Daniel (Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 30 | WBC)

Top Highlights

“My presupposition for the commentary is therefore that the forward projections in Daniel were designed to bring a message that was meaningful to people in the postexilic period, and I shall seek to interpret the seer’s visions in the light of material in the book itself and in the light of the history of the period as we know it.” (Page xxxix)

“Whether the stories are history or fiction, the visions actual prophecy or quasi-prophecy, written by Daniel or by someone else, in the sixth century b.c., the second, or somewhere in between, makes surprisingly little difference to the book’s exegesis.” (Page xl)

“The three have not been delivered from the fire, but they are delivered in the fire (cf. Rom 8:37) (Philip).” (Page 74)

“A world-transcending or world-encompassing scheme is adapted to communicate a perspective not on the cosmos as a whole, nor even on history as a whole, but on the particular segment of history that directly concerns Daniel and his readers.” (Page 161)

“But the text’s failure to clarify what the statue represented may reflect the fact that it is more concerned with the challenge it issued to the three Jews, and the fact that god, king, and nation are closely interwoven and support each other (cf. the army commander’s combining of pragmatic and religious arguments—the latter themselves mutually contradictory—in 2 Kgs 18–19). Even if this was Nebuchadnezzar’s statue, falling prostrate before it would imply acknowledgement of his god, as Nebuchadnezzar’s falling prostrate before Daniel (2:46—the same words) implied acknowledgment of Daniel’s God.” (Page 70)