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 19:31-42, Legs unbroken and a hundred pounds of spices
Because the coming Sabbath is a high day, the leaders ask for the bodies to be taken down. The soldiers find Jesus already dead and pierce his side; Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus bury him with a lavish weight of spices in a new tomb in a garden.
John 19:31-42, in every translation this tool compares.
Because the Sabbath is about to begin, the leaders want the bodies taken down, and the soldiers break the legs of the other two men but find Jesus already dead. A spear thrust to his side brings out blood and water, and John insists the account rests on eyewitness testimony and fulfils Scripture. Two leading men who had followed Jesus quietly, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, bury him with a lavish quantity of spices in a new tomb nearby.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/sabbath\/","n":"The Sabbath","s":"The seventh day, a commanded rest from sundown to sundown, a badge of Jewish identity, and a law the experts argued over in detail.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/passover-pilgrims\/","n":"Passover and the pilgrim crowds","s":"The spring festival that retold God's rescue of Israel from Egypt. Jerusalem filled with pilgrims, and hopes of freedom ran high.","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":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/anointing-with-oil\/","n":"Anointing with oil","s":"Oil poured on the head was a courtesy to a guest, the sign of a new king, a medicine, and care for the dead. The setting decided which.","r":""}
A crucified man could rest on a small seat and push himself up to breathe, so breaking the legs hastened death (Keener; the ESV Study Bible; the cultural backgrounds article on crucifixion). Romans often left bodies for the vultures, but in Judea they deferred to Deuteronomy 21:23 (Keener and his notes); as Wright and Bird write, "many victims of crucifixion did indeed receive a proper burial," and Josephus says the Jews "took down those that were condemned and crucified, and buried them before the going down of the sun." The unbroken bones fit Psalm 34:20 and the rule that no bone of the Passover lamb be broken (Exodus 12:46) (Keener and his notes). When Jesus died is disputed: Keener and his notes read John as placing the death while the Passover lambs were being slaughtered, a day earlier than the other Gospels, and suggest a calendar difference or a symbolic point, and the article on the Synoptic Passover meal and John's Passover lamb reads John's timing as showing Jesus as the lamb; the ESV and CSB Study Bibles read Preparation as the day before the Sabbath of Passover week, so that all four Gospels agree.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on John 18:28, 19:14, 19:31-33, 19:34, 19:36, 19:39, 19:40 and 19:41
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on John 19:14, 19:31-32, 19:34, 19:36, 19:38-42, 19:39 and 19:41
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on John 19:14 and 19:31
- CSB Study Bible, note on John 19:14
- N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 14, The Story of Easter according to the Evangelists
- Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 4.5.2, trans. William Whiston
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, articles The Crucifixion and The Synoptic Passover Meal Versus John's Passover Lamb
