Day 4: JC Ryle & IVP New Teestament BackgroundToday, I took the first section of the sermon regarding the Tenants and started reading some extra material that may help me understand some of the growing questions that I have with that section.
Some of my questions are:
1. Do people in NT times build vineyards and then just lease them out to tenants, then ask for fruit from them? Is this a Middle Eastern practice?
2. What is the social relationships between tenants and landowners?
3. Is it possible that Jesus is saying that the 'vineyard' is Israel/ blessings of being his people? (I am guessing that is probably the case).
4. Can tenants be the rightful heir of a property if the rightful heir (the beloved son) is killed or dies?
Those are some of the questions at this point. JC Ryle wrote a commentary on Mark, as well as a more well known book...Holiness. I am not very familiar with JC Ryle outside of these two books, but after reading his commentary today. I felt like he gave a simple 3-4 point sermon on this section that was really helpful. Nothing too precise or outlandish...no Greek or Hebrew language references. Just a very concise exposition.
InterVarsity Press, New Testament Background is one of my favorite books as it gives me the insight I need into the cultural nuances that as a 21st Century American would have no idea what I am reading. It helped to show that Jesus was truly making a case that the tenants were REALLY idiots, regarding the inheritance issue. (which was one of my questions) This book is a must for the little blurbs in the passage that have to do with that 'time period'; not much exposition beyond that.
Total reading today about: 10 pages, a little note taking for section I. About 1 hour today thinking about it.
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