The Book of Daniel: Introduction

I haven't blogged for a while (see the original post of the blog to validate this wouldn't be easy), but thought I would pick it back up. 

I recently finished preaching through the Book of Daniel. I thoroughly enjoyed studying and wrestling over the text. So much so that I thought that I would blog through the book over a series of several blog posts as a follow up to the sermon series. 
You can listen to or download the sermons Here.  

For my sermon prep I used these books and commentaries. (in no particular order)

Daniel: (NAC) by Stephen Miller
Daniel: (REC) by Iain Duguid
Daniel: (TOTC) by Joyce Baldwin
Daniel: (WBC) by John Goldingay
Preaching Christ from Daniel by Sydney Greidanus
The Message of Daniel: by Dale Ralph Davos
Daniel: (AOTC) Ernest Lucas
Daniel: (Concordia) by Andrew Steinmann
Daniel-Malachi (Expositor's) by Andrew Hill
Daniel: (Preaching the Word) by Rodney Stortz
Hope in the Midst of a Hostile World by George Schwab
Daniel: (FOTB) Robert Fyall
God's Glory in Salvation through Judgement by Jim Hamilton
Kingdom through Covenant by Gentry and Wellum

Other helpful links and articles

Daniel Notes, Sam Storms
Chiasm in Daniel by Jim Hamilton
Was Joseph a Type of the Messiah? Tracing the Typological Identification between Joseph, David, and Jesus by Jim Hamilton
Qumran Scrolls and the Date of Daniel by Jim Hamilton
Josephus on Alexander the Great and the Book of Daniel by Jim Hamilton


The Book of Daniel is a very disputed book.  At certain points through the study there would be different opinions on a particular passage from each resource.  I wouldn't say that I had a "favorite" resource though I did tend to use Greidanus's, Duguid's, Steinmann's, Davis's and Stortz's commentaries the most but all of the commentaries were helpful. 

One of the most helpful resources was Hamilton's view on the structure of Daniel. I took a J-Term class on Daniel with Dr. Hamilton at Southern Seminary and got to sit under his teaching directly.  Therefore he was a big influence in my views on Daniel, though I do differ on certain things. But his view on the structure I think i right on and extremely important for interpreting some of the harder chapters.  

Here is Hamilton's Chiastic structure of Daniel. 

Daniel 1–Daniel Exiled

Daniel 2–Nebuchadnezzar’s Vision (Statue representing four kingdoms)

Daniel 3–Deliverance from the Fiery Furnace

Daniel 4–Nebuchadnezzar Humbled (seven years of insanity)

Daniel 5–Belshazzar Humbled (handwriting on the wall)

Daniel 6–Deliverance from the Lion’s Den

Daniel 7-9–Daniel’s Visions (Four kingdoms represented in various ways)

Daniel 10-12–Daniel’s Vision of the End of the Exile