{"id":96,"date":"2014-06-11T12:00:41","date_gmt":"2014-06-11T12:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?p=96"},"modified":"2014-05-22T23:23:15","modified_gmt":"2014-05-22T23:23:15","slug":"matthew-31-12-john-the-baptist-prepares-the-way-cultural-commentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/06\/matthew-31-12-john-the-baptist-prepares-the-way-cultural-commentary.html","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 3:1-12; John the Baptist Prepares the Way (Cultural Commentary)"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is significant that John the Baptist called the Pharisees and Sadducees a \u201cbrood of vipers,\u201d which basically meant he viewed them as poisonous children of snakes.<\/p>\n

In the ancient world this was an especially contemptuous insult because of a common belief regarding the circumstances of viper births. Many thought that some breeds of viper babies ate their way out of the stomach of their mother, killing the mother in the process. In that context, John\u2019s insult is a horrifying characterization of the religious elite.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was bad enough to be called a viper,\u201d one theologian comments on John\u2019s preaching, \u201cbut to be called a viper\u2019s child was even worse\u2014killing one\u2019s mother or father was the most hideous crime conceivable in antiquity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Cobras\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/a>:<\/p>\n

[BBC, 52]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2126\u2126\u2126<\/p>\n

About: For Bible Study Nerds\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n

About: Mike Nappa<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2014 to present by\u00a0Nappaland Communications Inc<\/a>. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is significant that John the Baptist called the Pharisees and Sadducees a \u201cbrood of vipers,\u201d which basically meant he viewed them as poisonous children of snakes. In the ancient world this was an especially contemptuous insult because of a common belief regarding the circumstances of viper births. Many thought that some breeds of viper…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":571,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2],"tags":[62,302,100,97,98,99],"class_list":["post-96","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culturalcommentary","category-matthew","tag-john-the-baptist","tag-matthew","tag-patricide","tag-pharisees","tag-sadducees","tag-vipers"],"yoast_head":"\nMatthew 3:1-12; John the Baptist Prepares the Way (Cultural Commentary) - For Bible Study Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/06\/matthew-31-12-john-the-baptist-prepares-the-way-cultural-commentary.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matthew 3:1-12; John the Baptist Prepares the Way (Cultural Commentary) - For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It is significant that John the Baptist called the Pharisees and Sadducees a \u201cbrood of vipers,\u201d which basically meant he viewed them as poisonous children of snakes. 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Many thought that some breeds of viper…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/06\/matthew-31-12-john-the-baptist-prepares-the-way-cultural-commentary.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-11T12:00:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-05-22T23:23:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/files\/2014\/05\/Cobras.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mike Nappa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Matthew 3:1-12; John the Baptist Prepares the Way (Cultural Commentary) - For Bible Study Nerds","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/06\/matthew-31-12-john-the-baptist-prepares-the-way-cultural-commentary.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Matthew 3:1-12; John the Baptist Prepares the Way (Cultural Commentary) - For Bible Study Nerds","og_description":"It is significant that John the Baptist called the Pharisees and Sadducees a \u201cbrood of vipers,\u201d which basically meant he viewed them as poisonous children of snakes. 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