Review van Sharon Pace, Ezekiel (SHBC), Smyth &
Helwys, 2008 in JETS 53/1
Daniel. By Sharon Pace.
Macon, GA: Smyth and Helwys, 2008, xxiv + 383 pp., $55.00.
The
Smyth and Helwys Commentary Series is designed to be “user friendly” and accessible
to Bible students at any level. Sharon Pace’s commentary on Daniel in the series
is a fine example of a well-written commentary that will appeal to both
professional and layman. While there is little interaction with the biblical
languages, Pace demonstrates a mastery of recent literature on Daniel and is
sensitive to both Jewish and Christian historic interpretations of the book of
Daniel. Her conclusions on critical issues are not particularly unique,
following Collins (Hermenia) and Goldingay (Word) on most major points. Outside
of a handful of specialized studies, conservative scholarship on Daniel such as
Miller (Broadman and Holman, 1994) is ignored.
As
with other contributions in this series, sidebars illuminate the text of the
commentary with further cultural or historical details, such as brief
definitions of key terms or explanations of non-biblical books. Sometimes these
sidebars take the form of parallel texts from the Hebrew Bible or other
literature, such as Josephus, Second Temple period texts (Enoch, 4 Ezra), classic Jewish or
Christian exegesis, or modern reflections on Daniel. This feature is
particularly valuable when reading Daniel 11, where an encyclopedic knowledge
of the Seleucid and Ptolemaic dynasties is helpful. While these sidebars are
valuable (and in many cases fascinating), they are supplemental and not
necessary for the overall argument of the commentary. In general, the sidebars are
remarkable for their variety. For example, in the commentary on Daniel 6, Pace
includes several brief excerpts from Talmudic sources and a commentary
selection from both Jerome and Calvin. Juxtaposing these different voices
alongside the commentary on Daniel creates connections that are otherwise
missed. Most critical issues appear in sidebars, usually citing important
monographs on Daniel. For example, Yamauchi is cited in a sidebar on the
identification of Belshazzar (p. 160), and two articles by Al Wolters appear in
a sidebar on the writing on the wall (p. 181). As a result, endnotes are
minimal. Pace divides the book into two sections based on genre. She argues
that like Esther, Judith, and Tobit, Daniel 1–6 was written in the Persian
period and was designed to offer a model for Jews living in the Diaspora. This
is clear for Pace because these chapters deal with the problems the Jews faced
living under Persian and later Hellenistic overlords. Citing the political
situation found in Ezra as an example, one Persian monarch may be supportive of
the rebuilding of the Temple, yet the next aggressively against the Jews and
their traditions. Chapters 1–6 are therefore not objective history; the Babylonian
kings are “ciphers for Persian rulers who govern their subjects with both care
and caprice” (p. 7). While the bulk of chapters 1–6 were produced in the
Persian period, Dan 2:40–45 is an insertion into the text by a later author who
was aware of the marriage alliances of the Ptolemies and Seleucids.
Reflecting
the mainstream of contemporary scholarship on Daniel, Pace argues that the
apocalyptic section (chaps. 7–12) was written just before the death of
Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 164 bc. Because of the format of the commentary, the introduction to Daniel
is brief. Typical arguments for and against the late date cannot be seriously weighed.
This is an unfortunate shortcoming of the Smyth and Helwys series. However, since
this is the working assumption of the commentary, support for the later date is
found in appropriate places throughout the commentary. For example, Pace argues
that the fourth kingdom of Daniel 2 and 7 is Greece and the goat of Daniel 8 is
Antiochus. Likewise, the “anointed prince” of Dan 9:25 is likely Onias III and
the final “week” refers to the cessation of worship under Antiochus. Pace is
clear that chapters 8 and 9 are nonhistorical, stereotyped depictions of the
progress of history up to the time of the writer.
The
details of the final vision of the book, however, can be confirmed from
descriptions of the Seleucid kingdom found in Josephus and Maccabees. Pace
therefore reads Daniel 7–12 alongside texts from 1–2 Maccabees, Josephus,
Polybius and other primary sources. These texts are placed in sidebars to
illustrate many of the difficult allusions to history in Daniel 11. She
interprets all of Dan 11:21–45 as ex
eventu prophecy referring to Antiochus IV Epiphanes,
although verses 40–45 “turn to general statements about what will happen in the
future” (p. 333). This is problematic, however, since Antiochus did not die in
the land of Israel in a final battle—a detail Pace acknowledges. In the
introduction, she describes these verses as “genuine predictions” with no
awareness of the successes of the Maccabean revolt. If the final editor of
Daniel had no problem inserting political marriages into Daniel 2, one wonders
why this prophecy was not also “updated” to more accurately reflect the way in
which Antiochus died.
As
with other volumes in this series, each commentary section concludes by making connections
between the text and contemporary culture and issues. For example, Pace connects
the experience of the fiery furnace to the problem of racism in America via a film
based on the short story Shadrach by William Styron. Since the refusal of the three young men to bow
to the Babylonian idol is analogous to the civil rights movement in the
American south, Pace addresses the contemporary problem of racism. However, some
of these connections eventually run far afield from the theological points made
by the text of Daniel. Pace illustrates chapter 5 by discussing William Walton’s
oratorio Belshazzar’s Feast in order to detail anti-Judaism prejudice in (primarily) nineteenth
century biblical scholarship. While her comments on developments within the
field of biblical scholarship are excellent, they ultimately are tangential to
the themes of the text of Daniel. In the second half of the commentary the
“Connections” sections are rather brief, reflecting the difficulty of these
chapters.
The
commentary is accompanied by a CD-ROM that contains a PDF file of the
commentary. However, no extra features (e.g. additional artwork or sidebars)
appear in the electronic form of the commentary. This is unfortunate, as the
CD-ROM format lends itself to higher resolution images and more appropriate
maps that might have been used in a classroom setting. The text is fully
searchable and can be copied for use in a wordprocessor, although the
electronic version would have been enhanced if the indices were hyperlinked.
Phillip
J. Long
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