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 24:29-51, The Son of Man on the clouds and the slave in charge
After the distress, sun, moon and stars fail and the Son of Man comes on the clouds to gather his chosen. No one knows the day, so the household must stay ready, like a slave left in charge.
Matthew 24:29-51, in every translation this tool compares.
Jesus describes the sky going dark and the Son of Man arriving on the clouds with angels and a trumpet to gather his people, language the prophets used for God's judgment on empires. He says his own generation will see these events, yet no one but the Father knows the exact day. People will be caught off guard as in Noah's flood, so his followers must stay ready, like a trusted servant found doing his job when the master returns. What the coming on the clouds refers to is disputed.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/son-of-man\/","n":"The Son of Man","s":"Plain Aramaic for a human being, and also the figure in Daniel 7 who comes on the clouds and receives a kingdom. It is Jesus' favorite way of speaking about himself in the Gospels.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/angels\/","n":"Angels","s":"God's messengers and his heavenly army. Jews of Jesus' day spoke of guardian angels, of the greatest angels standing before God's face, and of angels coming with God at the judgment.","r":""}
- {"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\/slavery\/","n":"Slavery and slave managers","s":"Slaves were everywhere in the Roman world, from field hands to stewards who ran whole estates and handled their master's money. A master away and slaves left in charge was a familiar story.","r":""}
Falling stars and a darkened sun were the prophets' language for God's judgment on empires (Isaiah 13:10; 34:4), and people expected signs in the sky before disasters like Jerusalem's fall (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). A regularly recited Jewish prayer looked for a trumpet to gather Israel at the end (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). The temple fell about forty years after Jesus spoke, the rough length of a biblical generation, and the Dead Sea Scrolls expected a final forty-year generation (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). Women ground grain together at a shared mill, and thieves broke in by digging through the clay walls of an ordinary house (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). On the coming on the clouds the sources part ways: the ESV Study Bible reads end-time language for Jesus' return, and Keener treats the sign of the Son of Man as the ultimate sign of his coming, while Wright argues that in Daniel the figure goes up to God, so the coming means "It is his ascension, his vindication." Wilkins notes the War Scroll's battle banners (1QM 3-4) as one proposed background for the sign.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Matthew 24:29, 24:30, 24:31, 24:34, 24:40-41, 24:42-44 and 24:45-51
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Matthew 24:29, 24:31, 24:34, 24:41 and 24:51
- ESV Study Bible, study note on Matthew 24:30
- N. T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Part Two, comment on Matthew 24:29-35
- Craig L. Blomberg, Interpreting the Parables, 6.5 Faithful and Unfaithful Servants
- Michael J. Wilkins, Matthew, in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, on Matthew 24:30
