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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.

Rebels and would-be messiahs

In the decades around Jesus, men rose up claiming to deliver Israel: tax rebels, leaders of armed bands, and prophets who promised signs in the wilderness. Rome treated them all as rebels.

Jewish life and lawKings, rulers and courts

First, in plain English

Every few years another leader promised to free the country, gathered a crowd, and was gone by the next harvest. Under Roman rule some Jews would not accept a foreign master. Some led tax revolts. Some gathered followers in the desert and promised miracles like those of Moses or Joshua. Rome cut them down, and their followers scattered once the leader was taken.

What it meant then

When Judea came under a Roman governor in AD 6, Josephus says, a Galilean named Judas urged his countrymen to revolt. He "said they were cowards if they would endure to pay a tax to the Romans and would after God submit to mortal men as their lords." Two of Judas's sons, James and Simon, were later crucified on the orders of the governor Tiberius Alexander. Keener calls it a disastrous tax revolt that met terrible Roman retaliation. Wright says Rome left crosses around the countryside as a warning, and adds that anyone leading a kingdom-of-God movement was expected to oppose the tax. Many would-be messiahs drew large and devoted followings in the first century. Josephus, writing for Gentile readers, calls them false prophets, but their political aims usually show (Keener). Some promised to part the Jordan or make Jerusalem's walls fall, and most went out into the wilderness to imitate Moses. Josephus tells of impostors who led crowds into the desert promising signs of liberty, cut down by the governor Felix. He also tells of an Egyptian false prophet who gathered thirty thousand men and led them from the wilderness to the Mount of Olives to take Jerusalem. The word translated robbers was Josephus's standard term for revolutionaries. Keener suggests that the two men crucified with Jesus were colleagues of Barabbas. Wright notes that such claimants came and went, and their followers scattered quickly once the leader was caught. Under Felix, Josephus writes, the sicarii killed in daylight at the festivals. They "concealed daggers under their garments, with which they stabbed those that were their enemies," and their first victim was the high priest Jonathan. Their last stand came at Masada in AD 73.

The bridge to today

An analogy: a string of resistance leaders under a foreign occupation, each hailed as the one who will finally win. The occupiers keep a file on every one, and each new claimant is judged by how the last one ended.

What it changes in the reading

Because claimants to Israel's deliverance came and went, any teacher with a following was watched as a possible rebel, which is the trap in the tax question of Mark 12:14. Warnings about false messiahs who appear in the wilderness, as in Matthew 24:26, describe a pattern hearers knew. Gamaliel names two such leaders, Theudas and Judas the Galilean, in Acts 5:36-37.

Where the analogy breaks

Not purely military commanders. A resistance leader wins with weapons and planning. These claimants promised that God would act, parting the Jordan or bringing down Jerusalem's walls, and led crowds into the wilderness like a new Moses. Rome still treated them as rebels.

Where scholars disagree

Two points. First, how Rome answered Judas's revolt. Wright says Rome crushed it and left crosses around the countryside. Keener speaks of terrible retaliation without describing it. The passages of Josephus cited here report Judas's teaching and, decades later, the crucifixion of his sons, but not crosses after the revolt itself. Second, what the word robber or bandit meant, as at Mark 14:48 and 15:27. Keener calls it Josephus's standard term for revolutionaries, and Wright reads the men crucified with Jesus as revolutionaries; Garland, citing another scholar, says Josephus used it for social bandits who preyed on the rich and never for a revolutionary against Rome.

Passages where it appears

{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-22-15-22\/","n":"Matthew 22:15-22, Caesar's coin","s":"Pharisees and Herodians ask Jesus whether it is lawful to pay the poll tax to Caesar. He asks for the coin, asks whose image is on it, and tells them to give Caesar and God what is theirs.","r":"Matthew 22:15-22"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-24-1-14\/","n":"Matthew 24:1-14, Stones, birth pangs and false messiahs","s":"As the disciples admire the temple, Jesus says not one stone will be left on another. On the Mount of Olives he warns of false messiahs, wars and persecution, the beginning of the birth pangs.","r":"Matthew 24:1-14"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-24-15-28\/","n":"Matthew 24:15-28, The desolating sacrilege and the flight","s":"When the desolating sacrilege spoken of by Daniel stands in the holy place, those in Judea must flee to the mountains at once. False messiahs will say he is in the wilderness, but his coming will be like lightning.","r":"Matthew 24:15-28"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-27-1-26\/","n":"Matthew 27:1-26, Blood money, Pilate and Barabbas","s":"At dawn the council hands Jesus to Pilate. Judas returns the silver and hangs himself, the priests buy a potter's field, and Pilate, warned by his wife's dream, releases Barabbas and washes his hands.","r":"Matthew 27:1-26"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/mark-14-32-52\/","n":"Mark 14:32-52, Gethsemane and the arrest","s":"At a place called Gethsemane Jesus prays in anguish while three disciples sleep. Judas arrives with an armed crowd from the chief priests, greets him with a kiss, and the disciples run.","r":"Mark 14:32-52"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-20-20-26\/","n":"Luke 20:20-26, Caesar's coin","s":"Spies sent by the leaders ask Jesus whether it is right to pay tribute to Caesar, hoping to hand him over to the governor. He asks whose image is on a denarius.","r":"Luke 20:20-26"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-21-5-38\/","n":"Luke 21:5-38, The temple's stones and Jerusalem surrounded","s":"When people admire the temple's stones, Jesus says not one will be left on another. He warns of false claimants, arrests in synagogues, Jerusalem surrounded by armies, and signs in the sky before the Son of Man comes.","r":"Luke 21:5-38"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-22-24-38\/","n":"Luke 22:24-38, Benefactors, thrones, sifting and two swords","s":"At the last supper the disciples argue over who is greatest. Jesus contrasts kings who are called benefactors with himself as one who serves, promises them thrones, warns Peter that Satan has asked to sift them, and speaks of swords.","r":"Luke 22:24-38"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-23-1-25\/","n":"Luke 23:1-25, Before Pilate, before Antipas, and Barabbas","s":"The council brings Jesus to Pilate charged with forbidding tribute and claiming to be a king. Pilate sends him to Herod Antipas, who mocks him, and in the end Pilate gives in to the crowd and releases Barabbas.","r":"Luke 23:1-25"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-10-1-21\/","n":"John 10:1-21, The good shepherd and the hired hand","s":"Jesus contrasts the shepherd who enters by the gate, calls his sheep by name and lays down his life for them with thieves who climb in another way and a hired hand who runs from the wolf.","r":"John 10:1-21"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-18-28-40\/","n":"John 18:28-40, Pilate's headquarters at dawn","s":"At daybreak the leaders bring Jesus to the governor's headquarters but will not go in, so as to stay clean for Passover. Pilate questions him about being king of the Jews, finds no case, and offers to release him, but the crowd asks for Barabbas.","r":"John 18:28-40"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-5-12-42\/","n":"Acts 5:12-42, Peter's shadow, the prison and Gamaliel","s":"Crowds bring the sick for Peter's shadow to fall on them. The apostles are jailed, freed by an angel, and brought before the council, where Gamaliel compares the movement to the failed causes of Theudas and Judas the Galilean.","r":"Acts 5:12-42"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-21-27-40\/","n":"Acts 21:27-40, Riot in the temple, rescue by the tribune","s":"Jews from Asia see Paul in the temple and cry that he has brought Greeks into the holy place. The city riots, and the Roman tribune's soldiers pull him from the crowd, chain him, and nearly mistake him for the Egyptian rebel.","r":"Acts 21:27-40"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-23-12-35\/","n":"Acts 23:12-35, The oath, the nephew and the night march","s":"More than forty men bind themselves by an oath not to eat until they have killed Paul. His nephew learns of the ambush, and the tribune sends Paul under heavy escort by night to the governor Felix at Caesarea, with a letter explaining the case.","r":"Acts 23:12-35"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/james-3-1-4-10\/","n":"James 3:1-4:10, The tongue on fire, zeal and wars","s":"James warns would-be teachers that the tongue is a small fire set alight by hell, contrasts bitter envy and selfish ambition with the peaceable wisdom from above, traces fights and quarrels to desires at war within, calls friendship with the world enmity with God, and tells his readers to resist the devil.","r":"James 3:1-4:10"}

Sources

Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 2.8.1, 2.13.3 and 2.13.4-5, trans. William Whiston
Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 20.5.2, trans. William Whiston
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Matthew 22:17, 22:18-22, 24:4-5, 24:23-24, 24:26 and 27:38
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Matthew 24:26
N. T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Part Two, comments on Matthew 16:13-20 and 22:15-22
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Acts 21:38
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Acts 21:38
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Matthew 27:38
David E. Garland, Mark, in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, on Mark 14:48
N. T. Wright, Mark for Everyone, comment on Mark 15:16-32

All ideas