jmamos

Thanks to Family Man for providing the starting point of this post. http://iidb.infidels.org/vbb/showthr...32#post3444132. Other threads have addressed the question of if Daniel 9:24-26 is being interpreted properly. Here, I will be expanding Family Man's rebuttal of the mathematical claim, namely that there is something impressive about the prophecy's exactness.

In the book A Ready Defense: The Best of Josh McDowell, an argument is made which demonstrates all the worst aspects of apologists. If you read his argument uncritically, it sounds really, really good. But not only are the rebuttals to it effective, they refute McDowell with a thoroughness that shocked even me.

Daniel 9:24-26 "Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined."

McDowell's Argument

Artaxerxes gave the decree to rebuild Jerusalem on March 5, 444 BC in Nehemiah 2:1-8. The sixty-nine weeks are "weeks of years." A year in the Bible means 360 days. For instance, in Revelations 12:6 and 12:14, 3.5 years = 3.5*360 days = 1260 days. Sixty-nine weeks = 173,880 days after this decree was Monday, March 30, 33 AD, the day Jesus was presented to Jerusalem as Messiah the Prince.

(You can read the argument in full at http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0840...ref=sib_dp_pt#, by searching for "seventy weeks." Amazon will let you look at five pages: the page hit by the search, two forward, and two back. The relevant pages are 57-59.)

At a glance, this looks unbelievably impressive. Surely, the faith it takes to believe this is a coincidence is greater than the faith needed to believe Daniel was a prophet. But there are issues with his start day, the length of time, and the end date. When taken together, this is merely a demonstration that determined seekers do not discovering the meaning of prophecies, but instead craft prophecies.

Time Interval

For starters, "69 weeks of years" is an interpretation, not a quotation. What Daniel 9:25 actually says is "seven weeks and sixty-two weeks." Saying week = seven years is a stretch, but more on that later. The biggest stretch here is to count a year as 360 days. This lines up with neither common sense nor the Hebrew calendar. They used a lunar calendar, with one month being one lunar cycle, and a "leap month" 7 years out of 19. Just as now, 73 years meant 73 cycles of seasons, not 73*360 days = about 72 cycles of seasons. Imagine someone in 500 BC saying that someone is 73 years old. Would their friend ask in reply "solar years or biblical years?" (This is almost Monty Python worthy: "How do know so much about years?" "Well, you have to know these things when you're a king, you know.")

Concerning Revelations 12, notice that 1260 days = 3.449 solar years. So if in Revelations, "year" just meant ... well, year ... then John rounded by 1.7%. He nearly got two significant figures right, which compares favorably with several other biblical authors. In 1 Kings 7:23, the mathematical pi is rounded to 3.0, which is a 4.7% change. Matthew 12:40 says Jesus would be dead for three nights, a "rounding" of 50%. (Matthew didn't think Jesus died on Thursday. Matthew 27:62 makes this clear. What's going on is fuzzy math to make Jonah and Jesus look parallel.) Also, Revelations doesn't even say the time period is "three and a half years" but "a time and times and half a time."

"Week" could just as easily mean 7 days, 7 solar years, 7 biblical years, or really seven of just about anything. It could be "weeks of weeks," or "weeks of months." It could be seven years, where year = 365.25 days as on the Julian calendar and not 365.2422 days. I mention the imperfections of having a leap year every four years as a serious objection, because over the course of 483 years, this is several days which could make or break an "exact day" prediction. Or maybe "years" means different things in different contexts. Maybe "year" meant 360 days for the first 488 years, and then started meaning 365.25 days once the Julian calendar started being used in 45 BC. Or maybe 46 BC is the correct date for the switch, because the calendar was introduced then but not in common use. Or maybe "year" meant 365 1/3 days, because of the messed up way leap year was used at first. Or maybe from 45 BC on, "year" doesn't have a fixed meaning, but just counts however it was that they counted back then, regardless of if mistakes were made. This means that the leap years were 44, 41, 38, 35, 32, 29, 26, 23, 20, 17, 14, 11, 8 BC, 4 AD, 8, and 12 etc. Keep in mind that every little detail determines whether or not it was to the exact day, and every little detail is a fudge factor at the disposal of the apologist.

Suppose that exactly 483 solar years later, Jesus came. Would not Christians say the Bible was correct to the exact year? If a skeptic then said that a year = 360 days, so 483 OT years = 476 solar years and thus the Bible is wrong, Christians would have a good laugh over how dumb atheists are. Similarly, if Jesus came 483 days later, Christians would laugh if a skeptic of the Bible said it really meant 483 years.

Next, once you have the day count, do you count both the day of the decree and the day of completion, only one, or neither? Personally, I think McDowell would have a better case if he used this fudge factor, so that the target would be Palm Sunday, rather than "Palm Monday."

The Starting Time

The starting point is not clearly labeled but is described as "the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem." McDowell wrote that the potential starting points are 539 BC (Ezra 1:1-4), 519-518 BC (Ezra 5:3-7), 457 BC (Ezra 7:11-16), and 444 BC (Nehemiah 2:1-8). I haven't checked if these are valid or comprehensive – I'm just taking his word for it here. But how do we know the exact day of the year of the decree? All Nehemiah 2:1 says is "And it came about in the month Nisan."

The Ending Time

Next, the prophecy doesn't clearly describe what event will come at the end. It says "until Messiah the Prince." There are quite a few events in Jesus life that could be the fulfillment of this. (His birth, coming out of Egypt, the arrival of the magi, in the temple at age 12, Luke 4:21, his baptism, the sermon on the mount, the last supper, his crucifixion, his resurrection, etc.) In fact, pretty much any event could be justified. Or even no event would be sufficient; if the time period terminated on some nondescript day of Jesus ministry, it would still satisfy sixty-nine weeks until the verb-less "Messiah the Prince." Also, why is "until Messiah the Prince" the ending point? Maybe that phrase is just being general, and the ending of the sixty-nine weeks was really supposed to be Daniel 9:26 "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing." (Which could be either good Friday or the Saturday afterward.)

I also find it very strange that McDowell gives a Monday as the ending day and describes it as "the presentation of Christ Himself to Israel as the Messiah as predicted in Zechariah 9:9." Zechariah is talking about the Messiah riding a donkey, which happened on Palm Sunday. While there is an easy fix, what this shows is how willing he is to bend the truth to make it line up with the Bible.

The Total Fudge Factor

Next, I will measure the total room for fudging. There are at least 10 meanings for "week" comparably plausible to 7*360 days, 5 possible start years, 30 possible start days of the month, and at least 20 possible ending events. This gives a total of 10*5*30*20 = 30,000 different interpretations of the prophecy that all line up with McDowell's general framework. And there are even more if different things are fudged, such as finding different historians with different dates for particular decrees, doing something with the sixty-two weeks without the seven weeks, or adding a gap between the seven and sixty-two weeks. What really would be miraculous would be for Daniel to have been so wrong that even an apologist couldn't find a way to make him sound right.

Like McDowell, I do not consider the accuracy of the prophecy to be a coincidence. Unlike McDowell, the reason is that I use the word coincidence to describe things that are improbable.

Dissenting Opinions

At least six different interpretations of prophecy and history line up exactly. While googling "seventy weeks daniel" is hardly a stellar research technique, it brings up some interesting results. The top five hits are all different Christian sites explaining how well the historical events line up with the prophecy:

http://www.truthnet.org/dan70.html gives the starting point as somewhere in March/April 444 BC without claiming to know the particular day and gives the ending point as Palm Sunday, March 29, 33 AD. This is one day away from McDowell, and is by far the closest any two of these six will come.

http://endtimepilgrim.org/70wks1.htm gives the starting point as "very early in the month of Nisan in 445 B.C." and the ending point as Palm Sunday, April 9, 32 AD.

http://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com/weeks.htm bases their starting point off McDowell's starting point, and for the ending point "the dates that I have seen in my review of other people's research is April 6, either April 6, 32 AD, or April 6, 33 AD."

http://www.biblicalstudies.com/bstud...ogy/daniel.htm disagrees with the time interval. I didn't read the details, but the bottom line is that they think a biblical year is a normal year, and the appropriate time interval is just the sixty-two weeks. 440 BC was "the beginning of the rebuilding in times of distress" and Jesus was born in 6 BC, giving 434 years = 62 weeks in between. Based on this and some other meaning for the first seven weeks, they conclude: "The dates are too exact to be dismissed lightly, and they stand well as a firm apologetic for the Divine/supernatural character of the prophecy."

http://www.remnantofgod.org/70weeks.htm gives the starting point as "King Artaxerxes decree in 457BC" and the ending point 69 weeks = 483 years later as "Jesus Christ arrives as Messiah in the exact year 27AD."

It reminds me of a joke that I'm adapting:

Jack is accused of borrowing John's pot and returning it cracked, so John sues. The defense produces four witnesses who all attest to Jack's innocence. But the prosecution cross-examines the witnesses to produce the following four stories:

1. Jack never borrowed the pot.
2. The pot was already cracked when Jack borrowed it.
3. The pot was not cracked when it was returned.
4. There is no pot.

The defense persists that while the witnesses disagree on the details, we have four different witnesses who agree with the underlying idea: Jack is innocent. Each of the four stories is believed by three members of the jury. They pontificate over technicalities for a while, but quickly tire. Eventually, they just decide that all that matters is the bottom line of Jack's innocence, so they acquit Jack unanimously.

spin

Thanks, but no thanks. This stuff is old hat here. Daniel is simply misrepresented. The time from the decree to the arrival of troops of the prince is a total of 69 weeks, ie 7 weeks from the decree to the anointed prince, when Jerusalem is rebuilt (Dan 9:25a), and a further 62 weeks when Jerusalem remains intact (9:25b) until the removal of the anointed one and the assault of the troops of the prince (9:26). (This is not an interpretation as claimed, unless you want to claim that every act of reading is interpretation -- which is not very helpful.) After half of the final week the tamid is stopped and the temple is polluted with the abomination of desolation.

Historically we know all the information. The decree was that of Cyrus, who promised the return of the Jews and the rebuilding of the temple and thus the city. The anointed prince was Jesus son of Jehozedek, who was both the temporal and religious leader of the community as shown by Zechariah in 6:11 -- he was both anointed as the high priest was and the prince. The later anointed one is Onias III the high priest early in the reign of Antiochus IV. Onias was removed from office in 175BCE the troops came to assure smooth running of Jerusalem a few years later. About three and a half years after that Antiochus had the temple polluted and stopped the regular daily sacrifice (tamid).

The stuff that McDowell tries to sell is constructed from his end result and works backwards to get a starting date. You must check whatever he says... or better yet, go out and buy a scholarly commentary on Daniel written by a professor or associate from a university of repute and read it rather than taking potluck.


spin

DCHindley

Josh McDowell is a nobody.

Evangelicals like to think that "anointed one" in Daniel 9 refer to Christ Jesus. Conversely, many modern critics interpret the "anointed one" of Dan. 9:25 as the high priest Onias III. Yet why assume references to an "anointed one" must always refer to Christ. Cyrus, for example, is an anointed one in Isaiah 45:1. Even if the word "anointed (one)" *does* refer to a high priest, as it may in Dan. 9:26, why only to a "good" one?

Most people see the periods 7 (7x7=49), 62 (7x62=434), 1 (1x7=7) as sequential to equal 70 (7x70=490). By leaving open the question of whether an anointed one was a king/ruler or high priest, the seventy weeks of Dan 9 can be understood as a sophisticated cryptogram:

597---------------<434 yrs> -------------164
597-<49 yrs>-548-<378 yrs>-171-<7 yrs>-164

The governing period of the cryptogram is actually 62 weeks of years, starting with the year in which Jeremiah 29:10 appears to have been uttered (circa 597/6 BCE, based on Jer. 29:2), and thus ending 163/2 BCE. A "seventy" year-week cryptogram was formed by taking the 62 year-week base period, plus the initial seven year-weeks plus the final year-week that are actually contained within it, and arbitrarily adding them together. Besides, for a 70 week (490 year) governing period to end circa 164 BCE would mean it started 653 BCE!

It is not absolutely necessary for the beginning date of the initial 49 yr sub period to match the initial year of the start of the 434 year period, or the end date of the final 7 yr sub-period to match the end of the 434 year period, but I believe they were meant to roughly coincide with them. Considering that we are dealing with a cryptic "prophesy" I would not expect the events being relayed to be absolutely sequential, or to exactly meet the quantities described (half a year-week vs 3 yrs, etc.).

Thus, the "anointed one" of Daniel 9:25 is Cyrus. The end of an initial seven weeks of years brings us to ca. 548 BCE when Cyrus was incorporating the Median and Lydian territories he had just conquered, including northern Mesopotamia, and getting ready to conquer Babylon. This is probably the same point in time at which the author of Isaiah 45:1 came to the conclusion that Cyrus had been anointed by God to liberate the Jewish captives. In short, the authors of Jeremiah 29 and Daniel 9:25 both held the same conviction that Cyrus was anointed by God.

The "anointed one" of Daniel 9:26, on the other hand, is probably the "bad" high priest Menelaus, who was executed about 163/2 BCE.

The "one week (of years)" of 9:27 is approximately the final seven years of the 62 year-week governing period, indicating the period when Antiochus IV desecrates the temple ca. 171-169 BCE and its rededication in late 164 BCE.

Daniel 9:24 "Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city:
to finish the transgression,
to put an end to sin,
and to atone for iniquity,
to bring in everlasting righteousness,
to seal both vision and prophet,
and to anoint a most holy place.
25a Know therefore and understand:
25b from the time that the word went out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (Jer 29:10, ca. 597 BCE) until the time of an anointed prince (Cyrus, as in Isa 25:1), there shall be seven weeks (49 yrs, making this ca 548 BCE);
25c and for sixty-two weeks (starting in 597 BCE) it (Jerusalem) shall be built again with streets and moat, but in a troubled time.
26a After the sixty-two weeks (ca. 597 - 434 = ca. 163 BCE), an anointed one (Menelaus) shall be cut off and shall have nothing,
26b and the troops of the prince who is to come (Antiochus IV) shall destroy the city (Jerusalem) and the sanctuary (ca 169-168 BCE). Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.
27a He (Antiochus IV) shall make a strong covenant with many for one week (ca 171 BCE with the appointment of Menelaus, to ca. 164 BCE when Judas displaced him for a high priest of his choosing),
27b and for half of the week (6 Dec 167 BCE, or earlier, to 13 Dec 164 BCE, not exactly 3.5 years but just over 3 years) he shall make sacrifice and offering cease; and in their place shall be an abomination that desolates, until the decreed end is poured out upon the desolator (Judas' defeat of Antiochus' forces which resulted in the rededication of the temple, 14 Dec 164 BCE)."

If someone is to propose an alternative scheme, it would help to get the key events to fall within the possible dates for each year of rule mentioned when discussing events associated with Jewish returns from exile:

The following table has all possible dates for the years of reign of the various kings mentioned in Jewish scripture: (Dates are given according to the Babylonian civil calendar, which begins in the spring, and which also is the same as the Jewish Sacred year)

A) Return under Sheshbazzar, prince of Judah:

1) Departure from Babylon and arrival in Yahud as Governor (Ezra 1:1-10 & 5:14).

Sometime in 1st year of Cyrus (538/537 BC). Exact dates not recorded.

2) Started rebuilding the temple. Foundation set (Ezra 1:3 & 5:14-16).

Sometime in 1st year of Cyrus (538/537 BC). Exact date not recorded.

B) Return under leadership of prince Zerubbabel and high priest Joshua:

1) Departure from Babylon and arrival in Yahud (Ezra 3:2 & Hag 2:1-4).

Sometime in 2nd year of Darius I (520/519 BC). Exact dates not recorded.

2) The prophet Haggai exhorts Zerubbabel to resume rebuilding the temple (Hag 1:1f & Ezra 5:1-2).

2nd year of Darius I (520/519 BC). 1st day of the 6th month = Aug 29, 520 BC.

3) Rebuilding of Temple, started by Sheshbazzar but not completed, resumes (Hag 1:15).

2nd year of Darius I (520/519 BC). 24th day of the 6th month = Sep 21, 520 BC.

4) Alter erected and sacrifices made (Ezra 3:1-7).

2nd year of Darius I (520/519 BC). 1st of the 7th month = Sep 27, 520 BC.

5) Feast of booths observed (Ezra 3:4).

2nd year of Darius I (520/519 BC). 15th-21st of the 7th month = Oct 11-17, 520 BC.

6) Zechariah's address was given (Zech 1:1 & Ezra 5:1-2).

2nd year of Darius I (520/519 BC). 8th month = Oct/Nov, 520 BC.

7) Foundation of the temple laid, and official temple heirarchy re-established (Ezra 3:8-13).

2nd year from arrival, i.e., 3rd year of Darius I (519/518 BC). 2nd month = Apr/May 519 BC.

8) The temple was completed (Ezra 6:15).

6th year of Darius I (516/515 BC). 3rd of Adar (12th month) = Mar 12, 515 BC.

For the returns under Nehemiah and Ezra, there are a couple of alternatives. The usual academic reconstruction puts Nehemiah's 2 returns under Artaxerxes I and Ezra's under Artaxerxes II. The alternative favored by evangelicals also puts Ezra's return under Artaxerxes I. Artaxerxes III did not rule long enough to be a possibility for Nehemiah, but is a candidate for Ezra. A ban on building of the city wall was in effect during the reign of “Artaxerxes” (Ezra 4:7-24a) but who made the attempt to build them that caused the ban is not stated. If Nehemiah was recalled for his wall building activity, then how did he maintain his governorship for 12 years? Ezra 4:21 suggests that it happened before Nehemiah’s governorship, as a decree from Artaxerxes is required to allow rebuilding. Nehemiah’s return was a result of such a decree. Nehemiah then completed the construction as fast as possible to prevent it from being ordered stopped again.

C) Return under Nehemiah:

1) Arrives as Governor of Yahud (Neh 2:1-11).

20th year of Artaxerxes I (445/444 BC). Nisan (1st Month) = Apr/May or Oct/Nov 445 BC.
20th year of Artaxerxes II (385/384 BC). 1st Month = Apr/May or Oct/Nov 385 BC.

2) Completion of city wall in 52 days (Neh 6:15).

20th year of Artaxerxes I (445/444 BC). 25th of Elul (6th month) = Aug 16 to Oct 7, 445 BC.
20th year of Artaxerxes II (385/384 BC). 25th of Elul (6th month) = Sep 30, 385 BC.

3) Nehemiah's recall to Babylon (Neh 13:6).

32nd year of Artaxerxes I (433/432 BC).
32nd year of Artaxerxes II (373/372 BC).

4) 2nd return of Nehemiah and possible limits for that governorship (Neh 13:6-7).

Sometime between 33rd and final year of Artaxerxes I (spring 432 to winter 423 BC).
Sometime between 33rd and final year of Artaxerxes II (spring 372 to winter 358 BC).

D) Return under Ezra:

1) Departure from Babylon for Jerusalem (Ezra 7:1-10)

7th year of Artaxerxes I (458/457). 1st of 1st month = Apr 8, 458 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes II (398/397). 1st of 1st month = Apr 5, 398 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes III (352/351). 1st of 1st month = Apr 6, 352 BC.

2) Resumes journey for Jerusalem (Ezra 8:31-32) after stopping at river Ahava to pick up Levites (Ezra 8:15-20).

7th year of Artaxerxes I (458/457). 12th of the 1st month = Apr 19. 458 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes II (398/397). 12th of the 1st month = Apr 16, 398 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes III (352/351). 12th of the 1st month = Apr 17, 352 BC.

3) Arrives at Jerusalem (Ezra 7:8-9).

7th year of Artaxerxes I (458/457). 1st of 5th month = Aug 4, 458 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes II (398/397). 1st of 5th month = Jul 31, 398 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes III (352/351). 1st of 5th month = Aug 2, 352 BC.

4) Public reading of Law (Neh 8:1-12).

7th year of Artaxerxes I (458/457). 1st day of 7th month = Oct 2, 458 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes II (398/397). 1st day of 7th month = Sep 28, 398 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes III (352/351). 1st day of 7th month = Sep 30, 352 BC.

5) Celebrates the feast of Booths for the "first time" (The decision was made to celebrate the festival on the 2nd day of the 7th month = Oct 3, 458 BC or Sep 29, 398 BC. Neh 8:13-18. This may be a retelling of Zerubabel & Joshua's celebration in Ezra 3:4 above. The dates below are the traditional dates for this feast).

7th year of Artaxerxes I (458/457). 15th - 21st day of 7th month = Oct 17-23, 458 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes II (398/397). 15th - 21st day of 7th month = Oct 12-18, 398 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes III (352/351). 15th - 21st day of 7th month = Oct 14-20, 352 BC.

6) Ezra's speech exhorting Jews to separate from foreigners (Neh 9:1-37).

7th year of Artaxerxes I (458/457). 24th day of 7th month = Oct 26, 458 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes II (398/397). 24th day of 7th month = Oct 21, 398 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes III (352/351). 24th day of 7th month = Oct 23, 352 BC.

7) Ezra decrees that all Jews of Yahud divorce their foreign wives (Ezra 10:9).

7th year of Artaxerxes I (458/457). 20th of 9th month = Dec 19, 458 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes II (398/397). 20th of 9th month = Dec 16, 398 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes III (352/351). 20th of 9th month = Dec 16, 352 BC.

Also, get the key players to die, succeed or whatever, in accordance with these facts of history: (All years shown below are years B.C.E., and are derived from the year of the Seleucid era given in the texts using Babylonian Chronology 626 B.C. - A.D. 75 by Parker & Dubberstein, Brown U. Press, 1956).

175, Sep 1 Macc. 1:10 & 2 Macc. 4:7
Antiochus IV Epiphanes succeeds Seleucus IV Philopator.

175 2 Macc. 4:7
Jason outbids High Priesthood from Antiochus and succeeds his brother Onias III.

175-172 2 Macc. 4:10ff.
Jason begins Hellenizing Judean life.

172 2 Macc. 4:21
Antiochus greeted with pomp in Jerusalem on way to secure the Philistine border with Egypt (the imputed “1st invasion” of Egypt in 2 Macc.) after the coronation of Egyptian King Philometor in 172.

172-171 2 Macc. 4:23-26
Menelaus, son of Simon, a Tobiad, outbids Jason, an Oniad, for the High Priesthood and drives Jason as a fugitive into the land of Ammon.

172/1-169 2 Macc. 4:27-32
Menelaus has trouble delivering his promised tribute to Antiochus, resorting to theft of holy vessels from the Temple.

172/1-169 2 Macc. 4:33
Onias III protests this theft and retreats to the place of sanctuary of Apollo and Artemis at Daphne, a city 5 miles from Antioch.

172/1-169 2 Macc. 4:34
Menelaus, by means of Antiochus’ regent Andronicus, has Onias III lured from his sanctuary and killed.

172/1-169 Josephus, Antiq, Book XII, Chapter 10 (edition of W. Whiston)
Onias III’s son, Onias IV, flees to Ptolemy VI Philometor and Cleopatra in Egypt where he is allowed to erect a Temple to God at Heliopolis.

172/1-169 2 Macc. 4:35-38
The Jews protest, and Antiochus IV has Andronicus executed.

169 1 Macc. 1:16-20; 2 Macc. 5:1-6
Jason, thinking Antiochus was killed while invading Egypt, rebels against Menelaus, to try and reacquire the High Priesthood, and attacks Jerusalem, taking much of the city. Menelaus retreats to the Citadel which is held by a Syrian garrison.

169 2 Macc. 5:10-14,7-10
Antiochus hears of this and takes the city back from Jason and forces him back into exile in Ammon.

169 1 Macc. 1:20-23; 2 Macc. 5:15-21
Menelaus lets Antiochus enter the Temple itself to steal the votive offerings of prior kings.

169 2 Macc. 5: 22-23
Antiochus leaves Menelaus in charge of civil government as High priest, but established military governors (Phillip in Jerusalem and Andronicus over Samaria) and kills many who practice the Jewish Law.

168 1 Macc. 1:29-35
Antiochus invades Egypt again, and demands tribute from Menelaus, sending his general Apollonius to extract it from the populace by extreme means if necessary.

168 or 167 1 Macc. 1:41-53; 2 Macc. 5:24-26
Antiochus commands that all peoples in his empire follow Hellenic ways, and forbids the practice of the Jewish Law on pain of death. Apollonius enforces the decree.

168/7 1 Macc. 2:1-48
The priest Mattathias, a priest of the order of Jorarib, defies Antiochus IV’s order and starts a guerrilla war against the Syrians and those who apostatized with Menelaus.

167, Dec 6 1 Macc. 1:54-64; 2 Macc. 6:1-7:42
The Temple is profaned by the erection of a “desolating sacrilege/horrible abomination” (i.e., the “abomination of desolation” in Daniel 9) upon the alter of burnt offerings.

166/5 1 Macc. 2:49-69
Mattathias dies.

166/5 1 Macc. 3:1-4:35; 2 Macc. 8:1-7
Judas, son of Mattathias, takes over the resistance movement and upgrades the fight to full scale rebellion.

165/4 1 Macc. 3:35-37
Antiochus IV’s general Lysias was sent against Judas’ forces.

164 1 Macc. 3:38-4:35; 2 Macc. 8:8-36
Judas succeed in defeating the main portion of the Syrian forces in the country.

164 1 Macc. 4:35; 2 Macc. 9:13-29
Defeat of Lysias. Lysias offers peace terms to Judas. Antiochus IV ratifies them as he was busy with a floundering campaign in Persia and/or going insane from a disease.

164, Dec 1 Macc. 6:1-17, 2 Macc. 9:1-12
Antiochus IV was defeated at Elymias in Persia, and on way back to Babylon contracted a disease that killed him. (1 Macc. 6:16, though, erroneously dates his death in the year 163/162 unless his source dated it according to a calendar that started the 149th year of the Seleucid era in the Fall of 164 instead of the Spring of 163 as was the Seleucid norm.)

164, Dec 14 1 Macc. 4:36-60; 2 Macc. 10:1-8
Rededication of the alter in the temple and fortification of Jerusalem and key towns in Judea.

164/163 1 Macc. 4:35; 2 Macc. 10:10-11
Lysias heads to Antioch to secure throne for his puppet Antiochus V Eupator, and get reinforcements to resume battle with Judas.

164 or 163 2 Macc. 10:12-13
Good relations with Ptolemy, an advisor to Antiocus V, until he is denounced as a traitor and he commits suicide.

164-162 1 Macc. 5:1-68; 2 Macc. 10:14-38; 12:1-45
Judas fights off attacks by the Syrian generals Gorgias, Timothy, and Nicanor. In the process, Judas carries the battle for Jewish freedom to foreign soil to strengthen his rebel Jewish government and protect Jews from persecution by their neighbors in Gentile towns and villages.

163/162 1 Macc. 6:18-28
Judas lays siege to the Citadel in Jerusalem, which is still held by the Syrians, and Beth-zur, eventually taking that latter town.

163, Fall 1 Macc. 6:29-54; 2 Macc. 13:1-22
Taking advantage of the Jewish Sabbatical year (Fall 164-Summer 163), Antiochus V and Lysias return with a large force fortified with mercenary troops and they lay siege to Jerusalem and Beth-zur. Due to a lack of provisions, Beth-zur was abandoned to the Syrians and Judas’ forces defending the Sanctuary are seriously reduced.

163/2 1 Macc. 6:55-62; 2 Macc.11:1-38; 13:23-26
Lysias finds out that there is a contender to Antiochus V’s throne and makes peace with Judas in order to be able to head for Antioch, but tears down the city walls.

163/2 2 Macc. 13:3-8
Menelaus, who had joined Lysias’ and Antiochus V’s war party, is accused by some of having started the rebellion through his mis-rule, and Antiochus has him executed.

Note: In 1 Maccabees, it is not always clear whether the calendar used has a new year in the Spring (in proper Seleucid and Babylonian style) or in the Fall (that used by the government in Judea, as well as for Sabbatical years). All the dates given, except the date of the rededication of the Temple, are compatible with a year starting in the Fall, but fewer would be compatible with one starting in Spring. 2 Maccabees, on the other hand, uses dates that correlate better with a new year beginning in Spring.

DCH