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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.

Women in public

Custom kept unrelated men and women apart in public. Teachers warned men against talking much with women, a stranger was not to speak with a woman alone, and a woman's word counted for little in court. Most women were also taught far less than men, so a call for women to learn stood out.

Jewish life and lawFamily, marriage and honor

First, in plain English

In some places a man does not chat with a woman he does not know, and people notice if he does. In the world of the Gospels, men and women who were not family kept their distance in public. Jewish teachers told men not to talk much with women. A man speaking at length with a woman alone could be suspected of flirting, and her name suffered along with his. Her testimony also carried less weight than a man's. Most women also had far less schooling than men, above all in Scripture.

What it meant then

Jewish piety warned men against talking much with women, and some rabbis said this applied even to their own wives (Keener). Most of the Mediterranean world disapproved of a man speaking with a woman in private. Bailey quotes the Mishnah tractate Abot: "talk not much with womankind". Asking a woman for water could look like flirting, especially if she was alone. Keener writes of Jesus at the well, "Jesus breaks all the rules of Jewish piety here." Women drew water together in the cooler hours, so a woman alone at noon stood out. A woman's word counted for little in court. For most legal matters Jewish men did not trust women as witnesses, though Roman courts restricted them less. Keener writes, "The witness of women was worth little in Judaism." Wright says flatly that "women were simply not acceptable as legal witnesses." Critics such as Celsus later mocked the Easter story for leaning on them. The CSB Study Bible finds "it is remarkable that Jesus appeared first to a woman" and sent her to tell the others. Bailey notes that at the well and at the tomb Jesus gives women commands that make them witnesses to men. Women were less often literate than men. They were rarely trained in philosophy, almost never in rhetoric, and in Judaism seldom taught the law, and most rabbis would not take them as disciples. Informed listeners usually asked questions at lectures, but uninformed questions were thought rude. Women had far less training than men in Scripture and public reasoning.

The bridge to today

An analogy: a pastor who keeps his office door open whenever a woman comes in to talk. Nothing need be wrong, but the rule protects both of them from gossip, and everyone notices when it is broken.

What it changes in the reading

Because custom kept unrelated men and women apart, a teacher speaking at length with a woman, as Jesus does in John 4:27, surprises his own followers. Because most women had little schooling, a command that women learn, as in 1 Timothy 2:11, stood out in its day, whatever else the passage restricts. Because a woman's word counted for little, the first news of the empty tomb entrusted to women, as in Mark 16:7, runs against the culture.

Where the analogy breaks

Not a private precaution one man chooses. The pastor's open door is his own policy. The ancient custom bound everyone, and it sat alongside courts that gave a woman's testimony little weight and teachers who rarely trained women.

Where scholars disagree

How far women's lack of training explains the limits on their teaching in 1 Timothy 2:11-15. Keener and his notes build a reading tied to the situation in Ephesus on it; the ESV Study Bible replies that inscriptions and literature show a number of well-educated women in Asia Minor at the time, and that Paul grounds the limit in creation. Wright's commentary on the Pastoral Letters reads the passage as a command that women be allowed to study, with verse 12 refusing a takeover like the Artemis cult's; the cultural backgrounds article on women's education adds that women taught men even more rarely than they studied.

Passages where it appears

{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-4-1-42\/","n":"John 4:1-42, A Samaritan woman at Jacob's well","s":"Tired at noon, Jesus sits on Jacob's well and asks a Samaritan woman for a drink. They talk about living water, her husbands and the right mountain for worship, and her town comes out to meet him.","r":"John 4:1-42"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-20-1-18\/","n":"John 20:1-18, The empty tomb and the gardener","s":"Mary Magdalene finds the stone moved and runs to Peter and the beloved disciple, who see the linen cloths lying in the empty tomb. Weeping outside, she takes the risen Jesus for the gardener until he says her name, and he sends her to tell the others.","r":"John 20:1-18"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1corinthians-14-26-40\/","n":"1 Corinthians 14:26-40, Order when the church meets","s":"Paul regulates a meeting where everyone brings a hymn, a teaching, a revelation or a tongue: speakers take turns, prophets weigh one another's words, women are to be silent and ask at home, and everything is to be done decently and in order.","r":"1 Corinthians 14:26-40"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/philippians-4-2-9\/","n":"Philippians 4:2-9, Two women at odds, names in the book of life, and whatever is true","s":"Paul pleads with two women who worked beside him to agree, asks a companion to help them, notes that their names are in the book of life, and urges joy, prayer instead of worry, and thoughts fixed on whatever is true and excellent.","r":"Philippians 4:2-9"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1timothy-2-8-15\/","n":"1 Timothy 2:8-15, Lifted hands, braided hair, women learning, Eve and childbearing","s":"Paul wants men to pray without anger or arguing and women to dress modestly; women are to learn quietly, and he does not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man, arguing from Adam and Eve, before a hard saying about being saved through childbearing.","r":"1 Timothy 2:8-15"}
{"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\/2timothy-3-1-9\/","n":"2 Timothy 3:1-9, Terrible times, homes entered, and Jannes and Jambres","s":"Paul warns that the last days will bring terrible times and people who love themselves, money and pleasure, having a form of godliness but denying its power; some worm their way into homes and win over gullible women, opposing the truth as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses.","r":"2 Timothy 3:1-9"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/titus-2-1-10\/","n":"Titus 2:1-10, Older men, older women, young wives and slaves","s":"Titus is to teach what fits sound doctrine to each group in the household of faith, older men, older women, younger women, younger men and slaves, so that outsiders have no cause to speak against God's message and the teaching about God is made attractive.","r":"Titus 2:1-10"}

Sources

Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on John 4:7, 4:27 and 4:28-30
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on John 4:6, 4:16, 4:27 and 4:29
Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, ch. 15, The Woman at the Well, section 1
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on John 20:2-3, 20:11-18 and 20:17-18
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on John 20:3 and 20:17
N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God, ch. 13, General Issues in the Easter Stories
CSB Study Bible, note on John 20:18
Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, ch. 15, The Woman at the Well, section 4
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on 1 Corinthians 14:35
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on 1 Corinthians 14:35
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on 1 Timothy 2:11 and 2:12
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on 1 Timothy 2:11 and 2:12
ESV Study Bible, study note on 1 Timothy 2:13
N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 23, The Argument of 1 Timothy, section 3
N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Pastoral Letters, comment on 1 Timothy 2:8-15
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, article Women's Education in Antiquity

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