What is the significance of the maccabean revolt to the book of daniel

Led by their father, known as Judah Maccabee or Judas Maccabeus, the family would live on to set up a lineage that would become known as the Hasmonean Dynasty.

For about 70 years this family resisted the Antichrist-type character Antiochus and subsequent other foreign invaders. Once the Maccabees were able to drive out the Syrians under Antiochus, they purified and rededicated the Temple so that the building could be once again used in the worship of Yahweh God. The Jewish people to this very day continue to celebrate Hanukkah, known as the Festival of Lights, in memory of the Maccabean Revolt and subsequent cleansing of the Temple.

This Jewish festival lasts eight days and is celebrated from the 25th day of the month of Kislev to the 2nd of Tevet, which falls near Christmas time. Jewish families set out their menorah candle stands. Each night of the festival a branch of the menorah is lit.

Vic Batista: Exciting miracle! A heavily Jewish populated area, every Hanukkah menorahs are set up all around for the holiday. Nathan Jones: The menorah stands apart as one of the oldest symbols of the Jewish people. Murals etched on the arch picture the massive Temple menorah being carried away as spoil, along with other various objects stolen from the destroyed Temple.

The very same menorah that was used by the Maccabean family to purify the Temple is believed to be the one depicted on the Arch of Titus. That menorah became the template for the ones used today to celebrate Hanukkah. Vic Batista: As God raised up the Maccabeans to fight the evil of Antiochus Epiphanes, so God is raising up individuals today to continue to fight against Satanic forces. Today, that is the Christian. The torch has been passed to the Church for the purpose of standing up and fighting for what is right and good.

Nathan Jones: How God works methodically throughout time is simply amazing! Look at the Maccabees. But, he began as a simple priest from the Jewish priesthood. By standing up for what is right, Judas and his sons became the leaders of a nation at a time when the nation was devoid of godly political leaders. They rose out of obscurity to challenge an evil king. In the process, the Maccabees sacrifices their freedoms.

They lived on the run from the Seleucids. And, eventually, they would all lose their lives. The sacrifices Judas and his sons made energized the Jewish nation back into being loyal to God. Israel experienced a mini-renaissance of faith. A wonderful time then commenced for the Jewish people. Finally, after years of Gentile dominion, Israel became freed from out of under the yolk of affliction, even if it was just for a little while.

But, it was enough, for the Jewish people still celebrate the Maccabean Revolt some 2, years later with Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. Internal Jewish struggles were apparently not motivated by support for, or opposition to, the Ptolemies and the Seleucids. Hengel, Martin. Translated by John Bowden. Philadelphia: Fortress, The new cult was to totally replace the Jewish Law.

Momigliano, Arnaldo. Alien Wisdom: The Limits of Hellenization. DOI: Attention is directed to the lacunae in our knowledge and perception of the chain of events that led to an unprecedented ban on the Jewish cult. The points of strength of the sources, as well as their limitations, are admirably presented. Sievers, Joseph.

South Florida Studies in the History of Judaism 6. Atlanta: Scholars, A good discussion of the political and religious developments in Judea from the beginning of the Maccabean revolt. Sievers emphasizes the pivotal role played by Jonathan the Hasmonean in laying the foundations for the Hasmonean state.

At every stage, an attempt is made to identify the groups supporting the Hasmoneans, a vexed question not sufficiently clarified by the ancient sources. Stern, Menahem. A map of Jewish society is delineated, focusing on the aristocratic families who played an active role in the Hellenizing movement.

These families found themselves sliding down the social ladder, while the star of new families was on the rise. One may think here of the future royal family of Herod, of proselyte stock, but also of lowly priests and of sages of humble origins. Tcherikover, Victor. Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews.

Translated by S. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, Will, Edouard, and Claude Orrieux. Nancy, France: Presses Universitaires de Nancy, In both periods, foreign powers conquered the natives, employing colonists from the home country who secured their holding, which was effected through the establishment of urban and agricultural settlements.

The new elite brought their own dominant culture. However, a process of acculturation began, affecting both the indigenous population and the colonial ruling class. Our author expected the Babylonians, Medes, and Persians to survive as ethnic groups and small kingdoms, despite their loss of empire, until the arrival of the Messianic Kingdom Daniel , , but at that time God was to supernaturally destroy the evil Seleucid Greeks in person.

When Alexander the Great died, his generals the Diadochi or successors carved up his empire into four smaller kingdoms in the wars of succession, represented by the four horns on the ram in Daniel ,22 and the four winds in Daniel The clay and iron are mixed together without sticking; this symbolizes the breakdown of the marriage alliances between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic families Daniel ; , Different chapters in Daniel put two different spins on the wars of succession.

In the vision of the four beasts in Daniel 7 , on the other hand, our author treated the empires of Alexander and Antiochus as two different phases of the same evil and powerful empire because of the exceptional arrogance and brutality of the latter.

The ten horns of the fourth beast of Daniel 7 are probably the ten Greek kings of the Fourth Empire and its primary successor state from Alexander the Great to Antiochus Epiphanes and the end of the world. The little horn that uproots three other horns is Antiochus IV Epiphanes. The three supplanted horns are three individuals who had more right to the throne than Antiochus did, and stood in his way: King Seleucus IV Philopator and his two sons, the crown prince Demetrius and the infant Antiochus.

In the aftermath of the battle of Magnesia, Antiochus Epiphanes, the younger brother of Seleucus, was sent to Rome as a political hostage in BC. As soon as Antiochus Epiphanes arrived at Antioch from Rome, he had Heliodorus killed and became regent for the infant prince. The infant Antiochus, the third horn, was finally murdered by one Andronicus, who in turn was executed under orders from Antiochus Epiphanes. With his three royal relatives out of the way, Antiochus, the little horn, became king Daniel Evangelicals insist that since the horns of the fourth beast appear simultaneously in the vision, they must represent kingdoms that exist concurrently rather than consecutively, namely ten states that formed out of the dissolution of the Roman Empire.

Here items that appeared concurrently in the dream symbolized events that were to occur consecutively in the real world. The four metals that symbolize four consecutive empires likewise appear concurrently in the vision of the statue in Daniel 2.

The other problem with the evangelical interpretation is that the ten horns of Daniel do not plausibly correlate with ten successor states of the Roman Empire. With Antiochus Epiphanes on the throne, the stage is set for the Maccabean revolt.

According to the seventy-weeks prophecy of Daniel 9 , God was to intervene in the war and enable the Jewish rebels to restore the Holy Place and usher in an era of everlasting righteousness. The following discussion of these predictions is adapted from Andre Lacocque. Moved by these prophecies, Daniel pleaded with God in prayer to forgive the sins of the Jews that had made the Exile necessary in the first place, and to restore both Jerusalem and its Temple Daniel — cf.

Baruch Here I quote the prophecy in the Revised Standard Version, with a major deviation in verse Daniel ], there shall be seven weeks [49 years, BC, during which Jerusalem lay in ruins, concurrent with the sixty-two weeks] and sixty-two weeks [ years, from BC to BC]. It [Jerusalem] shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.

Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war; desolations are decreed [the Maccabean War]. Jeremiah had predicted that the Babylonian Exile would last seventy years. However, our author apparently believed that seventy years of desolation and Babylonian rule in Judah were not enough to atone for the sins of pre-Exilic Jerusalem. Despite the rebuilding of the Temple, the Jews in his lifetime still suffered under the oppression of a foreign empire as punishment for their sins.

Genesis ; Leviticus ; ,21,24,28 ; Numbers — i. Exodus ; Leviticus , ; , This year scheme is subdivided into three periods: seven sevens or 49 years, sixty-two sevens or years, and one seven or 7 years.

To make his scheme fit real history, our author artificially broke off the seven sevens and made them concurrent with the sixty-two sevens, making them almost superfluous. Three prophetic periods overlap in an interlocking pattern.

The sixty-two weeks of Daniel are probably the period of general pagan dominion over the Holy Land from to BC. In the year BC, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia took control of Syria and Palestine and made vassals of the local kings in the aftermath of the Battle of Carchemish on the Euphrates 2 Kings ,7 ; Jeremiah ,11 ; — cf. This usage finds parallels elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible. The high priest is called an anointed one in Leviticus ,5,16 ; — cf. Exodus ; ; ; ,15 ; Leviticus ; ; ; ; Numbers ; ; Zechariah ; 2 Maccabees This usage finds parallels in 1 Chronicles ,20 ; ; ; 2 Chronicles ; ; Nehemiah ; Jeremiah ; Daniel However, this is a problem for believers as well as skeptics.

Others maintain that the seventy years represent the time that the Temple in Jerusalem lay in ruins, lasting from the destruction of the First Temple in BC to the dedication of the Second Temple in BC Zechariah ; No commentator of any theological persuasion has managed to come up with a better interpretation.

Until now, my interpretation of the seven weeks and the sixty-two weeks of Daniel has been adapted from Andre Lacocque. However, I must here pay my respects to the alternative interpretation of the mainline commentators.

Fortunately, the differences between them do not affect my overall conclusions. Under either interpretation, the resurrection of the dead and the restoration of Israel should have occurred in BC, and of course the prediction failed. Lacocque makes the seven weeks and the sixty-two weeks concurrent. The advantage of his theory is that the dates and numbers come out almost exactly, unlike the majority theory.

Also, it is more natural to place the starting point of the sixty-two weeks in BC as discussed above. Now the second-century Greek astronomer Ptolemy of Alexandria compiled a list of kings from Assyrian times down to his own time, with the length of their reigns in years. It was cited by subsequent ancient astronomers to calculate absolute dates of lunar and planetary observations that had originally been dated in terms of the years of the reign of one king or another.

The accuracy of his account of the Seleucids and the Ptolemies in Daniel 11 demonstrates that he could recount accurate history when he wanted to. The majority theory, on the other hand, makes the seven weeks and the sixty-two weeks consecutive. The advantage of this theory is that this arrangement is more natural and straightforward. However, the sixty-two-week period is sixty-seven years too long. Under this theory, one must assume the author either did not know any better, or simply did not care.

The Jewish historian Josephus was thirty to sixty years off in his dating of events in Persian times, [45] so it is equally reasonable to suppose that the author of Daniel was similarly hazy about the chronology of those times. Mainline commentators follow the rendering of Daniel in the Revised Standard Version, which seems a more natural rendering of the original Hebrew:. Then for sixty-two weeks [ BC, nominally years, though the actual time span was years] it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.

Jerusalem would be rebuilt after the exile, and true high priests would serve in its Temple for sixty-two weeks, though the Jews would still be under foreign rule. The Lacocque interpretation is more likely to be correct because the dates and numbers come out far more exactly, but the majority view is not impossible.

The last period of 7 years is the beginning of the end for the evil Earth. For the first time since the Babylonian Exile, the legitimate high priesthood was abolished and Jerusalem with its Temple devastated. In the first half of the 7-year period, Antiochus twice invaded Egypt before turning on the Jews. In BC, after the first invasion, he looted the Jewish Temple of all its gold and silver 1 Maccabees ; 2 Maccabees — cf.

In the face of this overwhelming show of force, he had to back down. Humiliated and angry, he burned, looted, and tore down the walls of Jerusalem 1 Maccabees ; 2 Maccabees 5 ; Daniel The second half-week begins in December of BC with the desecration of the Temple and the outbreak of the Maccabean revolt.

As I said earlier, some commentators place this event in December of BC instead. The details are as follows. In general, Antiochus bankrupted his treasury lavishing land grants and other gifts on his collaborators 1 Maccabees ; , ; ; 2 Maccabees ; ; Daniel This outrage was the last straw; the Jews, flocking to the banner of the Maccabee family in the countryside, revolted against the Seleucid Empire.

The Book of Daniel was probably published toward the beginning of the revolt when the outlook was bleak for the rebels Daniel ,25 ; Daniel ; ; 1 Maccabees 2. If pious Jews could just hold out for three more years, God would supernaturally intervene to destroy Antiochus and set up the eternal Messianic Kingdom.

At this point, I must examine two alternative interpretations of the seventy weeks prophecy proposed by conservative Christians. Let us begin with the classical interpretation. Finally, the seventieth week ends in the fall of 33 AD with the martyrdom of Stephen and the conversion of Paul and Cornelius. At this point the mission to the Jews ends and the mission to the Gentiles begins. The advantage of this theory is that it interprets the year period in a straightforward way, and it has more-or-less plausible starting and ending points.

However, it does have its problems. The classical interpretation also ignores the obvious parallels between Daniel on the one hand, and Daniel ; on the other. Daniel ; , To make their scheme work, adherents of the classical Christian theory must interpret verses 26 and 27 as references to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

The problem here is that the fall of Jerusalem lies thirty-seven years outside of the seventy-weeks scheme. This is an awkward and arbitrary leap. Dispensationalist Christians like Dr. Harold Hoehner have a totally different theory.

The obvious problem with this theory is that the seventieth week would then last from 40 to 47 AD — too late to connect with the crucifixion of Jesus in 30 or 33 AD, or with any other plausibly significant event. Actually, Nehemiah does not specify the exact day in the month of Nisan that the decree was given.

According to dispensationalists, the seventieth week did not begin on 31 March 33 AD as one might reasonably expect, but has been postponed to the indefinite future for reasons to be explained below. First of all, the Jews have never used an inflexible day month or day year in either biblical or postbiblical writings in their entire history.

They have always used a lunar calendar that varies between 29 and 30 days per month, and has days per year. Since this is eleven days too short, the Jews add a thirteenth month to the calendar every few years to keep it in sync with the solar year. Now admittedly, some calendars like the French Republican Calendar [53] and the calendar of ancient Egypt [54] consist of twelve months of thirty days each because these make nice round numbers. Efforts by Hoehner to document this claim by citing Immanuel Velikovsky, among others, in six separate footnotes will certainly raise eyebrows among serious scholars.

To the best of my knowledge, no nation anywhere on Earth at any time in history has ever used a day calendar without the additional days to track time over a period of many years. Their measures were accurate to the nearest cubit if the diameter was actually 9. Similarly, stereotyped spans of time like forty years Genesis ; ; Joshua ; Judges ; ; ; ; 1 Samuel ; 2 Samuel ; ; 1 Kings ; ; 2 Kings ; 2 Chronicles ; ; Ezekiel and multiples thereof Deuteronomy ; ; Judges ; 2 Samuel ,35 ; 1 Kings crop up in the Bible far more often than chance would allow.

Admittedly, some biblical authors treated these figures as exact numbers: e. Similarly, the Millennial Reign of Jesus will have to be at least 5, days or over fourteen years shorter than a real millennium — in other words, only a little less than real years. I have never run across a dispensationalist author who takes the prophetic year theory to this logical and absurd conclusion. To place this event on Palm Sunday where it belongs, we must place the beginning of the sixty-nine weeks on the last day of the month before Nisan of BC, contrary to the requirements of Nehemiah as interpreted by his theory.

To explain why this is so, I must first digress and explain the difference between the Julian versus the Gregorian calendars. Since the actual solar year is actually a bit shorter, namely Any year divisible by is still a leap year, but any year divisible by and not by is not a leap year.

Thus the year AD was a leap year, but the years , , and were not. He admits the two dates are Julian dates, but then proceeds to use the Gregorian figure of In calculating this figure, one must remember that there was no year zero.

In other words, the year 1 BC was immediately followed by the year 1 AD. It so happens that years X This takes us from March 5 to March 30 of 33 AD. Hoehner should have multiplied by the Julian figure of Calculating with the correct figure, we find that Julian years X However, it does show that Hoehner is operating outside his area of expertise.

Hoehner misquotes these tables to prove that 1 Nisan BC in the 20th year of the reign of Artaxerxes I fell on 5 March. Hoehner cites Horn and Wood to prove that the Jewish year according to Nehemiah ; began in the fall in the month of Tishri. They cite fourteen Jewish documents spanning the fifth century BC from among the Elephantine Papyri in Egypt with equivalent dates in both the Egyptian solar calendar and the Babylonian lunar calendar in use at the time.

This supplies us with enough information to calculate the Julian equivalent of the dates in each document, as well as the Julian equivalent of 1 Nisan of each year. These documents show that for the fourteen years in question, 1 Nisan fell on Julian dates ranging from 26 March to 24 April. Now admittedly, Horn and Wood disagree with Parker and Dubberstein by one whole year. Even so, both sources agree that even if Hoehner got the year right, he still got the month wrong.

Finally, the biggest problem of all with the dispensationalist theory is that the seventieth week never happened. To dispose of this error, dispensationalists have argued that God postponed the seventieth week to the distant future because the Jews crucified Jesus instead of accepting him as their king on his terms rather than theirs.

The Church Age, a mystery that God had kept hidden until Pentecost, fills an invisible gap of many centuries separating the sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks.

To describe this theory is to refute it. Writing during the Maccabean revolt, our author made the following mistaken predictions. He said Antiochus Epiphanes, the king of the north, was to conquer Egypt once more, apparently unopposed by Rome Daniel Daniel ; As stated above, some scholars place this event in BC instead.