John F Walvoord - Daniel

{THE JOHN WALVOORD PROPHECY COMMENTARIES}

Daniel

John F. Walvoord

Revised and Edited by

Charles H. Dyer and Philip E. Rawley

M OODY P UBLISHERS
CHICAGO

2012 by
J OHN F. W ALVOORD

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright 2000; 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version.

Original edition published in 1966, under the title of The Revelation of Jesus Christ.

Edited by Christopher Reese
Interior design: Ragont Design
Cover design: Tan Nguyen
Cover image: iStock photo

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Walvoord, John F.
Daniel / John F. Walvoord; edited by Charles H. Dyer & Philip E. Rawley.
p. cm. (The John Walvoord prophecy commentaries)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and indexes.
ISBN 978-0-8024-1744-2
1. Bible. O.T. Daniel, Commentaries. I. Dyer, Charles H. II. Rawley, Philip E. III. Title.
BS1555.53.W35 2012
224.507dc23

2011039649

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This book is dedicated to Don Campbell,
Chuck Swindoll, and Mark Baileythree men who, in succession,
took up Dr. Walvoords mantle as president of Dallas Seminary.

God used each of you, in your own unique way,
to expand and enhance the legacy of the school.
Along with Dr. Chafer and Dr. Walvoord,
you form an unbroken line of leaders who never wavered in
your commitment to train others to know and proclaim Gods Word.

Thank you for leading well.
Its a privilege to call each of you friend!
Charles H. Dyer

Dr. Charlie Dyer received his ThM and PhD degrees from Dallas Theological Seminary. After serving on the faculty and administration at Dallas Seminary for twenty years, Charlie joined the administration of Moody Bible Institute where he served for ten years as Provost and Dean of Education. In 2010 Charlie left academic administration to become Professor-at-Large of Bible and host of The Land and the Book radio program. In addition to his extensive teaching and speaking schedule, Charlie also leads tours to the Middle East and is the author of numerous books, including The Rise of Babylon, The New Christian Travelers Guide, A Voice in the Wilderness, and Whats Next?. He also authored Jeremiah, Lamentations, and Ezekiel in The Bible Knowledge Commentary, co-authored Nelsons Old Testament Survey, and has contributed articles to Bibliotheca Sacra and chapters for several other books.

Philip E. Rawley is a former Moody Publishers textbook editor, one of the founding editors and writers for Today in the Word, and a freelance writer living in Rockwall, Texas. He is a graduate of the University of South Florida (BA) and Dallas Theological Seminary (ThM). Phil and his wife, Sarah, have two children and a grandson.

I n the last few weeks before my father died we had time to celebrate his life, tell stories about past family events, and dream a little about the future. His mind and memory were sharp and he was as upbeat and confident as ever. He was ninety-two years of age, had lived a full life, and had served well the Lord he loved.

The doctors had given him six weeks to live, and in that time we relived many a family story. He was visited by a parade of his close friends, many influential leaders he had taught and mentored. From his hospital room were days filled with warm memories and laughter, and an occasional hymn echoed down the hall.

My father had a list of things he entrusted to me as his oldest son. But in the last week of his life, the conversation turned to the seventy years he had dedicated to the study of the Bible. And in all that time, he explained, four key books of the Bible had been the subject of his most intense study; Revelation, Daniel, Matthew, and 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. He shared stories about how they were first written, taught, and eventually published.

I remember many of those times. Every summer our family piled into our car and drove across the U.S. and sometimes into Canada. We went from one Bible conference to another, but a lot of that time was spent on the road. And always somewhere in the car was a cardboard box filled with books.

Many nights Dad put us to bed and quietly went into a motel bathroom to read and take notes. Then when he was ready he would dictate an entire chapter, footnotes and all. So whether on the road or at home, this scholarly work was of ten done late at night and early in the morning. And it continued all his life.

His dream in those final conversations was that his work and biblical insights would live on after him. He remembered how the commentaries and works of some of the great teachers of the Bible lived on for generation after generation. Would his commentaries survive to teach others after his death?

My father explained he had chosen Moody Publishers (then known as Moody Press) to publish his first commentary on Revelation for one very important reason. He knew he could trust them to keep the commentary in print as long as it was needed.

So in those last weeks of my fathers life, our discussions produced one more assignment. Could I find a way to fulfill his dream to keep these works alive for the generations of students he would not be able to teach in the classroom?

From the seed of that dream has grown the new Walvoord Commentary series. The team that took up that dream is made up of men my father knew and trusted. And as he would have guessed, it was championed by Greg Thornton, senior vice president of Moody Publishers.

Philip Rawley agreed to take the lead as the editor of the series. And he took on the assignment with much more than the word editor implies. Phil was both a student of my fathers and a friend. As far back as twenty-five years ago he collaborated with me to help my father with a project that became