblical prophecy, modern Israel, or the intersection of faith and history.
Best for: Prophecy students, Bible scholars, pastors, and thoughtful seekers open to the possibility of divine action in history.
Complete book available for free download here.