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 4:32-5:11, Barnabas, Ananias and Sapphira
The believers share everything, and Barnabas sells a field for the common fund. Ananias and Sapphira sell land too but lie about the price, and both fall dead.
Acts 4:32-5:11, in every translation this tool compares.
The believers act as one family, and those with land or houses sell them so the apostles can meet every need. Barnabas, a Levite from Cyprus, is held up as a model of that generosity. Ananias and Sapphira sell property as well but pretend to give the full amount while keeping some back, and Peter treats this as lying to God's Spirit, since nobody forced them to give. Both die, one after the other, and fear grips the whole community and everyone who hears.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/holding-all-in-common\/","n":"Holding goods in common","s":"The first believers in Jerusalem shared their possessions and sold property to meet each other's needs. Ancient writers used the same words for ideal communities, and only a few groups, such as the Essenes, tried it.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/honor-and-shame\/","n":"Honor before a crowd","s":"Public standing was the currency of the ancient Mediterranean. People competed for honor and dreaded being shamed in front of others.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/the-satan\/","n":"The satan, the tempter","s":"The accuser, tempter and deceiver of Jewish belief, seen as the power behind human and political evil. In the Gospels he tests Jesus and is the strong man Jesus binds, and John calls him the ruler of this world.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/burial-and-mourning\/","n":"Burial and mourning","s":"Mourners came at once, the dead were buried the same day, wrapped in linen in rock tombs, and family carried the duty of burial. Pagan mourning, with little hope beyond a shadowy underworld, could be bleak.","r":""}
Nicknames were common, Cyprus had many Jews, and although Levites held no land under Old Testament law, they commonly did by this time (Keener and his notes). Setting a good example beside a bad one was a recommended technique of ancient writing (Keener and his notes). Kept back is the word the Greek Old Testament uses at Joshua 7:1 for Achan, who kept back what was devoted to God (Keener and his notes). Keener notes that Qumran barred a member who lied about his property from the common meal for a year and cut his food by a quarter, while here God himself judges. Ananias and Sapphira wanted the honor of the gift without its cost (the cultural backgrounds notes). Jewish literature presented Satan as tempter, deceiver and accuser (the cultural backgrounds notes). Burial came the same day, and here the church acts as the family (Keener and his notes). Judean women went to market and elsewhere freely, though married women covered their hair (the cultural backgrounds notes).
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Acts 4:36, 4:37, 5:1, 5:2, 5:3, 5:6 and 5:7
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Acts 4:36, 4:37, 5:1-11, 5:1-4 and 5:6
