Experts Recommend OT Commentaries: Book of Daniel

Dr. Aubrey Buster Weighs In

Mar 31, 2025

Dr. Aubrey Buster serves as Associate Professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College. Dr. Buster’s research focuses on the Psalms, Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, Daniel, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. She is the author of Remembering the Story of Israel: Historical Summaries and Memory Formation in Second Temple Judaism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022). She is currently co-authoring the Daniel volume for the NICOT series with John H. Walton, and the Ezra-Nehemiah volume for the Bible in God's World Series.

Buster’s Recommendations on the Book of Daniel

Technical

Collins, John. Daniel. Hermeneia. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993.

Collins’ commentary on Daniel is unsurpassed in its treatment of text-critical and philological matters and is a must-read for every serious student of the book of Daniel.

Goldingay, John. Daniel. Second Edition. WBC 30. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2019.

This thoroughly revised version of Goldingay’s 1989 commentary on Daniel contains a considerable addition: a large introductory excursus on the reception history of Daniel. Throughout the rest of the commentary, Goldingay provides particularly valuable treatment of grammatical issues, with compelling and original arguments for several traditional cruxes in the book, and matters of intertextuality, demonstrating Daniel’s relationship with other prophetic books in particular.

Semi-Technical

Newsom, Carol A., and Brennan W. Breed. Daniel: A Commentary. OTL. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2014.

Carol Newsom’s commentary accomplishes something that few commentaries do: a cohesive reading of the text on which they are commenting. I do not mean that she reads the text as unified, but that she identifies a developing theme in each half of the book that aids one in reading the book as a whole. In the court tales, she identifies the theme of knowledge and power, as well as the theme of the education of the Gentile King. In the second half of the book, she identifies the theme of the clash of sovereignties. Newsom’s commentary is engaging and insightful, and is well-complemented by Breed’s excurses on reception history.

Lucas, Ernst. Daniel. AOTC 20. Nottingham: Apollos, 2002.

Lucas demonstrates a particularly nuanced treatment of critical issues that have historically divided “traditional” or “evangelical” interpreters from “mainline” or “critical” interpreters. His commentary is also characterized by excellent treatment of ancient Near Eastern comparative material to the book of Daniel.

Seow, C.L. Daniel. WBC. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2003.

The richness of Seow’s commentary is particularly remarkable due to its relative brevity. Seow’s commentary is theologically rich, alongside the astuteness of his literary work on the text.

Sprinkle, Joe M. Daniel. EBTC. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020.

Sprinkle’s commentary is notable for his careful and thorough exegetical work, as well as for the clarity and charity with which he presents an argument for a traditional (early) dating of Daniel.

Non-Technical

Smith-Christopher, Daniel. “The Book of Daniel.” Pages 17–152 in The New Interpreter’s Bible. Edited by L. Keck. Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1996.

Daniel Smith-Christopher presents a thorough argument for the book of Daniel as resistance literature against empire. His engagement with social-scientific literature is particularly compelling, and this is a valuable entry in the New Interpreter’s Bible series.

Buster’s Work on Daniel

In terms of my (Buster’s) own work, the first volume of the commentary on Daniel that John Walton and I have been working on has just been released for pre-order, to be released in November! It’s real! Here is the link (click on image)