TOTC: Daniel

Tyndale Old Testament Commentary #23

by Joyce G. Baldwin

Daniel is a difficult book. But it is a book about the meaning of history, and people today need its message. The whole church needs reassurance, especially in view of Marxist claims to be able by human effort to introduce a utopian world government. "When the church lets part of its message go by default people look elsewhere for a substitute," writes Joyce Baldwin. "All the more reason, then, why the church needs to be counting on the certainties proclaimed by Daniel, namely that God is contantly overruling and judging in the affairs of men, putting down the mighty from their seats, overthrowing unjust regimes and effectively bringing in His kingdom, which is to embrace all nations."

Genres: Reference, Theology, Biblical Studies, Christian, Old Testament, Christianity, Religion

208 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1978

About the author

Joyce Gertrude Baldwin

Reviews

[Parker]

Joyce Baldwin is a helpful guide when navigating difficult passages (like the bulk of Daniel) because she is fair and even-handed toward a variety of perspectives, yet clear in her denunciation of opposing views. Probably the most valuable portion of this commentary is the introduction, where she ably demonstrates the problems with a second-century dating of the book. It's not as though such a date is impossible, but rather the data used to support it is insufficient. The commentary on the text itself is stronger in the regular narrative portions. Here she brings in many helpful historical details. Her comments on the prophetic passages suffer from space limitations -- her efforts are so divided that she has less space than would be ideal for arguing her own view. This is especially unfortunate because her own views tend to be very nuanced and interesting.

[lyndzelizabeth]

was super helpful for me to read alongside of my study of daniel!!

[John]

Joyce Baldwin's introduction to the book of Daniel in the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary Series is excellent. She lays out the differing opinions as to when the book was written quite carefully and thoroughly. She notes her own preference (the orthodox understanding that it was written during or just after the time of Daniel himself). It's a very thorough introduction that lasts almost 100 pages. Particularly notable are her section on apocalyptic literature and the section on the structure of the book.

Unfortunately, when she gets to the actual commentary the content is kind of...meh. She spends too much time tossing around the varying interpretations in light of what particular choice the commentator made at the very beginning of the book as to when it was written. I felt that she handled this well in the introduction and there was no need to demonstrate her understanding of the broader literature on Daniel in the actual commentary. I felt this made the commentary too ponderous and confusing. It seems like this is a common failing of a lot of current biblical commentators. They spend so much time proving that they have engaged with all the other commentators, that the time left to engage with the passage itself is almost an afterthought.

Read any commentary by Dale Ralph Davis as a good demonstration of how a biblical commentator should engage with the biblical text.

[Rob]

This commentary offers a competent defense of the conservative view, namely, that the book of Daniel was written in the time indicated by the text (6th century B.C.) by one author and does include authentic prophecies, not just stylized history, in chapters 2 and 7-12. Baldwin points to uniform language across the book, notes its Persian terms, and replies to arguments that the book reflects the time of the Greek empire. On that latter point, she highlights that the Greek words in the book are for musical instruments which had long been traded across the world. Further, she spends much time interacting with commentators, though not always enough time dealing with the text of Daniel; this may be because of size limitations in the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary series. She especially deals with the question of who Darius is and cites recent scholarship showing that "Darius" could be a throne name and so could apply to Cyrus as well as the Medo-Persian rulers (primarily) named Darius.

Another valuable point in this commentary relates to prophetic language. Baldwin notes that the "time of the end" does not necessarily refer to the end of the world. Instead, it typically refers to the end of whatever the prophet has in view. This could be a near-term event such as the end of a ruler's reign. She also notes the use of prophetic foreshortening in Daniel and other prophetic books. She compares the prophet's view sometimes to one viewing a mountain range, where the mountains appear to be close together until one approaches them. The fulfillment of the first prophecies then build expectation for the later prophecies.

[William Stapleton]

Probably the best classical commentary on Daniel (Baldwin's commentaries on any OT book are the best). She doesn't get bogged down in taking sides on the eschatological or apocalyptic interpretations, and yet stays true to Scripture. While helping my wife prepare for a Bible study in Daniel we read this and several other commentaries. This was the best. Others majored in minors or skipped entire sections because they found interpretation too difficult (?) or divisive. Baldwin just cruises right through the historical/critical view of Scripture and tells the story in a succinct and compelling manner.

[Spag]

Vey informative, and sharp and precise. But sometimes also rather dry and workmanlike. It's quite heavily on the apologist side, making a number of uncritical assumptions about dating (always as early as possible) and authorship (always as close to one author as possible) and textual origins (always as unified as possible). But in critiquing the more mainstream skeptical scholars' arguments, she does lay them out fairly first, for the most part. Finally, the little green editions are a really nice size, so get one of those second hand.

[David Blankenship]

Good commentary on Daniel from a conservative perspective. At times Ms. Baldwin's defense of this book as being fully written by Daniel borders on obsessive, but she can be forgiven for this as most of the book is conversant with both other Scripture and the critical literature.

[Joe Stevens]

Very enjoyable read. I thought the author did a fine job setting the time and space for Daniel. As someone trying to understand the books of the Bible, I felt that I left with considerably more knowledge than I entered with which was my goal.

[Daniel Supimpa]

A good and informed commentary, although dated. Used for a sunday school at church, with helpful insights in terms of historical and linguistic data.

[Bennett Rogers]

Superb. This is worth twice the purchase price for the introduction alone.

[Sander Benjamin Karlsen]

En god avhandling om Daniels bok, men lang og detaljert introduksjon til både innholdet i boka, men også dens troverdigeht

Til tider litt gammeldags språk

[Rachel]

I loved the literary and historical approach to this commentary.

[Philip Brown]

Yea good. Intro comments around dating were good and probably merit a round 2 from me.

[Eli]

My feelings about Baldwin's commentary are mixed. The introduction was pure gold, but the commentary was, in my opinion, lacking. It was not bad; it gives a lot of information about Daniel that you would hope to find in a commentary, and defends Daniel against liberal critics. But I found it was lacking in liveliness and perspective, and didn't leave one satisfied with the interpretations of Daniel's prophecies. Jerome's commentary on Daniel was far more exciting and useful for interpreting the prophecies.

This book is, however, an important volume to add to your collection of commentaries on Daniel. The excellent introduction alone is worth the book.

[Jon]

It was a good middle of the road in terms of level of technicality commentary on the Book of Daniel. I thought that it was fairly strong in terms of historical context, particularly relating to Daniel 7 and beyond. Some may find it dry or less pastoral, but in terms of what I look for in a commentary, things I want - historical context and insight this is a good commentary. One of the better ones in the Tyndale series.

[David]

This was my first TOTC commentary. I consider the commentary very good for the first half of Daniel but wanted more about the second prophetic half of Daniel which is considerably more complex.

[Jean]

Technical and comprehensive. It was disappointing that she resorted to preaching beginning about chapter 10 and abandoned her detailed analysis. It was good to read a female commentator for a change.

[Sean Durity]

Concise and insightful, this is my favorite commentary on the often poorly interpreted book of Daniel.