Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Acts 6:1-7, The Hellenists' widows and the Seven
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.
Acts 6:1-7, in every translation this tool compares.
As the community grows, Greek-speaking Jewish believers complain that their widows are missing out when food is shared each day. The Twelve decline to leave their teaching and prayer to run the tables and ask the believers to pick seven trusted, Spirit-filled men instead. All seven chosen have Greek names, Stephen and Philip among them, and the apostles pray over them and lay hands on them to commission them. The dispute settled, the message keeps spreading, even among many priests.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/diaspora-jews\/","n":"Jews of the dispersion","s":"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.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/widows\/","n":"Widows","s":"A woman whose husband died usually lost her income with him and depended on a son, relatives or charity. A widow who stayed faithful to her husband's memory and did not remarry was honored.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/the-twelve\/","n":"The Twelve","s":"Jesus chose twelve men to be with him and to be sent out. The number matched Israel's twelve tribes.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/laying-on-of-hands\/","n":"Laying on of hands","s":"Hands laid on a person to bless, to heal, or to set someone apart for a task, the way Moses laid hands on Joshua. In the early church it went with prayer, the gift of the Spirit and sending people out.","r":""}
Each local synagogue cared for its own poor widows, but Jews from abroad who had settled in Jerusalem had an unusually high share of widows, because many moved to the land late in life to die and be buried there (Keener and his notes); Wright reports the same suggestion. Wright adds that widows were normally supported by blood relatives, and joining the movement could cut those ties, so the new family took on the old family's duty. Keener mentions a later rabbinic tradition that the righteous who died abroad would have to roll underground back to the land for the resurrection. Distributors of charity later became an office in Palestinian Judaism (Keener). All seven have Greek names, so they seem to come from the offended group, a striking choice when fewer than 40 percent of Jews even in Rome had Greek names (Keener and his notes). Moses delegating in Exodus 18 is a precedent, and groups of seven judges were common (the cultural backgrounds notes). Many of the priests would have been poorer priests, not Sadducees (Keener and his notes).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Acts 6:1, 6:2-4, 6:5 and 6:7
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Acts 6:1, 6:3-4, 6:5 and 6:7
- N. T. Wright, Acts for Everyone, Part One, comment on Acts 6:1-7
