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.
Matthew 24:1-14, Stones, birth pangs and false messiahs
As the disciples admire the temple, Jesus says not one stone will be left on another. On the Mount of Olives he warns of false messiahs, wars and persecution, the beginning of the birth pangs.
Matthew 24:1-14, in every translation this tool compares.
As they leave the temple, Jesus tells his disciples that its great buildings will be torn down stone by stone. Later, on the Mount of Olives, they ask when this will be and what will mark his coming and the close of the age. He warns of pretend messiahs, wars, famines and earthquakes that are only the first pains of labor, and of persecution and failing love among his followers. Before the end, the message of God's reign must reach every nation.
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- {"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\/rebels-and-would-be-messiahs\/","n":"Rebels and would-be messiahs","s":"In the decades around Jesus, men rose up claiming to deliver Israel: tax rebels, leaders of armed bands, and prophets who promised signs in the wilderness. Rome treated them all as rebels.","r":""}
The temple seemed strong and invincible, one of the most splendid buildings in the ancient world (Keener). Josephus describes stones forty-five cubits long, and the cultural backgrounds notes mention one block nearly forty feet long. Whether not one stone left standing is hyperbole is debated: Keener and the cultural backgrounds notes point out that some stones remain, as in part of one wall, but the temple was almost entirely demolished in AD 70; the ESV Study Bible gives both readings. Apocalyptic writers expected the nations to persecute God's people, but did not expect a great turning of Gentiles to God before the end, which makes 24:14 unexpected (Keener). The Zondervan archaeology handbook argues that these things meant the temple buildings, not the retaining walls of the platform, and that Herodian stones of two to four tons still lie where the Romans threw them onto the street below.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Matthew 24:1, 24:2, 24:4-5, 24:6-8 and 24:9-14
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Matthew 24:2 and 24:6-14
- ESV Study Bible, study note on Matthew 24:2
- Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 5.5.6, trans. William Whiston
- N. T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Part Two, comment on Matthew 24:1-14
- J. Randall Price and H. Wayne House, Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology, Matthew 24:1-2 The Destruction of the Temple Mount
