kindle-sync: bookId: '29239' title: 'Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels' author: Kenneth E. Bailey asin: B001I461LY lastAnnotatedDate: '2015-05-29' bookImageUrl: 'https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81KwI8goaWL._SY160.jpg' highlightsCount: 19

Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes

Metadata

• Author: Kenneth E. Bailey
• ASIN: B001I461LY
• ISBN: 0830825681
• Reference: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001I461LY
• Kindle link

Highlights

cleaning. The more familiar we are with a biblical story, the more difficult it is to view it outside of the way it has always been understood. And the longer imprecision in the tradition remains unchallenged, the deeper it becomes embedded in Christian consciousness. The birth — location: 214 ^ref-27219

This late-night-arrival-imminent-birth myth is so deeply engrained in the popular Christian mind that it is important to inquire into its origin. Where did this idea come from? — location: 231 ^ref-7526

An important part of this novel's story line is that Jesus was born even before his parents arrived in Bethlehem. — location: 244 ^ref-21206

But simple village homes in Palestine often had but two rooms. — location: 259 ^ref-16916

The farmer wants the animals in the house each night because they provide heat in winter and are safe from theft. — location: 266 ^ref-59461

In 1 Samuel 28, Saul was a guest in the house of the medium of Endor when the king refused to eat. The medium then took a fatted calf that was "in the house" (v. 24), killed it, and prepared a meal for the king and his servants. She did not fetch a calf from the field or the barn, but from within the house. — location: 272 ^ref-41583

The reader is obliged to assume that it never crossed his mind that a member of his family would step out first. Only with this assumption does the story make any sense. Had his home housed only human beings, he would never have made such a vow. If only people lived in the house, who was he planning to murder and why? The story is a tragedy because he expected an animal. — location: 278 ^ref-5407

sabbath. Jesus responded, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead it away to waterit?" (v. 15). His point — location: 284 ^ref-40381

Bethlehem. But the Greek word does not refer to "a room in an inn" but rather to "space" (topos) as in "There is no space on my desk for my new computer." It is important — location: 303 ^ref-35928

Here, the key word, katalyma, is defined; it is "an upper room," which is clearly a guest room in a private home. This precise meaning makes perfect sense when applied to the birth story. In Luke 2:7 Luke tells his readers that Jesus was placed in a manger (in the family room) because in that home the guest room was already full. — location: 314 ^ref-10480

The child was born, wrapped and (literally) "put to bed" (anaklino) in the living room in the manger that was either built into the floor or made of wood and moved into the family living space. Why weren't they invited into the family guest room, the reader might naturally ask? The answer is that the guest room was already occupied by other guests. The host family graciously accepted Mary and Joseph into the family room of their house. — location: 335 ^ref-31907

that they walked out, without moving the young family, means that the shepherds felt they could not offer better hospitality than what had already been extended to them. — location: 356 ^ref-47821

With this understanding in mind, all the cultural problems I have noted are solved. Joseph was not obliged to seek a commercial inn. He does not appear as an inept and inadequate husband who cannot arrange for Mary's needs. Likewise, Joseph did not anger his wife's relatives by failing to turn to them in a crisis. The child was born in the normal surroundings of a peasant home sometime after they arrived in Bethlehem, and there was no heartless innkeeper with whom to deal. A member of the house of David was not humiliated by rejection as he returned to the village of his family's origins. The people of Bethlehem offered the best they had and preserved their honor as a community. The shepherds were not hardhearted oafs without the presence of mind to help a needy family of strangers. — location: 361 ^ref-41820

By the Leviticus laws both Judah and Tamar were engaged in incest and should have been stoned (Lev 20:12). The story presents a bold Gentile (?) woman determined to acquire her rights, even if she is obliged to use an irregular method. Amazingly she is listed as an ancestor of Jesus. — location: 394 ^ref-36992

The simple reading of the text is surely the best. Ruth figured out that if she uncovered the feet of the sleeping Boaz, he would wake up naturally when his feet got cold, and she could have an interview with him in total privacy-a brilliant plan. — location: 410 ^ref-2772

Regardless of whether the building discovered was the actual residence, the space between the palace and Bathsheba's house could hardly have been more than twenty feet.Bathsheba knew what she was doing and she was no fool. — location: 422 ^ref-46729

The only way he could include Gentiles at the beginning of his Gospel, looking forward to "The Great Commission" at its end (Mt 28:18-20), was to include these women. — location: 439 ^ref-15936

Justice for him was more than "the equal application of law." — location: 454 ^ref-6898

but here justice means compassion for the weak and exhausted. — location: 464 ^ref-50888