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.
The family's name
Families lived, worked and stood together. Walking out of the family business or putting kin second was a public offense.
The son walked out of the family store, and the whole street talked about it. Your family was your job, your home, your safety and your name. What one member did, the whole family wore in front of the village.
Leaving a family business, which sons normally expected to take over one day, had dramatic consequences for the whole family. A family firm with hired men had ample income. Many homes in Capernaum were built around courtyards shared with other homes, and extended families often lived together. Relatives usually tried to hide behavior that could shame the family. Kinship words were used loosely, so a respected older woman could be called mother. Yet refusing to put your physical family first would look offensive in the ancient Mediterranean world. Wright says Jesus' mother brought the family to take him home, to stop him bringing dishonor on the family name. Bailey adds a point from Middle Eastern speech. A man gesturing to a crowd of men can call them brother, uncle and cousin, but cannot call them brother and sister and mother. Bailey makes the point on Matthew's version. Mark 3:35 has the same three words, and Bailey draws from them that the disciples around Jesus included women. Jewish tradition ranked honoring father and mother among the greatest commandments. Wright, writing on Jesus' family sayings, calls the demand to leave the dead unburied outrageous and argues that loyalty to Jesus formed an alternative family. Grown children were expected to support aged parents in return for their upbringing. Judaism counted this part of honoring father and mother, it was law as well as custom, and even pagans did it. Close friends, and above all a son, were expected to visit a dying man, and sons normally buried their fathers.
An analogy: a family farm handed down for generations. When the eldest son leaves to join something new, it is not a career change. It is a hole in the family, and the neighbors can see it.
Putting a teacher before family, as when James and John leave their father in Mark 1:20, was a public offense, not a private choice. The saying about letting the dead bury their dead in Matthew 8:22 cuts against the strongest duty a son had. Naming his followers as his family redefined kinship.
Not a loss the parents bear alone. A son leaving the farm today is sad news for his parents. Then he owed them support in old age by law and by the commandment to honor them, and the shame fell on kin who shared courtyards and lived together.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-10-16-42\/","n":"Matthew 10:16-42, Wolves, floggings, a sword and a cup of water","s":"Jesus warns the Twelve of councils, floggings in synagogues and trials before governors and kings, of family turned against family, and promises that whoever receives them receives him.","r":"Matthew 10:16-42"}
- {"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-13-53-58\/","n":"Matthew 13:53-58, No honor in Nazareth","s":"Teaching in his hometown synagogue, Jesus is dismissed as the carpenter's son whose family everyone knows, and he says a prophet is not without honor except at home.","r":"Matthew 13:53-58"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/mark-1-14-20\/","n":"Mark 1:14-20, Fishermen called","s":"Jesus announces that God's kingdom is near, then calls two pairs of brothers from their nets on the Sea of Galilee.","r":"Mark 1:14-20"}
- {"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\/luke-2-41-52\/","n":"Luke 2:41-52, A twelve-year-old among the teachers","s":"On the family's yearly Passover pilgrimage the twelve-year-old Jesus stays behind in Jerusalem, and after three days his parents find him in the temple courts among the teachers.","r":"Luke 2:41-52"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-9-51-62\/","n":"Luke 9:51-62, A Samaritan refusal and three would-be followers","s":"Setting out for Jerusalem, Jesus is turned away by a Samaritan village and rebukes James and John for wanting to call down fire. On the road he tells three would-be followers what following him will cost.","r":"Luke 9:51-62"}
- {"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-18-18-30\/","n":"Luke 18:18-30, A rich ruler and the needle's eye","s":"A ruler asks what he must do to inherit eternal life; told to sell everything and follow, he goes away sad, and Jesus says it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter God's kingdom.","r":"Luke 18:18-30"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-19-16-30\/","n":"John 19:16-30, The cross, the notice in three languages, and his mother","s":"Jesus carries his own cross to Golgotha. Pilate's notice, King of the Jews, is written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek; soldiers cast lots for his seamless tunic; he gives his mother to the beloved disciple, takes the sour wine and says it is finished.","r":"John 19:16-30"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/romans-16-3-16\/","n":"Romans 16:3-16, Greet the church in their house","s":"Paul greets more than two dozen believers in Rome by name, from Prisca and Aquila and the church in their house to the households of Aristobulus and Narcissus, and tells them to greet one another with a holy kiss.","r":"Romans 16:3-16"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1corinthians-4-14-21\/","n":"1 Corinthians 4:14-21, Ten thousand guardians, one father","s":"Paul writes as the Corinthians' father in the gospel, sends Timothy to remind them of his ways, and asks whether they want him to come with a rod or with love.","r":"1 Corinthians 4:14-21"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1thessalonians-4-9-12\/","n":"1 Thessalonians 4:9-12, A quiet life and your own hands","s":"Paul praises the church's love for the whole family of believers in Macedonia and urges them to love more, to live quietly, mind their own business and work with their hands, so that outsiders respect them and they depend on no one.","r":"1 Thessalonians 4:9-12"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1timothy-5-1-16\/","n":"1 Timothy 5:1-16, Older men as fathers, and the widows' list","s":"Timothy is to treat older and younger believers as family; the church is to honor widows who are truly in need, families are to support their own, and only older widows of proven character are to be put on the list.","r":"1 Timothy 5:1-16"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2timothy-1-1-7\/","n":"2 Timothy 1:1-7, Lois, Eunice and the laying on of hands","s":"Writing from custody, Paul greets Timothy as his dear son, thanks God as he remembers him in prayer night and day, recalls the faith of Timothy's grandmother Lois and mother Eunice, and urges him to fan into flame the gift given when Paul laid hands on him.","r":"2 Timothy 1:1-7"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1john-1-5-2-17\/","n":"1 John 1:5-2:17, God is light, an advocate, and a world passing away","s":"God is light with no darkness in him, so to claim fellowship with him while walking in darkness is a lie; the blood of Jesus cleanses, and those who confess are forgiven. Anyone who sins has an advocate with the Father, the atoning sacrifice for the whole world. The old command of love is new, the darkness is passing, and the world is passing away.","r":"1 John 1:5-2:17"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1john-5-1-12\/","n":"1 John 5:1-12, Water, blood and three witnesses","s":"Whoever believes Jesus is the Christ is God's child, and loving the parent means loving the child. Faith overcomes the world. Jesus Christ came by water and blood, not by water only, and three testify, the Spirit, the water and the blood; God's testimony is that he has given eternal life in his Son.","r":"1 John 5:1-12"}
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Mark 1:20, 1:29, 3:21 and 3:33
- N. T. Wright, Mark for Everyone, comments on Mark 1:14-20 and Mark 3:31-35
- Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, ch. 14, Jesus and Women: An Introduction
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Matthew 8:21-22
- N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God, ch. 9, Symbol and Controversy, section (iv) Nation and Family
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on 1 Timothy 5:4 and 5:8
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on 1 Timothy 5:4 and 5:8
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on 2 Timothy 4:9
