Jesus was no rogue rejecting the Jewish opinion regarding the sanctity of the Sabbath. Instead, he tried to balance the importance of God’s instruction with the extenuating demands of the human setting.
The Teaching of Balaam

Revelation 2:12-16 is one of those occasions when it is necessary for the Christian reader to be familiar with first-century Jewish interpretation of an Old Testament account.
Let Him Who Is Without Sin…

When the story of the woman caught in adultery (John 7:53-8:11) is read within the setting of the Second Temple period, it resonates with authentic attitudes and issues.
Something Greater Than the Temple

In Jesus’ statement about the Temple he did not speak of himself, he spoke of the needs and value of his disciples.
The Man Who Would Be King

Scholarship has recognized the similarities between the Parable of the Talents and the historical account of Archelaus’ attempts to inherit the kingdom of his father, Herod the Great. When Herod died, Caesar Augustus divided the kingdom between Herod’s three sons, Archelaus, Antipas and Philip.
“Give unto Caesar”: Jesus, the Zealots and the Imago Dei

The retorts of Hillel and Jesus exemplify innovative developments in Jewish thought during the Second Temple period, developments that were established on the biblical notion that man was created in the image of God—Imago Dei (Gen. 1:27).
666: One Number or Three?

Any objective reading of Revelation can hardly fail to see the importance of this number within the author’s web of historical signifiers.
Beyond an Inheritance

Could it be that the original integrity of Jesus’ message about the Kingdom of Heaven was later compromised by the presence of other expectations of a messianic-eschatological character that circulated promiscuously in early Christian communities?
The Season of Redemption

In the face of a national disaster, hope remained. Summer and its ripe figs—signs of future redemption—would come.