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.
Eating together
Sharing a table made a bond of friendship, so who you ate with told everyone whose side you were on.
If you sit down to dinner with him, people will say you are one of his. A shared meal was more than food. It made a bond, close to a promise. That is why it mattered who sat at Jesus' table, and why betrayal by someone who ate from the same dish was so ugly.
People saw table fellowship as making a covenant of friendship (Keener). In one ancient story two warriors stopped fighting when they learned their fathers had once shared a meal. Eating with sinners therefore looked like endorsing them, and Scripture warned against keeping company with the ungodly (Psalm 1:1). Pharisees were careful about meals, for example that all food be tithed. Because a shared meal bound people together, betraying someone you had eaten with was thought especially low. By this period it was Jewish custom to thank God before a meal and then divide and share the food. A later blessing, perhaps already in use, ran: "Blessed are you . . . who bring forth bread from the earth." Polite hosts with means served enough for leftovers, and a host was expected to feed even unannounced guests. Wright reads Jesus' meals with outsiders against the prophets' picture of the kingdom as a great feast to which everyone was invited. Table fellowship meant intimacy, and the Pharisees did not like to eat with less scrupulous people. Respectable Jews in Judea and Galilee kept away from Gentile tables (Acts 10:28; 11:3). Growing nationalism in Judea pressed moderates to avoid offense. Wright traces the ban to the conviction that Gentiles were idolaters. He writes that "Eating with people is one of the most powerful symbols of association." Keener judges that at Antioch "withdrawing from table fellowship with culturally different Christians made them second-class citizens." The church's Lord's Supper was a full meal, also called a love feast. Shared meals "created a bond of friendship obligation" (Keener on Jude 12).
An analogy: a wedding seating chart. Where people are placed tells the room who belongs with whom, and everyone reads it.
Sharing a table shows whose side a person is on, so eating with tax collectors, as in Mark 2:15-16, reads as endorsing them. A host who blesses, breaks and shares turns a meal into a sign, as at Matthew 14:19. In Galatians 2:12 the question is who will eat with Gentiles.
Not a seating plan where everyone is already a guest. A wedding chart only arranges people who were all invited. Sharing food then made a bond like a covenant, and Jewish law and custom kept some people away from the table altogether. So eating with sinners or Gentiles looked like endorsing them. Today we eat with people we disagree with, and it means little.
- {"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-26-17-30\/","n":"Matthew 26:17-30, The Passover and the cup","s":"Jesus eats the Passover with the Twelve in the city, names the one who dips with him as his betrayer, gives the bread and the cup new meaning, and vows not to drink wine again until the kingdom.","r":"Matthew 26:17-30"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/mark-2-13-22\/","n":"Mark 2:13-22, Levi and the party","s":"Jesus calls a tax collector from his booth and eats with tax collectors and sinners. He is questioned about eating with them and about not fasting.","r":"Mark 2:13-22"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/mark-6-30-52\/","n":"Mark 6:30-52, Bread in a deserted place, a walk on the sea","s":"Jesus feeds five thousand men from five loaves and two fish, then comes to his disciples walking on the lake at night.","r":"Mark 6:30-52"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/mark-14-12-31\/","n":"Mark 14:12-31, The Passover meal","s":"Jesus eats the Passover with the Twelve, names a betrayer at the table, gives the bread and the cup new meaning, and warns that all will scatter.","r":"Mark 14:12-31"}
- {"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\/luke-13-22-35\/","n":"Luke 13:22-35, The narrow door, the feast, the fox and the hen","s":"On the way to Jerusalem Jesus warns that many will find the door shut while people from east and west recline at the feast in God's kingdom. Warned that Herod wants to kill him, he calls Herod a fox and grieves over Jerusalem.","r":"Luke 13:22-35"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-15-1-10\/","n":"Luke 15:1-10, A lost sheep and a lost coin","s":"Pharisees and teachers grumble that Jesus welcomes sinners and eats with them. He answers with a shepherd who searches for one lost sheep and a woman who sweeps the house for one lost coin.","r":"Luke 15:1-10"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-15-11-32\/","n":"Luke 15:11-32, A father and two lost sons","s":"A younger son takes his share of the estate early, wastes it in a far country, and comes home to a father who runs to meet him. The older brother refuses to join the feast.","r":"Luke 15:11-32"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-18-35-19-10\/","n":"Luke 18:35-19:10, A blind beggar and Zacchaeus at Jericho","s":"Near Jericho a blind beggar calls Jesus Son of David and receives his sight. In the town Jesus invites himself to the house of Zacchaeus, a rich chief tax collector, who promises to give half his goods to the poor and repay fourfold.","r":"Luke 18:35-19:10"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-24-13-35\/","n":"Luke 24:13-35, A stranger on the Emmaus road","s":"Two disciples walking home to Emmaus are joined by a stranger who explains the Scriptures to them. They press him to stay, and they recognize him when he breaks the bread.","r":"Luke 24:13-35"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-13-1-30\/","n":"John 13:1-30, Washing the disciples' feet, and the morsel for Judas","s":"At supper before Passover Jesus takes off his outer clothes, ties a towel around himself and washes his disciples' feet. Then he hands Judas the dipped morsel, and Judas goes out into the night.","r":"John 13:1-30"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-21-1-14\/","n":"John 21:1-14, Breakfast on the beach","s":"Back in Galilee, seven disciples fish all night and catch nothing. At dawn a man on the shore tells them to cast to the right side, the net fills with 153 large fish, and Jesus gives them bread and fish by a charcoal fire.","r":"John 21:1-14"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-2-42-47\/","n":"Acts 2:42-47, The common life","s":"The first believers devote themselves to teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers, share their possessions, and meet daily in the temple courts and in their homes.","r":"Acts 2:42-47"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-10-24-11-18\/","n":"Acts 10:24-11:18, Peter in Cornelius's house","s":"Peter enters a Gentile home, preaches Jesus, and sees the Spirit fall on the uncircumcised listeners. In Jerusalem he is criticized for eating with Gentiles, and his account silences the critics.","r":"Acts 10:24-11:18"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-20-1-12\/","n":"Acts 20:1-12, The collection party and Eutychus at Troas","s":"Paul leaves Ephesus for Macedonia and Greece, then sets out for Jerusalem with delegates from the churches. At Troas the believers meet on the first day of the week, and a young man who falls from a window is taken up alive.","r":"Acts 20:1-12"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-27-27-44\/","n":"Acts 27:27-44, Shipwreck off Malta","s":"On the fourteenth night the sailors sense land, drop anchors from the stern and try to slip away in the ship's boat. Paul urges everyone to eat and gives thanks over bread, and when the ship breaks up the centurion stops the soldiers from killing the prisoners; all 276 reach the shore.","r":"Acts 27:27-44"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1corinthians-5-1-13\/","n":"1 Corinthians 5:1-13, A man and his father's wife","s":"A church member is living with his stepmother and the church is proud of itself. Paul tells them to hand the man over to Satan, clear out the old leaven as a household does before Passover, and not eat with a so-called brother who lives that way.","r":"1 Corinthians 5:1-13"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1corinthians-10-1-22\/","n":"1 Corinthians 10:1-22, Israel in the desert and the table of demons","s":"Paul warns that Israel too had its baptism and its spiritual food in the wilderness, yet fell into idolatry and immorality and was struck down, and tells the Corinthians that they cannot share both the Lord's table and the table of demons.","r":"1 Corinthians 10:1-22"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1corinthians-11-17-34\/","n":"1 Corinthians 11:17-34, The Lord's Supper in a rich man's house","s":"Paul rebukes the church because at the Lord's Supper some go hungry while others eat their fill and get drunk, retells the tradition of the Last Supper, and tells them to wait for one another.","r":"1 Corinthians 11:17-34"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/galatians-2-11-21\/","n":"Galatians 2:11-21, Peter leaves the table at Antioch","s":"At Antioch Peter, who had been eating with Gentile believers, draws back when people come from James, and Paul rebukes him in front of everyone, arguing that Jews and Gentiles alike are put right with God through Christ and faith, not by doing what the law requires.","r":"Galatians 2:11-21"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2thessalonians-3-6-18\/","n":"2 Thessalonians 3:6-18, The idle, the busybodies, and a greeting in Paul's own hand","s":"Paul tells the church to keep away from believers who are idle and will not work, recalls how he worked night and day to set an example, lays down that anyone unwilling to work should not eat, and signs the letter in his own hand.","r":"2 Thessalonians 3:6-18"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/jude-8-13\/","n":"Jude 8-13, Michael and the body of Moses, and hidden reefs at the love feasts","s":"The intruders claim dream visions, defile the body, despise authority and slander the glorious ones, though the archangel Michael, disputing with the devil over the body of Moses, did not dare to slander him but left the rebuke to the Lord. They have taken the way of Cain, Balaam and Korah; they are hidden reefs at the love feasts, waterless clouds, wild waves and wandering stars.","r":"Jude 8-13"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-3-14-22\/","n":"Revelation 3:14-22, Laodicea, lukewarm and rich","s":"To Laodicea the faithful and true witness says the church is neither cold nor hot but lukewarm, and he will spit it out. It thinks itself rich but is poor, blind and naked; he counsels it to buy gold, white clothes and eye salve, and stands at the door and knocks.","r":"Revelation 3:14-22"}
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Mark 2:16, 6:36, 6:41, 6:43 and 14:18
- N. T. Wright, Mark for Everyone, comment on Mark 2:13-17
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Matthew 9:11
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Galatians 2:12
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Galatians 2:12
- N. T. Wright, Galatians, Commentary, Peter in Antioch (2:11-14)
- N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians, comment on Galatians 2:11-14
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Jude 12
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Jude 12
