From Dan. viii. 14 it seems that the author had lived till the cleansing of the Temple after its pollution by the Seleucid King (1 Macc. iv. 42-58). For though the Maccabean uprising is only called "a little help" (xi. 34), this is in comparison with the splendid future triumph and epiphany to which he looked forward. It is sufficiently clear from 1 Macc. v. 15, 16, that the Jews, even after the early victories of Judas, were in evil case, and that the nominal adhesion of many Hellenising Jews to the national cause was merely hypocritical (Dan. xi. 34).
Now the Temple was dedicated on December 25th, B.C. 165; and the Book appeared before the death of Antiochus, which the writer expected to happen at the end of the seventy weeks, or, as he calculated them, in June 164. The king did not actually die till the close of 164 or the beginning of 163 (1 Macc. vi. 1-16).[213]
[194] Jacob Perez of Valentia accounted for this by the hatred of the Jews for Christianity! (Diestel, _Gesch. d. A.T._, p. 211).
[195] Comp. Luke xxiv. 44; Acts xxviii. 23; Philo, _De Vit. Cont._, 3. See Oehler in Herzog, _s.v._ "Kanon."
[196] _Jos. c. Ap._, I. 8.
[197] _Opp._ ed. Migne, ii. 1260: Εἰς τοσαύτην ἀναισχυντίαν ἤλασαν ὡς καὶ τοῦ χόρου τῶν προφήτων τοῦτον ἀποσχοινίζειν. He may well add, on his view of the date, εἰ γὰρ ταῦτα τῆς προφητείας ἀλλότρια, τίνα προφητείας τὰ ἴδια;
[198] _Megilla_, 3, 1. Josephus, indeed, regards apocalyptic visions as the highest form of prophecy (_Antt._, X. xi. 7); but the great Rabbis Kimchi, Maimonides, Joseph Albo, etc., are strongly against him. See Behrmann, p. xxxix.
[199] It has been described as "ein Versteck für Belesenheit, und ein grammatischer Monstrum."
[200] Hengstenberg, p. 209.
[201] Matt. xxiv. 15; Mark xiii. 14.
[202] 1 Cor. ii. 9; Eph. v. 11.
[203] Hengstenberg's reference to 1 Peter i. 10-12, 1 Thess. ii. 3, 1 Cor. vi. 2, Heb. xi. 12, deserve no further notice.
[204] Jos., _Antt._, XI. viii. 5.
[205] There is nothing to surprise us in this circumstance, for Ptolemy III. (_Jos. c. Ap._, II. 5) and Antiochus VII. (Sidetes, _Antt._, XIII. viii. 2), Marcus Agrippa (_id._, XVI. ii. 1), and Vitellius (_id._, XVIII. v. 3) are said to have done the same. Comp. Suet., _Aug._, 93; Tert., _Apolog._, 6; and other passages adduced by Schürer, i., § 24.
[206] Jahn, _Hebr. Commonwealth_, § 71; Hess, _Gesch._, ii. 37; Prideaux, _Connection_, i. 540 ff.
[207] _Dict. of Bible_, _s.v._ "Jaddua." See Schürer, i. 187; Van Dale, _Dissert. de LXX. Interpr._, 68 ff.
[208] This part of the story is a mere doublet of that about Cyrus and the prophecies of Isaiah (_Antt._, XI. i. 2).
[209] Mal. iii. 1. LXX., ἐξαίφνης; Vulg., _statim_; but it is rather "unawares" (_unversehens_).
[210] That the fourth empire could not be the Roman has _long_ been seen by many critics, as far back as Grotius, L'Empereur, Chamier, J. Voss, Bodinus, Becmann, etc. (Diestel, _Gesch. A. T._, p. 523).
[211] See Hamburger, _Real-Encycl._, _s.v._ "Geheimlehre," ii. 265. The "Geheimlehre" (Heb., _Sithrî Thorah_) embraces a whole region of Jewish literature, of which the Book of Daniel forms the earliest beginning. See Dan. xii. 4-9. The phrases of Dan. vii. 22 are common in the _Zohar_.
[212] "Plötzlich bei Antiochus IV. angekommen hört alle seine Wissenschaft auf, so dass wir, den Kalendar in den Hand, _fast den Tag angeben können_ wo dies oder jenes niedergeschrieben worden ist" (Reuss, _Gesch. d. Heil. Schrift._, § 464).
[213] For arguments in favour of this view see Cornill, _Theol. Stud. aus Ostpreussen_, 1889, pp. 1-32, and _Einleit._, p. 261. He reckons twelve generations, sixty-nine "weeks," from the destruction of Jerusalem to the murder of the high priest Onias III.