Resource Suggestion: I want to know what the daily lives of Biblical characters looked like.

I know Faithlife has produced several great resources that help make the Bible easier to understand. I have a suggestion for one such resource.

I would like a resource that details the daily lives of various types of people. For instance, walk me through a day for a typical Israelite, when did they eat, what did they eat, when did they go to synagogue, what customs and habits were a regular part of their every day life. Just a practical hour by hour breakdown of what people did. This would be incredibly helpful in reading the Bible to understand what the daily lives of different people were like. You could do Roman citizens or even break it down by cities and regions. What was a typical Corinthian's day like. You could also do a breakdown of the few days of a person traveling to Jerusalem for a festival and the steps they would have gone through to make the appropriate offerings.

Not only would it increase my ability to read and understand the Bible, but to be able to compare their day to my day would be a great tool to unpack for an audience as a preacher.

Thanks!

Anthony Bliss

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

Ronald Quick

Try this search.

https://www.logos.com/search?query=Manners%20and%20Customs%20of%20the%20Bible&sortBy=Relevance&limit=30&page=1&ownership=all&geographicAvailability=availableToMe

I've found the book on Manners and Customs helpful.

DMB

I would like a resource that details the daily lives of various types of people.

I went thru Ronald's search list (handy). But I was unimpressed; some follow the Bible text, which is good for Bible class preparation. Most are period/subject driven, and 'introductory'. Some hard data thrown in.

Not being negative, but I wonder if folks 'really want to know'. Your children that predictably died early. Rain that failed. Laws unenforced, along with bribery. Large amounts of slavery. And not even specific to Bible locations ... just ancient times. The other problem is that archaeology tends to capture the military and the rich, whether records, housing, or graves. The normal people pass through invisibly.

Personally, unless it was hard data, the Bible class material is fine.

GregW

I've found this helpful over the years, and also useful to read more generally. It isn't a commentary, but does reference the text explicitly, so will appear in the "Cited By " tool. It is one of the books in Ronald's search above, but the only one I've used extensively.

Illustrated Manners and Customs of the Bible | Logos Bible Software

Scot Wright

These resources might be of interest to you.

https://www.logos.com/product/223407/week-in-the-life-series-collection

Justin Gatlin

I have taught an undergrad manners and customs class and the best resource I have seen is this one:Dictionary of Daily Life in Biblical and Post-Biblical Antiquity,Most of the manners and customs books are either in a commentary format or very dated.