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 23:26-49, The road to the cross, paradise, and the ninth hour
Simon of Cyrene carries the cross, the women of Jerusalem mourn, and Jesus warns them of days to come. Crucified between two criminals, he promises one of them paradise and dies at the ninth hour.
Luke 23:26-49, in every translation this tool compares.
On the way to the cross, Roman soldiers force Simon of Cyrene to carry it, and Jesus tells the women grieving for him to grieve instead for themselves and their children, because worse days are coming for Jerusalem. He is crucified between two criminals, prays for those killing him, and promises the one criminal who asks to be remembered that he will be with him in paradise that day. Darkness falls at midday, the temple curtain tears, and Jesus gives his spirit to his Father and dies, while the crowd leaves in grief and the women from Galilee look on.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/crucifixion\/","n":"Crucifixion","s":"Rome's public, shaming death for rebels, after flogging, with the charge posted for passers-by to read.","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\/jerusalem-destroyed-ad-70\/","n":"The war with Rome and the fall of Jerusalem","s":"In AD 66 Judea rose against Rome. By AD 70 Roman armies had starved and burned Jerusalem, destroyed the temple and sacrificed to their standards where it had stood.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/hades-and-abrahams-side\/","n":"Hades and Abraham's side","s":"Jews spoke of the dead going down to Hades, and of the righteous resting at Abraham's side or in paradise. The pictures were traditional, varied, and could be borrowed by a story.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/sacrifice-and-blood\/","n":"Sacrifice and the daily offering","s":"Animals were offered at the temple for sin, for thanks and for cleansing, and blood sealed covenants. Every day a lamb was offered at dawn and again in the afternoon, and Jews everywhere prayed at those hours.","r":""}
Cyrene, in North Africa, had a large Jewish community, Passover drew pilgrims from all over the Mediterranean, and Roman soldiers could press anyone into carrying for them (Keener). Pious women of Jerusalem often mourned those being led out to execution and gave them a drink to dull the pain, since public mourning was not allowed after death (Keener and his notes). The green and the dry wood are read in several ways. Keener lists three, the first being that Jesus is green wood, no rebel, so the real rebels will burn all the more; Wright says it in one line, "He was the green tree, they the dry." The cultural backgrounds notes and the ESV and CSB Study Bibles also hear in it the bloodshed to come, and Strauss, in the Zondervan backgrounds commentary, Rome's worse violence. A condemned man was expected to pray that his death would atone for his own sins; Jesus prays for his judges instead (Keener). The torn curtain may signal God leaving the temple, which Keener thinks more likely, or new access to God's presence; the cultural backgrounds notes allow both, and Strauss reads it as judgment and open access together.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Luke 23:26, 23:27, 23:29, 23:31, 23:33-34, 23:43, 23:44, 23:45 and 23:46
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Luke 23:27, 23:31, 23:32, 23:34, 23:43, 23:45 and 23:46
- N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God, ch. 12, The Reasons for Jesus' Crucifixion, section (d) The Green Tree and the Dry
- ESV Study Bible, study note on Luke 23:27-31
- CSB Study Bible, note on Luke 23:27-31
- Mark L. Strauss, Luke, in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, on Luke 23:26-43, 23:31, 23:33, 23:36, 23:38, 23:43, 23:45 and 21:23 and sidebar Crucifixion
