cost was observed also as the day on which the law was given from Sinai; but no trace of this custom is found in the Old Testament, or in the works of Philo or Josephus. — ὁμοθυμαδόν = ὁμοψύχως. Its other sense, together, would be superfluous, followed by ènì rò autó. See on 1, 15. · a mighty wind, lit. blast, were The more uncommon word is V. 2. ☎σπeρ.... Baías, as if rushing along. πνοή = πνεῦμα. chosen here perhaps on account of the different sense of veûμa in this connection, e. g. v. 4. As used of the wind, pépeolau denotes often rapid, violent motion; see the proofs in Kypke's Obss. Sacr. Vol. II. p. 11, and in Kuinoel ad loc.-éλńpwσev, sc. hxos, which is the only natural subject furnished by the context. - οἶκον is probably the place referred to in 1, 13; not the temple, for the reasons there stated, and because the term employed in this absolute way does not signify the temple or an apartment of it. V. 3. kai poŋoav, к. T. X., And there appeared to them tongues distributed, i. e. among them, and sat, sc. yλŵooa, upon each one of them. So Bengel, Olshausen, Wahl, De Wette, Robinson, and most of the later critics. The distributive idea occasions the change of number in ékáble. W. § 41. 1. auroîs belongs strictly to the verb, but extends its force to the participle. According to this view, the firelike appearance presented itself at first, as it were, in a single body, and then suddenly parted in this direction and that, so that a portion of it rested on each of those present. It could be called a tongue in that case from its shape, as extended, pointed, and may have assumed such an appearance as a symbol of the miraculous gift which accompanied the wonder. This secures to diaμepisóμevai its διαμεριζόμεναι proper meaning; see v. 45; Matt. 27, 35; Luke 23, 34, etc.; and explains why the first verb is singular, while the second is plural. Calvin, Heinrichs, and many of the older commentators, render the participle disparted, cleft, and suppose it to describe the flame as exhibiting in each instance a tongue-like, forked appearance. The objection to this view is, that it rests upon a doubtful sense of the word, and especially that it offers no explanation of the change from the plural verb to the singular. De Wette, after others, has adduced passages here from the Rabbinic writers to show that it was a common belief of the Jews that an appearance like fire often encircled the heads of distinguished teachers of the law. To this it has been added, that instances of a similar phenomenon are related by the Greek and Roman writers. We are directed by such coin cidences to an important fact in the history of the divine revelations, and that is, that God has often been pleased to reveal himself to men in conformity with their own conceptions as to the mode in which it is natural to expect communications from him. The appearance of the star to the Magians may be regarded as another instance of such accommodation to human views. V. 4. érépais yλwooais, with other tongues, i. e. than their native tongue. That Luke designed to state here that the disciples were suddenly endued with the power of speaking foreign languages, before unknown to them, would seem to be too manifest to admit of any doubt. It is surprising that such a writer as Neander should attempt to put a different construction on the text. He objects that the miracle would have been superfluous, inasmuch as the apostles are not known to have employed this gift of tongues in preaching the gospel. It may be replied, first, that we have not sufficient information concerning the labors of the apostles, to affirm that they may not have employed the endowment for that purpose; and, secondly, that we are not obliged to regard such a use of it as the only worthy object of the miracle. It may have been designed to serve chiefly as an attestation of the truth of the gospel, and of the character of the apostles as divine messengers. It is certain, at least, that Paul entertained that view of the yλwoσai spoken of in 1 Cor. 14, 22: "Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not." The effect produced on this occasion (see v. 12) shows how well suited such a miracle was to impress the minds of those who witnessed it. A miracle, too, in this form, may have had a symbolic import, which added to its significancy. It was necessary that even the apostles should be led to entertain more enlarged views respecting the comprehensive design of the new dispensation. This sudden possession of an ability to proclaim the salvation of Christ to men of all nations (even if we allow that it was not permanent), was adapted to recall their minds powerfully to the last command of the Saviour, and to make them feel that it was their mission to publish his name to the ends of the earth. Such a mode of conveying instruction to them was not more indirect than that employed in the vision of Peter (10, 9 sq.), which was intended to teach the same truth. But we are not left to argue the question on grounds of this nature; the testimony of Luke is explicit and decisive. Even critics who would explain away the reality of the miracle admit that it was the writer's intention to record a miracle. Thus Meyer says: "The crepaι yλwoσai are to be considered, according to the text, as absolutely nothing else than languages which were different from the native language of the speakers. They were Galileans, and spoke now Parthian, Median, Persian, etc.; therefore, foreign languages, and those too the point precisely wherein appeared the wonderful effect of the Spirit-unacquired languages (wooais Kauais, Mark 16, 17), i. e. not previously learned by them. Accordingly the text itself defines the sense of wooal as that of languages, and excludes as impossible the other explanations different from this, which some have attempted to impose on the word." V. 5-13. Impression of the Miracle on the Multitude. V. 5. δέ, transitive. — κατοικοῦντες, not merely = ἐπιδημοῦντες, sojourning, but dwelling there, whether for a season or permanently. Many of them, no doubt, had fixed their abode at Jerusalem, as it was always an object of desire with the Jews who lived in foreign countries to return and spend the close of life in the land of their fathers. The prevalent belief, that the epoch had now arrived when the promised Messiah was about to appear, must have given increased activity to that desire. The writer mentions this class of Jews in distinction from the native inhabitants, because the narrative which follows represents that many were present who understood different languages. The number of these strangers was the greater on account of the festival which occurred at that time. — evλaßeîs, devout, God-fearing; 8, 2; Luke 2, 25. This sense is peculiar to the Hellenistic Greek. The term is applied to those only whose piety was of the Old Testament type. — tŵv, SC. övtwv. The strong expression here is a phrase signifying from many and distant lands. A phrase of this kind has an aggregate sense, which is the true one, while that deduced from the import of the separate words is a false sense. V. 6. γενομένης . . . . ταύτης. These words are obscure. The principal interpretations are the following. 1. pwns taútŋs refers to érépais yλworaus in v. 4, and the implication is, that the voices of those who spoke were so loud as to be heard at a distance, and in this way were the occasion of drawing together the multitude. This interpretation secures to Taurns a near antecedent, but has against it that owns is singular, and not plural, and that the participle is hardly congruous with the noun in that sense. Neander, who adopts this view, regards own as a collective term. 2. povń has been taken as synonymous with pnuń: Now when this report arose, i. e. the report concerning this. The meaning is good, but opposed to the usage of the noun, while it puts Taúrns in effect for περὶ τούτου, which is a hard construction. Many of the older critics and our English translators understood the expression in this way. 3. We may regard pwns as repeating the idea of xos in v. 2: Now when this sound that of the descending Spirit- · occurred. For that signification of pwvý, comp. John 3, 8; Rev. 1, 15; 9, 9; 14, 2, etc. γενομένης appears to answer to ἐγένετο in v. 2, and favors this explanation. The objection to it is that raúry's forsakes the nearer for a remoter antecedent; but that may occur, if the latter be more prominent, so as to take the lead in the writer's mind. See W. 23. 1. This meaning agrees with the context. The participial clause here may involve the idea of cause as well as time, and we may understand, therefore, that the sound in question was audible beyond the house where the disciples were assembled; that it arrested the attention of those abroad, and led them to seek out the scene of the wonder. So Hess, Schrader, Meyer, De Wette, and others. διαλέκτῳ yλwooa. See v. 11. The term in its narrower sense here would be too narrow; for though some of the languages differed only as dialects, it was not true of all of them. -idia, his own, uniformly emphatic. W. § 22. 7. —λadoúvтwv avτ@v. We are not to understand by this that they all spoke in the languages enumerated, but that one of them employed this, and another that. In so brief a narrative, the writer must have passed over various particulars of the transaction. We may suppose that at this time the apostles had left the room where they assembled at first, and had gone forth to the crowd collected in the vicinity. = V. 7. ok, which leads the sentence, belongs properly to cloív; comp. 7, 48; W. § 65. 4. - Távтes is emphatic. Had the speakers belonged to so many different countries, the wonder would have been diminished or removed. · Γαλιλαῖοι. They were known as Galileans, because they were known as the disciples of Christ. V. 8. Tws, how, since they were all Galileans. The object of akovoμev follows in v. 11; but the connection having been so long suspended, the verb is there repeated. V. 9. In the enumeration of the countries named in this verse and the next, the writer proceeds from the northeast to the west and south. — Πάρθοι. Parthia was on the northeast of Media and · Hyrcania, and north of Aria, surrounded entirely by mountains. — Mido. Media bordered north on the Caspian Sea, west on Armenia, east on Hyrcania, and south on Persia. — 'Eλaμîrai, i. e. the inhabitants of Elymais or Elam, which was east of the Tigris, north of Susiana (included in it Dan. 8, 2), and south of Media, of which Ptolemy makes it a part. 'Iovdaíav. It has excited the surprise of some that Judea should be mentioned in this catalogue, because, it is said, no part of the wonder consisted in hearing Aramæan at Jerusalem. But we need not view the writer's design in that light. It was rather to inform us in how many languages the disciples addressed the multitude on this occasion; and as, after all, the native Jews formed the greater part of the assembly, the account would have been deficient without mentioning Judea. It has been proposed to alter the text to 'Idovμíav, but there is no authority for this. -The catalogue now passes from Cappadocia and Pontus on the east and northeast to the extreme west of Asia Minor. — Tv 'Aoíav. Phrygia being excluded here, Kuinoel and others have supposed Asia to be the same as Ionia; but Winer* says it cannot be shown that in the Roman age Ionia alone was called Asia. He thinks, with an appeal to Pliny, that we are to understand it as embracing Mysia, Lydia, and Caria, with Ephesus as the principal city. Others, as Böttger,† whom De Wette follows, understand Mysia, Æolis, Ionia, Lydia, Caria. All admit that the term denoted not so much a definite region as a jurisdiction, the limits of which varied from time to time according to the plan of government which the Romans adopted for their Asiatic provinces. - V. 10. pvyíav. Phrygia was separated by the Taurus from Pisidia on the south, with Bithynia on the north, Caria, Lydia, and Mysia on the west, Galatia, Cappadocia, and Lycaonia on the east. Пaupuλíav was on the Mediterranean, adjacent on other sides to Cilicia, Caria, and Pisidia. Tà pépη, K. T. X., the parts of Libya - μέρη, κ. τ. λ., towards Cyrene. Libya was an extensive region on the west of Egypt. One of the principal cities there was Cyrene, on the sea, originally a Greek colony, but where at this time the Jews constituted a fourth part of the population. See Jos. Antt. 14. 7. 2. — οἱ ἐπιδημοῦντες Ῥωμαῖοι, i. e. the Romans resident at Jerusalem ; comp. 17, 21.-'Iovdaîoi Te Kaì πроσýλνтоi, a few critics restrict to 'Papaio merely, but most (De Wet., Mey., Wiesl.) refer them to * Biblisches Realwörterbuch, art. Asia. (Third edition.) † Schauplatz der Wirksamkeit des Apostels Paulus, p. 23. |