Episode 11: The Seven Woes Part 1: Polemic in the Ancient World

You won't want to miss this episode! This is the beginning of a teaching series on one of the most uncomfortable sections of the Gospels--the seven woes of Matthew 23. Uncomfortable because we either like to box in Yeshua/Jesus as entirely meek and gentle or, conversely, because some people use this one section of Scripture--which served a unique cultural function that is no longer appreciated--as an excuse to behave boorishly toward anyone who disagrees. But polemic was well understood in the Hellenistic world and was widely used in verbal battles not only between Jews and Gentiles, but between Jews and Jews! We're going to look at examples from Gentile philosophers, as well as Jewish writers like Josephus, Philo, and the authors of the Qumran scrolls (commonly known as the Dead Sea Scrolls). How did Yeshua's polemic measure up to the standards of the day? Let's take a look.