Comments on Daniel 1
Daniel 1 Babylon attempted to re-identify Daniel and company through a brutal program of brainwashing, not dissimilar in content to today’s programs of conformity. The key to successful resistance, as we see in this chapter, is to draw the line precisely at the point of obedience. Draw the line too early, and you have lost your witness by your absence. Draw the line too late, and you have lost your witness through compromise. The key to effective witnessing is to be in the world, but not of it. We must understand that the world is not so much a physical place; it is, in reality, a state of mind. Verses 1-4: the Ruin of Israel Daniel’s home was completely devastated, and even the Temple was plundered. Babylon took the best and brightest, Israel’s future, and sought to turn them into Babylonians. Daniel has witnessed a catastrophe; he has see...