14. Culture
The cultural background of the Bible includes the traditions, customs and beliefs of the time in which the biblical books were written. This kind of cultural information may be revealed by archaeological or historical sources – or even in other ways such as oral tradition – so it can be considered a separate area of knowledge that can often help us more clearly understand things that are said in the Scriptures. In this chapter we will consider examples of this from both the Old and New Testaments. Old Testament Examples In Genesis 15:9-21 we find the story of God sealing his covenant with Abram (Abraham) around 2000 BC by means of animal sacrifices. In response to Abram's request for a sign that God would fulfill his pledge to give him the Promised Land (vs. 8), God instructed him to take various animals and sacrifice them in a seemingly peculiar manner. After killing the animals, Abram divided them into halves, placing them on the ground in such a way that someone could walk between the halves of the carcasses. The narrative then states: "When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram" (Genesis 15:17-18).
Many biblical commentaries do not understand this event and suggest that it symbolized such things as the "furnace of affliction" Israel would suffer in Egypt, but there is no reason to make such a symbolic connection, especially one so stretched. The real meaning of the event can be clearly seen from what is known of ancient Near Eastern royal land grant treaties in which an agreement was made between two unequal parties – one of higher status and one of lower status – and in which land was granted to the ruler of lower status on condition of faithfulness to the higher king.
This kind of treaty was concluded by a ritual in which sacrificed animals were divided in half, and in some cases the participants to the treaty walked between the halves of the animals as a way to seal the agreement made by them. This legal procedure of the world in which Abram lived is central to understanding the story of Genesis 15. Perhaps Abram walked between the animal halves when he arranged them on the ground, as did God – represented by the burning torch which "passed between the pieces."
Another, much later (c. 590 BC) but clearly parallel biblical example of this ritual in the time of King Zedekiah also involved an animal being killed, cut into two pieces, and then individuals passing between the divided pieces (Jeremiah 34:8-22 and note vss. 15, 18-19). In fact, the Hebrew Bible speaks of covenants not as being "made" but as being "cut" (Hebrew karat), and the ancient practice of cutting and separating sacrificial animals explains the background to this expression.
So in this example we see cultural background not only explaining an event in the Bible that we might not otherwise understand, but also showing us God's willingness to work through the laws and customs of the time in which he dealt with individuals. It's an interesting insight – God not only gives laws, but is sometimes willing to utilize the laws and customs of his human family in order to fulfill his plans for them. New Testament Examples The New Testament also contains many examples of biblical statements that are better understood with cultural background. This is especially true in many of the recorded words of Jesus.
In the parable that Jesus told of the "unsuitably clothed wedding guest" (Matthew 22:8-14), the king who holds a great wedding feast sees a guest not wearing proper wedding attire and commands that the guest be thrown out of the celebration. We know that in ancient
Judea, as in many other ancient and modern cultures, guests wore their finest clothes to a wedding. It showed the guests' respect for the host and it also honored the host by showing that his or her friends were well dressed – and thus legitimately at the banquet of a great person or even a king.
Throughout many areas of the ancient Near East, the host (especially a king) might also present expensive garments as gifts to those attending a wedding or other festival so that they might be suitably attired (see Genesis 45:22; Judges 14:12; 2 Kings 5:22; 10:22). This seems likely to have been the situation in Jesus' parable, as the guests were all gathered from the streets without opportunity to prepare themselves and to put on fine clothes.
Although, like many parables, the story does not directly state the point it is making, it seems clear that the guests' "clothes" symbolize their spiritual condition. The problematic guest apparently considered his own clothes good enough instead of changing them for the clothing (symbolizing true righteousness) that the king provided (see also Zechariah 3:3-5; Isaiah 61:10).
Sometimes cultural background like this can help us better see the context of events or statements in the Bible. Jesus' words, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink" (John 7:37) and "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12) are among his most famous sayings, but we understand their effect on their original hearers much better when we realize their cultural context – that they were spoken on two specific occasions within the great Feast of Tabernacles festival celebrated by the Jews in Jerusalem (John 7:2).
On the last day of this festival, the Jews performed an elaborate ceremony in which water was brought from a nearby spring with great rejoicing and was offered on the altar of the temple. It was on that day that Jesus told his followers "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink." On the following day the Jewish worshippers celebrated a spectacular festival of lights with many lamps being lit to illuminate the temple. It was on that day that Jesus told the crowds "I am the light of the world." In both cases, his statements would have been made much more striking and relevant to his hearers because of the cultural events happening when he spoke them. Understanding details like these helps us to see the word pictures Christ painted in his teaching in the way the people of his day would have seen them. Culture and the Kingdom Consider two final examples from the Gospels where we read that Jesus spoke of the "kingdom of God" and of the "kingdom of Heaven." Some claim these are different kingdoms, but a little cultural background can help us see that is not the case.
The expression "kingdom of God" occurs almost seventy times in ten different New Testament books, but the term "kingdom of heaven" occurs only in the Gospel of Matthew. Looking at the background to Matthew's Gospel, we find it was written to a primarily Jewish audience and thus many of the terms he uses were ones preferred by the Jews themselves. Because of their understanding of the third of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:7), many of the Jewish people avoided the use of the name of God when they could, so it was natural for Matthew to frequently call the "kingdom of God" the "kingdom of heaven," in the same way we might speak of the "White House" as a way to refer to the U.S. president or his administration.
We can check that this background fact is the explanation for the two different names for the "kingdom of God" that are used in the Gospels because Mark and Luke, when they are reporting things Jesus said, usually use the term "kingdom of God" and Matthew uses "kingdom of heaven" in his account of the same statements (compare Matthew 18:3 with Mark 10:14 and Luke 18:16; etc.). There are a very few exceptions to this situation where Matthew himself uses both the expression "kingdom of heaven" and "kingdom of God," and these actually help prove the point we are making. In the story of Jesus' conversation with the rich young ruler, for example, Jesus said: "Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven … it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:23-24). Here, "kingdom of heaven" is used in verse 23, but "kingdom of God" in verse 24 in almost identical statements. This shows that the two expressions mean the same thing and disproves the arguments some have made that the two terms represent two different kingdoms.
Cultural details such as the ones mentioned in the examples we have looked at so far in this chapter can not only deepen our understanding of the Scriptures, but they can also help us to understand biblical references that we might otherwise not understand at all – as we see in the following case study.
Case Study: Biblical Body Language There is a language you can learn in order to better understand many verses in the Bible. That language is not Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic – it is simply the "language" of gestures and actions we call "body language." We are all familiar with body language in our own cultures and absorb it subconsciously as we grow up. We learn from a very early age that if a parent stands with fists on hips as he or she is about to speak to us that we are probably in trouble! As we go through life we routinely "read" the gestures and postures of others without thinking about it, but those same clues are a very real part of our understanding of what is happening in our interpersonal relationships.
In some cases, the body language mentioned in the Bible is similar or identical to that found in many modern cultures. For example, the act of bowing before important individuals or before God mentioned so often in the Bible is perfectly understandable to us today, and even more subtle gesture expressions make sense to us, as when the book of Proverbs tells us that "Whoever winks with their eye is plotting perversity; whoever purses their lips is bent on evil" (Proverbs 16:30).
The Bible draws attention to many of these non-verbal forms of expression – especially those involving the hands or feet. For example, the book of Ezekiel records God commanding the prophet Ezekiel to gesture by clapping his hands and stomping his feet regarding sinful Israel (Ezekiel 6:11). Such gestures were commonly used in both ancient Israel and the nations surrounding it. The book of Job mentions pagan worshippers of the sun and moon gesturing by kissing their hands to bless their gods (Job 31:26-28), and in both the Old and New Testaments we see that in blessing a group of people it was common to lift the hands toward them as the blessing was spoken (Leviticus 9:22; Luke 24:50).
But there are some things we should remember in understanding the body language mentioned in the Bible. First, we sometimes find different body gestures being used with the same meaning. The book of Genesis gives several examples of oaths being sworn by a person placing his hand under another's thigh or hip – as Abraham's steward is said to have done in promising that he would get a wife for Isaac from among Abraham's relatives (Genesis 24:2, 9), and as Joseph did in swearing not to bury his father Jacob in Egypt (Genesis 47:29-31). But later in the Old Testament references to individuals taking an oath usually involve raising a hand toward heaven (Deuteronomy 32:40; Daniel 12:7; etc.), and in the book of Ezekiel God himself is said to take an oath by raising his hand in this way (Ezekiel 20:5, 15, 23).
Another factor to keep in mind is that many societies assign unique meanings to expressions of this form of language, and we cannot always assume that a body language "signal" means the same thing to those in other places or times as it does to us. The gesture of clapping is a good example of this. We usually understand clapping the hands together positively – as applause. In biblical times we see that same meaning of the gesture as applause (2 Kings 11:12) and praise (Psalm 47:1), but clapping was also used to signify negative reactions such as anger (Numbers 24:10), revulsion (Ezekiel 22:13), and even contempt or derision (Job 27:23). So when we read of people clapping in a Bible verse
(compare for example, Ezekiel 6:11 and 25:6), we should realize that we need to look at the different possible meanings of this gesture to see which best fits the context.
Many biblical gestures have multiple meanings and need to be understood in context. The gesture of throwing dust in the air onto oneself or others was used by those who were grieving (Joshua 7:6; etc.), but also as a gesture indicating scorn or anger, as when the man Shimei did this against David along with cursing him (2 Samuel 16:13). The same gesture is seen in the New Testament when an angry mob responded to Paul's defense by crying out and tossing dust into the air (Acts 22:22-23).
In a similar way, removing one's shoes or sandals was sometimes a gesture of respect, just as Moses was commanded to do this at the burning bush (Exodus 3:5) and Joshua in the presence of the angel of the Lord (Joshua 5:15). But removing shoes could also be a sign of grief (2 Samuel 15:30), of disrespect (Deuteronomy 25:6-10), or even of sealing an agreement (Ruth 4:7-8).
In the New Testament, bodily gestures and expressions are frequently noted in the Gospels, and this is especially true – as we might perhaps expect – in the Gospel of Luke the physician. But body language appears in some form or other in most books of the Bible and looking out for it and learning to "read" it correctly can often help us to better understand what is happening in the narrative or to notice points that the biblical writers especially wanted to stress.