My previous conversation with Wendy Widder on the site was about her book Every Road Goes Somewhere: A Memoir about Calling. You’ll find the review here and our video conversation here. I recommend that book to anyone who has struggled in their stewardship of God’s gifting and call in their life. That’s pretty much all of us I think. We should all be as candid about our struggles as Widder is. Read this book!
Widder is good at wearing two hats, the academic hat and and ministry hat. Her two commentaries on the book of Daniel more or less coincide with her book on calling. Let’s take brief note of her previous Daniel Commentary before we delve into her latest work. The fact that Zondervan sent me a free copy of the book did not influence this review.
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I recently had a conversation With Wendy Widder about all things Daniel. Well, at least about the difference between her two books, the overall structure and meaning of Daniel for today, and how to preach Daniel. Go here for that video conversation.
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Story of God Series Daniel Commentary
Widder’s Story of God series commentary on Daniel was published in 2016. This series, based on the NIV Bible translation, shows how the grand story of the Bible (scholars call it the metanarrative) fits together. Let’s face it—at first glance the Bible looks like a random collection of miscellaneous books. Sure, we get how the four Gospels present a fourfold perspective on Jesus, but how a lot of the Bible fits together is pretty much a mystery to many of us.
The story of God series helps you solve this mystery in three steps:
- First you LISTEN to the Story by reading sections of Daniel in the NIV, along with related passages that were likely on Daniel’s mind, and later passages that had Daniel in mind.
- Then you learn to EXPLAIN the Story with insight into its historical and canonical settings.
- Finally you are taught to LIVE the Story by reflecting on how it can be lived today with help from contemporary stories and illustrations.
It’s easy to cherry-pick cool verses from Daniel, but if you’ve ever tried to read through it at one sitting, to get the big picture, you know it can be confusing. It hops from one exploit of Daniel to another, not following chronological order. And then there’s the visions of statues getting smashed by flying boulders and voracious animals devouring one another, not to mention the back and forth machinations of the kings of the north and kings of the south. Widder’s work will help you with the big picture, not only of Daniel, but also with how all 66 books of the Bible have been woven together in the providence of God, all to tell us the grand story of Jesus as the creator, sustainer, and final ruler of the universe.
ZECOT Series Daniel Volume
If you’re a serious Bible student or teacher, ready for a deeper dive into how Daniel’s language “works” as a literary discourse, ZECOT Daniel, published in 2023, is for you. Each passage in Daniel is explained in terms of
- the main idea being presented—what’s the point?
- the literary context—how does it fit into what comes before and after it?
- translation and structure—how does the language of the passage present its main ideas?
- Form—how does Daniel use literary tools to get his message across?
- Exposition—what was Daniel actually talking about?
- contribution to the canon—how does Daniel contribute to our overall understanding of the Bible?
- Practical significance—how do we live today in light of Daniel?
For me, the phrased outline of the text of Daniel is a highlight of this volume (and of all ZECOT and ZECNT volumes). This analytical visualization of the structure of Daniel’s is very helpful for expository teaching and preaching.
Unlike many other commentaries, Widder understands the Aramaic portion of Daniel (Dan 2:4-7:28) as the key to its structure. The typical outline of Daniel views chapters 1-6 as a historical narrative and chapters 7-12 as apocalyptic visions. But there are narratives in 7-12 and visions in 1-6. This approach ignores the linguistic elephant on the sofa, the Aramaic section, which is quite clearly chiastic:
Attention to the literary structure and theological theme of the Aramaic section of Daniel prepares one to understand the theme of Daniel 8-12. As Daniel 2-7 in Aramaic—the language of the wider ancient near eastern world—speaks to Israel currently exiled in Babylon, so Daniel 8-12—back to Israel’s native tongue Hebrew—speaks to Israel’s future back in the promised land. Overall Daniel teaches us that despite Israel’s present disciplinary exile, and additional troubles that still lie ahead, God will faithfully fulfill his promises to Israel and ultimately establish his kingdom on earth.
Daniel among the Dispensationalists
As Daniel begins, God has delivered Israel to defeat by Nebuchadnezzar and deportation to Babylon. Daniel and his three friends have to figure out what life in exile means.
I first learned about Daniel from people whom John Gerstner called “dispensensationalists.” To this day I resent Gerstner’s scorn, but he did have something of a point when it came to Daniel. My early teachers’ interest in the “seventy weeks of Daniel “(Dan 9:24-27) suffered from preoccupation with trying to calculate the exact date of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Or was it Christ’s baptism? Or his crucifixion? Or his resurrection? Or even Pentecost—it was never very clear.
Looking back now, I can see how they missed the forest—God’s faithful care for his exiled people until sin was ultimately ended and righteousness was finally established—because they were almost totally fixated on the trees—ill-advised mathematics. Which is more needful for spiritual growth, understanding God’s everlasting, faithful love, or taking a long shot at calculating the exact date of an event in the life of Jesus? Widder navigates all these calculations—known among OT scholars as “the dismal swamp of OT criticism”—but she never lets us forget that our goal is not trying to decipher when our ultimate redemption is sealed but growing in our relationship to and witness for the One who has sealed it. Widder gets Daniel as a chapter in the story of God’s faithful preservation of his people despite their feebleness and fickleness. I could wish she had been my first teacher of this book.
Exile and Expectation: Living Daniel Today
Wendy Widder’s understanding of the message of Daniel for today can be captured in three words: exile and expectation. She says:
As followers of Jesus, we live in exile in Babylon—wherever in the twenty-first-century world we find ourselves. We live under foreign overlords, human kings whose values rarely reflect those of God’s eternal king and kingdom. We face the challenge of faithfulness when our respective cultures and societies make demands on us that violate the life-giving law of God. Some of us suffer greatly for following the King of Kings.
While we await the fullness of God’s kingdom on earth—the New Jerusalem filled with Jew and Gentiles alike because of the finished work of Christ—we live in both exile and expectation.
Wendy Widder. Daniel: God’s Kingdom Will Endure. ZECOT (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2023), p. 37.
That original message of Daniel still speaks powerfully to God’s pilgrim people, living today in a different sort of exile, and looking forward to a city whose builder and maker is God (Heb 11:8-16). God still rules over all earthly kingdoms, and he sets whoever he wishes over their affairs, setting over them even the lowliest of people (Dan 4:17, 25, 32, 35; 5:21). As Maltbie Babcock put it way back in 1901,
This is my Father’s world; Oh let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world; the battle is not done.
Jesus who died shall be satisfied, and heaven and earth be one.
If you are taking a serious look at Daniel in your personal study of the Bible, or if you have been tasked with teaching it to others, you will find no better guide and conversation partner than Wendy Widder’s two volumes on this book.
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“Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever.” Daniel 12:3 NLT
Just a personal testimony from an old friend and still a Dispensationalist of the Renald Showers position:
I realized that I too whenever teaching Daniel often rushed to the “Good part of the Seventy weeks” and tended to slide over the prayer and deal with it in one long message instead of savoring it. After reading several reformed writers who emphasized the prayer. I came to enjoy and be blessed by giving it the attention it deserved.
Appreciate the heads up on Dr. Widder’s work. At my age it is hard to justify buying another commentary on Daniel, but I do love that book.
Really good to hear from you Bill. My experience with Daniel 9 is the same as yours. I don’t mean to discount the importance of understanding the 70 weeks, 1290 days, 1335 days, etc. My concern is that emphasis on these matters without attention to their context misses the overall point of the book and serves up junk food to God’s people.
PS- You can watch Wendy’s lectures on Daniel at biblicalelearning.org for free if you can’t justify buying her books.
Congrats on the book, Dr. Widder!