Historical and Geographical Context of Jude

This is the second lesson in a series of lessons on the book of Jude. In this lesson I explain the geographical and historical context of the book of Jude.

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Transcript:

Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. This is the second lesson in a series of lessons on the book of Jude. In this lesson I'm going to talk about the historical and geographical context. 

The context of Jude is important because, in his letter, Jude made many references to events that happened long before his lifetime. It's helpful to understand those references and understand what he was referring to in order to fully understand the letter of Jude. Before I get into the context, let me review why Jude was written and why it's in the Bible. 

Jude 3  Beloveds, making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you urging you to contend for the faith which has been delivered over once for all to the saints. 4 For certain people crept in secretly, those who were long ago designated into this judgment, ungodly people turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.

We see here that Jude wrote to urge people to contend for the faith because certain people had crept in secretly. The problem with these people was they were turning the grace of God into sensuality, and they were denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Jude wrote to address those two problems. 

As I said earlier, what I'm going to do in this lesson is look at the historical and geographical context so we understand the events that led up to the writing of the letter of Jude. In the third lesson I'm going to look at an overview of the letter of Jude. Then starting in the fourth lesson I'll do a verse-by-verse exposition of Jude. 

Let's look at the historical and geographical context. Think about a timeline of world history. 4000 BC is on the left. That’s roughly when creation happened. 2000 AD is on the right. That’s roughly when you and I are living. 

Think about the geographical context of the Bible. The events of the Bible happened in the Middle East in an area stretching from Iran in the east over to Egypt in the south and Greece and Rome in the West. 

When we start reading at the beginning of the Bible, we read about creation. That happened roughly 4000 BC. Then we read about Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve had a son named Cain. Cain had a brother named Abel. Cain killed Abel because Cain was upset that Yahweh accepted Abel’s sacrifice, but not his own sacrifice. 

Jude, in his letter, made reference to this. That is in Jude 11. 

Jude 11 Woe to them, because they went in the way of Cain,

The pronoun them refers to the people who had crept into the church secretly, the ones who were distorting grace and denying Jesus. Jude mentioned Cain to say that the people who had crept into the church were doing the same thing Cain had done. 

After Cain killed Abel, Adam and Eve had a son named Seth. Then men began to multiply. About seven generations later there was a man named Enoch. He lived roughly 3400 BC. Jude also made a reference to Enoch. 

Jude 14  But Enoch, seventh from Adam, also prophesied about these saying, “Behold, the Lord came with His holy thousands, 15 to make judgment against everyone and to reprove every soul concerning all their deeds of ungodliness by which they lived ungodly, and concerning all the harshness which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” 

In verse 14 we see Jude made a reference to these. The pronoun these also refers to the men who crept in secretly. Jude took this prophecy from Enoch and applied it to the men of his day who were distorting grace and denying Jesus. 

After Enoch, men continued to multiply. Eventually, we read about Noah. Noah lived roughly 2500 BC. During his days, mankind had become so wicked that God brought a flood on the earth and destroyed all of mankind except for Noah, his three sons, and their wives. It is at this point in history that we can start to plot things on a map. To the best of our knowledge, the Ark probably landed somewhere in modern day Turkey. 

After Noah, we read about the Tower of Babel. Men had begun to multiply again. They moved down into the Mesopotamian Valley, that broad valley formed by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Then we read about the Tower of Babel. 

God wanted mankind to spread out over the earth; however, they were staying together, so God confused their language. He forced them to spread out. We know that Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Mankind divided and spread out based on those family groups. 

The descendants of Shem headed east and became the Asians. The descendants of Ham went southwest and became the Africans. The descendants of Japheth went northwest and became the Europeans. Those are the three basic people groups we see in the world today. The reason the Middle East has always been volatile is because that's where these three people groups have always met each other. 

Next we read about a man named Abram. Abram lived roughly 2000 BC. Abram was born and raised in the lower end of the Mesopotamian Valley. God called him to go to the land of Canaan. Abram traveled up the Mesopotamian valley and stayed in Haran for a while, in modern day Syria. Eventually he moved to the land of Canaan which is where God wanted him to be. 

As Abraham traveled, his nephew Lot traveled with him. Very early in Abraham’s sojourn in Canaan, he and Lot separated. Abraham stayed up in the hill country. Lot went down into a well-watered valley and settled in Sodom. Sodom was very wicked, so God destroyed Sodom. Jude made a reference to Sodom.

Jude 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, having committed sexual sins in similar manner as these, and having departed after strange flesh, undergoing punishment, are exhibited as an example of eternal fire.

One of the things Jude dealt with in his letter was people who were taking the grace of God and distorting it, turning it into sensuality. These were people who thought the grace of God means we can get away with sin. Jude referred to Sodom and Gomorrah as examples of Yahweh punishing sinners. We'll learn more about that in future lessons. 

Abram had a son named Isaac. Isaac also lived in Canaan. Isaac had a son named Jacob who lived in Canaan. Jacob had a son named Joseph. 

Joseph was sold as a slave into Egypt. Eventually, the rest of his brothers joined him in Egypt. Then the Israelites lived in Egypt for 400 years. They were turned into slaves. 

Then we read about Moses. Moses lived roughly 1500 BC. Moses delivered the Israelites out of slavery and took them out into the wilderness to Mount Sinai. He gave them the Mosaic law. Then they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. During that time in the wilderness, we read about two things that Jude also made reference to.

Jude 5  Now I want to remind you, you who know all things once for all, that Jesus, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.

Here we see an example of the grace of Jesus. He brought the Israelites out of Egypt, out of slavery. However, he subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. So we see an example of Jesus's justice and righteousness and the consequences of sin. Jude used that as an illustration of what he was trying to communicate in his letter. 

We also read in Jude 11 about something else that happened in the wilderness. 

Jude 11 Woe to them, … they were destroyed in the rebellion of Korah. 

Them again refers to the people who had crept into the church secretly, who were distorting grace and denying Jesus. Jude referred to the rebellion of Korah, which had happened in the wilderness, as an example of what happens to those who are disobedient and are not accurate in their beliefs about God. 

The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Eventually Moses led them to the entrance of the promised land. They came to the east side of the Jordan River. While they were there, Balak hired Balaam to cursed the Israelites. Balaam could not curse the Israelites because God would not let him; however, Balaam did tell Balak how to entice the Israelites into sin. Jude mentioned that in verse 11.

Jude 11 Woe to them, … they were poured out to the error of the wage of Balaam,

Jude said the people in his day who had secretly crept into the church, who were distorting grace and denying Jesus, were making the same mistake Balaam had made. We’ll learn more about that in a future lesson. 

Moses died and Joshua took over leadership of the Israelites. Joshua led the Israelites across the Jordan River into the promised land. They lived there for several hundred years. 

Eventually, David became king. David lived roughly 1000 BC. He reigned in Jerusalem. Over the next several hundred years, David's descendants ruled as kings in Jerusalem. It was during that time that most of the prophets lived and wrote, the major and minor prophets we have in the Old Testament. 

Towards the end of the Old Testament time period, this would be around 586 BCE, the Israelites were exiled from the promised land over to Babylon because of their sin. One of the exiles was Daniel. Daniel lived in Babylon for a while, then we read that towards the end of his life, Daniel was taken to Media-Persia, which was in modern day Iran.

At the very end of the Old Testament, and this was around 500 BC, a remnant was allowed to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple and the walls of Jerusalem under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah. That brings us to the end of the Old Testament. 

All the events of the Old Testament happened in the Middle East in an area stretching from Egypt over to Iran. The major world powers during the Old Testament time period were in that area. The major world powers at that time were Egypt, and also Assyria and Babylon over in the Mesopotamian Valley. 

Between the Old Testament and New Testament there was a huge political shift westward. Between the Testaments Greece was the dominant world power for a while, then Rome became the dominant world power. When Jesus was born around 0 AD, Rome was the ruler of the whole Middle East. This geopolitical shift westward is reflected in the New Testament. All the events in the New Testament happened in the area stretching from Israel to Rome. 

Let's take a closer look at those events. In the New Testament were read about Jesus. He was born roughly 0 AD. Most of His life and ministry took place in Israel. 

The book of Acts tells us what the apostles of Jesus did after Jesus went back to heaven. Those events took place roughly between 35 AD and 65 AD. 

During that time period we read about the apostle Paul. Paul did a lot of traveling to spread the Gospel around the Roman world. Paul took the gospel message to Turkey. Then he took it over to Greece. Eventually, Paul traveled to Rome and preached the gospel in Rome. It was during this time period, when the apostles were spreading the Gospel around the Roman world, that the letter of Jude was written. 

Let's review again why Jude wrote his letter and why it is in the Bible. 

Jude 3  Beloveds, making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you urging you to contend for the faith which has been delivered over once for all to the saints. 4 For certain people crept in secretly, those who were long ago designated into this judgment, ungodly people turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.

During Jude’s lifetime, there was a problem with people who were distorting grace and denying Jesus. Jude wrote to address those two problems. 

That is the historical and geographical context of the book of Jude. What I'm going to do in the next lesson is present an overview of Jude. Then in the fourth lesson I'll start a verse-by-verse exposition of the letter of Jude. 

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Scripture quotations from Jude taken from a translation by Bible Mountain.

“All other Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)