This commentary on Daniel and Revelation is an attractively bound reprint of R. A. Anderson’s books Unfolding Daniel’s Prophecies and Unfolding the Revelation. That Anderson wrote these books in the 1960s, when the cold war was at its height, is evidenced by the fact that he prefers to identify the king in Daniel 11:36 with the atheistic French Revolution and the king of the North in verse 40 with a worldwide atheistic government rather than with the papacy; though he is careful to point out that “we cannot be dogmatic on certain details of these prophecies” (p. 166).

His commentary on Daniel follows, by and large, the interpretation of U. Smith and the Adventist Bible Commentary. The ten horns are ten Germanic tribes and the little horn comes out of one of the four horns in Daniel 8:9 (pp. 52, 106). Most Adventist interpreters today recognize that the little horn comes out of one of the four winds; and the number 10 is best taken as a round number (e.g. Gen 31:7; Num 14:22; 1 Sam 1:8; etc.) indicating that the one Roman Empire was destroyed by many Germanic tribes (12-15 all together). The “latter days” are interpreted as the end of the ages (p. 131) though the Hebrew expression is simply an idiom for the future which could be the time of the conquest of Canaan (Gen 49:1), the days of the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities (Deut 49:1), or the age of the Messiah (Hos 3:5).

The commentary on Revelation again follows the Adventist historicist interpretation found in U. Smith and others. The seven churches (Rev 2-3) and the seven seals represent seven periods in church history, the throneroom vision in chapters 4 and 5 refers to the investigative judgment, and the seven trumpets unfold “history from the military aspect” (p. 263) with the Visigoths, the Vandals, the Huns, and Odoacer’s removal of the last Roman Emperor covering the first four trumpets. While the interpretation of the seven churches and the seven seals has remained basically the same, the throne-room vision in chapters 4 and 5 is now seen by many Adventists as the inauguration of Christ’s ministry rather than the investigative judgment, and the trumpets in Revelation 8 and 9 are interpreted more along spiritual lines rather than military ones. Thus the first four trumpets are seen as judgments on Israel (A.D. 70), Rome (A.D. 476), and the church (in the form of increasing apostasy).

Revelation 12 is an important chapter for Seventh-day Adventists, particularly verse 17. Anderson, in his one page commentary on the text, majors, unfortunately, on the commandments of God; the “testimony of Jesus” or the “spirit of prophecy” is mentioned only in passing, although he frequently cites from the writings of Ellen White.

“The earth helped the woman” is seen as a reference to archaeology (p. 294) rather than to America as a safe haven for those persecuted in the Old World. However, archaeology did not blossom until the middle of the 19th century, long after the close of the 1260 years during which the woman (the church) was persecuted. Another item to be taken cum grano salis is Anderson’s claim that Vicarius Filii Dei “Vicar of the Son of God” is one of the pope’s official titles (p. 306). While this title has been used at various times, his official title is Vicarius Christi (Vicar of Christ).

Some of Anderson’s translations of the names of the seven churches are also questionable, e.g., the name Smyrna is not synonymous with myrrh (p. 200). While “sweet smelling” would certainly fit the church in the second century, the reality is that the etymology of Smyrna is unknown. The same is true of Thyatira which Anderson translates as “sacrifice of contrition” (p. 208).

A misprint or mistake is the name Bab-ril as “gate of God” (p. 325). Babylon in Akkadian (Babylonian) was bab-ili (sg.) or bab-ilani (pl). One other mistake is the absence of references for some of the quotations used (e.g., pp. 119, 309, 311, 314, 344, etc.).

The preface by H. M. S. Richards and the introduction by R. A. Anderson are both from the earlier book on Daniel. The editor, for some reason, left out the preface and the introduction to the book of Revelation. Nevertheless, all in all, this volume is a useful introduction to the historicist interpretation of Daniel and Revelation, highlighting the historical background of the prophecies. Its readability and the helpful lay-out with its many subheadings make this book attractive to Adventists and non-Adventists.