Today is the first day of Hanukkah, which commemorates the cleansing and
rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after it had been desecrated by
Antiochus Epiphanes. The first Hanukkah was prophesied about 400 years in
advance by Daniel in the Bible. It was fulfilled to the day.
Daniel chapter 8 speaks about a Greek king who would oppress the Jewish people.
He would blasphemously make himself out to be equal with God the Son, stop the
daily sacrifices and offerings in the Temple, and desecrate the Temple with
idols and mocking sacrifices of unclean animals. After 2,300 evenings and
mornings, the Temple would be cleansed and rededicated.
Out of one of them came forth a rather small horn which grew exceedingly great
toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Beautiful Land. It grew up to
the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to
the earth, and it trampled them down. It even magnified itself to be equal with
the Commander of the host; and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him, and
the place of His sanctuary was thrown down. And on account of transgression the
host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it
will fling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper. Then I heard a
holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was
speaking, “How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, while the
transgression causes horror, so as to allow both the holy place and the host to
be trampled?” He said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy
place will be properly restored.” — Daniel 8:9-14 (NASB)
By 167 BC, a Seleucid Greek king named Antiochus IV had conquered Jerusalem.
He called himself Epiphanes, meaning “God Manifest,” claiming equality with God.
In December of that year, he stopped the sacrifices and grain offerings in the
Temple, slaughtered pigs on the altar, and called it the temple of Zeus. He
compelled the Jews to worship idols, and may have set up a statue to Zeus in the
Most Holy Place. In doing all this, he made the Temple unclean, so that it fell
out of use for that reason as well.
About 3 years later, history tells us that Judas Maccabeus retook the Temple,
cleansed and rededicated it, and restarted the sacrifices and offerings.
Was the prophecy fulfilled?
Is the Bible the Word of God?
The book of 1 Maccabees gives the starting date for the desolation of the Temple
as the 15th day of Chislev (the 9th month of the Jewish calendar), in year 145
of the Seleucid Era, which corresponds to 167 BC. The end of the desolation is
given as the 25th day of Chislev in 148 AG, or 164 BC. On our calendar that
is 1,105 or 1,106 days, which is not quite the 1,150 days necessary to make
2,300 evenings and mornings. So what gives?
A certain Fred P. Miller came up with an ingenious solution. He suggested using
a Greek calendar, and cites Herodotus to give details about such a calendar
which may have been in use at the time. In that calendar, the year is 360 days
long, but an extra “intercalary” month of 30 days is added every other year.
Thus, the year actually alternates between 360 and 390 days.
AN OBVIOUS BUT OVERLOOKED CONSIDERATION This prophecy has been unsuccessfully
calculated due to the commentators dependence on a calendar of 365 days. The
Julian Calendar using a 365-day year was not in official use until 45 B.C. The
calendar in use when the prophecy was fulfilled was different from that in use
today. This prophecy was fulfilled about 165 years before Christ. The dates
given in Maccabees, which measures the time of the cessation of the daily
sacrifice, are based on a Greek calendar which did not compute the year with 365
days. This clear statement of fact is often overlooked and is the reason for the
lack of success in interpreting this prophecy.
(http://www.moellerhaus.com/2300.htm)
The evidence Miller cites comes from The Histories of Herotodus. The passage in
question is from Solon and Croesus in Book I.
Seventy years I regard as the limit of the life of man. In these seventy years
are contained, without reckoning intercalary months, twenty-five thousand and
two hundred days. Add an intercalary month to every other year, that the seasons
may come round at the right time, and there will be, besides the seventy years,
thirty-five such months, making an addition of one thousand and fifty days. The
whole number of the days contained in the seventy years will thus be twenty-six
thousand two hundred and fifty, whereof not one but will produce events unlike
the rest.
(https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ancient/herodotus-creususandsolon.asp)
Let’s work this out.
Without intercalary months:
70 years = 25,200 days
25,200 days / 70 years = 360 days / year
Intercalary months:
35 months = 1,050 days
1,050 days / 35 months = 30 days / month
Recall that the time period of the desolation given in 1 Maccabees is 3 years
and 10 days. If we assume that the first and third years were long years, we get
the formula:
3 years and 10 days = 3 * 360 days + 2 * 30 days + 10 days
= 1,080 days + 60 days + 10 days
= 1,140 days + 10 days
= 1,150 days
Observe that 1,150 days are 2,300 evenings and mornings. Daniel’s prophecy was
fulfilled — to the very Day!
Happy Hanukkah.
Eclectic Intellectic 