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.
John 10:22-42, In Solomon's Porch at the Festival of Dedication
In winter, at the Festival of Dedication, the Judeans press Jesus to say plainly whether he is the Messiah. He says he and the Father are one, they pick up stones, and he answers from Psalm 82.
John 10:22-42, in every translation this tool compares.
It is the Festival of Dedication, in winter, and Jesus is walking in the temple in Solomon's Porch when the Judeans surround him and ask him to tell them plainly if he is the Messiah. He says his works testify for him, his sheep hear his voice and no one can snatch them from his Father's hand, and that he and the Father are one. They pick up stones, charging him with blasphemy because he, a man, makes himself God. He answers from their law, where God says to some, you are gods, and asks how they can charge the one the Father set apart and sent with blasphemy for saying he is God's Son; then he escapes and goes back beyond the Jordan, where many believe in him.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/temple-and-courts\/","n":"The temple and its courts","s":"Herod's huge rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, believed to be God's dwelling, laid out in courts that kept Gentiles, women and Jewish men at set distances.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/messiah\/","n":"The Messiah, son of David","s":"The anointed king most Jews expected from David's line, who would free Israel from its enemies. Nobody expected him to be killed.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/divine-council\/","n":"God's council and throne room","s":"Israel's Scriptures picture God presiding over an assembly of heavenly beings, the sons of God, and Psalm 82 calls its members gods. Who those gods are is one of the hardest questions behind John 10.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/blasphemy\/","n":"Blasphemy","s":"Speech that dishonored God, including claiming what belonged to God alone. Under the law the penalty was death.","r":""}
Solomon's Porch was the colonnade along the eastern side of the outer court, a shelter in winter, and many believed its older stonework went back to Solomon (the cultural backgrounds notes; the ESV Study Bible); Josephus says of the eastern cloister, "This was the work of king Solomon." Wright notes that the Maccabees became kings by freeing the temple, so at Dedication people thought about kings, and here Jesus speaks of the true shepherd. Being one with the Father echoes Israel's basic confession that God is one (Deuteronomy 6:4) (Keener). Stoning was the usual punishment for blasphemy, and the festival remembered liberation from Antiochus IV, a man who claimed to be divine (the cultural backgrounds notes). Jesus' answer is a standard Jewish how-much-more argument (Keener), and set apart may echo the setting apart of the temple at its rededication (Keener and his notes). Who the gods of Psalm 82 are is disputed: divine beings of God's council (Heiser), earthly rulers who thought themselves divine (Keener), Israel receiving the law at Sinai (Wright), or human judges (the ESV and CSB Study Bibles). Beyond the Jordan lay Perea, outside the reach of the Jerusalem leaders (Keener and his notes).
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on John 10:22, 10:23, 10:31, 10:34-35, 10:36 and 10:40
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on John 10:22, 10:23 and 10:34
- CSB Study Bible, notes on John 10:22 and 10:34
- Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 20.9.7, trans. William Whiston
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on John 10:22, 10:30, 10:34, 10:35-36 and 10:39-42
- N. T. Wright, John for Everyone, Part One, comments on John 10:19-30 and 10:31-42
- Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm, ch. 31, Who Will Go for Us?, endnote 3
