Act 2:1-4 | Clarke | STEP | The day of pentecost being arrived, and the disciples assembled, the Holy Spirit descended as a mighty rushing wind, and in the likeness of fiery tongues sat upon them; in consequence of which, they were all enabled to speak different languages, which they had never learned, . An account of persons from various countries who there present, and were astonished to hear the apostles declare the wonderful works of God in their respective languages, . Some cavil, , and are confounded by Peter, who asserts that this work is of God; and that thereby a most important prophecy was fulfilled, . He takes occasion from this to preach Jesus to them, as the true Lord and only Messiah, . The people are alarmed and convinced, and inquire what they shall do, . He exhorts them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus, that they may receive remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit, . They gladly receive his word, about three thousand are baptized and added to the Church in one day; they continue steadfast in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, , . The apostles work many miracles; and the disciples have all things in common, and live in a state of great happiness and Christian fellowship, . Verse 1 When the day of pentecost was fully come - The feast of pentecost was celebrated fifty days after the passover, and has its name πεντηκοστη from πεντηκοντα, fifty, which is compounded of πεντε, five, and ηκοντα, the decimal termination. It commenced on the fiftieth day reckoned from the first day of unleavened bread, i.e. on the morrow after the paschal lamb was offered. The law relative to this feast is found in , , in these words: And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete: even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days. This feast was instituted in commemoration of the giving the law on Mount Sinai; and is therefore sometimes called by the Jews, שמחת תורה shimchath torah, the joy of the law, and frequently the feast of weeks. There is a correspondence between the giving of the law, which is celebrated by this feast of pentecost, together with the crucifixion of our Lord, which took place at the passover, and this descent of the Holy Spirit, which happened at this pentecost. 1. At the passover, the Israelites were delivered from Egyptian bondage: this was a type of the thraldom in which the human race were to Satan and sin. 2. At the passover Jesus Christ, who was typified by the paschal lamb, was sacrificed for the sin of the world, and by this sacrifice redemption from sin and Satan is now procured and proclaimed. 3. On the pentecost, God gave his law on Mount Sinai, accompanied with thunderings and lightnings. On the pentecost, God sent down his Holy Spirit, like a rushing mighty wind; and tongues of fire sat upon each disciple, in order that, by his influence, that new law of light and life might be promulgated and established. Thus, the analogy between the Egyptian bondage and the thraldom occasioned by sin - the deliverance from Egypt, and the redemption from sin - the giving of the law, with all its emblematic accompaniments, and the sending down the Holy Spirit, with its symbols of light, life, and power, has been exactly preserved. 4. At the Jewish passover, Christ was degraded, humbled, and ignominiously put to death: at the following festival, the pentecost, he was highly glorified; and the all conquering and ever during might of his kingdom then commenced. The Holy Spirit seems to have designed all these analogies, to show that, through all preceding ages, God had the dispensation of the Gospel continually in view; and that the old law and its ordinances were only designed as preparatives for the new. They were all with one accord in one place - It is probable that the All here mentioned means the one hundred and twenty spoken of , who were all together at the election of Matthias. With one accord, ὁμοθυμαδον; this word is very expressive: it signifies that all their minds, affections, desires, and wishes, were concentred in one object, every man having the same end in view; and, having but one desire, they had but one prayer to God, and every heart uttered it. There was no person uninterested - none unconcerned - none lukewarm; all were in earnest; and the Spirit of God came down to meet their united faith and prayer. When any assembly of God's people meet in the same spirit they may expect every blessing they need. In one place. - Where this place was we cannot tell: it was probably in the temple, as seems to be intimated in , where it is said they were daily ὁμοθυμαδον εν τῳ ἱερῳ, with one accord in the temple; and as this was the third hour of the day, , which was the Jewish hour of morning prayer, as the ninth hour was the hour of evening prayer, , it is most probable that the temple was the place in which they were assembled.

Acts 2:1-4

Introduction

The day of pentecost being arrived, and the disciples assembled, the Holy Spirit descended as a mighty rushing wind, and in the likeness of fiery tongues sat upon them; in consequence of which, they were all enabled to speak different languages, which they had never learned, Act 2:1-4. An account of persons from various countries who there present, and were astonished to hear the apostles declare the wonderful works of God in their respective languages, Act 2:5-12. Some cavil, Act 2:13, and are confounded by Peter, who asserts that this work is of God; and that thereby a most important prophecy was fulfilled, Act 2:14-21. He takes occasion from this to preach Jesus to them, as the true Lord and only Messiah, Act 2:22-36. The people are alarmed and convinced, and inquire what they shall do, Act 2:37. He exhorts them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus, that they may receive remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit, Act 2:38-40. They gladly receive his word, about three thousand are baptized and added to the Church in one day; they continue steadfast in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, Act 2:41, Act 2:42. The apostles work many miracles; and the disciples have all things in common, and live in a state of great happiness and Christian fellowship, Act 2:43-47.

Verse 1

When the day of pentecost was fully come - The feast of pentecost was celebrated fifty days after the passover, and has its name πεντηκοστη from πεντηκοντα, fifty, which is compounded of πεντε, five, and ηκοντα, the decimal termination. It commenced on the fiftieth day reckoned from the first day of unleavened bread, i.e. on the morrow after the paschal lamb was offered. The law relative to this feast is found in Lev 23:15, Lev 23:16, in these words: And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete: even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days. This feast was instituted in commemoration of the giving the law on Mount Sinai; and is therefore sometimes called by the Jews, שמחת תורה shimchath torah, the joy of the law, and frequently the feast of weeks. There is a correspondence between the giving of the law, which is celebrated by this feast of pentecost, together with the crucifixion of our Lord, which took place at the passover, and this descent of the Holy Spirit, which happened at this pentecost.

1. At the passover, the Israelites were delivered from Egyptian bondage: this was a type of the thraldom in which the human race were to Satan and sin.

2. At the passover Jesus Christ, who was typified by the paschal lamb, was sacrificed for the sin of the world, and by this sacrifice redemption from sin and Satan is now procured and proclaimed.

3. On the pentecost, God gave his law on Mount Sinai, accompanied with thunderings and lightnings. On the pentecost, God sent down his Holy Spirit, like a rushing mighty wind; and tongues of fire sat upon each disciple, in order that, by his influence, that new law of light and life might be promulgated and established. Thus, the analogy between the Egyptian bondage and the thraldom occasioned by sin - the deliverance from Egypt, and the redemption from sin - the giving of the law, with all its emblematic accompaniments, and the sending down the Holy Spirit, with its symbols of light, life, and power, has been exactly preserved.

4. At the Jewish passover, Christ was degraded, humbled, and ignominiously put to death: at the following festival, the pentecost, he was highly glorified; and the all conquering and ever during might of his kingdom then commenced. The Holy Spirit seems to have designed all these analogies, to show that, through all preceding ages, God had the dispensation of the Gospel continually in view; and that the old law and its ordinances were only designed as preparatives for the new.

They were all with one accord in one place - It is probable that the All here mentioned means the one hundred and twenty spoken of Act 1:15, who were all together at the election of Matthias. With one accord, ὁμοθυμαδον; this word is very expressive: it signifies that all their minds, affections, desires, and wishes, were concentred in one object, every man having the same end in view; and, having but one desire, they had but one prayer to God, and every heart uttered it. There was no person uninterested - none unconcerned - none lukewarm; all were in earnest; and the Spirit of God came down to meet their united faith and prayer. When any assembly of God's people meet in the same spirit they may expect every blessing they need.

In one place. - Where this place was we cannot tell: it was probably in the temple, as seems to be intimated in Act 2:46, where it is said they were daily ὁμοθυμαδον εν τῳ ἱερῳ, with one accord in the temple; and as this was the third hour of the day, Act 2:15, which was the Jewish hour of morning prayer, as the ninth hour was the hour of evening prayer, Act 3:1, it is most probable that the temple was the place in which they were assembled. Verse 2

A sound from heaven - Probably thunder is meant, which is the harbinger of the Divine presence.

Rushing mighty wind - The passage of a large portion of electrical fluid over that place would not only occasion the sound, or thunder, but also the rushing mighty wind; as the air would rush suddenly and strongly into the vacuum occasioned by the rarefaction of the atmosphere in that place, through the sudden passage of the electrical fluid; and the wind would follow the direction of the fire. There is a good deal of similarity between this account and that of the appearance of God to Elijah, 1Kgs 19:11, 1Kgs 19:12, where the strong wind, the earthquake, and the fire, were harbingers of the Almighty's presence, and prepared the heart of Elijah to hear the small still voice; so, this sound, and the mighty rushing wind, prepared the apostles to receive the influences and gifts of the Holy Spirit. In both cases, the sound, strong wind, and fire, although natural agents, were supernaturally employed. See the note on Act 9:7. Verse 3

Cloven tongues like as of fire - The tongues were the emblem of the languages they were to speak. The cloven tongues pointed out the diversity of those languages; and the fire seemed to intimate that the whole would be a spiritual gift, and be the means of bringing light and life to the souls who should hear them preach the everlasting Gospel in those languages.

Sat upon each of them - Scintillations, coruscations, or flashes of fire, were probably at first frequent through every part of the room where they were sitting; at last these flashes became defined, and a lambent flame, in the form of a cloven tongue, became stationary on the head of each disciple; a proof that the Spirit of God had made each his temple or residence. That unusual appearances of fire were considered emblems of the presence and influence of God, both the Scriptures and the Jewish writings amply prove. Thus God manifested himself to Moses, when he appointed him to deliver Israel, Exo 3:2, Exo 3:3; and thus he manifested himself when he delivered the law on Mount Sinai, Exo 19:16-20. The Jews, in order to support the pretensions of their rabbins, as delivering their instructions by Divine authority and influence, represent them as being surrounded with fire while they were delivering their lectures; and that their words, in consequence, penetrated and exhilarated the souls of their disciples. Some of the Mohammedans represent Divine inspiration in the same way. In a fine copy of a Persian work, entitled Ajaceb al Makhlookat, or Wonders of Creation, now before me, where a marred account of Abraham's sacrifice, mentioned Gen 15:9-17, is given, instead of the burning lamp passing between the divided pieces of the victim, Gen 15:17, Abraham is represented standing between four fowls, the cock, the peacock, the duck, and the crow, with his head almost wrapped in a flame of lambent fire, as the emblem of the Divine communication made to him of the future prosperity of his descendants. The painting in which this is represented is most exquisitely finished. This notion of the manner in which Divine intimations were given was not peculiar to the Jews and Arabians; it exists in all countries; and the glories which appear round the heads of Chinese, Hindoo, and Christian saints, real or supposed, were simply intended to signify that they had especial intercourse with God, and that his Spirit, under the emblem of fire, sat upon them and became resident in them. There are numerous proofs of this in several Chinese and Hindoo paintings in my possession; and how frequently this is to be met with in legends, missals, and in the ancient ecclesiastical books of the different Christian nations of Europe, every reader acquainted with ecclesiastical antiquity knows well. See the dedication of Solomon's temple, 2Chr 7:1-3.

The Greek and Roman heathens had similar notions of the manner in which Divine communications were given: strong wind, loud and repeated peals of thunder, coruscations of lightning, and lambent flames resting on those who were objects of the Deities regard, are all employed by them to point out the mode in which their gods were reported to make their will known to their votaries. Every thing of this kind was probably borrowed from the account given by Moses of the appearance on Mount Sinai; for traditions of this event were carried through almost every part of the habitable world, partly by the expelled Canaanites, partly by the Greek sages travelling through Asiatic countries in quest of philosophic truth: and partly by means of the Greek version of the Septuagint, made nearly three hundred years before the Christian era. "A flame of fire seen upon the head of any person was, among the heathens, considered as an omen from their gods that the person was under the peculiar care of a supernatural power, and destined to some extraordinary employment. Many proofs of this occur in the Roman poets and historians. Wetstein, in his note on this place, has made an extensive collection of them. I shall quote but one, which almost every reader of the Aeneid of Virgil will recollect: -

Talia vociferans gemitu tectum omne replebat:

Cum subitum, dictuque oritur mirabile monstrum.

Namque manus inter, maestorumque ora parentum.

Ecce levis summo de vertice visus

Iuli Fundere lumen apex, tactuque innoxia molli

Lambere flamma comas, et circum tempora pasci.

Nos pavidi trepidare metu, crinemque flagrantem

Excutere, et sanctos restinguere fontibus ignes.

At pater Anchises oculos ad sidera laetus

Extulit, et coelo palamas cum voce tetendit:

Jupiter omnipotens -

Da auxilium, pater, atque haec omina firma.

Virg. Aen. ii. v. 679.

While thus she fills the house with clamorous cries,

Our hearing is diverted by our eyes;

For while I held my son, in the short space

Betwixt our kisses and our last embrace,

Strange to relate! from young Iulus' head,

A lambent flame arose, which gently spread

Around his brows, and on his temples fed.

Amazed, with running water, we prepare

To quench the sacred fire, and slake his hair;

But old Anchises, versed in omens, rear'd

His hands to heaven, and this request preferr'd:

If any vows almighty Jove can bend,

Confirm the glad presage which thou art pleased to send.

Dryden.

There is nothing in this poetic fiction which could be borrowed from our sacred volume; as Virgil died about twenty years before the birth of Christ.

It may be just necessary to observe, that tongue of fire may be a Hebraism: for in Isa 5:24, לשון אש leshon esh, which we render simply fire, is literally a tongue of fire, as the margin very properly has it. The Hebrews give the name of tongue to most things which terminate in a blunt point: so a bay is termed in Jos 15:2, לשן lashon, a tongue. And in Jos 15:5, what appears to have been a promontory is called לשון הים leshon hayam, a tongue of the sea.

It sat upon each - That is, one of those tongues, like flames, sat upon the head of each disciple; and the continuance of the appearance, which is indicated by the word sat, shows that there could be no illusion in the case. I still think that in all this case the agent was natural, but supernaturally employed. Verse 4

To speak with other tongues - At the building of Babel the language of the people was confounded; and, in consequence of this, they became scattered over the face of the earth: at this foundation of the Christian Church, the gift of various languages was given to the apostles, that the scattered nations might be gathered; and united under one shepherd and superintendent (επισκοπος) of all souls.

As the Spirit gave them utterance - The word αποφθεγγεσθαι seems to imply such utterance as proceeded from immediate inspiration, and included oracular communications.