This volume on Daniel is a reprint of the two volumes W. H. Shea wrote for the Abundant Life Bible Amplifier Series ten years ago. The body of the earlier work has remained unchanged. The new volume has a new introduction and the specific characteristics of the Abundant Life Bible Amplifier Series such as “Getting into the Word,” “Applying the Word,” “Further Study of the Word” etc. have been deleted; reducing the work from 420 pages to the present 288 pages.

The unusual feature of this commentary on Daniel, unchanged from the previous work, is the structure of the book. Generally, commentaries on Daniel start at chapter one and follow the canonical order of the chapters until the end of chapter twelve. Shea, however, has chapter one followed by chapters four and five, three and six, and two and seven. This is a thematic order in the form of a chiasm rather than a chronological order. Similarly, in the prophetic section of the book chapter nine is studied first, followed by chapters eight and seven.

The book is firmly based on the historicist principle of prophetic interpretation and is replete with historical details that help the reader place the stories and prophecies in their context, and it explains in understandable language some of the difficulties in the book. For example, on the basis of the verse pattern in Daniel 9:25, 26 “the prince who is to come” in verse 26 is identified as the Messiah rather than as Titus, as is usually done. Shea also provides a convincing case why the death of Stephen should be seen as the end of the seventy weeks in Daniel 9. Adventist have always believed it, but Shea is the first one to base this event on a theological foundation by analyzing Stephen’s speech in Acts 7 as a “covenant lawsuit” speech that sealed up vision and prophecy.

This book should be in the library of every English-speaking Adventist minister and church member because “as we near the close of this world’s history, the prophecies recorded by Daniel demand our special attention, as they relate to the very time in which we are living” (Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, 547-548).