The Chronology of the Desecration of the Temple and the Prophecies of Daniel 7–12 Reconsidered

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The Chronology of the Desecration of the Temple and the Prophecies of Daniel 7–12 Reconsidered
Coşkun, Altay

From the journal Historia Historia, Volume 68, December 2019, issue 4

Published by Franz Steiner Verlag

article, 17683 Words
Original language: English
Historia 2019, pp 436-462
https://doi.org/10.25162/historia-2019-0023

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Abstract

The counterfactual allusion to the death of Antiochos IV in Dan 11.40-45 implies a terminus ante quem of December 164 BC. While scholars have previously extended this terminus to all Seleukid prophecies in Daniel 7-12, we should rather confine it to Dan 10-11, allowing for a later composition of the remaining Seleukid prophecies. Their author had full knowledge of the king’s death and the nearly simultaneous purification of the temple of Yahweh. If we accept the latter as the end point of the ‘prophesized’ religious persecution, a detailed Judaean chronology for 171-164 BC can be established that is in line with 1Macc and at least in part also with 2Macc.

Author information

Altay Coşkun

Keywords

Book of Daniel | Seleukid Prophecies | Antiochos IV Epiphanes | Temple of Yahweh | ‘Abomination of Desolation’ | Maccabaean Revolt

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References

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