NT BACKGROUND
Now that we know more about the text and the history of the NT, in order to understand better the content of the NT, we need to understand the history behind the NT, i.e., the history it presupposes. Much of what you read in the NT presupposes certain events and experiences that, if we don’t know, can hinder our understanding of the NT. So we want to start to look at the social-historical background of the NT. Let’s begin with a little historical timeline of events that relate in some way (as we shall later see) to what you read about in your NT.
Historical Timeline of Related Events
587/586 BC: Destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the Jews to Babylonia (the Babylonian Period)
- A deeply traumatic event: loss of life, the Temple, the Land, the monarchy
559–332: Persians conquer Babylonians and rule Palestine (the Persian Period)
- Persian influence in Palestine (i.e., Israel): dualism (language of polar opposites [see below]), high-end eschatology (i.e., end of world language/symbolism), Aramaic language
539/38: King Cyrus decrees that the Jews may return to Palestine and rebuild their country and their Temple
- The Second Jewish Temple completed in 515 BC
332 BC: Alexander conquers the Persians and rules Palestine (the Greek/Hellenistic Period)
- Hellenistic influence increases: Greek language predominates, LXX (i.e., the Septuagint)—the Greek translation of the Jewish bible (i.e., our OT)—is completed around 270 BC, various aspects of Greek culture adopted by many Jews
168–164: Maccabean Revolt: Jews capture Jerusalem and re-establish their Temple in 164
- Jews celebrate this event at Hanukkah
63 BC: Pompey conquers Palestine (the Roman Period begins)
- Jews’ land is taken away, they must pay taxes to Rome; Rome appoints Israel’s rulers
37–4 BC: Rome establishes Herod as ruler of Palestine
- He greatly enlarged the Temple, restoring its former lustre and majesty
4 BC: Jesus is born
66 AD: First Jewish Revolt against Rome begins
- Causes were mostly political and economic
70 AD: Destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans
- Consequences: 1/3 of population decimated, Judaism had to make a radical adjustment to life without the Temple and without the high priesthood; the Sadducees disappeared
Now let’s very briefly look at a few of the ways that these events make their presence felt/known in the NT. Matthew, for one, remembers the Exile (e.g., Matt 1:11-12, 17) and draws a comparison between the slaughter of innocence in Jesus’ day with that during the Exile (Matt 2:16-18). For other NT writers, Babylonia becomes the prototype for evil and evil government (e.g., 1 Pet 5:13; Rev 17-18).
Two traits of Persian influence are dualism (polar opposites) and high-end eschatology. The writings of John (especially his Gospel) have many instances of dualistic language: he often speaks of light/dark, life/death, good/evil, etc. In terms of high-end eschatology: just look at the book of Revelation or Jesus’ Olivet Discourse (Matt 24-25 and parallels).
Greek/Hellenistic influence in the NT is obvious. On the one hand, the NT was originally written in Greek; on the other hand, most of the OT citations are from the LXX—the Greek translation of the Hebrew bible.
The Roman Empire is explicitly referred to or implicitly alluded to on numerous occasions (e.g., Matt 22:15-22, the Roman authorities in the Book of Acts, 1 Pet 2:13-17, and in the book of Revelation). The Destruction of the Second Temple by Rome is referred to in Jesus’ Olivet Discourse (Matt 24:1-2, and parallels).
Next time we’ll get into some of the political, social, and religious aspects of the world described in the NT.