3. The reference in Ac 2. — Time notes are few and far between in Acts, so that all the more precious is this clear note of the day when so momentous and auspicious an event took i)lace. At any rate, there is complete agreement with the repeated testimony of Josephus as to the crowds of people who were at Jerusalem for the festival. With naive hyperbole the author records the fact that there were at Jerusalem ' devout men from every nation under heaven ' (v."). Not that all these were necessarily visitors who had come up expressly for the feast. It reflects for one thing the cosmopolitan character of the resident popula- tion of the city. Not a few devout Jews who were of the Diaspora found their way at last to Jerusalem to spend the remainder of their days in the vicinity of tlie Temple with all its privileges, and at length be buried in the land of their fathers. Perhaps also some were not without wistful hopes that the Messiah would appear. At all events, KaToiKovvm (v.^) sug^gests a more permanent residence than a mere sojourn. It is eciually clear, however (v.*, ol KaroiKovvTis TT}v MeffOTrora/itai', and v.^", ol iTn57}^ovfT€s 'Pwfuiioi) that there was also a crowd of genuine visitors who had come to keep the festival.
The author even ventures upon an enumeration of the several jirovinces and regions whence they had come (v\'.8-"). It does not seem clear that he had any principle to go on in this enumeration, save that roughly he begins in what must have been to him the Far East (' Parthians and Medes ') and ends with the AVest (' sojourners from Rome '), and then adds, a little inconsequently, ' Cretans and Arabians.' It seems a little odd that 'Judaea' should be named between ' Mesopotamia ' and ' Cappadocia,' and gives rise to a question as to whether there has not been some misplacement or error in the name itself. If 'Jews and proselytes' {v.i") is 'a summarizing touch' and the two types are mentioned as being ' found in all the regions just enumerated' (J. V. Bartlet, The Century Bible, 'Acts,' Edinburgh, 1901, ad loc.), it would be superfluous to mention that there were Jews in 'Judrea.' J. A. Bengel [Gtiomon Novi Test., ad loc.) says that (for Judaea) ' Armeniam legit Augus- tinus : eaque inter Mesopotamiam Cappadociamque jacet,' and rather inconclusively adds: 'sed vetus- tam sane Armeniorura linguam sub alia quadam gente hie nominata innui existimare licet.' It does not appear what authority Augustine had for this, but it witnesses to early uncertainty.
It does not follow that St. Luke is to be under- stood as giving a careful specification of the regions represented, and it is of little moment whether we consider the list as 'an enumeration, not of lan- guages but of provinces' {Speaker's Commentary, ' St. John and the Acts,' London, 1880, p. 363), or with Bartlet {loc. cit.) say with equal assurance, 'the list is one of languages rather than geo- graphical areas.' For a comparison with Talmudic parallels see E. von Dob^chiitz, ' Zu der Volkerliste Ac 2'-",' in ZWT x. [1902] 407-410.
Much has been said at one time and another as to the particular day of the week on which the
Feast of Pentecost setisu eminenti fell. Did it really so happen tliat that day was ' the first day of the week ? This depends on what day the 10th Nisan fell that year: and it is mixed up with the obscurity attending the day of our Lord's death (see art. Pa.ssover). It is after all a matter of inconsiderable importance. But we have the strong tradition that Jesus rose again on the first day of the week : and more than that, we have the undeniable fact that Sunday became the Christian weekly holy day on that very ground. That of itself makes Pentecost to fall on Sunday seven weeks later. We know as a matter of fact that the Christian Church in the course of time estab- lished this commemoration on the Lord's Day as most fitting, whatever the actual day may have been, and we need not ask for more. In older Judaism Pentecost fell, like Passover, on all the days of the week as the case might be. A later usage has so far modified this as to avoid the oliservance of Pentecost on the third, fifth, or seventh days.
i. Nature of the event. — Much more important is the question as to what was the nature of the event which makes this day for ever memorable to the Christian. We must carefully discriminate between the wonder-element of the story, the strange and symbolic accompaniments, and the extraordinary change which most certainly marked the behaviour of the apostles as well as that of the first believers in general. It is, indeed, not impos- sible that so memorable an event should have been signalized actually by such phenomena as ' a .sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind ' and ' tongues parting asunder, like as of fire,' and that all should have begun ' to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance' (Ac 2-"''). At the same time, it is impossible not to see a close parallel to the circumstances which had heralded the giv- ing of the Law from Sinai, which, as we have seen, was commemorated at Pentecost. In the course of time Jewish midrash and legend had consider- ably heightened these conditions (Ex W^^- ; cf. He 12'**-) and had added such particulars as that at Sinai all nations had heard God's voice in their own language and that that voice covild be heard as well by those farthest away as by those nearest the mount (see Midrash on Ps 68", and Philo, de Decalogo). The resemblance is close and could not well have been accidental. But whatever may be said as to the manner of the narrative, however much the writer may have drawn upon legendary matter in the setting of his story, the main thing is to remember that the underlying and undeniable experience is that which is of supreme importance. As C. von Weizsacker says {Apostolic Age, Eng. tr. i.^ [London, 1897] 50 f.), the gift of prophecy ' finds expression, though in a peculiar form, in the narrative of the Pentecost miracle, which he has placed in the forefront of his history. The import of this event is revealed in the speech of Peter (ii. 14 tt'.). It was the fulfilment of Joel's prophecy of the universal outpouring of the Spirit of God. . . . Now this is certainly the historical part of the narrative. The members of the Church felt the presence of the new spirit so strongly, . . . that they were confident of the fulfilment of Joel's words in their own time.' (On this and the whole subject of the glossolalia see art. TONGUES, Gift OF.)