Customs and Culture of the Bible
The Bible was written in cultures very different from our own. Explore customs, institutions, daily practices and figures of speech that help explain what biblical writers and their first readers would have understood.
188 customs found
Public Reading of Letters
Letters to early Christian communities were normally experienced communally through public reading rather than only through private individual study.
Primary Scripture: Colossians 4:16
Purification After Childbirth
The Torah prescribed a period of ritual impurity after childbirth followed by purification and an offering. The rule concerned ritual status, not moral blame for giving birth.
Primary Scripture: Leviticus 12
Purification After Contact with the Dead
Contact with a corpse produced ritual impurity and required a prescribed purification process involving water mixed with the ashes of the red heifer.
Primary Scripture: Numbers 19:11-22
Purification of Lepers and Skin Disease
Biblical laws concerning tsaraath regulated examination, exclusion, cleansing, and restoration for certain visible conditions affecting people, garments, and houses.
Primary Scripture: Leviticus 14:1-32
Purim and Public Celebration
Purim commemorates the deliverance of the Jews described in Esther and is marked by feasting, gladness, gifts of food, and generosity to the poor.
Primary Scripture: Esther 9:20-32
Purple Dye and Luxury Cloth
Purple-dyed textiles were costly prestige goods associated with wealth, royalty, and high social status.
Primary Scripture: Acts 16:14
Rabbi, Teacher and Disciple
Teachers gathered students or disciples who learned not only information but ways of interpreting Scripture and living faithfully.
Primary Scripture: Mark 3:13-15
Reclining at Meals
Formal meals in the New Testament world were often eaten while reclining around a low table rather than sitting upright in chairs. This helps explain several details in the Gospel meal scenes.
Primary Scripture: John 13:21-30
Removing a Sandal in Legal Transactions
Ruth describes removal and transfer of a sandal as a customary way of confirming a transaction involving redemption and exchange.
Primary Scripture: Ruth 4:7-8
Right Hand as a Place of Honor
The right hand could symbolize strength, favor, and the place of highest honor beside a ruler.
Primary Scripture: Psalm 110:1
Ritual Handwashing Before Meals
Some Jewish groups practiced ritual handwashing before eating as part of traditions concerning purity. The dispute in Mark 7 concerns ritual tradition, not ordinary hygiene.
Primary Scripture: Mark 7:1-23
Ritual Purity and Uncleanness
Biblical ritual impurity was a temporary religious status associated with such things as bodily discharges, childbirth, skin disease, certain foods, and contact with the dead. It was not automatically the same thing as sin.
Primary Scripture: Leviticus 15
Roads, Inns and Lodging
Travelers could rely on relatives, private hospitality, simple stopping places, or commercial lodging depending on route, period, and circumstances.
Primary Scripture: Luke 10:30-35
Roman Citizenship
Roman citizenship carried valued legal privileges and status, including protections in judicial procedure that could matter greatly when a citizen faced punishment or trial.
Primary Scripture: Acts 22:25-29
Roman Compulsory Service and the Second Mile
Imperial authorities could requisition people, animals, or transport for official service. This background illuminates Jesus' command to go a second mile and the forcing of Simon of Cyrene to carry Jesus' cross.
Primary Scripture: Matthew 5:41
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