Book Review: Daniel Commentary, NIVAC

For our series on Daniel, as we attempt to seek out its relevance for our modern situation of political chaos, many of us are going to want as much information as we can find about how to tackle this book. Daniel can be very challenging to understand and interpret. Good commentaries are extremely helpful for everyday readers to be able to grasp these more difficult books. Longman’s commentary, in particular, is a great resource that we highly recommend for lay readers and church members . 

While some commentaries are written for academic use by scholars, others are written for a broader audience and devotional usage. This can sometimes cause an unfortunate situation where the more scholarly commentaries contain excellent insights at the expense of accessibility, while the more lay-level commentaries favor a broader appeal and application at the expense of substance. Longman’s commentary combines the strengths of both types of commentaries. As he goes through the book of Daniel, there are 3 main sections of each passage. First, Original Meaning sections deal with the actual text itself, and focus on the technical knowledge to be studied and understood. From here, he goes on to the Bridging Context sections, in which he further explores the background of the text in history and society, and seeks to connect it to our modern world. Lastly, the Contemporary Significance sections focus entirely on how to apply the truths of this Scriptural passage in today’s world. This balance of application and technical knowledge makes this a perfect commentary for church members looking for help in how to actually engage this book of the Bible. 

Tremper Lomgman III is an Old Testament professor at Westmont College in California. He has authored many well-known commentaries, including those intended for general audiences as well as more technical, academic commentaries. He was also a senior translator on the Old Testament committee that produced the NLT translation of the Bible, used by many Christians today. 

We believe this book is a great resource for any Christian wanting to dive deeper into the text of Daniel, and who is seeking to gain a better understanding of how to apply its message in our current time. It serves as an excellent companion for our series on the book of Daniel. This book will help anyone wanting to engage deeper in this sermon series, to contribute more fully in City Group discussions, or to study the Word in their own lives with greater understanding.