Godbey's Commentary - Acts - Romans - Enter His Rest

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
CHAPTER VI.
HELLENISTS AND HEBREWS.
1. Do not forget that the gospel began among the Jews exclusively, the Gentiles having nothing
to do with it; hence the Christian Church, originally like the Jewish, was purely Judaic. With the roll
of a century, it underwent a radical somersault, eliminating the Jewish and incorporating the Gentile
element. “Grecian” in E.V. leads to the conclusion that they were Gentile Greeks, which is
incorrect. They were Jews, native and proselyte, who spoke the Greek language and used it in their
synagogue worship in contradistinction to other Jews [doubtless nearly all native], who spoke the
Hebrew language, using it in their synagogues. It was natural to recognize a degree of preference for
these native Jews and pure Hebrews, though, doubtless inadvertently, holding them in a degree of
estimation above the Greek-speaking Jews, largely proselytic; hence the complaint that the
Hellenistic widows were neglected in their daily ministration. Christian widows, unencumbered with
families at that time, got filled with the Holy Ghost, turned preachers, being eminently useful as soulsavers;
thus devoting all their time, with no means of support, they lived on church charities. What
a pity in this respect, the church of the present day does not go back to first principles! How
eminently useful our unencumbered holy widows would be if thus utilized, preaching the gospel in
family circles, mission-rooms and on the streets. Dr. Carradine, in his last pastorate in St. Louis, used
them much to the glory of God and the salvation of souls, recognizing the policy of the Apostolic
Church. At this time the Greek language [spoken by these Hellenistic Jews] was the language of the
world, having through the Alexandrian conquests reached all nations and become universal. While
reading the Old Testament, we all see the hand of the Almighty on the Jews, but intuitively drift to
the conclusion that it was not on the Gentiles. In this we are egregiously mistaken. The difference
is that we have the inspired history of the Jews and not of the Gentiles. B.C. 325, Alexander, a youth
of one and twenty years, succeeded his father Philip on the throne of Macedonia, a small country in
northern Greece. Finding but thirty-five thousand dollars in the royal treasury, and thirty-five
thousand men in the army, the first transaction of his regal administration was to divide out the
money equally among the soldiers, giving each man a dollar apiece. Observing that the young king
left himself moneyless, a bystander asked, “Now, king, what have you left for yourself?” The
sanguine youth responded, “My hopes.” “What are your hopes?” “Why, that I shall conquer all the
world.” At that time the Persian Empire reached from India to Ethiopia, containing a hundred and
twenty-seven States, nearly all of the known world which was sufficiently important to appropriate,
except Greece, which, though small, had simply proved too heroic for the Persian conquest, even
under the leadership of Xerxes, with his two million and five hundred thousand warriors, the largest
army ever mustered on the globe. Alexander succeeds in inspiring his little band with the same
paradoxical hope of conquering all the world. Consequently he invades the great Persian Empire, is
met by the royal army on the plains of Granicus. A terrible battle ensues, leaving forty thousand
Persians dead on the field, while Alexander didn’t lose a man. This stunned the mighty Persian
monarch and woke him up to recognize in the young Grecian no child at play. Great preparations
were now made, feeling sure they would capture the impudent youth with his audacious followers
and settle the matter once for all. Alexander meets them on the plains of Issus. where an awful battle
is fought, lasting three days. One hundred thousand Persians are left dead on the field, while