Who were the helenistic jew? Where did they come from? actually anything you can tell me would help. Thanks Marvin God Bless and Keep you all in his wonderful love.
Posted by: StarChilde
Quote:
Originally Posted by mustoffolus55
Who were the helenistic jew? Where did they come from? actually anything you can tell me would help. Thanks Marvin God Bless and Keep you all in his wonderful love.
Hope this helps some: In Jerusalem there were two kinds of Jews. There were what you might call "Palestinian Jews" who were from Israel and spoke Aramaic. And there were "Helenistic Jews"-Jews who were descendants of the Jews that had been dispersed during the Babylonian captivity and who were born in foreign lands and therefore spoke Greek. Due to this language difference this latter group of Jews met in their own synagogues scattered throughout the city. The Talmud tells us that there were 480 such synagogues in Jerusalem at this time. Well, Stephen was himself a Hellenistic Jew-and I say this because his name was a Greek name. Plus in chapter 7 when he quotes from the Scriptures, he quotes the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament-something a Hellenistic Jew would do. Well, Acts 6 tells us that Stephen went to these Hellenistic Jews and ministered to them in their synagogues, doing miracles, teaching them the Gospel with great wisdom. In other words, He took the Great Commission personally by going to his own peer group-that place-those people-where he knew he could have the most impact. He saw his people-his friends-his co-workers-as his responsibility, his mission field.