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.
Luke 10:1-24, Seventy sent out, and Satan falling
Jesus sends seventy others, or seventy-two, ahead of him in pairs, with no purse, bag or sandals, to towns that will welcome or refuse them. They come back rejoicing that even the demons obey, and Jesus says he saw Satan fall like lightning.
Luke 10:1-24, in every translation this tool compares.
Jesus sends out seventy messengers, or seventy-two in many manuscripts, in pairs ahead of him, travelling light and vulnerable. They are to accept hospitality where they find it, heal the sick and announce that God's kingdom is close, and towns that reject them will answer for it. When they return rejoicing over their power against demons, Jesus speaks of seeing Satan cast down from heaven, but tells them the greater cause for joy is that their names are recorded there.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/babel-and-the-nations\/","n":"Babel and the seventy nations","s":"Genesis 10 lists the nations of the world, seventy in the Hebrew text and seventy-two in the Greek. Jewish tradition counted the nations that way, and Deuteronomy 32 tells how God divided them and kept Israel as his own. Luke's list of nations at Pentecost recalls them.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/hospitality\/","n":"Hospitality to travelers","s":"Taking in travelers was one of the great virtues of the ancient Mediterranean, above all among Jews. Messengers could travel light because they expected to be housed.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/kingdom-of-god\/","n":"God's kingdom","s":"Kingdom meant God's reign, God becoming king in fact. It was the good news Isaiah promised, and in Jesus' day it was also a slogan.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/unclean-spirits\/","n":"Unclean spirits and exorcists","s":"Spirits that defiled and harmed people. Exorcists of the day used names, oaths, spells and foul smells to drive them out. Jesus gave an order.","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":""}
Messengers were usually sent in pairs (Keener and his notes), and the ESV Study Bible adds the law's demand for two witnesses. Withholding a greeting was offensive and the pious tried to greet first, so greeting no one on the way marks great urgency; the greeting peace was itself a blessing (Keener). Some Jewish teachers pictured Israel as sheep among the wolves of the nations (Keener and his notes). Exorcists usually needed incantations to make demons leave, so the disciples are amazed that the name alone works (Keener). Names written in heaven recall the book of the righteous known from Daniel 12:1, Jubilees and 1 Enoch (Keener). The Hebrew text of Genesis 10 lists seventy nations and the Greek Old Testament seventy-two, which may explain why manuscripts of Luke differ between seventy and seventy-two; Strauss thinks Luke wrote seventy-two and scribes later matched the Hebrew. The Testament of Levi says the coming priest will give his children authority to trample on wicked spirits, and the book of names in heaven draws on the citizen rolls that ancient cities and kingdoms kept (Strauss).
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Luke 10:1, 10:3 and 10:18
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Luke 10:1, 10:3, 10:4, 10:5-9, 10:17, 10:18 and 10:20
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on Luke 10:1 and 10:18
- Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm, ch. 32, Preeminent Domain
- N. T. Wright, Luke for Everyone, comment on Luke 10:17-24
- Mark L. Strauss, Luke, in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, on Luke 10:1, 10:3, 10:4, 10:19 and 10:20
