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Know the World the Bible Was Written In

Episode Summary

Have you ever read the Old Testament and felt like you had stepped into a completely foreign world?

Fr. Tim continues his Old Testament series with Rule 3, which is all about cultural assumptions. He says, “We need to be able to read it in the context of the culture of the time,” because otherwise Scripture can leave us with “chaos, anxiety, fear.” To show what he means, he tells a story about a close friend from grade school whose grandmother was a chain smoker. She grew up in a time when smoking was just something people did. Looking back from today, Fr. Tim says we can see that it was not good, but he asks whether we would call her evil. He remembers her as “an awesome grandma.”

Then he walks through four cultural assumptions about the ancient world behind many Old Testament passages. Kingship was the norm, and later Jesus is called “the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords.” The world was patriarchal, meaning it was run by men. Slavery was part of that world, and Fr. Tim explains that it was tied to conquest and economics rather than race, adding, “God the Father is entering into the slave-based culture and redeeming it.” And the peoples around Israel were polytheistic, which he connects to the Israelites building the golden calf in the desert.

A faithful reading keeps several things together. Knowing the setting can help us understand a troubling passage, though it may not answer every question, and it does not make every ancient practice right. The Church teaches that men and women share the same dignity as persons made in God’s image, that enslaving human beings is a sin against that dignity, and that God formed Israel to serve Him as the one living and true God. Fr. Tim’s closing words sum up the hope of the episode: “God the Father is so good. He meets us where we’re at.” This is part 3 of a four-part series, so one more rule is still to come.

[00:00:00 –> 00:00:07] The world of the Bible was monarchical. It was patriarchal. It was slave-based. And it was [00:00:07 –> 00:00:10] (Music) [00:00:10 –> 00:00:38] I’m Father Tim and today we’re continuing on with our Old Testament series where sometimes we read the Old Testament and we don’t know what to make of it. Sometimes it’s scary, sometimes like, “Did God approve of this?” Sometimes we’re like, “Yeah, is God just an angry God?” Or, “Is Jesus the same thing as the God of the Old Testament?” All these questions come up and we’ve been going through the rules. [00:00:38 –> 00:00:45] today we’re going through rule number three. Rule number three is a really good one and it’s all about cultural assumptions. [00:00:45 –> 00:00:50] a culture 2,000 years ago and within the context of that culture [00:00:50 –> 00:00:59] we cannot impose our understanding of morality, of what is good, what is bad, onto a 2,000-year-old culture. [00:00:59 –> 00:01:09] We need to be able to read it in the context of the culture of the time. Otherwise, it’s going to lead to chaos, anxiety, fear, all of the things. [00:01:09 –> 00:01:17] of a stupid example, but I think it can help, is when I was in grade school, one of my closest friends, his grandma was a chain smoker. [00:01:17 –> 00:01:34] She smoked more than she smoked, like packs a day. And for her, she grew up in a culture where smoking was just something you did. It made you feel better. You didn’t eat as much, [00:01:34 –> 00:01:41] in a way, like you felt more energized and you felt more alive when smoking. It’s…everyone does it. It’s a healthy thing. [00:01:41 –> 00:01:50] And then right now in 2026, we can look back at that grandma and be like, “Yeah, that was not good and [00:01:50 –> 00:01:57] But would we consider her evil? And would we consider her bad? [00:01:57 –> 00:02:01] She was living in the context of her time, living a really good life. [00:02:01 –> 00:02:05] She was an awesome grandma to her grandson and to me as a friend. [00:02:05 –> 00:02:15] But we wouldn’t impose our understanding of health and understanding of everything onto her saying, “Yeah, you were bad and you were evil and you should have known better.” [00:02:15 –> 00:02:34] She was living in the context of her time and the same thing with the Old Testament in Scripture. There’s cultural assumptions that we have to make in order to see where God the Father was working through the culture of the time. So there are four cultural assumptions that we need to make for the Old Testament. [00:02:34 –> 00:02:43] the first cultural assumption, is that the world of the Bible was monarchical, meaning that everyone had kings. [00:02:43 –> 00:02:46] Every culture within the Old Testament had a king. [00:02:46 –> 00:02:47] It’s just how it was. [00:02:47 –> 00:02:54] No matter if you liked him, no matter if you loved him, no matter if you hated them, no matter if you wanted to dethrone them and kill them, [00:02:54 –> 00:03:01] everyone had a king. And that’s just how it was. And so we can see this in the Old Testament where [00:03:01 –> 00:03:15] a lot of kings mentioned and a lot of drama going on with kings. That’s just how it was. There was no other way. No one would have even considered democracy. No one would have considered communism or anything. It was…everyone had a [00:03:15 –> 00:03:24] Which then you can see later on with the New Testament and Jesus Christ always being called the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. [00:03:24 –> 00:03:29] this is incredibly helpful. Just understanding, yeah, the world of the Bible was monarchical. [00:03:29 –> 00:03:33] Second cultural assumption, the world of the Bible was patriarchal. [00:03:33 –> 00:03:36] patriarchal meaning the world was run by men. [00:03:36 –> 00:03:39] That’s just how it was. Doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a rule for women. [00:03:39 –> 00:03:49] women had their own awesome rules. And you see that throughout the Old Testament, throughout the New Testament, the incredible rules that women had. But men ruled and men were in charge. [00:03:49 –> 00:03:53] And so for us, living in a completely different culture now, [00:03:53 –> 00:04:01] and one where, yeah, there is awesome equality, and one where there is awesome understanding about the complementarity of men and women, [00:04:01 –> 00:04:13] Yeah, we cannot take that and impose our cultural assumptions onto their culture. That’s how it was, and God the Father worked through that patriarchal system. [00:04:13 –> 00:04:14] So that’s the cultural assumption. [00:04:14 –> 00:04:15] Not that it was evil. [00:04:15 –> 00:04:19] My friend’s grandma smoking cigarettes, she’s not evil. [00:04:19 –> 00:04:24] Living in the patriarchal society, growing up in the context of the time, not evil. [00:04:24 –> 00:04:29] Third cultural assumption. The world of the Bible was slave-based. [00:04:29 –> 00:04:37] a testy one, but understanding that, yeah, in the context of the time, in antiquity, the culture was slave-based. That’s how it was. [00:04:37 –> 00:04:47] Something very important to understand, though. It was a slave-based culture, not based in race. It was based in conquest and economics. [00:04:47 –> 00:04:48] Conquest-related because [00:04:48 –> 00:04:50] an army would conquer a city, [00:04:50 –> 00:04:54] the prize or the payment for the soldiers conquering the city [00:04:54 –> 00:04:56] of the city itself. [00:04:56 –> 00:05:03] the wealth, the cattle, all the things, even people. The people were a commodity. [00:05:03 –> 00:05:07] You wouldn’t kill people in a city because people were a valuable resource. [00:05:07 –> 00:05:15] a city that was conquered, you would become a slave of the nation that conquered you. So again, it wasn’t race-based, it was conquest-based. [00:05:15 –> 00:05:18] was very economic-based. [00:05:18 –> 00:05:31] luck, or you had a lot of debts to pay, you could pay off your debts by becoming an indentured servant, by becoming a slave, and paying off your debts that way. And after you were done, you were free. [00:05:31 –> 00:05:35] antiquity had to do with paying off debts. [00:05:35 –> 00:05:39] again, cultural assumption of the time, it was a slave-based culture. [00:05:39 –> 00:05:43] God the Father is entering into the slave-based culture and redeeming it. [00:05:43 –> 00:05:47] very important. I remember all throughout college, I was struggling with this understanding that, [00:05:47 –> 00:05:49] there was so much slavery in the Old Testament, [00:05:49 –> 00:05:52] bad. God must be evil. [00:05:52 –> 00:05:59] Again, cultural assumption at the time, God the Father is working in this culture, in this context. [00:05:59 –> 00:06:04] Cultural assumption number four, the world of the Bible was polytheistic. [00:06:04 –> 00:06:08] Everyone knew that there was just a lot of gods. [00:06:08 –> 00:06:13] There’s some gods for you, there’s some gods for me. There’s a whole pantheon of gods. [00:06:13 –> 00:06:24] It wasn’t until the book of Isaiah, during the time of Isaiah, where this understanding of monotheistic culture came up. So the world of antiquity was polytheistic. [00:06:24 –> 00:06:35] Really important to understand, because then we can look at the book of Exodus and see all of the Israelites. They are freed by the God of Israel. They go into the desert, and what is the first thing they do? [00:06:35 –> 00:06:41] They build a golden calf. They’re scared. What do they know? What do they understand? [00:06:41 –> 00:06:43] They understand the pantheon of gods. [00:06:43 –> 00:06:47] in Egypt for such a long time. That’s all they know. [00:06:47 –> 00:06:53] they’ve been slaves in Egypt for longer than America has been around. [00:06:53 –> 00:07:00] culture of their time. Let’s build the God of Hathor, the golden calf. [00:07:00 –> 00:07:04] nurturing and loving and motherly. We feel safe. [00:07:04 –> 00:07:11] really, really important all throughout antiquity. Culture assumption, polytheistic culture. [00:07:11 –> 00:07:15] that may have been a lot, but it’s really, really important. Rule number three, cultural assumptions. [00:07:15 –> 00:07:24] The world of the Bible was monarchical. It was patriarchal. It was slave-based. And it was polytheistic. [00:07:24 –> 00:07:31] me especially, it takes away all of this anxiety of judging the culture of the time. [00:07:31 –> 00:07:38] Very, very important. We cannot impose our culture on a 2,000-year-old culture. [00:07:38 –> 00:07:40] God the Father is so good. He meets us where we’re at. [00:07:40 –> 00:07:45] hopefully this was helpful. Love you, praying for you. This is Spirit Juice. Peace.

Watch: Know the World the Bible Was Written In

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Watch Fr. Tim’s full answer, part 3 of his four-part series on how to read the Old Testament.

Key Takeaways

  • Rule 3 for reading the Old Testament: understand the cultural assumptions behind many of its passages.
  • Fr. Tim says we need to read Scripture “in the context of the culture of the time,” or it can lead to “chaos, anxiety, fear.” Context helps us interpret a text, and it does not make every ancient practice morally right.
  • His story about a friend’s chain-smoking grandmother, whom he remembers as “an awesome grandma,” shows how to look back on a person with understanding.
  • Kingship was the norm in the ancient world, and Jesus is later called “the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords.”
  • The ancient world Fr. Tim describes was patriarchal, run by men. The Catechism teaches that man and woman share the same dignity as persons made in the image of God.
  • Fr. Tim distinguishes ancient slavery, which he ties to conquest and economics, from race-based slavery, and says, “God the Father is entering into the slave-based culture and redeeming it.” Forms of slavery varied, and the Church teaches that enslaving human beings is a sin against their dignity.
  • Fr. Tim describes the peoples around Israel as polytheistic and links this to the golden calf, which the biblical text presents as idolatry. He closes with, “God the Father is so good. He meets us where we’re at.”

What This Means for Prayer and Daily Life

Knowing the setting of a troubling passage can help us understand it, though it may not answer every question. The Church encourages us to read difficult texts in their historical and literary context and in light of Christ. Fr. Tim says that keeping the culture in mind takes away “all of this anxiety” for him, and it can turn a hard passage into a place for prayer.

Holding the setting in mind does not mean approving of everything in it. The Church teaches that every person has the same dignity, and that slavery is a sin against that dignity. We can say that God worked patiently within the circumstances of His people, while remembering that describing those circumstances does not mean every social practice was ideal.

It also helps to notice how patient God is. The Catechism describes how He communicates Himself to man gradually, and Fr. Tim’s closing words say it in everyday language: “He meets us where we’re at.” The same Father meets you where you are today, with the habits and assumptions you carry.

If a passage still puzzles you, you don’t have to work it out alone. A Catholic study Bible, the Catechism, or a conversation with your parish priest can show you the background the original readers already knew.

A simple prayer for this week:
“Father, You are so patient with Your people. Meet me where I am, help me read Your Word with a humble heart, and teach me to trust Your goodness when I do not understand. Amen.”

FAQ Section

Rule 3 is about cultural assumptions. Fr. Tim says Scripture needs to be read “in the context of the culture of the time.” He names four assumptions about the ancient world behind many Old Testament passages: kingship was the norm, men led society, slavery existed, and the surrounding peoples were polytheistic. Knowing this helps us interpret a text, though it does not make every ancient practice morally right.
God speaks through human authors who lived in a particular time and place. The Catechism says the reader must take into account “the conditions of their time and culture” and the literary forms in use then. Knowing the setting helps us hear what the sacred authors truly wanted to say, and the Church also asks us to read difficult texts in light of Christ.
No. Forms of slavery in the ancient world varied and were not the same as modern race-based slavery. Fr. Tim ties them to conquest and economics, and says that God was working within that world. Historical context does not make enslavement morally acceptable. The Church’s teaching is clear: enslaving human beings is “a sin against the dignity of persons and their fundamental rights.”
Fr. Tim describes the ancient world as run by men, and he also points to the important place of women in Scripture. The Church teaches that man and woman have the same dignity as persons made in the image of God, and that they are equal as human persons. Describing a society does not mean that every one of its arrangements was ideal.
Fr. Tim notes that the peoples around Israel believed in many gods, and that the Israelites had lived in Egypt for a very long time. When they were afraid in the desert, he suggests, they reached for familiar religious imagery. The biblical text presents the golden calf as idolatry. The Catechism teaches that God formed Israel so that they would recognize Him and serve Him as the one living and true God.
He means that God the Father works with people in the real circumstances of their lives, including the culture they grew up in. The Catechism describes God’s way of teaching as gradual, saying that He communicates Himself to man gradually. Fr. Tim ends the episode with “God the Father is so good. He meets us where we’re at.”

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