Answer: The Grecian Jews among them complained against
the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the
daily distribution of food, (verse 1).
MORE INFORMATION AND/OR OTHER SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
In Word Pictures In The New Testament by A. T.
Robertson, he states:
The Greek word for "murmur" [translated
"complained" in the NIV] is
onomatopoetic--a buzzing sound. "Grecian
Jews" are members of the church in Jerusalem who are Jews
from outside Palestine, having points of contact with the Gentile
world (like speaking the Greek language) without having gone over
to the habits of the Gentiles. The "Hebraic Jews"
were the Aramaean Jews of the Eastern Dispersion, and are usually
classed with the Hebrew (speaking Aramaic) as contrasted with the
Grecian group.
The New International Bible Commentary states:
"The language difficulty--some of the disciples were
Aramaic-speaking and some Greek-speaking--must have caused
real difficulties of administration and the needs of the
Hellenistic widows had been overlooked."
The Acts of the Apostles From Jerusalem to Rome by
Wayne Jackson gives this explanation:
Apparently there were many Grecian Jews living in the
vicinity of Jerusalem. Funerary excavations at Jerusalem
reveal the presence of many Greek-Jews in the area (Pohill,
170). The Grecian Jews (Hellenists -- ASVfn), were Jews
born beyond the borders of Palestine and educated in Greek
culture. It was the practice of many of these non-Palestinean
Jews to return to the holy city in their declining years so as to
be able to die at "home" and be buried there.
Since they were not native to Jerusalem, the widows left behind
would have no means of regular sustenance, hence would need care
(Fee/Stuart, 95). As it happened, the Hellenists began to
complain that their widows were neglected in their daily needs
(likely food). This might well have been the case, since the
Hebrews (Palestine-born Jews) did, in fact, look down upon their
Grecian brethren.
Concerning the needs of widows (and orphans):
Psalm 68:5: "A father to the fatherless,
a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling."
Psalm 146:9: "The Lord watches over
the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but He
frustrates the ways of the wicked."
Isaiah 10:1-2: "Woe to those who
make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive
the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of
My people, making widows their prey and robbing the
fatherless."
Malachi 3:5: "'So I will come near
to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers,
adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of
their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive
aliens of justice, but do not fear Me,' says the Lord
Almighty."
Read 1 Timothy 5:3-16.
James 1:27: "Religion that God our
Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans
and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being
polluted by the world."
