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 25:31-46, Sheep, goats and the least of these
The Son of Man comes in glory with his angels, gathers the nations, and separates them as a shepherd separates sheep from goats, judging them by how they treated the least of his brothers and sisters.
Matthew 25:31-46, in every translation this tool compares.
Jesus pictures the Son of Man coming as king to judge all the nations, dividing them as a shepherd parts a mixed flock. Those placed on the honored side are welcomed because they fed, clothed, sheltered and visited him when he was hungry, a stranger, sick or in prison; surprised, they learn that what they did for the least of his family they did for him. The others, who neglected such people, are sent to the punishment made for the devil, while the first group goes to life without end. Who counts as the least of these is disputed.
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- {"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\/shepherd-and-sheep\/","n":"Shepherd and sheep","s":"Scripture pictured Israel without a leader as sheep without a shepherd, and promised that God himself would come to shepherd them.","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\/gehenna\/","n":"Gehenna","s":"The valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem, a place with a dark history, whose name had become the word for the fiery place of the wicked after death.","r":""}
Judging all the nations belonged to God in Jewish expectation, so the scene gives Jesus God's place (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). Blomberg notes that "Shepherds in Israel often herded mixed flocks" and parted them at night, since goats need warmth and sheep prefer the open air; sheep were also worth more (the cultural backgrounds notes). The right side was the honored side (the cultural backgrounds notes). Prisoners depended on friends or family for food and could die without them, so visiting prisoners was costly help (the cultural backgrounds notes). The sources differ on who the least of these are: Keener reads Jesus' messengers, and the cultural backgrounds notes lean the same way; the ESV Study Bible, the CSB Study Bible and Blomberg read needy disciples; Wright reads people outside the circle of followers judged by how they treated Jesus' family. Wilkins adds that about seventy percent of the Old Testament's goats are sacrificial animals.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Matthew 25:31, 25:32, 25:33, 25:35-36 and 25:40
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Matthew 25:31, 25:32, 25:33, 25:36 and 25:40
- ESV Study Bible, study note on Matthew 25:40
- CSB Study Bible, note on Matthew 25:31-46
- Craig L. Blomberg, Interpreting the Parables, 8.3.1 The Sheep and the Goats
- N. T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Part Two, comment on Matthew 25:31-46
- Michael J. Wilkins, Matthew, in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, on Matthew 25:32
