On pages 77-79 of A Short Guide to Reading the Bible Better, George Guthrie gives a list of four helpful tools for ‘Reading the Bible Better.’ They are 1. Use a good translation of the Bible. 2. Get a good Study Bible, he recommends in alphabetical order the CSB Study Bible, the ESV Study Bible, the NIV Study Bible and the NLT Study Bible. 3. Get a good Bible Dictionary, he recommends the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. 4. Get a Background Commentary, he recommends the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary series, the IVP Bible Background Commentary, and The Baker Illustrated Bible Background Commentary. The Background Commentaries give information on the historical and cultural background of the text. We are almost 2,000 years removed from the culture of the New Testament and even further removed from that of the Old Testament. The priority for acquiring these tools should be from 1 to 4 in that order. The Study Bibles mentioned will often give sufficient cultural information to help with understanding a passage and this can sometimes be supplemented with articles in the dictionary. If you have the first three tools, then a Background Commentary may give additional information that will help you understand a particularly difficult passage. Some cultural issues that may help you in understanding the passages that you will read this week are discussed briefly below.
In 1st century Palestine there were essentially only two classes of people, the rich and the poor. It was basically a ‘peasant society.’ Middle class was almost non-existent. The rich included the high-priestly clan, the Herodian family, some individuals that became rich through tax collecting and some Jewish aristocrats. It was a culture where the ‘rich got richer and the poor got poorer.’ To be considered rich you generally had to be a landowner. Many of the rich became that way by taking advantage of the poor. Many of the landowners didn’t farm their own land but had tenant farmers whose fathers had often owned the very land they now worked on. The wealthy were considered unjust and didn’t share their wealth or help those in poverty. The poor generally believed that the wealthy had acquired their wealth at the expense of the poor. Hired workers were preferred over slaves because slaves had to be cared for in bad years. Luke mentions more about the ‘rich’ than any other New Testament writer. For Jesus’ teaching on the subject see Lk 6:24-26; 12:16-21; 14:12-14; 16:1-8; 16:19-31; 18:18-23; 18:24-25; and 21:1-4.
Another cultural concept that was even more important than wealth was ‘honor and shame.’ The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary has an article on this cultural concept, but many Bible Dictionaries do not include a separate article but will discuss it in other articles. Honor or shame were not just a reflection on the individual but also a reflection that was either positive or negative on his family. A family member that brought shame to the family would be shunned or disowned. This cultural concept was so important that in 1995 the Society of Biblical Literature published an entire journal on Honor and Shame in the World of the Bible. Even today actions by children or family members can bring shame to the family that results in harsher punishment for the errant child or in the case of adults they may be shunned or disinherited. Honor on the other hand was given for meritorious activity or doing what was honorable.
An example of honor and shame from last week’s reading is seen in Lk 13:17. In our modern translations the Greek word kataischynō is translated by either humiliated or shamed. Jesus had just healed a woman on the Sabbath who for eighteen years had not been able to straighten up and had to walk around bent over. The Synagogue ruler complained about the healing because it was on the Sabbath, trying to shame Jesus for working on the Sabbath but the crowds in fact honored Jesus and shamed those that were critical of the healing. These leaders would not have appreciated being shamed.
This week we begin by reading the parable of the Prodigal Son and the parable of the Dishonest Manager. Think through how the cultural concept of honor and shame can give you more understanding of these passages. (The church library, in the 220 section, has several of the tools and books mentioned above.)
In 1st century Palestine there were essentially only two classes of people, the rich and the poor. It was basically a ‘peasant society.’ Middle class was almost non-existent. The rich included the high-priestly clan, the Herodian family, some individuals that became rich through tax collecting and some Jewish aristocrats. It was a culture where the ‘rich got richer and the poor got poorer.’ To be considered rich you generally had to be a landowner. Many of the rich became that way by taking advantage of the poor. Many of the landowners didn’t farm their own land but had tenant farmers whose fathers had often owned the very land they now worked on. The wealthy were considered unjust and didn’t share their wealth or help those in poverty. The poor generally believed that the wealthy had acquired their wealth at the expense of the poor. Hired workers were preferred over slaves because slaves had to be cared for in bad years. Luke mentions more about the ‘rich’ than any other New Testament writer. For Jesus’ teaching on the subject see Lk 6:24-26; 12:16-21; 14:12-14; 16:1-8; 16:19-31; 18:18-23; 18:24-25; and 21:1-4.
Another cultural concept that was even more important than wealth was ‘honor and shame.’ The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary has an article on this cultural concept, but many Bible Dictionaries do not include a separate article but will discuss it in other articles. Honor or shame were not just a reflection on the individual but also a reflection that was either positive or negative on his family. A family member that brought shame to the family would be shunned or disowned. This cultural concept was so important that in 1995 the Society of Biblical Literature published an entire journal on Honor and Shame in the World of the Bible. Even today actions by children or family members can bring shame to the family that results in harsher punishment for the errant child or in the case of adults they may be shunned or disinherited. Honor on the other hand was given for meritorious activity or doing what was honorable.
An example of honor and shame from last week’s reading is seen in Lk 13:17. In our modern translations the Greek word kataischynō is translated by either humiliated or shamed. Jesus had just healed a woman on the Sabbath who for eighteen years had not been able to straighten up and had to walk around bent over. The Synagogue ruler complained about the healing because it was on the Sabbath, trying to shame Jesus for working on the Sabbath but the crowds in fact honored Jesus and shamed those that were critical of the healing. These leaders would not have appreciated being shamed.
This week we begin by reading the parable of the Prodigal Son and the parable of the Dishonest Manager. Think through how the cultural concept of honor and shame can give you more understanding of these passages. (The church library, in the 220 section, has several of the tools and books mentioned above.)
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