Acts 6:1 - Exposition

Now in these for and in those, A.V. (it is not ἐκείναις , answering to מהֵהָ מימַיָבַּ , but ταύταις ); multiplying for multiplied, A.V. ; Grecian Jews for Grecians, A.V. The Grecian Jews ; the Hellenists, for this is the appellation of them in the Greek; it means properly those who spoke Greek or otherwise followed Greek usages, applied to foreigners, here of course to Jews. Of a similar form and meaning is the word "to Judaize," translated "to live as do the Jews" (A.V., Galatians 2:14 ), and the forms "to Demosthenize," "to Platonize," "to Atticize," etc. The Hellenists were those Jews of the dispersion who lived in countries where Greek was spoken, and who themselves spoke Greek. It was for the sake of such that the Alexandrine Version of the Scriptures, commonly called the LXX ., was made. Hebrews ; Palestinian and other Jews, who spoke Aramean ( 2 Corinthians 11:21 ; Philippians 3:5 ; Acts 21:40 ), as opposed to the Hellenists. Their widows . We learn incidentally by this phrase that one of the earliest Christian institutions was an order of widows, who were maintained at the common cost. We find them in the Church of Joppa ( Acts 9:41 ), and in the Church of Ephesus ( 1 Timothy 5:3 , 1 Timothy 5:9 , 1 Timothy 5:10 , 1 Timothy 5:11 , 1 Timothy 5:16 ). They gave themselves to prayer and to works of mercy. Daily ; καθημερινός only occurs here in the New Testament, and rarely in Greek writers; ἐφημερινός , of a daily fever, is used by Hippocrates, and may possibly have suggested the use of this rare word to Luke the physician.