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 11:37-54, Woes at a Pharisee's table
At a Pharisee's meal Jesus does not wash before eating, and when his host is surprised he pronounces woes on Pharisees and lawyers: clean cups and greedy hearts, tithed herbs, the best seats, unmarked graves and the tombs of the prophets.
Luke 11:37-54, in every translation this tool compares.
Invited to a Pharisee's meal, Jesus skips the ritual washing and his host is shocked. Jesus answers with a string of woes: the Pharisees scrub the outside of their dishes while their hearts are greedy, tithe garden herbs but ignore justice and love for God, crave honor in public, and spread uncleanness like hidden graves. When a legal expert protests, Jesus turns the same charge on the lawyers, accusing them of burdening others and of honoring the prophets their ancestors murdered, with the blood of all those prophets falling on the present generation.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/unclean-by-touch\/","n":"Unclean by touch","s":"Under the law, skin disease, bleeding, corpses, tombs and certain animals made a person ritually unclean, and touch could pass it on.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/teachers-of-the-law\/","n":"Teachers of the law","s":"Trained experts in the law of Moses, also called scribes, some local and some from Jerusalem, who taught by citing earlier teachers.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/prophets-rejected\/","n":"Prophets rejected and killed","s":"Israel's memory of prophets mocked, beaten and killed by their own people. By Jesus' day tradition had lengthened the list of martyred prophets.","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":""}
Washing the hands before meals was a Pharisaic custom, not an Old Testament practice (Keener and his notes; the ESV Study Bible). The schools of Shammai and Hillel argued over whether the inside or the outside of a cup should be cleaned first, and both Keener works say Jesus' words side with the Hillelites while turning the point to the heart. Whether garden herbs had to be tithed at all was debated, since tithes were on food. The Mishnah lists rue among the herbs exempt from tithing (Strauss, in the Zondervan backgrounds commentary). Seats and greetings went by rank, and inferiors greeted superiors first (Keener's notes). Pharisees held that even a shadow over a grave made a person unclean, so tombs were whitewashed each spring to warn people off (Keener). Jerusalem was building monuments to the prophets, and in the Hebrew order of Scripture Abel is the first martyr and Zechariah (2 Chronicles 24:20-22) the last (Keener and his notes). Keener's notes add that a man insulted in public could win back his honor only by humiliating the one who shamed him, which explains the plotting at the end.
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Luke 11:38, 11:39, 11:42, 11:43, 11:44, 11:45, 11:47-48, 11:51 and 11:54
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Luke 11:38, 11:39-40, 11:42, 11:44, 11:45, 11:46-47 and 11:49-50
- ESV Study Bible, study note on Luke 11:38
- Mark L. Strauss, Luke, in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, on Luke 11:37, 11:41, 11:42, 11:47 and 11:49 and caption Tomb of the Prophets
