In the Christian Church, there were two kinds of Jews. There were the Jerusalem and the Palestinian Jews, who spoke Aramaic, the descendant of the ancestral language, and prided themselves that there was no foreign element in their lives. There were also Jews from foreign countries who had come up for Pentecost and made the great discovery of Christ. Many of these had been away from Palestine for generations; they had forgotten their Hebrew and spoke only Greek. The natural consequence was that the spiritually snobbish Aramaic-speaking Jews looked down on the foreign Jews. This contempt affected the daily distribution of alms, and there was a complaint that the widows of the Greek-speaking Jews were being—possibly deliberately—neglected. The apostles felt they ought not to get themselves mixed up in a matter like this; so the Seven were chosen to find a solution to the situation and to put things right. It is extremely interesting to note that the first office-bearers to be appointed were chosen not to talk but for practical service. --W. Barclay, Acts of the Apostles. New Daily Study Bible
Posted on: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 05:17:42 +0000
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