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James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000) was senior pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for 32 years until his death. While he was there the church became a member church of the PCA.
Daniel, An Expositional Commentary. James Montgomery Boice, Baker, 1989, 15 chapters, 140 pages.
Like all of Boice’s commentaries, this is based on a series of sermons. In comparison to some other kinds of commentaries, it is more down to earth and more pastoral, but less technical and less terse. As adopted sermons, the chapters can be read in one sitting.
In his preface, Boice says that he was once impressed by a speaker who made the point that “Daniel gives the meaning of history more clearly than any other portion of the Bible, and, what is more, it tells us how to live for God in ungodly times—like our own.” What are our own times other than history in the making? How can we make any sense out of the changes going on right now? The “meaning of history” is on all our minds, whether we know it or not. Are our times in 2006 any less “ungodly” than they were when these sermons were given some twenty years ago?
In Boice’s introductory message to Daniel 7, he makes the point, “God rules in history. This is … the chief message of the book.” From this principal, he goes to the hearer’s hearts:
You must apply this personally. If you are in a position of power and influence, you are in danger of thinking that the power you exercise somehow flows from you because of the exceptional person you are. … All [the attributes you have] are God’s gift to you, and he can both give them and take them away. He can raise a person up, and he can bring that one down. He does! He does it constantly.
The truth that God rules history may also be applied in a comforting way. …
Then comes the second half of Daniel. From the Preface: “Some approach this book as if it were a puzzle given to stretch our minds and put us through our paces as students called to ‘compare Scripture with Scripture,’ to figure things out. … but to think of Daniel chiefly as a puzzle is to miss its extraordinary relevance.”
It is important. “Commentators have called the ninth chapter of Daniel the ‘key’ to prophetic interpretation. Others have called it the ‘backbone’ of prophecy To illustrate Boice’s approach, see how he words it:
This is difficult, but let me take it one step at a time, not presuming to have the only right interpretation—there are many different interpretations—but merely trying to tell you what I think these important paragraphs mean. … There are three main possibilities. … I tend to think those people are right who…
The next time you want to study Daniel, you may want to pull this book off the shelf to go with it.
— Dean Brown, November 2006
From the publisher:
In this volume of James Montgomery Boice’s popular commentary series, pastors, Bible students, and laypersons will find analysis of Daniel’s illuminating insights into history. … Its clear language and approachable style make this commentary accessible and enlightening.
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