The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

CHAPTER SEVEN: Pre-Christian Interpretations of Daniel

Leaving now the preliminary survey of the prophecies and prophetic interpretation in the Bible itself, let us take up the line of expositors through the centuries In order to do this, we must go back to the pre-Christian Jewish exposition of Old Testament prophecies. The original Alexandrian Septuagint version of Daniel incorporates what appears to be the earliest attempt to give an interpretation of some of the prophetic terms appearing throughout the prophecies of Daniel. But we shall pause here to mention a tradition related by Josephus concerning the high priest in the time of Alexander the Great—a tradition which, if true, would furnish a still earlier example of a prophetic exposition presented as currently fulfilling. Even though the incident is discounted by historians, the prophetic interpretation involved in it evidently represents the belief current at the time of the origin of the tradition, whether early or late. PFF1 166.1