3. Historical reference. — Whilst the notices in the OT, mainly in the Pentateuch, regard Pente- cost simply as a harvest festival, it came to be regarded among the later Jews as commemorating the giving of the Law at Sinai. The Book of Jubilees, in the 1st cent. A.D. (Schiirer, GJV^ iii. 277), makes the Feast of Weeks as old as Noah, and associates it further with the later Patriarchs. Josephus and Philo do not mention the giving of the Law among the associations of the Feast, yet many authorities, like Edersheim (lor. cit.) and Ginsburg (Kitto's Cyclopcedia, ' Pentecost'), liold it to be certain that the Jews as early as the time of Christ commemorated the giving of the Law at Pentecost. With this was incorporated the legend of the Law being delivered in seventy languages, the number of the nations of the earth, and there- fore meant for all the families of mankind. (See Spitta, Apostclgcsrhichte, pp. 27, 28.)
4. Antitypical significance— Giving of the Holy Spirit. — As the Passover has its antitype in the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the
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Moikl, rentecost has its antitype in tlio .slaHklin^' down of the Holy Si)iiit, by whom the Law is written npon Heshy tables of the heart, and tlie bonds of intercourse between God and man are re-knit in a spiritual and enduring communion. St. Paul describes the Pentecostal gift as ' tlie lirst- fruits of tlie Spirit ' (Ko 8-^), in accordance with the purpose of the day. Of this momentous event we ha\ e the record in Ac 2. If in Jewish tradition the first Pentecost after the great deliverance from Egypt was, through the giving of the Law, the liirthday of Judaism, in Christian history the lirst Pentecost after the true Passover Lamb had been ^lain was, through the outjwuring of the S])irit, the birthday of the Church. The presence and work- ing of the Spirit within the Church form the dis- tinctive characteristic of Christianity. Gracious and beneficent as was the presence of the JNLastcr with His disciples, it was better, so He Himself declared, that He should go away (Ju 16'), and that in His stead the Paraclete, with His threefold conviction for the world, shouUl come (vv.^"''). ' Behold, I send the j)romise of my Father upon you,' said Jesus to the Eleven and them that were gathered with them as He was about to ascend uj) into heaven ; ' but tarry ye in the city till ye be endued with power from on high' (Lk 24'*"). Then, as the Evangelist records, He led them out until they were over against Bethany ; and while His hands were lifted up in blessing. He parted from them, and was carried up into heaven. ' And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem witli great joy : and were continually in the temple, blessing God ' (Lk 2i^- »3).
The Temple was the chief resort of the disciples during the period of tarrying which their Master had enjoined ; but they continued also to frequent tlie Upper Room, now hallowed to them by its memories of tlie Lord (Ac P^'-), continuing ' stead- fastly in prayer, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.' And so they waited and prayed ; and, lest anything should be lacking to their readiness for the pro- mised blessing, they iilled uj), by the questionable arbitrament of the "lot, the jilace in the number of the Twelve rendered vacant by the fall of Judas. It was now the eve of the second return of the Resurrection-day since the Lord had ascended, and the city was crowded and astir with the pil- grim b.ands which had come uji to Jerusalem for the great annual harvest thanksgiving. No doubt they had counted the days; and they may well have divined that on Pentecost, the fiftieth day since their Lord had suH'ered as the Passover Lamb, their expectations would be fullilled (Baum- garten. Apostolic Hiifonj, i. p. 41).
' The day of Pentecost was now come,' and at an earlj' hour the disciples, Iilled with anticipa- tions awakened by the day, were all together in one place. That this place was the Temple seems natural, considering the occasion. It is a fair inference from the passage in St. Luke already quoted (2\^-- '^^j, and it harmonizes with the state- ment that 'the multitude came together' (Ac 2') when the descent of the Spirit became known abroad. It is said that the sound heard from heaven filled 'all the house' (S\ov tov oIkov) wliere they were sitting, — an exaggerated form of expres- sion if only a private dwelling is meant, whereas 'house' is the regular designation of the Tenijde in the LXX and in Joseplius. Hallowed as the Upper Room had become by the institution of the Last Supper and the fellowship the disciples had there enjoyed with the Risen Lord, there was a significance beyond even that in the Temple, which had been so long the earthly dwelling-place of Jehovah, now being the place of the inauguration of the dispensation in which the believing soul
is to be the teiui)le and dwelling-[)lace of the Spirit.
To those praying disciples, and to the Church of which they were the representatives, came on that eventful day the fuUilment of ' the promise of the Father.' Suddenly a sound from hea\eii as of a mighty rushing v\ind fell upon the ears of the exjiectant band, ami tilled all the house where they were sitting. It ihjes not ajipear that there was ail actual \\inil, but only the sound of it per- vading all parts of the house. Then, as they lookeil around, they beheld tongues like as of fire tlistributing themsehes through the building, and alighting each upon a disciple s head. ' And they were all filled with the Holy Si)irit, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.' 'They were all Iilled with the Holy Spirit' is the supreme and enduring blessing of Pentecost. It is the central fact of this remark- able narrative. Side by side with the Incarnation, and the Atonement, and the Resurrection, and the Ascension of the Lonl, stands the Mission of the Comforter in the gospel scheme. As the Mosaic dispensation was inaugurated with miracles and supernatural signs, it M\as meet that the dispensa- tion which replaced it should likewise be ushered in with miraculous manifestations.