A narrow stone street in a first-century town at dusk, robed figures walking past market stalls toward a glowing wheel of light at the end of the street.

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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 5:33-48, No oaths, the other cheek, the second mile

Jesus tells his hearers not to swear at all, not to resist an evildoer, to go a second mile with a soldier who forces one, and to love their enemies.

The GospelsMatthew

Matthew 5:33-48

Matthew 5:33-48, in every translation this tool compares.

What is going on here

Instead of oaths by heaven, earth, Jerusalem or your own head, let yes mean yes and no mean no. Against an eye for an eye, Jesus speaks of turning the other cheek, giving the cloak as well as the tunic, and going two miles with someone who forces you to go one. He ends with love for enemies, since God sends sun and rain on the just and the unjust.

The ancient world behind it

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{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/honor-and-shame\/","n":"Honor before a crowd","s":"Public standing was the currency of the ancient Mediterranean. People competed for honor and dreaded being shamed in front of others.","r":""}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/rome-in-charge\/","n":"Rome in charge","s":"Rome ruled through client princes, local elites and governors. It kept the power to execute, and its soldiers, coins and taxes were everywhere.","r":""}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/tax-collectors\/","n":"Tolls and tax collectors","s":"Local men who collected tolls and taxes for rulers backed by Rome, distrusted as collaborators and cheats.","r":""}

Also in this passage

An eye for an eye was a rule for courts, not private revenge (Keener). Keener's notes say, "The backhanded blow on the right cheek was meant primarily as an insult." A creditor could not keep a poor man's outer cloak overnight (Exodus 22:26-27), so giving it up surrenders a case the law would win. Roman soldiers could press local people's labor or animals into service, as with Simon of Cyrene (Keener). Wright says a soldier could "force civilians to carry their equipment for one mile"; the CSB Study Bible replies that "no surviving text establishes this as law." Hate your enemy is not in Scripture; Josephus says the Essene entry oath included a vow always to hate the wicked. The Qumran Rule of the Community tells members to hate all the sons of darkness (1QS 1.9-11; Wilkins).

Related passages

Matthew 5:21-32, Anger, lust and divorce Mark 15:21-41, The cross Matthew 23:13-28, Oaths, mint, gnats and whitewashed tombs Luke 6:20-36, Blessings, woes and lending with nothing back James 5:7-12, Early and late rains, Job, and no oaths

Sources

Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Matthew 5:33-37, 5:38, 5:39, 5:40, 5:41 and 5:43-44
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Matthew 5:34-35, 5:36, 5:38, 5:39, 5:40 and 5:43
ESV Study Bible, study note on Matthew 5:39
CSB Study Bible, notes on Matthew 5:33 and 5:41
N. T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Part One, comment on Matthew 5:38-48
Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 2.8.7, trans. William Whiston
Michael J. Wilkins, Matthew, in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, on Matthew 5:43

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