k to Daniel. It
was on this ground that they received it into the canon of the Old
Testament. The objection that they did not class Daniel with the
prophets, but with the Hagiographa (see above, Chap. 13, No. 4) is of no
account. Had the book belonged, as the objectors claim, to the Maccabean
age, it would not have found a place in the Hagiographa any more than in
the prophets. The first book of Maccabees, which contains authentic
history, was never received into the Hebrew canon, because, as the Jews
rightly judged, it was written after the withdrawal of the spirit of
prophecy. Much less would they have received, under the illustrious name
of Daniel, a book written as late as the time of Antiochus Epiphanes,
more than three centuries and a half after Daniel. That they should have
done this through ignorance is inconceivable; that they could have done
it through fraud is a supposition not to be admitted for a moment, for
it is contrary to all that we know of their conscientious care with
regard to the sacred text.

It may be added that the book of Baruch, which cannot be placed
later than the Maccabean age, and is perhaps earlier, makes
abundant use of the book of Daniel; and that the author of the
first book of Maccabees had this book in the Alexandrine
version, as is plain from the peculiar expressions employed by
him in chap. 1:54--"they built the abomination of desolation
upon the altar." Compare Dan. 9:27 of the Alexandrine version.

(3.) Josephus relates, Antiq. 11. 8. 5, among the other particulars of
the visit which Alexander the Great made to Jerusalem, that the high
priest Jaddus (Jaddua) showed him the book of Daniel "in which he
signified that a certain one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of
the Persians;" and that this, in connection with other extraordinary
circumstances narrated by Josephus, had the effect of assuaging the
king's wrath which had been excited against the Jewish high priest and
people by their refusal to render him assistance against Darius, and of
disposing him to bestow upon them great favors. Respecting the
authenticity of this narrative there has been much discussion; but there
is no ground for denying its substantial truth. It bears the stamp of
reality, and it accounts, moreover, for the extraordinary privileges
conferred upon the Jews by Alexander, which otherwise remain
inexplicable.

(4.) _Christ himself recognizes Daniel as a true prophet._ H