[sgmb id=”1″] To fully appreciate the Sermon on the Mount, it is of benefit to any Bible student to see it from the perspective of an Israelite of the first century. The modern reader comes to the New Testament sermons without considering Jesus’ purposes in impacting listeners with only a limited historical understanding of God and His plan. Without having the provenance behind the Sermon on the Mount, it is possible to misunderstand the message it contains, and to make wrong assumptions about certain aspects of the lessons.

Visiting the historical context of Jesus’ Sermon of the Mount, we know that John the Baptist, who preceded the great Messianic work of Jesus by several months, was said in Luke 3:1-2 to have begun his ministry in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberias Caesar. Lenski sets this beginning of John’s ministry in the year 26 AD, allowing for the joint years of Tiberias’ reign with Augustus.¹ Jesus began preaching not long after this, either in 26 AD or 27 AD.

But much of Israel’s understanding of the Messiah predated this time period. Beginning with the Exodus from Egypt in the year 1446 BC (cf. 1 Kings 6:1), the Israelites wandered for forty years in the wilderness and, then, began their conquest of Canaan in the year 1406 BC. They were then blessed with a period of judges for about 200 years from c. 1350 BC to c. 1150 BC,² after which three great kings ruled over United Israel. Saul’s reign (c. 1150 BC to 1110 BC) was followed by David’s (c. 1110 BC to 1070 BC), which was in turn followed by Solomon’s (c. 1070 to 1030 BC). After this period of United Israel, the kingdom of Israel divided into the Northern and Southern dominions under Jeroboam and Rehoboam, respectively. Following this division (c. 1030 BC), the Northern kingdom of Israel, under evil kings, lasted until they were carried away into Assyrian captivity (c. 722 BC). The Southern kingdom continued until c. 606 BC, at which time Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem and made Judah a vassal kingdom. The first deportation of the people of Judah was accomplished into Babylon (Daniel was among those taken). A second deportation into Babylon occurred c. 596 BC (in which Ezekiel was taken along with the other captives to the river Chebar in Babylon). The final destruction of the city and its Solomonic temple was accomplished c. 586 BC under the reign of Zedekiah (after which Jeremiah was kidnapped and carried to Egypt to live out his remaining days). In c. 536 BC, a small remnant of Jews returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple (erected c. 516 BC) and later the walls of the city. The last prophet of the Old Testament time period was Malachi (c. 430 BC). Following Malachi, there was a period of over 400 years of silence until John the Baptist began to herald the arrival of Messiah and his Messianic Kingdom (c. 26 AD).

This is an overview of the lengthy history of Israel’s existence up to the time of Jesus. Across this span of time, the Spirit of God set before the nation of Israel a mystery of a coming Messianic King and His Messianic kingdom. Moses spoke of a prophet to come to whom absolute obedience was necessary lest the disobedient ones be destroyed from among the people:

“The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken… I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him” (Deuteronomy 18:15, 18-19).

The people waited for this Prophet for over 1500 years, anticipating His arrival. They were not ignorant of His coming and had certain expectations of what He would mean to them.

Discussion of these expectations will be supplied in the following post, “The Sufferings of Christ.”

Read the 5-part series: The Context of the Sermon on the Mount.

Footnotes

1. R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation’s of St. Luke’s Gospel, First Edition (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Ausburg Publishing Co., 1961), 173.

2. Steve Ruud, “Timeline, Maps, Chronology, Sermons of Judges: Gideon 1191 – 1144 BC,” accessed August 24, 2014, http://www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-maps-conquest-timeline-chronology-judges-gideon-ishmaelites-midianites-1191-1144bc.htm.

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