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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.
Blasphemy
Speech that dishonored God, including claiming what belonged to God alone. Under the law the penalty was death.
Signing the owner's name on a check is not a small mistake. Blasphemy meant speaking against God, or taking for yourself something that belonged only to God. The law of Moses punished it with death, so the word was a weapon.
Priests might pronounce God's forgiveness, but only God could forgive sins (Micah 7:18). Later rabbis defined blasphemy narrowly, as cursing with the divine name (Leviticus 24:11). But the word in 2:7 can mean any demeaning speech, including speech that dishonors God. One could blaspheme the Spirit because most Jews saw the Spirit as divine. To credit the Spirit's work to an impure spirit was close to calling God Satan. Biblical law gave atonement for most sins but not for deliberate ones. Some thought false teachers spoke by demons, and the penalty for leading God's people astray was death (Deuteronomy 13:5). At the trial, Wright argues, the base charge was being a false prophet who led Israel astray. He notes that thinking oneself the Messiah was not a capital offense under Jewish law. Most Jews allowed some of God's representatives to speak for him. Keener judges that the scribes were mistaken to call Jesus' words blasphemy by any definition.
An analogy: an employee who signs off on decisions only the owner can make. Even if every decision is good, the signature itself is the offense.
Blasphemy was the charge for claiming what belonged to God, as when Jesus forgives sins in Mark 2:7, and for insulting God's work, as in the Beelzebul dispute of Matthew 12:31-32. Because it carried death, it was the charge used when leaders wanted a case to end in execution. In Acts 6:11 it is brought against Stephen.
Not a breach of office policy. An employee who oversteps gets fired. Speech that dishonored God could carry a death penalty, and leading God's people astray was a capital charge. The line was also less clear than a job description, since most Jews allowed some of God's agents to speak for him. Nor did the word mean only swearing with God's name.
What counted as blasphemy at the trial? The ESV Study Bible says it was Jesus' claim to divine Sonship and an exalted place at God's right hand. Wright says there was "nothing wrong, let alone blasphemous, with thinking oneself to be Messiah". For him the explosive part was Jesus joining Psalm 110 and Daniel 7:13 to claim vindication and a share in God's throne. Wright adds that whether this was a crime under any official law code we will never know.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-9-1-17\/","n":"Matthew 9:1-17, A paralyzed man, Matthew's table and the wedding guests","s":"Jesus forgives and heals a paralyzed man, calls Matthew from the tax booth and eats with tax collectors and sinners, and is asked why his disciples do not fast.","r":"Matthew 9:1-17"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-12-22-50\/","n":"Matthew 12:22-50, Beelzebul, the strong man, Jonah and his true family","s":"When Jesus heals a blind and mute man, the crowds wonder if he is the Son of David and the Pharisees say he works by Beelzebul. Jesus answers with the strong man, refuses a sign except Jonah's, and names his true family.","r":"Matthew 12:22-50"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-26-47-75\/","n":"Matthew 26:47-75, Arrest, twelve legions, the council and the rooster","s":"Judas comes with an armed crowd and a kiss. Jesus refuses the sword and the twelve legions of angels, is tried at night before Caiaphas, and is condemned for blasphemy while Peter swears he never knew him.","r":"Matthew 26:47-75"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/mark-3-13-35\/","n":"Mark 3:13-35, The Twelve, his family and Beelzebul","s":"Jesus appoints twelve. His family thinks he is out of his mind, and teachers from Jerusalem say he drives out demons by Beelzebul.","r":"Mark 3:13-35"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/mark-14-53-72\/","n":"Mark 14:53-72, At the high priest's house","s":"The council tries Jesus at night. He says he is the Messiah and quotes the Son of Man coming with the clouds, and is condemned for blasphemy while Peter denies him in the courtyard.","r":"Mark 14:53-72"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-5-17-39\/","n":"Luke 5:17-39, Through the roof, then a feast with toll men","s":"Friends lower a paralyzed man through the roof and Jesus forgives his sins. Then Levi leaves his tax booth and gives a banquet for Jesus with other tax collectors, and Jesus is asked why his disciples do not fast.","r":"Luke 5:17-39"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-5-1-18\/","n":"John 5:1-18, The pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath","s":"At a pool with five porches, Jesus heals a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years and tells him to pick up his mat. It is the Sabbath, and the dispute that follows turns on Jesus calling God his own Father.","r":"John 5:1-18"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-8-31-59\/","n":"John 8:31-59, Abraham's children, and before Abraham, I am","s":"Jesus tells Judeans who had believed him that the truth will make them free. They answer that they are Abraham's children and were never slaves, and the argument ends with Jesus saying before Abraham was, I am, and stones in their hands.","r":"John 8:31-59"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-10-22-42\/","n":"John 10:22-42, In Solomon's Porch at the Festival of Dedication","s":"In winter, at the Festival of Dedication, the Judeans press Jesus to say plainly whether he is the Messiah. He says he and the Father are one, they pick up stones, and he answers from Psalm 82.","r":"John 10:22-42"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-6-8-7-53\/","n":"Acts 6:8-7:53, Stephen's charge and speech","s":"Men from the Diaspora synagogues accuse Stephen of speaking against the temple and the law. He answers with Israel's story, from Abraham to the temple, and turns the charge back on his judges.","r":"Acts 6:8-7:53"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-14-1-20\/","n":"Acts 14:1-20, Iconium and Lystra: taken for Zeus and Hermes","s":"After a plot in Iconium, Paul heals a lame man at Lystra and the crowd hails him and Barnabas as Hermes and Zeus. When they refuse the sacrifice, the crowd is turned against them and Paul is stoned.","r":"Acts 14:1-20"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/romans-2-17-29\/","n":"Romans 2:17-29, You who boast in the law","s":"Paul turns on an imagined Jewish teacher who boasts in the law yet steals, commits adultery and robs temples, so that God's name is blasphemed among the nations, and says true circumcision is of the heart.","r":"Romans 2:17-29"}
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Mark 2:7, 3:22 and 3:29
- ESV Study Bible, study note on Mark 14:64
- N. T. Wright, Mark for Everyone, comment on Mark 14:53-72
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Matthew 9:3
