![]() ![]() Neander would represent this whole scene as purely internal. ![]() But it is to more purpose, perhaps, to call to mind how, under the ancient economy, the descent of fire from heaven upon the sacrifices was the appointed and recognized symbol of the divine presence and favour ( Genesis 15:17 Leviticus 9:24 1 Kings 18:38 and cf. #Translate ton oikon touton full#Had the historian intended to convey this impression, why did he express himself in terms auditing something so much more unusual?Īnd there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.Īnd there appeared unto them cloven tongues, - 'disparted tongues' or tongue shaped, flame-like appearances, rising from a common center or root, and not 'streaming through the chamber and floating downward' (as Neander romances), but resting upon each one of that large company: beautiful symbol this of the Spirit's burning energy now descending in plentitude upon the Church, and about to pour its full tide through every tongue, and over every tribe of men under heaven! Even in the pagan poets (as has been noticed) the appearance of fire playing about the head denotes divine favour (Ovid 'Fasti' 6: 635 Virgil, 'AEneid' 2: 682). Neander's description of this-that 'an earthquake, attended by a whirlwind, suddenly shook the building where they were assembled'-has nothing whatever to support it but his own fancy, labouring to account naturally for the supernatural. But this was not a rush of actual wind it was only a sound as of it ( hoosper ( G5618)). ![]() Wind is a familiar emblem of the Spirit ( Ezekiel 37:9 John 3:8 John 20:22). 'The whole description (as Olshausen remarks) is so picturesque and striking that it could only have come from an eye-witness.' The suddenness, strength, and diffusiveness of the sound strike with deepest awe the whole company, and thus complete their preparation for the heavenly gift. Besides the unsuitableness of such a place, there is every reason to rely on the ancient tradition, that it was the same "upper room" ( Acts 1:13) where, ever since their return from Mount Olivet, they had daily congregated for prayer and supplication, and where a church was afterward erected which stood for centuries.Īnd suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.Īnd suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind. The conjecture (of Olshausen, Baumgarten, Lange, and others) that the "place" here alluded to was one of the temple-courts is a most improbable one. In one place - the solemnity of the day perhaps unconsciously raising in them an expectation of something that would signalize it. They were all with one accord, - see the note at Acts 1:14 but the true reading here appears to be 'together'. Was fully come, - more correctly 'was getting fulfilled,' or 'was getting full ' that is, the preceding evening had passed away-which was reckoned part of the day on which they had entered-and the great Pentecostal day itself had so far advanced as to be 'getting full.' (Compare the same sense of this word in Luke 8:23, and see the note at Mark 4:37, and at Luke 9:51.) Our translators, though supported by some of the best critics in their rendering of the word, have certainly put more into it than it strictly expresses and seems here plainly to mean. It was called "Pentecost," by the Greek-speaking Jews, because observed on the fiftieth day after the time just mentioned. In the Old Testament it is called "the feast of weeks," because observed after the lapse of 'a week of weeks,' or seven full weeks from the morrow after that first Passover-sabbath ( Leviticus 23:15-16). And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.ĭescent of the Spirit-The Foreign Tongues ( Acts 2:1-4)Īnd when the day of Pentecost - the second of the three annual Jewish festivals, designed to celebrate the ingathering of the wheat-harvest, as the Passover celebrated the barley-harvest. ![]()
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