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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.

God's kingdom

Kingdom meant God's reign, God becoming king in fact. It was the good news Isaiah promised, and in Jesus' day it was also a slogan.

Jewish life and lawWhat people were waiting for

First, in plain English

The rightful owner is back, and things are about to change around here. The kingdom of God is not a place on a map, and it is not heaven after death. It means God ruling. Jews in Jesus' day longed for the time when God would finally rule, put the world right and free his people.

What it meant then

Kingdom means reign. Isaiah's good news (40:9; 52:7) was the news that God reigns and would restore his people, and Isaiah 52:7 joins good news and God's reign in one verse. Wright's glossary defines the kingdom as the kingship, the sovereign and saving rule, of Israel's God. Around Jesus' time kingdom of God and slogans like no king but God had become revolutionary slogans. Good news had a second, Roman meaning: the announcement of an emperor's accession or birthday. The secret of the kingdom in Mark 4:11 is a revelation now given, as in Daniel 2. The birds in the branches borrow Daniel's picture of a great kingdom (Daniel 4:12) to say God's kingdom was already at work in a hidden way. Entering the kingdom did not mean going to heaven after death. Kingdom of heaven, Matthew's usual phrase, was an accepted Jewish way of saying the same thing (Daniel 2:44). Jews prayed daily for the time when God's rule would be set over all the earth. The cultural backgrounds article on the kingdom gives the ancient opening of one such prayer, the Kaddish: "Exalted and hallowed be his great name." Many then took Daniel's fourth and final kingdom to be Rome, the power God's everlasting kingdom would overthrow (Daniel 2:44). Hebrews 12:28 speaks of a kingdom that cannot be shaken, perhaps echoing the Greek of Psalm 96:10 (Keener).

The bridge to today

An analogy: a radio bulletin that the rightful government has come back from exile and is retaking the capital. It is news, not advice, and it splits listeners at once.

What it changes in the reading

The kingdom announced in Mark 1:15 is God's reign arriving, not a place after death. Matthew usually says kingdom of heaven, an accepted Jewish phrase for the same thing (Matthew 4:17). Parables describe it starting hidden and small.

Where the analogy breaks

Not a government retaking its capital. The king in this news was God himself, and his reign came first in hidden, small ways, like the seed that grows into a tree with birds in its branches. Nor is it a place you go when you die; the word names who rules.

Passages where it appears

{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-3-1-12\/","n":"Matthew 3:1-12, John at the Jordan","s":"John preaches repentance in the Judean wilderness because the kingdom of heaven has come near. He calls Pharisees and Sadducees a brood of vipers and warns of the winnowing fork.","r":"Matthew 3:1-12"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-4-12-25\/","n":"Matthew 4:12-25, Capernaum, fishermen and crowds","s":"Jesus moves to Capernaum, Galilee of the Gentiles, announces the kingdom of heaven, calls four fishermen, and draws crowds from Galilee, the Ten Towns, Jerusalem and beyond the Jordan.","r":"Matthew 4:12-25"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-5-1-12\/","n":"Matthew 5:1-12, The Beatitudes","s":"Jesus sits on a mountain to teach and pronounces God's blessing on the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers and the persecuted.","r":"Matthew 5:1-12"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-13-1-23\/","n":"Matthew 13:1-23, The sower","s":"From a boat Jesus tells the parable of the sower to the crowd on the shore, explains why he speaks in parables, and interprets the story for his disciples.","r":"Matthew 13:1-23"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-13-24-52\/","n":"Matthew 13:24-52, Darnel, mustard, yeast, treasure and a net","s":"More parables of the kingdom: weeds sown among wheat, a mustard seed, yeast in flour, treasure in a field, a pearl, and a dragnet, with the weeds and the net explained as the judgment at the end of the age.","r":"Matthew 13:24-52"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/mark-1-1-13\/","n":"Mark 1:1-13, John in the wilderness","s":"John preaches and baptizes at the Jordan, dressed like Elijah. Jesus is baptized, hears the voice from heaven and is driven into the wilderness for forty days.","r":"Mark 1:1-13"}
{"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-4-1-34\/","n":"Mark 4:1-34, Parables by the lake","s":"From a boat Jesus tells the crowd the sower, the lamp, the growing seed and the mustard seed, and explains them in private.","r":"Mark 4:1-34"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/mark-4-35-41\/","n":"Mark 4:35-41, The storm on the lake","s":"A storm swamps the boat while Jesus sleeps. He rebukes the wind and the sea, and the disciples ask who he is.","r":"Mark 4:35-41"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-4-1-13\/","n":"Luke 4:1-13, The devil offers the kingdoms","s":"Full of the Spirit, Jesus is led through the wilderness for forty days, where the devil tests him with bread, with all the kingdoms of the world, and with a leap from the temple.","r":"Luke 4:1-13"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-6-20-36\/","n":"Luke 6:20-36, Blessings, woes and lending with nothing back","s":"Jesus blesses the poor, the hungry, the weeping and the hated, pronounces woes on the rich and the well fed, and tells his hearers to love enemies, turn the other cheek and lend without expecting anything back.","r":"Luke 6:20-36"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-10-1-24\/","n":"Luke 10:1-24, Seventy sent out, and Satan falling","s":"Jesus sends seventy others, or seventy-two, ahead of him in pairs, with no purse, bag or sandals, to towns that will welcome or refuse them. They come back rejoicing that even the demons obey, and Jesus says he saw Satan fall like lightning.","r":"Luke 10:1-24"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-11-1-13\/","n":"Luke 11:1-13, Father, daily bread and a friend at midnight","s":"Asked to teach his disciples to pray, Jesus gives a short prayer to the Father, then tells of a man who wakes a neighbor at midnight to borrow bread for a guest.","r":"Luke 11:1-13"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-11-14-26\/","n":"Luke 11:14-26, By Beelzebul, or by the finger of God?","s":"When Jesus drives out a demon that kept a man from speaking, some say he does it by Beelzebul, the ruler of demons. He answers that a divided kingdom falls, and that if he drives out demons by the finger of God, God's kingdom has come.","r":"Luke 11:14-26"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-13-10-21\/","n":"Luke 13:10-21, A bent woman freed on the Sabbath; mustard and leaven","s":"Teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath, Jesus frees a woman bent double for eighteen years. The synagogue ruler objects, and Jesus answers with an ox untied for water, then compares God's kingdom to a mustard seed and to leaven.","r":"Luke 13:10-21"}
{"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-3-1-21\/","n":"John 3:1-21, Born from above","s":"Nicodemus, a Pharisee and ruler, comes to Jesus at night. Jesus tells him that no one sees God's kingdom without being born from above, of water and Spirit, and speaks of the Son of Man lifted up like the serpent in the wilderness.","r":"John 3:1-21"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-1-1-11\/","n":"Acts 1:1-11, The kingdom question and the cloud","s":"Luke's second volume opens with the risen Jesus speaking about God's kingdom for forty days. Asked whether he will now restore the kingdom to Israel, he promises the Spirit, sends the apostles as witnesses to the end of the earth, and is taken up in a cloud.","r":"Acts 1:1-11"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-14-21-28\/","n":"Acts 14:21-28, Elders appointed, and home to Antioch","s":"Paul and Barnabas retrace their route, warning that the kingdom comes through hardships and appointing elders in each church, then report to Antioch that God has opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.","r":"Acts 14:21-28"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/romans-10-1-21\/","n":"Romans 10:1-21, How beautiful are the feet","s":"Paul prays for Israel, whose zeal for God lacks knowledge, and argues from Scripture that the word of faith is near, that whoever calls on the Lord will be saved, and that heralds must be sent.","r":"Romans 10:1-21"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1corinthians-6-1-11\/","n":"1 Corinthians 6:1-11, Lawsuits before unbelievers","s":"Paul is appalled that believers take one another to court before pagan judges, reminds them that God's people will judge the world and even angels, and asks why they would not rather be wronged.","r":"1 Corinthians 6:1-11"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/ephesians-5-1-20\/","n":"Ephesians 5:1-20, Children of light, and wine or the Spirit","s":"Paul calls believers to imitate God, to have nothing to do with sexual immorality, coarse joking or deeds done in the dark, and, instead of getting drunk on wine, to be filled with the Spirit, singing and giving thanks for everything.","r":"Ephesians 5:1-20"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/colossians-1-1-14\/","n":"Colossians 1:1-14, Epaphras's report and a change of kingdoms","s":"Paul and Timothy greet the believers at Colossae, a church Paul has never visited, thank God for what Epaphras has told them, and pray that they grow in knowledge, having been rescued out of darkness into the kingdom of God's Son.","r":"Colossians 1:1-14"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1thessalonians-2-1-12\/","n":"1 Thessalonians 2:1-12, Gentle as a nurse, firm as a father","s":"Paul reminds the church how he and his companions came to them after being mistreated in Philippi: no deceit, flattery or greed, gentle among them like a nursing mother, working night and day so as not to burden anyone, and urging each of them like a father.","r":"1 Thessalonians 2:1-12"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/hebrews-12-18-29\/","n":"Hebrews 12:18-29, Sinai, Zion and the unshakable kingdom","s":"Believers have not come to the burning, quaking mountain of Sinai but to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, with myriads of angels, the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, God the judge, the spirits of the righteous, and Jesus, whose blood speaks better than Abel's. Since God will shake heaven and earth once more, they are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.","r":"Hebrews 12:18-29"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-11-15-19\/","n":"Revelation 11:15-19, the seventh trumpet and the ark","s":"At the seventh trumpet heaven announces that rule over the world now belongs to God and his Messiah for ever. The elders worship, the angry nations meet God's judgment, and the heavenly temple opens to reveal the ark of the covenant.","r":"Revelation 11:15-19"}

Sources

NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Mark 1:1, 1:15, 4:11, 4:31-32 and 15:26
N. T. Wright, Mark for Everyone, comment on Mark 4:35-41, and Glossary, entries kingdom of God and good news
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Matthew 3:1-2
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Matthew 3:2
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Hebrews 12:28
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, article Kingdom

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