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It is not clear exactly who the “Saints of the Most High” are. They appear to be humans as they are described as “the people.” But they also have a name that suggests angels: “The Holy Ones of the Most High,” an alternate translation of the same term. It also suggests martyrdom, as “sanctification of the name” is the standard term for martyrdom in Rabbinic Hebrew. These possible implications all turn out to be true when we look at the fuller context, including the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The saints cannot be all the people, as we know that not all the people will be saved or resurrected in the afterlife (Dan 12:1-3). Furthermore, Daniel 11:32 distinguishes between the “those who violate the covenant” and the “people who know their God”:

Forces from him shall appear and profane the Temple and fortress, and shall take away the continual burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant; but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. And those among the people who are wise shall make many understand, though they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder, for some days. When they fall, they shall receive a little help. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery. (Dan 11:34)

These verses narrate that the evil oppressors profane the Temple and they set up an “abomination that makes desolate.” We do not know exactly what this means but it is a severe insult to the purity of the Temple. The best guess is that they set up a pagan altar in the Temple. “They” are evidently the Greek Syrians, soldiers of Antiochus Epiphanes, who occupied the land and persecuted the Jews for their religion, at least in the eyes of 1 Maccabees and Daniel. It may be that their very presence inside the inner Temple precincts was the crucial action which stimulated this prophecy, but the very ferocity of the argument suggests that they also committed other acts of desecration. The violators of the covenant are those parts of the society who were allies of the Greeks, whom both Maccabees and Daniel understand as apostates. There were evidently a good many people who just passively ignored the events. Daniel 12 suggests that there will be those who just live and die, experiencing no resurrection. In the distinct minority are those few who know God. They teach the people the truth and fight against oppressors. They must be the group that produced this book, and they had a sectarian organization and identity.8

The party of the faithful are also specified as “those among the people who are wise” who “make many understand,” which probably means “give instruction to the many” in Daniel 11:33. They pay dearly for this service as they fall “by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder for some days.” They became martyrs by combat and captivity. And they are the group that will, at the end of days, become angels (stars) in Daniel 12:3. The story suggests that the faithful have been martyred and that, for their supreme sacrifice, they will not only be resurrected but “they who have made the many righteous will shine as stars forever.” This is the equivalent of becoming angels and so can be called angelomorphism.9 The events are just about to happen, nearly upon us.

The angelic army is quite possibly related to the rapiuma, the royal dead war heroes of Canaan, as the imagery in Daniel 7 has Canaanite roots as well. Sometimes Canaanite gods were described as stars. But it is clear that these heroes had human rather than birdlike forms. Unlike the Canaanite story, which explained where the dead were and established regular feasts to keep them happy in the afterlife, this story functions to punish those who have opposed Israel, especially those who have dared to murder God’s most wise and sacred saints. It describes the final reward not of kings but of martyrs.

There are also analogies with Greek thinking, where great heroes become the heavenly constellations. The point is, however, that it is