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 9:51-62, A Samaritan refusal and three would-be followers
Setting out for Jerusalem, Jesus is turned away by a Samaritan village and rebukes James and John for wanting to call down fire. On the road he tells three would-be followers what following him will cost.
Luke 9:51-62, in every translation this tool compares.
Luke marks a turning point: Jesus now heads deliberately toward Jerusalem, and a Samaritan village turns him away for that reason. When James and John want to destroy the village with fire from the sky, Jesus rebukes them. Along the road three would-be followers hear how costly following him will be, with no home of his own, no delay even for a father's burial, and no turning back once the work has begun.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/elijah-expected\/","n":"Elijah expected","s":"Malachi promised Elijah would come back before the great day of the Lord. By Jesus' time many were waiting for him, and the Gospels keep raising his name.","r":""}
- {"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\/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\/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":""}
James and John want to copy Elijah, who called down fire on the king's soldiers (2 Kings 1:10, 12; Keener and his notes). To the villagers Jesus was a man on his way to worship at the rival temple, and many pious Jews thought it scandalous to take Samaritan hospitality (Strauss, in the Zondervan backgrounds commentary). Burying a father was a son's greatest duty; Wright calls Jesus' answer "This is, quite frankly, outrageous." What the man asked for is debated. Keener's notes give two readings: a polite request to wait until the father dies, perhaps for years, or the reburial of his bones a year after death. Keener's background commentary takes the second; Bailey calls the phrase a traditional idiom for staying at home until the parents die, and the CSB Study Bible also reads an excuse for a delay of possibly years. Strauss rejects both softer readings and thinks the father has died or is dying, so the answer is meant to be truly radical. Elijah let Elisha say goodbye to his parents (1 Kings 19:19-21); Jesus does not, and a plowman who looks back cuts a crooked furrow (Keener).
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Luke 9:52-53, 9:54 and 9:59
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Luke 9:54, 9:57-58, 9:59-60 and 9:61-62
- CSB Study Bible, notes on Luke 9:52-56 and 9:59-60
- Kenneth E. Bailey, Poet and Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes, Through Peasant Eyes, ch. 2, The Fox, the Funeral, and the Furrow
- N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God, ch. 9, Symbol and Controversy, section (iv) Nation and Family
- Mark L. Strauss, Luke, in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, on Luke 9:52, 9:53, 9:54, 9:58, 9:59, 9:60 and 9:61-62 and sidebar Samaria
