Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 6:1

"Now in these days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a murmuring of the Grecian Jews against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration." — Acts 6:1 (ASV)

And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied. Better, were being multiplied, indicating an almost daily increase. The length of the interval between this event and the previous chapter is left uncertain. The death of Stephen is fixed by most writers in A.D. 38.

The Grecians. The English version always carefully uses this word, and not Greeks, for the Hellenistæ, or Greek-speaking Jews. These were also known as the dispersion among the Gentiles (John 7:35), or generally as “the dispersion,” “the sojourners of the dispersion,” or those that were scattered abroad (James 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1).

Many of the converts of the Day of Pentecost must have belonged to this body; so, probably, did Barnabas and the others named in the note on Acts 4:37. Now they were becoming a prominent section of the Church, perhaps more numerous than the Hebrews, or Jews of Palestine.

As their name implies, they habitually spoke Greek and, as a rule, did not read the older Hebrew or speak the current Aramaic. They read the Septuagint (LXX.) version of the Old Testament. They were commonly more zealous for the sanctity of the holy places—with the zeal of pilgrims—than the Jews of Jerusalem itself, who had been familiar with them from infancy (Acts 21:27).

Because their widows were neglected. These words imply something like an organised administration of the common fund, widows and their children being the chief objects of relief. The rules found in 1 Timothy 5:3–16 were probably the growth of a more mature experience. Here, we have to imagine a clamorous crowd of applicants besieging the house where the Apostles held their meeting at the appointed times for giving relief, either in money or, as seems more probable, in kind.

The Twelve—singly or in groups—sat at the table and gave as they were able. This distribution was like the dole of alms at the gate of a convent. Under such circumstances, jealousies and complaints were all but inevitable.

The Twelve were all Galileans and were suspected of favouring the widows of Palestine rather than those of the Dispersion. This was the first sign that the new society was outgrowing its primitive organisation.