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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.
The banquet of the age to come
The feast Jews expected God to spread for the righteous when his kingdom came, with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at the table.
Everyone who had waited through the hard years would finally sit down to the celebration dinner. Isaiah promised that God would one day spread a rich feast for all peoples. By Jesus' day many Jews pictured the end as a great banquet, where the faithful of Israel would recline at table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The future banquet in God's kingdom was a standard Jewish image. The Bible said it was for all peoples (Isaiah 25:6). Jewish literature of this period stressed that it was prepared for Israel, exalted over its enemies (Keener). People sat at ordinary meals but reclined at feasts, and were placed by rank. Sharing a table meant intimacy. So fellowship with the patriarchs was a hope for Israel, not for Gentiles, with whom Jews did not eat. Other Jewish texts used outer darkness for the place of the damned (1 Enoch 10:4-6). The ESV Study Bible reads Matthew 8:11-12 as Gentiles joining the patriarchs. It suggests the feeding of the five thousand may foreshadow the banquet. Wright says that when Israel's God acted, the nations were expected to share in it, for judgment or for blessing. Jesus, he says, turns the expectation: those who think themselves heirs may find themselves outside. The feast was expected to bring the unending wine the Bible had promised (Amos 9:13-14). Rabbis often told parables of a king's wedding feast for his son. Present fellowship at Jesus' table in Revelation 3:20 could foreshadow the expected banquet (Revelation 19:9). Keener calls it an invitation to a lavish banquet. Isaiah 25:6-8 also swallows up death. Some later Jewish teachers, as in 2 Baruch, said Leviathan would be served at the feast. Beale notes that a shared supper sealed close fellowship in the Semitic world.
An analogy: a victory banquet promised at the end of a long war. Everyone who served expects a seat, and the guest list is the first thing people want to see.
The banquet stands behind sayings about who will eat in the kingdom, as at Matthew 8:11-12, where Gentiles recline with the patriarchs and expected heirs are left outside. Meals in the Gospels can preview it, so a crowd fed in a deserted place, as at Mark 6:42, may point ahead to the feast. The wedding supper of Revelation 19:9 uses the same picture.
Not a feast earned by service. A victory dinner seats those who fought. The prophets said God would lay this feast for all peoples, though many Jewish writers of the period pictured Israel exalted over its enemies. In Wright's reading, Jesus warns that those who assumed a seat might find themselves outside. Nor is it a picture of heaven as an endless meal.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-14-13-36\/","n":"Matthew 14:13-36, Bread in a deserted place, a walk on the sea","s":"Jesus feeds five thousand men, besides women and children, in a deserted place, then comes to the disciples walking on the lake, and Peter tries to walk to him.","r":"Matthew 14:13-36"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-22-1-14\/","n":"Matthew 22:1-14, The king's wedding feast","s":"A king's invited guests refuse to come to his son's wedding and kill his messengers. He burns their city, fills the hall with people from the roads, and throws out a guest without wedding clothes.","r":"Matthew 22:1-14"}
- {"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\/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-14-15-24\/","n":"Luke 14:15-24, The great banquet and the excuses","s":"A guest blesses whoever will eat bread in God's kingdom. Jesus tells of a man whose invited guests all excuse themselves when the feast is ready, so he fills his house with the poor and with people from the roads.","r":"Luke 14:15-24"}
- {"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"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-19-1-10\/","n":"Revelation 19:1-10, the marriage supper of the Lamb","s":"A vast heavenly crowd shouts hallelujah because God has judged the great prostitute, and again because the Lamb's wedding day has arrived and his bride stands ready in fine linen. The angel declares those invited to the wedding feast blessed, and when John bows to him, tells him to worship God alone.","r":"Revelation 19:1-10"}
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Matthew 8:11, 8:12, 22:1-2 and 26:29
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Matthew 8:11 and 8:12
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on Matthew 8:11-12 and 14:15-21
- N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God, ch. 7, section 6, Many Will Come From East and West, and ch. 8, section (iii) General Warnings of Judgment on Israel
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 3:20
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 3:20
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 19:7
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 12:3, 19:7 and 19:9
- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, on Revelation 19:9
- ESV Study Bible, study note on Revelation 19:9-10
