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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 Twelve
Jesus chose twelve men to be with him and to be sent out. The number matched Israel's twelve tribes.
The new team had exactly as many seats as there were founding families. Twelve was Israel's number: twelve tribes, from Jacob's twelve sons. By choosing twelve, Jesus made a statement before he said a word.
Twelve was the sacred number of Israel's tribes. Groups who saw themselves as a remnant or renewal of Israel could signal it by choosing twelve leaders, as in the Dead Sea Scrolls (1QS 8.1-2). Wright says every Jew knew there had been twelve tribes. Ten had been lost when the Assyrians carried them off seven centuries before, and the prophets had promised a restoration. When Jesus set twelve apart, nobody could miss the point. Groups were sometimes named for their original number and kept the name, and Matthias replaced Judas to keep the symbol whole. The Twelve had a double task, to be with him and to be sent out, and probably stood for the tribes. Apostle means one who is sent: a commissioned agent who acted on the full authority of the sender within his commission. By the Jewish principle of agency, receiving the agent meant receiving the sender. Heiser reads the twelve as one for each tribe of the people God kept as his own portion. By the first century the tribes no longer existed as separate bodies. Only Judah, Benjamin and Levi were still recognized as ancestors, so the twelve tribes sealed in Revelation 7 draw on the Jewish hope that Israel would be restored.
An analogy: a new government that names one minister for each of the nation's original provinces. The number is a claim about who the government thinks it is.
Twelve chosen followers signal a renewed Israel, as in Mark 3:14, and when they are sent out as agents they carry Jesus' own authority, as in Matthew 10:40. In Acts 1:26 Judas' place is filled to keep the number whole.
Not ministers over provinces that still existed. Ten of the twelve tribes had been lost for seven centuries, so twelve men pointed to a promised restoration, not a present map. The Twelve were also chosen to be with Jesus and to be sent out, and a list with fishermen, a tax collector and a Zealot shows the number mattered more than skills.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-9-35-10-15\/","n":"Matthew 9:35-10:15, The Twelve sent with nothing","s":"Seeing the crowds as sheep without a shepherd, Jesus sends twelve apostles to the lost sheep of Israel, with no money, bag or staff, to stay with whoever will have them.","r":"Matthew 9:35-10:15"}
- {"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\/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-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-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\/acts-1-12-26\/","n":"Acts 1:12-26, The Twelve made whole by lot","s":"Back in Jerusalem the apostles pray in an upstairs room with the women and Jesus' family. Peter says Judas's place must be filled, and the lot falls on Matthias.","r":"Acts 1:12-26"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-6-1-7\/","n":"Acts 6:1-7, The Hellenists' widows and the Seven","s":"Greek-speaking believers complain that their widows are overlooked in the daily distribution of food. The Twelve have the community choose seven men, and lay hands on them.","r":"Acts 6:1-7"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1corinthians-15-1-11\/","n":"1 Corinthians 15:1-11, What I received","s":"Paul reminds the Corinthians of the good news he handed on to them as he had received it: that Christ died for sins, was buried, was raised on the third day, and appeared to Cephas, the Twelve, more than five hundred, James, all the apostles and last of all to Paul.","r":"1 Corinthians 15:1-11"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-7-1-17\/","n":"Revelation 7:1-17, the sealing of the 144,000 and the crowd in white","s":"Four angels hold back the winds until God's servants are sealed on their foreheads, 144,000 from the tribes of Israel. Then John sees a crowd no one can count, from every nation, in white robes with palm branches, who have come out of the great tribulation and whom the Lamb will shepherd.","r":"Revelation 7:1-17"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-21-9-27\/","n":"Revelation 21:9-27, the city of gold and twelve stones","s":"An angel carries John to a high mountain to show him the bride, the holy city Jerusalem, shining with God's glory, with twelve gates named for Israel's tribes and twelve foundations named for the Lamb's apostles. The city is a cube of pure gold, its foundations set with twelve precious stones and its gates each a single pearl; it has no temple, since God and the Lamb are its temple, and its gates never shut as the nations bring their glory into it.","r":"Revelation 21:9-27"}
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Mark 3:14, 3:18 and 4:10
- N. T. Wright, Mark for Everyone, comment on Mark 3:7-19, and Glossary, entry apostle, disciple, the Twelve
- ESV Study Bible, study note on Mark 3:14-15
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Matthew 10:1-4 and 10:40-42
- Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm, ch. 32, Preeminent Domain
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 7:4 and 7:5-8
