Murmuring
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament [1]
The non-classical ‘vernacular terms’ (H. A. A. Kennedy, Sources of NT Greek , 1895, p. 38 ff.). γογγυσμός and γογγύζειν are used seven times in the Septuagintin reference to Israel in the wilderness. The verb is used in the same connexion in 1 Corinthians 10:10 -‘Neither murmur ye, as some of them murmured, and perished by the destroyer,’ the allusion being apparently to the rebellion of Korah against the authority of Moses and Aaron, which was followed by the punishment of violent death (Numbers 16). The OT reference and the evil of partisanship which had become conspicuous at Corinth ( 1 Corinthians 1:12; 1 Corinthians 3:6; 1 Corinthians 4:6; 1 Corinthians 4:18 f.) suggest that the ‘murmuring’ the Apostle had in mind was that of schismatic discontent in the Church, rather than that of complaint against Providence because of the limitations of the human lot-the sense which the term most naturally suggests to us.
The second Pauline passage where the term occurs (‘Do all things without murmurings and disputations’ [ Philippians 2:14]), follows an appeal for Church harmony ( Philippians 2:1-4; cf. Philippians 4:2) and is obviously a warning similar to that of 1 Corinthians 10:10. The quotation from the Song of Moses ( Deuteronomy 32:5 Septuagint) in the following verses hints that the history in the wilderness is again in the author’s mind.
The ‘murmurers’ of Jude’s letter ( Judges 1:16) are the false teachers who have crept into the Church and are fostering discontent for their own advantage, challenging (Church) authority and railing at ‘dignities’ ( Judges 1:8). Again there is a reference to the incident of Korah ( Judges 1:11).
The murmuring of the Grecian Jews against the Hebrews ( Acts 6:1)-a complaint against Church administration-is the only instance where murmuring has not a conspicuous reproof. Even here the language of the Apostles ( Acts 6:2; Acts 6:4) may hint censure.
In 1 Peter 4:9 (‘using hospitality one to another without murmuring’) the reference appears to be to the grumbling against the obligation, imposed by Church tradition , of mutual hospitality among Christians (cf. the communistic spirit of Acts 2:44). The Authorized Versiontranslation ‘without grudging’ (so also Weymouth) misses the above significance.
The term thus appears to have been used by the NT writers in a specific sense (suggested by the classical instance of Korah) of disloyalty in one way or another to the Church, its traditions, its harmony and unity. 1 Corinthians 10:10 and Judges 1:16 suggest that, as in the case of Korah, such murmurings are really against God Himself.
H. Bulcock.
Easton's Bible Dictionary [2]
Numbers 11:33,34 12 14:27,30,31 16:3 21:4-6 Psalm 106:25 1 Corinthians 10:10
Webster's Dictionary [3]
(1): ( a. & n.) Uttering murmurs; making low sounds; complaining.
(2): ( p. pr. & vb. n.) of Murmur
King James Dictionary [4]
MUR'MURING, ppr. Uttering complaints in a low voice or sullen manner grumbling complaining.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [5]
( תְּלוּנָה , Exodus 16:7 sq.; Γογγυσμός ), a complaint made for wrong supposed to have been received. Paul forbids murmuring ( 1 Corinthians 10:10), as did also the wise man in the Apocrypha ( Wisdom of Solomon 1:11). God severely punished the Hebrews who murmured in the desert, and was more than once on the point of forsaking them, and even of destroying them, had not Moses appeased his anger by earnest prayer ( Numbers 11:33-34; Numbers 12; Numbers 14:30-31; Numbers 16:3; Numbers 21:4-6; Psalms 78:30). (See Resignation).
