Kingdoms in Conflict

Daniel
By Robert Fyall
Christian Focus. 199 pages. £8.95
ISBN 18579 2249 2

Kingdoms in Conflict
By Andrew Reid
AIO Press. 244 pages. £.8.99
ISBN 0 949108 685
Available through St. Matthias Press

Here are two new commentaries for the layman on the book of Daniel. The apocalyptic literature of Daniel is not easy to understand and both these introductions are worth reading. Both have question sections suitable for home group discussion.
Bob Fyall's book takes Daniel a chapter at a time and its strength is that it looks with some detail at crucial verses. Generally the author leaves us satisfied. Andrew Reid's approach addresses Daniel in 26 bites and he has more of a feel for brining out the biblical theology of Daniel within the history of redemption. I found Bob Fyall's general remarks as the end of each chapter theologically interesting, whereas Andrew Reid's conclusions drew me much more directly into the New Testament and into personal application of the text.
I was glad to see both commentaries wrestling with problems in the text, but felt worried that both seem in places to have been perhaps too influenced by contemporary academic views of Daniel. Especially, I felt that both had muffed Daniel 9.25, first locating the fulfilment of the prophecy in the second century BC, rather than in the events of Christ. I think the old link of this verse to Nehemiah 2.1 makes far more sense. These are good commentaries, but Stuart Olyott's Dare to Stand Alone (Evangelical Press) still takes some beating.

Commentary on the book of Daniel

JEB

Dr John Benton