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The Ancient World Behind the Text: Ideas

The customs, offices and ideas a first reader knew without being told, what each meant then, and the nearest thing you already know.

Jews of the dispersion

Most Jews of the first century lived outside the land, in cities from Parthia to Rome. They kept the law and their own synagogues, spoke Greek or Aramaic, and came up to Jerusalem for the feasts when they could.

Jewish life and lawTemple, synagogue and festivals

First, in plain English

Her grandparents left the old country, she grew up speaking another language, and she still flies back for the big family weddings. After the exiles of the Old Testament, many Jews never went back. By the first century large Jewish communities lived in Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, Rome and the Parthian east. They kept the law, gathered in their own synagogues and mostly spoke Greek. Some came to Jerusalem for the feasts, and some moved there to spend their last years in the land. In Jerusalem they could be called Hellenists, Greek-speakers, to tell them apart from Jews raised in Judea and Galilee.

What it meant then

Jews came to Jerusalem for the main feasts from all over the Roman and Parthian worlds. Those from Parthia would know Aramaic, those from the empire Greek, and many knew local languages as well. Most Israelites who never came back from exile lived in Parthia and the east. There were large communities in Alexandria, Cyrene, Syria, Asia Minor and Rome. The ESV Study Bible calls the list in Acts 2:9-11 one of the fullest ancient catalogs of the Diaspora, confirmed by Philo. The Hellenists of Acts 6:1 were probably Diaspora Jews or their descendants whose mother tongue was Greek. The Hebrews were traditional Judeans and Galileans, many of whom knew both Greek and Aramaic. Both groups were fully Jewish. Many foreign Jews moved to the land in old age, which left an unusually large number of widows; Wright reports the suggestion. Jerusalem had synagogues for such groups. Archaeologists found the dedication of a synagogue of the freedmen, descendants of former Roman slaves, and later sources name synagogues of the Alexandrians and the Cilicians. Wright and Bird call Diaspora synagogues a stepping-stone for the gospel, since many of the first Gentile believers had been involved in one. In Greek cities most Jews were resident aliens, a minority held local citizenship, and their communities ran their own internal affairs. Claudius expelled the Jews of Rome, probably in AD 49. Rome's own community, perhaps fifty thousand strong, was mostly poor and Greek-speaking, with many synagogues and no central organization. Tiberius had expelled it once before, Josephus says, after four Jewish swindlers cheated a noble convert.

The bridge to today

An analogy: an emigrant community in a great foreign city, with its own congregations, newspapers and accent. They are loyal to the old country and visit when they can, and when they do, the people back home notice how they talk.

What it changes in the reading

A Pentecost crowd from every nation, as in Acts 2:5-11, is a crowd of Jews from the dispersion, and the quarrel over widows soon afterward runs along the line between Greek-speaking and local believers. James 1:1 and 1 Peter 1:1 address their readers as the scattered people of God.

Where the analogy breaks

Not recent emigrants. An emigrant community remembers a move a generation or two back. Most Jews of the period lived outside the land, many descended from exiles who never returned, and what drew them to Jerusalem was the law and its feasts.

Where scholars disagree

How deep the line between Hellenists and Hebrews ran. Keener takes the Hellenists as Diaspora Jews settled in Jerusalem, not simply Greek-speaking locals; the CSB Study Bible says the distinction is probably one of language; Wright thinks it was probably a mix of elements. The ESV Study Bible rejects the view that Acts 6:1 hides a serious theological rift, while allowing that the Hellenists may have been less attached to the temple.

Passages where it appears

{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-2-1-13\/","n":"Acts 2:1-13, Pentecost and the nations","s":"On the day of Pentecost wind and fire come on the gathered believers, and Jewish pilgrims from every nation hear them speaking in their own languages.","r":"Acts 2:1-13"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-6-1-7\/","n":"Acts 6:1-7, The Hellenists' widows and the Seven","s":"Greek-speaking believers complain that their widows are overlooked in the daily distribution of food. The Twelve have the community choose seven men, and lay hands on them.","r":"Acts 6:1-7"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-11-19-30\/","n":"Acts 11:19-30, Antioch, and the name Christian","s":"Scattered believers bring the message to Gentiles in Antioch, where the disciples are first called Christians. When a prophet foretells famine, the church sends relief to the elders in Judea.","r":"Acts 11:19-30"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-18-1-11\/","n":"Acts 18:1-11, Tentmakers in Corinth","s":"In Corinth Paul lodges and works with Aquila and Priscilla, Jews lately expelled from Rome who share his trade. When the synagogue turns against him he moves next door to the house of Titius Justus, and the synagogue leader Crispus believes with his household.","r":"Acts 18:1-11"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-18-12-17\/","n":"Acts 18:12-17, Gallio's judgment seat","s":"Jewish leaders bring Paul before Gallio, proconsul of Achaia, accusing him of teaching a worship contrary to the law. Gallio refuses to judge a dispute about words, names and their own law and drives them from the judgment seat.","r":"Acts 18:12-17"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-18-18-28\/","n":"Acts 18:18-28, A vow at Cenchreae and Apollos of Alexandria","s":"Paul has his hair cut at Cenchreae because of a vow and sails for Syria by way of Ephesus. In Ephesus Priscilla and Aquila teach the eloquent Alexandrian Apollos more accurately, and the believers write ahead to Achaia to welcome him.","r":"Acts 18:18-28"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-19-23-41\/","n":"Acts 19:23-41, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians","s":"Demetrius the silversmith rouses the craftsmen who make shrines of Artemis, warning that Paul's teaching threatens their trade and the goddess's honor. The city rushes into the theater chanting for two hours, until the city clerk calms them with a warning about Rome.","r":"Acts 19:23-41"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-28-17-31\/","n":"Acts 28:17-31, Two years in rented quarters","s":"Paul calls the Jewish leaders of Rome, explains why he is in chains, and spends a day arguing from Moses and the Prophets. Some are persuaded and some are not; for two whole years he lives at his own expense, welcoming everyone and preaching the kingdom without hindrance.","r":"Acts 28:17-31"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/romans-1-8-17\/","n":"Romans 1:8-17, Longing to see Rome","s":"Paul thanks God that the Roman believers' faith is spoken of everywhere, explains why he has not yet come, and states his theme: the good news is God's power to save everyone who believes, Jew and Greek.","r":"Romans 1:8-17"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/romans-2-17-29\/","n":"Romans 2:17-29, You who boast in the law","s":"Paul turns on an imagined Jewish teacher who boasts in the law yet steals, commits adultery and robs temples, so that God's name is blasphemed among the nations, and says true circumcision is of the heart.","r":"Romans 2:17-29"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/romans-11-11-24\/","n":"Romans 11:11-24, The olive tree","s":"Israel's stumbling has brought salvation to the Gentiles. Paul pictures Gentile believers as wild olive shoots grafted into Israel's tree and warns them not to boast over the natural branches.","r":"Romans 11:11-24"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/romans-13-1-7\/","n":"Romans 13:1-7, The sword and the tax","s":"Paul tells believers to be subject to the governing authorities, whom God has put in place. The ruler bears the sword, and they should pay taxes and give honor where it is owed.","r":"Romans 13:1-7"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/romans-16-3-16\/","n":"Romans 16:3-16, Greet the church in their house","s":"Paul greets more than two dozen believers in Rome by name, from Prisca and Aquila and the church in their house to the households of Aristobulus and Narcissus, and tells them to greet one another with a holy kiss.","r":"Romans 16:3-16"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/colossians-1-1-14\/","n":"Colossians 1:1-14, Epaphras's report and a change of kingdoms","s":"Paul and Timothy greet the believers at Colossae, a church Paul has never visited, thank God for what Epaphras has told them, and pray that they grow in knowledge, having been rescued out of darkness into the kingdom of God's Son.","r":"Colossians 1:1-14"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/hebrews-11-8-16\/","n":"Hebrews 11:8-16, Strangers looking for a city","s":"By faith Abraham left home without knowing where he was going and lived in tents in the promised land as a foreigner, waiting for a city with lasting foundations that God himself designed and built. He and Sarah and their family died still waiting, admitting they were strangers on earth and longing for a better, heavenly country.","r":"Hebrews 11:8-16"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/james-1-1-18\/","n":"James 1:1-18, To the twelve tribes scattered","s":"James greets the twelve tribes scattered among the nations, tells them to count their trials as joy and to ask God for wisdom, warns that the rich will wither like a wildflower, and insists that God tempts no one but gives every good gift from above, as the Father of lights.","r":"James 1:1-18"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1peter-1-1-12\/","n":"1 Peter 1:1-12, To the exiles of the dispersion","s":"Peter writes to God's chosen exiles scattered through five provinces of Asia Minor, blesses God for a new birth into a living hope and an inheritance kept in heaven, and tells them their trials test their faith as fire tests gold. The prophets searched for this salvation, and angels long to look into it.","r":"1 Peter 1:1-12"}

Sources

Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Acts 2:5, 2:6-8, 6:1 and 6:9-10
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Acts 2:9-11 and 6:1, and on James 1:1
ESV Study Bible, study notes on Acts 2:9-11, 6:1, 6:9 and 8:1
CSB Study Bible, note on Acts 6:1
N. T. Wright, Acts for Everyone, Part One, comment on Acts 6:1-7
N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 7, The Greco-Roman Context of the Early Church
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Acts 18:2, 18:15 and 21:39
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Acts 18:2, 18:15 and 21:39
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to Romans, Rome's Jewish Community, and on Romans 2:24
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Romans 2:24 and 16:5
Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 18.3.5, trans. William Whiston

All ideas