Читать книгу The Literature and History of New Testament Times - J. Gresham Machen - Страница 61

The Greek word translated "Libertines" in Acts 6:9 comes from the Latin word for "freedmen." The freedmen here mentioned were probably descendants of Jews taken by Pompey as slaves to Rome. The Jewish opponents of Stephen therefore included Romans, men of eastern and middle north Africa, and men of eastern and western Asia Minor. These foreign Jews, when they settled in Jerusalem, had their own synagogues. It is doubtful how many synagogues are mentioned in our passage. Luke may mean that each of the five groups had a separate synagogue, or he may be grouping the men of Cilicia and Asia in one synagogue. The wording of the Greek perhaps rather favors the view that only two synagogues are mentioned—one consisting of Libertines and men of Cyrene and Alexandria, and the other consisting of Cilicians and Asians.