Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text: Ideas
The customs, offices and ideas a first reader knew without being told, what each meant then, and the nearest thing you already know.
Gifts to the poor
Giving to the needy was one of the three pillars of Jewish piety, with prayer and fasting. Greeks and Romans had nothing quite like it.
She left the envelope in the mailbox and never said who it was from. Alms were gifts to the poor. For Jews of Jesus' day, giving to people in need was a basic duty of faith, alongside prayer and fasting. It was also a way to be seen and praised, which is what Jesus warns about.
Prayer, fasting and gifts to the poor were the basic parts of Jewish piety (Tobit 12:8). Wright calls the three the key marks of Jewish observance. He says some Pharisees regarded them as equal to sacrifice for those far from Jerusalem. Greeks and Romans did not practice personal charity in this sense. Wealthy gifts to public projects or to poorer clients bought the giver popularity. For Jews charity was central, and some writers even said it saved a person. Later law limited giving to 20 percent beyond the tithe. The phrase they have their reward is the language of a receipt marked paid in full. Laying up treasure with God by giving was already a Jewish idea (Tobit 4:7-10). Begging at public places such as the temple gates was common. Only those who could not work begged, and piety was tied to generosity. In Judaism charity distributors made sure that widows and orphans with no relatives to help them were cared for. Greek society looked after freeborn orphans only.
An analogy: a donor wall in a hospital lobby, with the biggest names in the largest letters. The money helps someone either way, but the wall shows what the giver was buying.
Because giving to the poor was expected of the devout, the question in the Gospels is usually how and why it is done, as in Matthew 6:2-4. Giving could be a bid for public honor, so secrecy marks a gift made to God. In Acts 10:2 a Gentile's alms mark him as devout.
Not a voluntary gift that earns its name in big letters. A donor wall rewards giving with public credit, which is close to how Greek and Roman giving worked. For Jews, charity was a religious duty owed to God and the poor, and it laid up treasure with God. Public credit was the very reward that, in Jesus' words, closes the account.
The trumpet in Matthew 6:2. The CSB Study Bible reads it as coins tossed noisily into the trumpet-shaped offering chests of the temple. Keener calls it hyperbole, since people did not blow trumpets when giving alms, perhaps playing on trumpet-shaped charity boxes.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2corinthians-8-1-15\/","n":"2 Corinthians 8:1-15, The Macedonians' giving and the manna","s":"Paul holds up the generosity of the poor Macedonian churches, appeals to Christ who became poor, and asks the Corinthians to finish their gift so that there may be equality, as there was with the manna in the wilderness.","r":"2 Corinthians 8:1-15"}
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- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Matthew 6:1, 6:2-4 and 6:20-21
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Matthew 6:2 and 6:20-21
- ESV Study Bible, study note on Matthew 6:2-4
- CSB Study Bible, note on Matthew 6:2
- N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God, ch. 7, section (c) The Sermon on the Mount
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Acts 3:2-3
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Acts 3:3
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on Acts 3:2 and 10:2
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on James 1:27
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on James 1:27
