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 4:16-30, The year of the Lord's favor in Nazareth
In the Nazareth synagogue Jesus reads Isaiah's promise of good news for the poor and release for captives and says it is fulfilled today. When he points to Elijah and Elisha helping foreigners, the town tries to throw him off a cliff.
Luke 4:16-30, in every translation this tool compares.
In the Nazareth synagogue on the Sabbath, Jesus reads from Isaiah a passage about one anointed by the Spirit to bring good news to the poor, freedom to prisoners and sight to the blind, announcing a time of God's favor. He sits and tells the room that the passage is being fulfilled as they listen. Their warmth turns to rage when he reminds them that Elijah and Elisha were sent to foreigners rather than to Israel, and they try to throw him off a cliff, but he passes through the crowd and goes.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/spirit-of-prophecy\/","n":"The Spirit of prophecy","s":"Jews of Jesus' day linked God's Spirit above all with prophecy. Many believed the prophets had fallen silent long ago, and they looked for the day God would pour out his Spirit again.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/debts-and-lending\/","n":"Debts, talents and lending","s":"A denarius was a day's pay and a talent about six thousand of them. Creditors could jail a debtor until someone paid, and people with spare money buried it or lent it at steep interest.","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\/gentile-lands\/","n":"Gentile territory","s":"Across the lake and to the north lay Greek-run cities with pagan temples and pig herds. Jesus crossed into them more than once.","r":""}
Readers stood to read Scripture and sat to explain it (Keener and his notes). Isaiah 61 pictures the year of jubilee, the year of release in Leviticus 25, and the Dead Sea Scrolls read it that way (Keener). Bailey notes what Jesus leaves out, the line about binding up the brokenhearted and the closing day of vengeance of our God, and what he adds, a line from Isaiah 58:6. Why the crowd turned is debated. Keener points to the word today, since Nazareth saw no messianic age around it, and to the region's caution after the Romans destroyed nearby Sepphoris, which he dates to a revolt in AD 6; Josephus tells of Sepphoris burned in Varus' campaign after Herod's death. Bailey, with Jeremias, finds the rage in the missing vengeance on the nations, and reports Ibn al-Tayyib's view that it was envy of a carpenter's son; Wright puts it down to God being shown rescuing foreigners instead of Israel, and Strauss sides with him. A mob had no right to carry out an execution, least of all on the Sabbath (Keener). There is no obvious cliff just outside Nazareth, though the hills offer several plausible places (Strauss).
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Luke 4:16, 4:17, 4:20, 4:21 and 4:29
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Luke 4:18-19, 4:20, 4:21-22, 4:25-27 and 4:28-29
- Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, ch. 12, The Inauguration of Jesus' Ministry
- N. T. Wright, Luke for Everyone, comment on Luke 4:14-30
- Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 17.10.9, trans. William Whiston
- Mark L. Strauss, Luke, in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, on Luke 4:14-30, 4:17, 4:18, 4:19, 4:27 and 4:29
