Alexander the Great's Dream Concerning the Jews

While Alexander the Great marched toward Jerusalem intending to take revenge on the Jews for refusing him provisions, a solemn procession led by the High Priest Jaddua went to meet him. Alexander's heart was turned toward them because he had been forewarned in a dream not to hurt them.

According to the account provided by Flavius Josephus, Alexander's anger toward the high priest stemmed from Jaddua's refusal to provide military auxiliaries and supplies while Alexander was besieging Tyre, as Jaddua had previously sworn an oath to Darius. Before the meeting, God warned Jaddua in a dream to take courage, adorn the city, and have the people meet the king in white garments while the priests wore their proper habits. When Alexander encountered the procession at a place called Sapha, he bowed down and honored the high priest. Alexander explained to his general Parmenion that he had previously seen the high priest in a vision at Dion in Macedonia, who had encouraged him to boldly cross the sea to conquer the Persians. Following this, Alexander entered Jerusalem and was shown the Book of Daniel, wherein the prophecy of a Greek destroying the Persian empire was interpreted as referring to himself.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, Book 11, Sections 325–337, trans. William Whiston):

Now Alexander, when he had taken Gaza, made haste to go up to Jerusalem; and Jaddua the high priest, when he heard that, was in an agony, and under terror, as not knowing how he should meet the Macedonians, since the king was displeased at his foregoing disobedience. He therefore ordained that the people should make supplications, and should join with him in offering sacrifice to God, whom he besought to protect that nation, and to deliver them from the perils that were coming upon them; whereupon God warned him in a dream, which came upon him after he had offered sacrifice, that he should take courage, and adorn the city, and open the gates; that the rest appear in white garments, but that he and the priests should meet the king in the habits proper to their order, without the dread of any ill consequences, which the providence of God would prevent. Upon which, when he rose from his sleep, he greatly rejoiced, and declared to all the warning he had received from God. According to which dream he acted entirely, and so waited for the coming of the king. And when he understood that he was not far from the city, he went out in procession, with the priests and the multitude of the citizens. The procession was venerable, and the manner of it different from that of other nations. It reached to a place called Sapha; which name, translated into Greek, signifies a prospect, for you have thence a prospect both of Jerusalem and of the temple; and when the Phoenicians and the Chaldeans that followed him thought they should have liberty to plunder the city, and torment the high priest to death, which the king's displeasure fairly promised them, the very reverse of this happened; for Alexander, when he saw the multitude at a distance, in white garments, while the priests stood clothed with fine linen, and the high priest in purple and scarlet clothing, with his mitre on his head, having the golden plate whereon the name of God was engraved, he approached by himself, and adored that name, and first saluted the high priest. The Jews also did all together, with one voice, salute Alexander, and encompass him about; whereupon the kings of Syria and the rest were surprised at what Alexander had done, and supposed him disordered in his mind. However, when Parmenion alone went up to him, and asked him how it came to pass that, when all others adored him, he should adore the high priest of the Jews? to whom he replied, 'I did not adore him, but that God who has honored him with his high priesthood; for I saw this very person in a dream, in this very habit, when I was at Dion in Macedonia, who, when I was considering with myself how I might obtain the dominion of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but boldly to pass over the sea thither, for that he would conduct my army, and would give me the dominion over the Persians; whence it is, that having seen no other in that habit, and now seeing this person in it, and remembering that vision, and the exhortation which I had in my dream, I believe that I bring this army under the divine conduct, and shall therewith conquer Darius, and destroy the power of the Persians, and that all things will succeed according to what is in my own mind.' And when he had said this to Parmenion, and had given the high priest his right hand, the priests running along by him, he came into the city; and when he went up into the temple, he offered sacrifice to God, according to the high priest's direction, and magnificently treated the high priest and the priests. And when the book of Daniel was showed him, wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that he was the person intended; and as he was then glad, he dismissed the multitude for the present, but the next day he called them to him, and bade them ask what favors they pleased of him.