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 18:18-30, A rich ruler and the needle's eye
A ruler asks what he must do to inherit eternal life; told to sell everything and follow, he goes away sad, and Jesus says it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter God's kingdom.
Luke 18:18-30, in every translation this tool compares.
A wealthy leader asks Jesus how to gain eternal life and says he has kept the commandments from his youth. Jesus tells him he lacks one thing, to sell all he owns, give to the poor and follow, and the man is deeply saddened. Jesus then uses the image of a camel squeezing through a needle to show what a struggle entry into the kingdom is for the wealthy, and when his hearers despair, he says God can do what people cannot and promises great reward to those who have given things up for the kingdom.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/following-a-teacher\/","n":"Following a teacher","s":"A disciple walked behind his teacher, lived with him, learned his ways and carried his reputation. Jesus chose his own, which only radical teachers did.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/present-age-and-age-to-come\/","n":"This age and the age to come","s":"Jews divided history into the present age, under the rule of evil nations, and the age to come, when God would rule unchallenged. The sufferings expected before the change were called birth pangs.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/almsgiving\/","n":"Gifts to the poor","s":"Giving to the needy was one of the three pillars of Jewish piety, with prayer and fasting. Greeks and Romans had nothing quite like it.","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\/family-first\/","n":"The family's name","s":"Families lived, worked and stood together. Walking out of the family business or putting kin second was a public offense.","r":""}
People asked Jewish teachers how to gain eternal life, which meant the life of the world to come (Keener and his notes; Strauss, in the Zondervan backgrounds commentary). Judaism stressed charity, but Jewish teachers did not normally ask a prospective disciple to give away everything; a few radical Greek teachers made that demand of rich students, who usually went back to their wealth (Keener). Wealth was often taken as a sign of God's blessing, so the saying turns the social order over (Keener; Strauss). The camel through the needle's eye was a picture of the impossible: the largest animal in Judea and Galilee through the smallest opening, as teachers in Babylonia spoke of an elephant (the cultural backgrounds notes). The popular story of a small Jerusalem gate called the Needle's Eye, which a camel could pass only unloaded and kneeling, has no support: Strauss writes that "there is no archaeological or literary evidence that such a gate existed" in the first century, Keener that the gate people point to was built in medieval times, and there is no manuscript support for reading rope instead of camel (Strauss).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Luke 18:18, 18:22-23, 18:24, 18:25-27 and 18:28-30 and on Mark 10:25
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Luke 18:18, 18:25 and 18:29
- Mark L. Strauss, Luke, in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, on Luke 18:18-30, 18:18, 18:21, 18:24 and 18:25
