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.
Romans 11:11-24, The olive tree
Israel's stumbling has brought salvation to the Gentiles. Paul pictures Gentile believers as wild olive shoots grafted into Israel's tree and warns them not to boast over the natural branches.
Romans 11:11-24, in every translation this tool compares.
Paul insists Israel's stumble is not a final fall: through it the good news has reached the Gentiles, and their gain is meant to stir Israel to jealousy. He uses the picture of an olive tree, with Gentile believers as wild shoots grafted in among the native branches. They have no reason to look down on the branches that were broken off, since they live from Israel's root and God can just as easily graft the original branches back in.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/sacrifice-and-blood\/","n":"Sacrifice and the daily offering","s":"Animals were offered at the temple for sin, for thanks and for cleansing, and blood sealed covenants. Every day a lamb was offered at dawn and again in the afternoon, and Jews everywhere prayed at those hours.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/olive-tree-and-grafting\/","n":"The olive tree and grafting","s":"Olive trees lived for centuries, and growers grafted shoots from one tree into another. Scripture called God's people an olive tree, and Jewish writers pictured Israel as a tree whose roots were the patriarchs.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/children-of-abraham\/","n":"Children of Abraham","s":"Jews called Abraham our father, and many believed that being his descendants all but guaranteed a place among God's saved people. The Gospels and Paul argue over who his true children are.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/diaspora-jews\/","n":"Jews of the dispersion","s":"Most Jews of the first century lived outside the land, in cities from Parthia to Rome. They kept the law and their own synagogues, spoke Greek or Aramaic, and came up to Jerusalem for the feasts when they could.","r":""}
Ancient speakers counted self-praise acceptable only to stir others to imitate the good, which is how Paul speaks of magnifying his ministry (Keener and his notes). The first of the dough offered to God (Numbers 15:20-21) made the whole batch holy, and mixed metaphors were common (Keener and his notes). Gentiles had joined Israel before, Rahab and Ruth among them, but as a small minority; now Gentile believers apparently outnumbered Jewish ones in the Roman church (Keener and his notes). The cultural backgrounds notes add that later Gentile Christians did boast that they had replaced Israel, and Wright reads the passage as a warning that Gentile believers must not suppose they had replaced the Jews in God's plan. Writing when many Jews had recently been allowed back to Rome, in a city where many people distrusted and sneered at them, Wright thinks a mostly Gentile church could easily have picked up the anti-Judaism around it. Carson, Moo and Morris likewise picture Jewish believers coming back as a minority, perhaps looked down on by the now dominant Gentile wing, and note that these verses are addressed to Gentiles.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Romans 11:11-14, 11:16 and 11:17-24
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Romans 11:13, 11:16 and 11:17-24
- N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: Romans, Part Two, comment on Romans 11:16-24
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 8, Romans, Addressees
