Customs and Culture of the Bible
The Bible was written in cultures very different from our own. Explore customs, institutions, daily practices and figures of speech that help explain what biblical writers and their first readers would have understood.
188 customs found
Public Reading of Letters
Letters to early Christian communities were normally experienced communally through public reading rather than only through private individual study.
Primary Scripture: Colossians 4:16
Purification After Childbirth
The Torah prescribed a period of ritual impurity after childbirth followed by purification and an offering. The rule concerned ritual status, not moral blame for giving birth.
Primary Scripture: Leviticus 12
Purification After Contact with the Dead
Contact with a corpse produced ritual impurity and required a prescribed purification process involving water mixed with the ashes of the red heifer.
Primary Scripture: Numbers 19:11-22
Purification of Lepers and Skin Disease
Biblical laws concerning tsaraath regulated examination, exclusion, cleansing, and restoration for certain visible conditions affecting people, garments, and houses.
Primary Scripture: Leviticus 14:1-32
Purim and Public Celebration
Purim commemorates the deliverance of the Jews described in Esther and is marked by feasting, gladness, gifts of food, and generosity to the poor.
Primary Scripture: Esther 9:20-32
Purple Dye and Luxury Cloth
Purple-dyed textiles were costly prestige goods associated with wealth, royalty, and high social status.
Primary Scripture: Acts 16:14
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