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.
Hebrews 10:26-39, No sacrifice left; prison and plunder
For anyone who goes on sinning deliberately after knowing the truth, no sacrifice for sins remains. The readers once endured a hard contest: public insult, prison and the seizure of their property, which they accepted with joy. They must not throw away their confidence now.
Hebrews 10:26-39, in every translation this tool compares.
The writer issues a second severe warning: anyone who knowingly turns from the truth and rejects the Son has no other sacrifice to fall back on, only judgment. He then softens his tone and reminds his hearers of their own past courage, when they faced public abuse, stood by those in prison and lost their property without bitterness. They must not throw that confidence away now, he says, because the one they wait for will soon arrive.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/deliberate-sin-and-apostasy\/","n":"Deliberate sin and falling away","s":"The law set sins done in ignorance apart from sins done in defiance, and sacrifice covered only the first. Many Jews held that someone who knowingly threw off God's law could not be restored, though teachers argued over who had gone that far.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/athletes-and-games\/","n":"The games and the victor's wreath","s":"Greek cities held great athletic festivals, and Corinth hosted the Isthmian Games every two years, second only to the Olympics. Athletes trained for months under oath for a wreath of leaves that soon withered.","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\/roman-custody\/","n":"Prison, chains and Roman custody","s":"Roman prisons held people until trial or execution; they were not a punishment in themselves. How a prisoner was kept, in the stocks of an inner cell or lightly chained to one soldier, depended on his rank.","r":""}
Judaism distinguished intentional from unintentional sin (Numbers 15:29-31): sacrifices atoned for sins of ignorance, but none availed for one who knowingly rejected God's law, and later rabbis thought only death could atone for such rebels (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). Trampling what was holy was the ultimate disrespect (Keener). Contest is an athlete's word, and with public spectacle it could suggest the arena, though Keener takes it as an image, since the readers were still alive (12:4). Prison brought shame, hunger and disease, and banishment could bring the confiscation of property (the cultural backgrounds notes). Tiberius expelled Jews from Rome, and Claudius did the same, "probably in AD 49", though probably not all left (the cultural backgrounds article on Rome); in Alexandria Jewish homes were looted in riots (Keener). Whose persecution this was depends on where the readers lived: Keener allows Macedonia but says the place is unknown, Wright and Bird suggest Rome under Claudius, and Wright's commentary thinks of persecution coming from Jerusalem. Carson, Moo and Morris add a reason the readers might drift back: "The religion of the Jews was recognized by the Romans; Christianity was not."
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to Hebrews 10:26-31, and on Hebrews 10:26, 10:28, 10:29, 10:32-33 and 10:34
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Hebrews 10:26, 10:28 and 10:34
- N. T. Wright, Hebrews for Everyone, comment on Hebrews 10.32-39
- N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 30, The Letter to the Hebrews (Date)
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, article Rome
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 17, Hebrews, Purpose
