The Book of Daniel haps more than once, as early as the later Hellenistic period, as we know was
the case with Esther (text to nn. – above) and with the Wisdom of Ben
Sira (Ecclesiasticus).^23 But all we can be certain of is that it was in circulation
in Hebrew and Aramaic by the end of the second century..and in Greek
also by the first century..
Josephus, as we saw earlier in relation to Alexander’s legendary visit to
Jerusalem (text to n. above), accepted ‘‘Daniel’’ as a historical person-
age of the sixth century..living under the Babylonian Captivity, and
hence treated his dreams and visions as genuinely prophetic. He thus equally
took the references in Daniel to Antiochus Epiphanes as prophetic, and also
understood the prophetic element as including the Roman Empire. Whether
Josephus interpreted Daniel as specifically foretelling the destruction of the
Temple in.. is, unfortunately, unclear, owing to a problem in the text.
According to a possible reconstruction of his text, Josephus wrote as follows:
And there would arise from their number a certain king who would
make war on the Jewish nation and their laws, deprive them of the form
of government based on these laws, spoil the temple and prevent the
sacrifices from being offered for three years. And these misfortunes our
nation did in fact come to experience under Antiochus Epiphanes, just
as Daniel many years before saw and wrote that they would happen. In
the same manner Daniel also wrote about the empire of the Romans
and that [ Jerusalem would be taken by them and] the temple would be
laid waste.^24Josephus’ recognition that Daniel did indeed speak about Antiochus Epipha-
nes is however quite unambiguous, and he reverts to this point (which is not
in his main source, Maccabees) when he comes to relate Antiochus’ dese-
cration of the Temple in ..: ‘‘Now the desecration of the temple came
about in accordance with the prophecy of Daniel, which had been made four
hundred and eight years before; for he had revealed that the Macedonians
would destroy it.’’^25 He thus supplied nearly all the evidence for Porphyry’s
correct deduction that this prophecy was a pseudo-prophecy, but of course
without drawing this conclusion himself.^26
. See the Wisdom of Ben Sira, prol. –. The year is ..
. Josephus,Ant. , –, Loeb trans. The words bracketed are supplied only from
John Chrysostom,Adv.Iudaeos,(Migne,PGXLVIII, col. ). See R.Wilken,JohnChry-
sostom and the Jews(), esp. –.
.Ant. , , Loeb trans.
. Porphyry’s argument is preserved in Jerome’sCommentary on Daniel,Corpus Christ.