Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Acts 20:17-38, Farewell to the Ephesian elders
Hurrying to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost, Paul calls the elders of Ephesus to Miletus. He reminds them how he lived among them, warns of wolves who will attack the flock, charges them as overseers to shepherd God's church, and leaves them in tears.
Acts 20:17-38, in every translation this tool compares.
Hurrying toward Jerusalem, Paul stops at Miletus and sends for the leaders of the Ephesian church. He recalls his years among them, his humble service and open teaching, and says the Spirit is leading him toward suffering in Jerusalem, though finishing his task matters more to him than his life. He charges them to guard and shepherd the flock God bought, warning that false teachers will come from outside and from among them, and points to his own manual work and a saying of Jesus about the blessing of giving. They kneel to pray together and part in tears, believing they will never see him again.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/shepherd-and-sheep\/","n":"Shepherd and sheep","s":"Scripture pictured Israel without a leader as sheep without a shepherd, and promised that God himself would come to shepherd them.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/sages-and-philosophers\/","n":"Philosophers and their schools","s":"Stoics, Epicureans and other schools taught a whole way of life in lecture halls and marketplaces. A traveling teacher with a message about God would be heard, and judged, as one more philosopher.","r":""}
Paul is hurrying to present the collection at Pentecost, when Jerusalem would be full (Keener and his notes); Wright adds that he may have bypassed Ephesus because it would be easier to get in than out, with enemies there and money in hand. The elders are also called overseers, and the ESV Study Bible and Wright take the terms as one office held by each elder, though within a generation overseer came to mean something like a bishop (Wright). Overseer was a Greek administrative title also found in the Greek Old Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls, and leaders were often called shepherds, as in Ezekiel 34 (Keener and his notes), though Wright notes that Paul's letters never use the sheep and shepherd image. Because many sages were charlatans, honest ones had to deny greed, and the upper class and most philosophers despised manual work (Keener and his notes; the CSB Study Bible). The saying Paul credits to Jesus about giving and receiving appears in no Gospel; Wright's nearest parallel is Sirach 4:31. Repeated kisses showed the affection given to family or a dear teacher (Keener and his notes).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Acts 20:17, 20:18-35, 20:28, 20:29-30, 20:33, 20:34-35 and 20:36-38
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Acts 20:16, 20:18-35, 20:28, 20:33 and 20:37
- ESV Study Bible, study note on Acts 20:17
- CSB Study Bible, note on Acts 20:33-35
- N. T. Wright, Acts for Everyone, Part Two, comments on Acts 20:13-27 and 20:28-38
