betrothal, sometimes drawing up a contract (see Tobit 7:13). A betrothed woman might continue to live with her family for a period of time (Matt 1:18). There was no wedding ceremony as such, but a party to celebrate the wife moving into the home of her husband (Matt 22:2–10; 25:1–13; Mark 2:19; John 2:1–10).
What role did patrons play?
There was a great disparity in the ancient Mediterranean world between the few who were wealthy and powerful and the many who were poor and powerless. A patron was a person of wealth and influence to whom a person of lesser status turned for help. Patrons provided financial assistance or used their influence to benefit their clients. Doing favors brought honor and prestige for patrons and the loyalty and praise of their clients. Wealthy people often functioned as patrons of their city by paying for public buildings or projects; today we call someone who endows a concert hall a “patron of the arts.” An ancient inscription found in Corinth speaks of an Erastus who paid out of his own funds for the paving of a street; this is likely the same Erastus who was a Christian and city treasurer (Rom 16:23). The centurion who “built the synagogue” (Luke 7:2) for the people of Capernaum acted as a patron. Women as well as men could be patrons. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna “provided for” Jesus and his disciples “out of their resources” (Luke 8:2–3); Joanna at least would have had significant resources at her disposal. Paul converted a woman named Lydia in Philippi (Acts 16:14–15). As a dealer in expensive purple cloth she was wealthy and in charge of a household. Lydia acted as Paul’s patron, having him stay in her home and supporting him, and making her house available as a place where the Church could meet (Acts 16:40).
Who were the poor and the rich?
In first-century Galilee, few were well enough off to be what we would consider middle class and very few were wealthy. Most supported themselves by farming, usually on small plots of land. They were able to raise enough to pay taxes and feed their families, but barely. Bad harvests could mean going into debt, losing one’s land, and becoming a day laborer. Herod Antipas controlled the prime farmland, entrusting some of it to his key supporters. The minority who did not farm commonly worked as craftsmen (carpenters, potters, tanners), merchants, fishermen, servants, shepherds, or tax collectors. Some Jews were slaves, although slavery was not as common as in other parts of the Roman Empire. Most Galileans could be thought of as the working poor. At the bottom of the working poor were day laborers, dependent on being hired each day. Worst off were those unable to work: the blind, crippled, leprous. Unless they had relatives to support them, the nonworking poor survived by begging. Jesus’ followers mirrored the composition of Galilean society: most were working poor, very few were wealthy. Jesus’ ministry was marked by concern for the nonworking poor: “the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them” (Luke 7:22). Being wealthy posed the danger of using one’s wealth only for oneself (Luke 12:16–21; 16:19–31). Wealth was properly used to help those who could not provide for themselves (Luke 12:33; 14:12–14; 18:22; 19:8).
How did servants and slaves differ?
Both servants and slaves did the bidding of others, and may even have done identical work, but with a major difference: servants were hired, slaves were owned. A servant was free to decide whom to work for and could quit; a slave had no choice but to work for his or her owner. At the time of Jesus, one became a slave by being born to a woman slave, by being taken as a prisoner of war, by incurring a debt one could not pay off, by voluntarily becoming a slave to avoid starvation, or by being kidnapped. Slaves made up around a fifth of the population in the Roman Empire. Many owners treated their slaves badly; some owners were cruel and sexually abusive. Yet there are important differences as well as similarities between slavery in the first-century Roman Empire and slavery in the Americas in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, and further differences as well as similarities between slavery in Palestine and slavery in other parts of the Roman Empire. In the world of Jesus, slavery was not based on race: the slaves referred to in Jesus’ parables are usually Jews owned by other Jews. Slaves could own property (including other slaves!) and hold important positions; a few slaves were better educated than their owners. Some slaves served as managers, doctors, and bankers, although most slaves in Palestine were farm workers or domestic servants. A few freely chose slavery because it offered them guaranteed employment, preferring it over working as day laborers. Most slaves, however, wanted to be free. Slaves could be freed after a certain period of service; a slave of a Roman citizen was generally given citizenship upon being freed. There are different Greek words for servant and slave, but in the Gospels the New American Bible usually translates the Greek word for slave as “servant” (e.g., Luke 2:29; 12:37; 14:17; 15:22; 19:13; 20:10; 22:50), apparently to avoid confusing the ancient practice of slavery with slavery in the American experience.
What was a talent worth?
A talent was originally a measure of weight. In its origin it may have been the weight a load-bearer could be expected to carry, somewhere between fifty and seventy-five pounds. In the book of Revelation, the “large hailstones like huge weights” that fell onto people are literally hailstones “weighing a talent” (Rev 16:21). A talent came to designate a weight of precious metal, of gold (Exod 38:24) or silver (Exod 38:25). At the time of Jesus, a talent was the largest monetary unit, equivalent to six thousand denarii, where a denarius was the usual daily wage for an ordinary worker. In the New American Bible translation of Jesus’ parable of the two debtors (Matt 18:23–35), the “huge amount” that the first debtor owes is literally “tens of thousands of talents.” Since ten thousand was the largest number used in counting and a talent the largest monetary unit, the first debtor owed the largest amount that could be conceived.
Why were tax collectors so despised?
Those who collected taxes were almost universally scorned by Jews in Palestine at the time of Jesus and were spoken of in the same breath with sinners (Matt 11:19). They were despised for several reasons. First, the tax system lent itself to abuse. One arrangement was to auction off the right to collect taxes to the highest bidder and then allow the tax collector to keep anything he could collect over that amount. That was a license for greed and extortion, and many tax collectors took advantage of it. Second, there were many forms of taxation, and together they extracted a sizeable portion of the income of ordinary people — up to 40 percent, by some estimates. Third, Jewish tax collectors were agents, directly or indirectly, of Rome. After about a century of Jewish self-rule, Rome had taken away Jewish independence in 63 B.C. and had imposed tribute or taxes. As a result of these factors, tax collectors were considered unscrupulous extortionists and were despised for working on behalf of a foreign power and draining people’s livelihoods.
2
The Lay of the Land
Regions and Places
What was the Decapolis?
The Greek word decapolis means “ten cities,” and it originally referred to a confederation of ten cities chiefly situated east of the Jordan River. At the time of Jesus the Decapolis was an administrative district attached to the Roman province of Syria. The cities of the Decapolis had a predominantly or entirely Gentile population, were Greek in their culture and religion, and were wealthy compared with the Jewish villages of Galilee. Archaeologists have uncovered colonnaded, paved streets, as well as theaters, temples, sports facilities, and other evidence of Greek lifestyle in cities of the Decapolis.
What kind of desert is there in Palestine?
The “desert of Judea” (Matt 3:1) is a rocky wilderness, not a desert of fine blowing sand. It is a barren region because it receives little rain. The Judean desert stretches from the Mount of Olives and the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem down to the Jordan River and Dead Sea, far below sea level. Although
