Previously I have argued for this part of Daniel being about Augustus, and I’m not abandoning that theory, but as I've been learning more about Pompey’s history I’m starting to find an argument for him being the focus of this passage compelling. I currently have no idea if anyone before me has ever attempted to argue this.
First I should address the fact that many do not believe Pompey to have been a King. It’s pretty uncontroversial to acknowledge that the rulers of the later Roman Principate were considered Kings by people in the East regardless of their official denial of that status. Well I’d argue that to the people in The East conquered by Pompey denying he was a King was just as absurd. The Roman Triumph very much revolved around treating the Triumphator as ceremonially King for the Day. Pompey had already had two Triumphs before his career brought him to Judea.
Similar to that is the matter of how Pompey is not considered to be someone who deified himself. But again from The Hebrew Bible POV I’d argue everything about the Triumph was a self deification, calling yourself “The Great” was a deification, and making Statues of a person is a deification.
Speaking of which, Pompey began being called Magnus/The Great by his soldiers as early as 80 BC. And they did so specifically to compare him to Alexander The Great, which is interesting because when Daniel 11:36 says “do according to his will” it is repeating the language of verse:3 a passage all scholars agree is about Alexander The Great. And then verse 36 goes on to say in the same sentence “and he shall exalt himself, and magnify”, the English Word “magnify” coming from the same linguistic root as Magnus.
Verses 37-39 are the most difficult to justify applying to either Pompey or Augustus, there are ways to interpret these passages that aren’t a very face value reading.
The rest could be all about Pompey’s actions in the Near East during the later phase of the Third Mithridatic War leading up to his famous capturing of Jerusalem except the very last statement jumping forward to his end. The only issue is the exact chronology.
The “Tents” detail fits very vividly with how Josephus describes the Roman Military Encampment setting itself up on The Temple Mount. Pompey never military invades Egypt but they were involved in all this and we want to basically extort all most of Egypt’s Wealth from Ptolemy XII. And he did redraw the borders of the region” dividing the land for gain”.
“He shall meet his end and none shall help him” is an admittedly vague description that could be made to fit a lot of things. But the Vibe I feel fits Pompey’s final fate being killed by people he thought were allies in Egypt more than it does Antiochus Epiphanes or any Julio-Claudian Emperor.
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