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 7:36-50, A sinful woman at Simon's table
At a Pharisee's banquet a woman known as a sinner weeps over Jesus' feet, wipes them with her hair and anoints them. Jesus answers his host's silent objection with a story of two debtors.
Luke 7:36-50, in every translation this tool compares.
A Pharisee named Simon has Jesus to dinner, and a woman known in the town for her sinful life comes in carrying a stone flask of scented oil. Crying at his feet, she dries them with her hair, kisses them and pours the oil on them, while Simon privately concludes that Jesus cannot be a real prophet. Jesus answers with a short story about two debtors whose debts are cancelled, points out the basic courtesies Simon left out, and declares the woman forgiven.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/reclining-at-table\/","n":"Reclining at table","s":"At banquets men lay on couches, propped on the left elbow, and where you lay showed your rank.","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\/anointing-with-oil\/","n":"Anointing with oil","s":"Oil poured on the head was a courtesy to a guest, the sign of a new king, a medicine, and care for the dead. The setting decided which.","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":""}
Reclining shows that this was a banquet (Keener and his notes). Guests lay with their feet pointing away from the table, so she stands behind him. Uninvited people could come into some banquets but were expected to stay quiet and away from the couches (Keener). Married women covered their hair, and a woman with it loose in public was taken to be promiscuous (Keener and his notes). Strauss, in the Zondervan backgrounds commentary, suggests she meant to anoint his head, an honor for a guest (Psalm 23:5), but could not reach it as he reclined. Five hundred denarii was more than a year's wages (Keener's notes). Why Simon invited Jesus is read in different ways: Wright thinks he wanted a fair hearing for a possible prophet, Blomberg allows either honorable hospitality or an attempt to trap him, and Bailey pictures elders meaning to correct a young rabbi. The missing courtesies are also disputed. Bailey writes, "To omit the entire list would be a calculated and pointed insult"; Strauss answers that there is no evidence that a host was expected to provide water, a kiss or oil, so Simon was indifferent rather than insulting.
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Luke 7:36, 7:38, 7:41 and 7:44
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Luke 7:36, 7:37, 7:38, 7:39 and 7:43-46
- Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, ch. 18, The Woman in the House of Simon the Pharisee
- N. T. Wright, Luke for Everyone, comment on Luke 7:36-50
- Craig L. Blomberg, Interpreting the Parables, 6.3 The Two Debtors
- Mark L. Strauss, Luke, in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, on Luke 7:38, 7:41 and 7:44-46
