The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 56

thi1 chapter by the later epiritual gift.a RI Ver. 8.-Lnnguage for !o11gue, A.V. Lan- 1een in the Church of Corinth, we oonclude guago (B,a"-•wrcr, us in oh. i. 19). It only that 1ho " tongues" were sometimes" tongues occurs in the Now Testament in tba Acts, of men," for0ign languagee unknown to the and may mean either la11gt1aga or dialect, speakers, and of oourae unintelligible to the Here it is properly rendered tunguage, and hee.rera unless any were present, as w1t11 is synonymous with -y"-wa-a-,us in ver. 11. the oaee on the day of Pentcoost, who Ver. 9.-In Judaea for and in Juclala, A.V. kuew the language; and sometimes lnnguagcs Partbiam and Medes and Elamites. These not of earth but of heaven, " tongu<'s of would be the Israelites of the first dis- angel•." But there is no evidence whntever persion, tile descendants of those of the ten of the;r bl'ing mere gibberish as distinct tribes wllo were deported by the Aesyrlnns, from language, or being language coined and of whom the Afghans are perhaps 11, at the moment by the Holy Ghost.. All remnant., and of the first Babyloufan cap- thnt St. Paul says to the Corinthians is fully tivity. l\Iesopote.mia nnd Dabylon were e.t applicable to any language spoken wben this time in possession of the Parthians, there were none prernnt who understood it. Babylon was a great Jewisll colony, the The signifironce of the miracle seems to be seat of "the priuces of the Captivity," and that it points to the time when all shall be of one of the great rabbinical schools, one in Christ, and shall nil spcnk and under- Jndme.. The mention of Jud.lZa here is very stand the same speech; nnd not only all odd, and can scarcely be i-:ight, both from men, but men and angels, "the whole family its situation between Mesopotamia and in kenven and eartl,," " things in the Ce.ppadocin, and because Je'IJJB (Judmans) heavens and ihings npon the earth" all are mentioned ago.in in ver. 10 (where, how- gathered tog-ether in one in Christ. It ever, see note). India, which seems to have may also not improbably have been used been in Chrysostom's Codex(' Hom.' iv., end occasionnlly, as it was on the day of Pente- of [3]), Idumma, Bithynia, and Armenia, cost, to convey doctrine, knowlct.lge, or ex- have all been suggested as conjecture.I hortation, 10 foreign people; but there is no emendations. One might have expected disti11ct m·idence that this was the ca.se. Galatia, with its different Celtic dialect, Ver. 5.-NOVJ for and, A.V.; from for out and which goes with Fontus, Cappe.docie., of, A.V. Dwelling; either Jews come up and Asia in I Pet. i. I ; e. passage, by the for the feast, or perhaps rather domiciled at way, which shows that there were many Jerusalem from motiv<:s of piety. Jews in those provinces: Aquilo, too, was a Ver. 6.-,fad 'IJJhen thia aound (tf,owf,) 'IJJaa Jew from Pontua (eh. xviii. 2). A'r.O.IA, heard for nO'IJJ 'IJJhen this 'I/Ja.a noiaed abroad, Lydio, would be very like IO'r.O.AIA; but A. V ., v.-hicll the words cannot mean; speak- all manuscripts read Judma. iflf/ for spealc, A.V. This sound. The ques- Ver.10.-Jn Phrygia for Phrygia, A.V.; tion still r~wains whether the sound (~vf,) the parts for in the parts, A.V.; sojoumet"I refers to the sound Uixos) of the nuhing from for strangers of, A.V. ; botll Je'I/Ja for mighty tcind mentioned in ver. 2, or to the J=s, A.V. Asia; i.e. "the western coast t1oiCe1J of those who spake with tongues. If region of Asia Minor, including Caris, Lydia, the last, we should rather have expected and Mysio." (Meyer). "Ionie. nnd Lydia, aounda or flOiceB in the plural ; and it is of which Ephesus was the co.pito.l, called further in favour of the former that -yoo- Proconsular Asia" (Wordsworth and JL•V11s .-;js q,r,,,njs .-a./n-71s seems to take up the • Speaker's Commentary.' Bee oh. xx. 16, 1-yev,.-o ~xos of ver. 2. The word ,pr,,vf, is 18_; Rev. i. 4, etc.). Egypt, etc. These repre- applied to .,v,iiJLa. in John iiL 8. Nor is it sent the third great dispersion, that effected likely, at first sight, iliat the disciples in tile by Ptolemy Lague. Some of this part of houee where they were sitting ohould have the dispersion are mentioned e.s very hostile spoken loud enough to aitruct the notice of to Stephen (eh. vi. 9). " Two-fifths of the people out~ide. \\'.hereas tl(e sound_ of 11, populution of Alexandria were Jews." rushing mighty wmd, sufficient (as m cb. "Jews formed one quarter of the population iii. 31) to sl,ake the house, would naturally of Cyrene" (' Spenker's Commentary.') See be Leard by passers-by. On the other Land, l\fott. xxvii. 32 and eh. xiii. 1), And 10- however, cpo:vf, seems to paint decisively jonrners from Rome, both Jews and proselytes. to the humll.ll voice (see its use, 1 Cor. 'fhe copula and couples the ol bri511JLoiiv.-E1 xiv. 7-10). . 'P,,,JLo.io, with tile ol 1<11.-01,coiiv-ru .-¾v M,a-o- Ver. 7.-Saying for aaying om oo another, .,o-ra.JLla.v, etc., of ver. 9. It ie literally, A. V. and T.R. Amued (i{icr.-a.v-ro; see those of us who are Roman sojourner, at eh. viii 9, note). Galilieam; describing Jerusalem, whether Jews by race or proselyte,. merely their notionality. 'fhe Galilman 'fhey were equally Roman sojourners, accent was p,-culiar and well known (see whether they were Jews wllose home wa1 Mark xiv. 70; Luke l[l[ll. 59; Matt. uvi. at Rome or whether thoy wtre proselytes; 73). o.nd it is an interesting fact that there wue CB, u. 1-47,] THE ACTS OF THE .APOSTLES.