Between the Testaments

1 First Maccabees (1:54) dates the abomination to 15 Chislev, SE 145: Dec 167 BC counting the era from spring 311, Dec 168 BC from autumn 312. Most scholars take 167. SE 145 ran from autumn 168 to autumn 167 BC if the era is counted from autumn 312 (Macedonian reckoning), and from spring 167 to spring 166 BC if it is counted from spring 311 (Babylonian reckoning). Chislev, the ninth Jewish month, falls in November–December, so the abomination was set up in December 168 or December 167 BC. Most scholars read 1 Maccabees as counting Jewish events from spring 311 and so give December 167 BC. Sacrifice on the idol altar, set up on the altar of God (1 Macc 1:54), began on 25 Chislev (1 Macc 1:59); the rededication three years later was on the same day of the month (1 Macc 4:52–54). (Dan 11:31)

2 Traditional scholars date Daniel to the 6th century BC, critical scholars to c. 167–164 BC; on either view Dan 8 and 11 match Alexander, his successors and Antiochus IV. (Dan 8:20–22; 11:2–4, 31)

3 Josephus: Herod died after a lunar eclipse, before a Passover, in his 34th year from 37 BC or 37th from 40 BC (part-years count) — 4 BC (eclipse 13 March). Some say 1 BC. (Matt 2:19)

4 Josephus puts the Gerizim temple in Alexander's reign (c. 332 BC); Magen's excavations indicate a Persian-period sanctuary there already in the 5th century BC.

5 Scholars debate whether the high priest praised in Sirach 50:1 is Simon I the Just (c. 300–270 BC) or Simon II (c. 219–196 BC), in office when Antiochus III took Judea. Josephus (Ant. 12.2.5) applies the title 'the Just' to Simon I, son of Onias I, under Ptolemy I and II. However, historical references in Ben Sira to repairing the temple after war fit Simon II following the Fourth Syrian War (c. 217 BC) or Fifth Syrian War (200 BC).

6 Heliodorus's attempt on the Temple treasury is known only from 2 Macc 3 (under Seleucus IV, 187–175 BC), which gives no year; the date is an estimate.

7 The rededication was on 25 Chislev SE 148 (1 Macc 4:52): Dec 165 BC counting the era from autumn 312, Dec 164 BC from spring 311 (the usual date). (John 10:22)

8 Josephus puts Hyrcanus’s conquests (Medaba, Shechem, Gerizim) just after 129 BC; coins found on Mount Gerizim date the temple’s destruction to about 110 BC. Josephus (Ant. 13.9.1) places the campaign against Medaba, Shechem and Mount Gerizim straight after the death of Antiochus VII (129 BC). Y. Magen, who directed the excavations on Mount Gerizim, concludes from the coins found there that the temple and the city were destroyed by John Hyrcanus about 110 BC, not in 128 BC as Josephus’s order of events implies; the other Hasmonean conquests of the region are therefore dated here between the two views.

9 Josephus dates the start of the Temple rebuilding to Herod's 18th year (Ant. 15.11.1: 20/19 BC) or his 15th (War 1.21.1); John 2:20 says it had been 46 years in building. (John 2:20)

10 Josephus recounts Alexander meeting the high priest Jaddua at Jerusalem (Ant. 11.8.4–5); Arrian and Curtius, who describe his march from Tyre to Gaza, record no visit. The story of Alexander bowing to the high priest at Sapha and being shown the prophecy of Daniel (Ant. 11.8.5) is widely regarded by modern historians as an apologetic Jewish tradition (grade E). Alexander traversed the coastal road from Tyre to Gaza without a recorded detour into the Judean highlands.

11 Ptolemy I seized Jerusalem on a Sabbath (Ant. 12.1.1); scholars debate whether in his first Syrian campaign (c. 320 BC), after Gaza (312 BC) or after Ipsus (301 BC).

12 Josephus (Ant. 13.11.1) makes Aristobulus I the first Hasmonean king, Strabo (16.2.40) Alexander Jannaeus; Josephus's 481 years from the return are about 47 too many.

13 Most modern historians date the battle of Panium to 200 BC (Polybius 16.18 names the battle but gives no year); some place the capitulation of Scopas at Sidon in 198 BC. Polybius Book 16 mentions the battle between Antiochus III and Scopas at Panium (Paneas) in Coele-Syria only in a criticism of Zeno’s account (16.18–19); that Antiochus conquered Scopas is stated in a fragment of Polybius quoted by Josephus (Ant. 12.3.3; Polybius 16.39). Jerome (Comm. on Dan. 11:15–16) says Scopas was routed near the sources of the Jordan and besieged in Sidon until famine forced him to surrender; modern historians put that surrender, and the final transfer of Judea from Ptolemaic to Seleucid rule, at about 198 BC.

14 The Treaty of Apamea (188 BC) made Antiochus III give up Asia Minor west of the Taurus, pay 12,000 talents in 12 years (15,000 in the first terms) and give 20 hostages. Rome’s first terms (Polybius 21.17; Livy 37.45) asked 15,000 talents in all: 500 at once, 2,500 on ratification, then 1,000 a year for twelve years. The treaty itself (Polybius 21.42; Livy 38.38) names 12,000 talents over twelve years, 540,000 modii of wheat and 350 talents for Eumenes, after Antiochus’s defeat at Magnesia (190 BC); the Loeb English of 21.42 prints "twelve thousand talents a year", an evident slip for "in twelve years" (Livy 38.38 agrees). Twenty hostages were also required, among them the future Antiochus IV (1 Macc 1:10). The heavy debt is the usual explanation for later Seleucid attempts on temple treasuries, including the Heliodorus affair under Seleucus IV (2 Macc 3) and the plundering of the Jerusalem Temple by Antiochus IV.

15 1 Macc 6:16 puts Antiochus IV’s death in SE 149: Oct 164–Sep 163 BC by the autumn-312 count, 163/162 BC by the spring-311 count; the usual date is late 164 BC. Polybius 31.9 says that after a failed raid on the sanctuary of Artemis in Elymais he died at Tabae in Persia, struck by madness according to some.

16 Josephus (Ant. 14.4.3) and Strabo (16.2.40) say Pompey took Jerusalem on a day of fasting; Cassius Dio (37.16) says on the day of Saturn (a Sabbath).

17 Scholars date Malachi between about 500 and 430 BC: some in the time of Nehemiah's second term (Neh 13), others earlier, soon after the Temple was rebuilt. (Mal 1:8; Neh 13:6–12)

18 The Letter of Aristeas puts the Torah's translation under Ptolemy II (285–246 BC); the other books were translated gradually over the next two centuries.

19 Scholars date the oldest parts of 1 Enoch to the 3rd–2nd century BC (manuscripts c. 200–150 BC) and Jubilees to c. 170–140 BC; both are Jewish books outside the Bible.

20 The Greek prologue says its translator came to Egypt in the 38th year of Euergetes (Ptolemy VIII, counting from 170 BC): 133/132 BC; the translation followed. Counting from Ptolemy VIII’s sole rule in 145 BC would give 107 BC, but he died in 116 BC, and Euergetes I (246–222 BC) reigned only about 25 years, so only the count from 170 BC fits.