Bible Study on Acts 2, verses 5 to 13, every man heard them speak in his own language

 

Acts 2:5 ¶  And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. 6  Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. 7  And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? 8  And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? 9  Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, 10  Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, 11  Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. 12  And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? 13  Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.

 

Every nation under heaven does not mean that every nation on earth was represented but that a wide variety of nations where Jews lived had representatives there. There was no distinction with regard to where Jews dwelt as we must remember that words like every and all in English can be without distinction or the more strict without exception. For instance,

 

1Timothy 2:4  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

 

…cannot mean all without exception or you can toss out free will and include universal salvation as a doctrine. Of course, this would contradict almost every other verse in the Bible on the subject of salvation. This is clearly all without distinction. Salvation is open to all people. It is God’s wish that all men be saved although they will not be because of their own choices.

 

We get the word nation here from the Greek ethnos from which we get our modern ethnicity or ethnic which denotes people-groups as opposed to what we think when we see nation, as modern nation-states. There are different places represented here whose people speak various languages, all having in common that they were Jews, perhaps by blood or by conversion. These are native speakers, born in the places mentioned. Proselytes, converts to Judaism, called by some commentators of the Jews, new creatures, are mentioned elsewhere.

 

Matthew 23:15  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

 

Acts 6:5  And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:

 

Acts 13:43  Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.

 

As a note of interest, notice how the Holy Spirit appropriates the Jewish reference to the convert as a new creature.

 

2Corinthians 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

 

Galatians 6:15  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.

 

These Jews and proselytes came from the area of present-day Iran and Iraq, Egypt, and North Africa, and in the area of modern-day Turkey. What tongues are is made very clear here by their relationship to the languages spoken.

 

The mocking in verse 13 is based on the fact that the term new wine is defined based on the context. In the following it would be newly pressed juice;

 

Isaiah 65:8  Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.

 

Remembering that in the specific context of Joseph’s pharaoh it was indeed that, squeezed by a trusted servant’s hand into the pharaoh’s cup.

 

Genesis 40:11  And Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.

 

However, in other contexts new wine is intoxicating and not just freshly squeezed grape juice.

 

Hosea 4:11  Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.

 

Zechariah 9:17  For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.

 

And so, new wine here is in a mocking suggestion that the disciples are drunk which Peter will then deny saying it is only 9am, the third hour of the day, a bit early for a normal person to be making merry with wine.

A Psalm for Sunday, Psalm 73, thou didst set them in slippery places

 

Psalm 73:1 ¶  «A Psalm of Asaph.» Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. 2  But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. 3  For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4  For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. 5  They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. 6  Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. 7  Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish. 8  They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. 9  They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. 10  Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. 11  And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High? 12  Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. 13  Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. 14  For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.

 

God’s people have often felt this, seen it, and been dismayed by it, that wicked people seem to prosper in the world. They seem to succeed and even reach the heights of power. Some of them, many even, mock God and anyone who follows their Creator and yet seem to have no recompense brought down on them. Look at Job’s lament.

 

Job 21:7  Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? 8  Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. 9  Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. 10  Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. 11  They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. 12  They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. 13  They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. 14  Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. 15  What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?

 

And Jeremiah’s complaint;

 

Jeremiah 12:1 ¶  Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore [why] doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously? 2  Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.

 

Usually, people trying to do right make the argument, why should I do right when others get away with almost anything and prosper and I’m struggling to survive? It’s almost that we envy the wicked but successful person which is a sad state of affairs.

 

Psalm 73:15 ¶  If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children. 16  When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; 17  Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. 18  Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. 19  How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. 20  As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.

 

The Psalmist didn’t want to say what he was thinking publicly for fear he would offend but it was very hard for him to take, having to reconcile the prosperity of the wicked with the suffering of God’s people. Then, he went to the sanctuary of God and God gave him wisdom and understanding and he realized what the fate of the wicked was. Jonathan Edwards will use 18 in his sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God which I recommend you read or listen to it being read.

 

The destruction of the wicked on this earth can come in a moment of time, when it is unexpected. Their success vanishes like a dream when one wakes up. They will suffer, as well, in the existence to come in eternity. And God will bring their suffering on them, holding them in utter contempt.

 

Daniel 12:2  And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

 

Psalm 73:21 ¶  Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. 22  So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. 23  Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. 24  Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. 25  Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. 26  My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. 27  For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. 28  But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.

 

The Psalmist is tormented at how foolish he had been. He acknowledges that God is holding him up and is his guide who will receive him into glory, one of the mentions of eternal life by the Hebrew writers. The Psalmist admits he has no one in heaven or earth but God. Even though his thoughts and his flesh die he will live by God’s power forever. He particularly condemns those who have chosen to follow other gods, to go a whoring from God. Finally, he admits that it is good for him to draw close to God, putting his trust in Him, and spreading abroad what God has done and is doing.

 

Just think of how things are for us. We lament that the wicked prosper, or seem to, and some comment often about how they wish God’s judgment would come down on those people in public life who flaunt their sin, their corruption, and their disdain of God. But, if we think about it we know that their fate is not a good one and their sorrow, grief, and eternal pain is hanging over their heads like the Greek Damocles’ sword. It is foolish to complain so and we show no more of an understanding than an animal when we do it. God’s ways are sure, it has been said, but they are tedious, meaning that it can take a lot longer than we’d like for the destruction of the wicked to come but when it does it can come swiftly like the Berlin Wall coming down in 1989. So shall their destruction come as revealed in the book of Revelation, swiftly and with much grief of heart and gnashing of teeth.

 

Psalm 92:5  O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep. 6  A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.

 

7 ¶  When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever: 8  But thou, LORD, art most high for evermore.

Bible Study on Acts 2, verses 1 to 4, with other tongues

 

Acts 2:1 ¶  And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3  And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4  And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

 

Pentecost, or the fiftieth day, is the feast of harvest, the firstfruits, the second of the three great feasts under the Law celebrated at Jerusalem according to Strong. The Jews call it Shavout. It is the culmination, to modern Jews, of the entire Passover season and commemorates the giving of the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai. It is a celebration of God’s covenant with the Jews and we find it here as fulfilled in Christ as Passover was fulfilled in Christ. The Jews are missing out on a great and wonderful thing here partly because of a hardened heart and partly because of the perfidy of Christians in history.

 

Exodus 23:16  And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

 

There is; 1. Feast of Unleavened Bread or Passover. Hebrew Pesach or Greek Pascha. 2. Feast of Harvest or Pentecost. Hebrew Shavuot. 3. Feast of Ingathering or Feast of Booths or Tabernacles.

 

Leviticus 23:15 ¶  And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: 16  Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.

 

It was the fiftieth day after the offering of firstfruits after Passover and it was indeed, at this time in Acts, quite a harvest. The disciples were visited by a sound like a powerful wind (a simile which uses like or as to make a comparison between two different things to aid in understanding), tongues like as of fire (a figure of speech called a simile, not tongues of actual fire, but like as of fire) landed on each of them, and they were filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak in other languages, each as the Spirit gave them.

 

So, you have Passover, Christ the Passover Lamb, Pentecost, the harvest that creates the church, and Tabernacles, the gathering of the church at the end.

 

A tongue in verse 4, or glossae in Greek, is a distinct language or dialect spoken by a unique people. It is not gobbledygook. These figures of speech are similes, unlike things joined by as as in as of a rushing mighty wind and like as of fire as a physical description of the tongues that descended. Cloven tongues like as of fire is an expression of the appearance of the phenomenon in verse 3. Notice here how tongues is used from the same Greek word in two different ways, one for speech and one for how something looked. Think of ways we do that in our everyday speech. We can talk about our physical ceiling in a room and we can talk about the proverbial “glass ceiling” that we cannot pass through for promotion at work. We can even use both ceilings in a letter or email.

Bible Study on Isaiah 3, verses 16 to 26, because the daughters of Zion are haughty

 

Isaiah 3:16 ¶  Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet: 17  Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts. 18  In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, 19  The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, 20  The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, 21  The rings, and nose jewels, 22  The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, 23  The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails. 24  And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty. 25  Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war. 26  And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.

 

The women of Jerusalem and Judah are accused of being haughty, arrogant and pretentious.

 

Note what Peter said about women adorning themselves with ornaments and jewelry and trendy hairstyles.

 

1Peter 3:1 ¶  Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; 2  While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. 3  Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; 4  But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

 

I considered detailing each of these various items of adornment for the upper-class women of Jerusalem and comparing them to Roman and Greek customs and items but thought that would just interfere with the point God is making through Isaiah. The point is that for all of the grand display these women put on to show the world it will mean nothing in the judgment that is coming and is here already. Everything they use to make themselves pretty and to show themselves as a superior class will be worthless and they will suffer a great deal.

 

Finally, the men who so valiantly protect them will die and Jerusalem and these high and mighty women will be brought low. Can you compare this with the items women in America wear today? From nose rings to hairstyles to jewelry there is much to compare and consider.

 

Compare Isaiah 3 to Leviticus.

 

Isaiah 3:1 ¶  For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

 

Leviticus 26:26  And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.

 

Isaiah 3:14  The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

 

Leviticus 19:10  And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.

 

Isaiah 3:26  And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.

 

Leviticus 26:43  The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes.

 

Bible Study on Acts 1, verses 15 to 26, he was numbered with the eleven apostles

 

Acts 1:15 ¶  And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,) 16  Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus. 17  For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. 18  Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. 19  And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood. 20  For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take. 21  Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22  Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. 23  And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. 24  And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, 25  That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. 26  And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

So, the early Christian church begins with a few dozen people, a hundred and twenty as the text says. Peter is quoting or alluding to prophecy in the Old Testament, also teaching us how to view certain passages in their prophetic significance. Read Psalms 55:12-13 and 109. Read Matthew 27 about Judas’s physical end of life.

Peter, in verse 20, takes Psalm 69:25 and 109:8 combining them for a prophetic statement about Judas guided by the Holy Spirit. Word substitution between Old and New Testaments gives us the meaning of Bishoprick as the office held with Bishoprick being the office of a bishop, what we call a pastor today.

Psalm 69:25  Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents.

Psalm 109:8  Let his days be few; and let another take his office.

Now, Peter is trying to replace Judas as an Apostle. This is very interesting because we are only told about twelve Apostles, the women who supported them, plus an unspecified number of disciples throughout Jesus’ ministry but here Peter names two who were disciples all along. They cast lots for which one will replace Judas Iscariot, Joseph “Barsabas” Justus or Matthias. Acknowledging that God has sovereignty over chance and that there is no randomness in the universe they know that when they cast lots God controls the outcome. They may have used pebbles, a potsherd, or a piece of wood as we would today roll dice or flip over cards or flip a coin. They may have put names in a pot and drew them. But, the Bible teaches that the outcome of all such things is in the hand of God. That’s kind of tough for a modern person to wrap their minds around. Go ahead and flip a penny. The result is an act of God? It boggles the mind but just read the book of Job carefully.

God allowed the Israelites to cast lots in certain situations to determine His will. See Numbers 26:55; 33:54; 34:13; 36:2; Joshua 18:6-10; 1Chronicles 24:5, 31; 25:8,9; & 26:13,14. In addition, heathen also cast lots to determine the will of the gods. See Jonah 1:7.

What does this say about the ideas of chance and randomness in reality?  A person reading the Bible carefully could easily say there is no such thing as randomness or luck, as all events are from the hand of God either by His direct will or by His permission.

Judas is referred to by John as the son of perdition.

John 17:12  While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

Paul refers to the Antichrist, the Beast of Revelation, which are John’s terms, as the son of perdition. Some commentators imply that Judas will be resurrected in the form of the Beast.

2Thessalonians 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

They will see this reference to his own place and suggest that he will be the Beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit in Revelation 11:7 and 17:8. We will not know if this is so until the end so there is no point in spending too much time on such speculation.

Bible Study on Exodus 9, verses 1 to 7, Let my people go

 

Exodus 9:1 ¶  Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2  For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still, 3  Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain. 4  And the LORD shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that is the children’s of Israel. 5  And the LORD appointed a set time, saying, To morrow the LORD shall do this thing in the land. 6  And the LORD did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one. 7  And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

Moses is now told to threaten Pharaoh with a great death among all of his cattle. A murrain (mu-wren) is an infectious disease among animals and the Hebrew word murrain is translated from, transliterated as “deh’-ber,” is used most of the time for the English pestilence in the Bible. Again, too, nothing will die that belongs to the people of Israel. Still, the Pharaoh remained stubborn. Wonders continue as there was first the rod turning into a serpent, surface water turned to blood, infestations of frogs, lice, then flies, and now a great plague among the cattle of the Egyptians.

Remember how during the time of the great famine Joseph arranged for the Egyptians to sell their cattle to the government in exchange for bread and the Pharaoh wanted Hebrew men to watch over his cattle in Genesis 47? 

Verse 3 gives us a definition of cattle in the Bible which is much broader than our modern consideration of beeves or cows and bulls only.

It is interesting how this happened right after Moses’s expressing of a concern about sacrificing that which was unpleasing to the Egyptians in front of them and I spoke of how they held many animals as representing gods. This is an attack on the Egyptian food supply and on their gods showing that Jehovah God, the creator of all mankind, has power over disease, a power these gods are helpless in front of. For a side note, Augustine of Hippo, the great Christian leader of the fifth century AD, also wrote in his City of God how the gods of the Romans were helpless to save them from the calamities they faced throughout their history.

Bible Study on Acts 1, verses 12 to 14, the mount called Olivet

 

Acts 1:12 ¶  Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey. 13  And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. 14  These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

 

A sabbath day’s journey, according to John Gill and Matthew Henry, was about 2,000 cubits from any town. The restriction from traveling on the Sabbath is found under the Law.

 

Exodus 16:29  See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.

 

The distance one could travel based on tradition was based on the distance from the ark of the covenant the Hebrews were to walk crossing the river Jordan.

 

Joshua 3:4  Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore.

 

Like modern Christians the Jews were always looking for loopholes in the Law.

 

These events transpired on the hill called Mount Olivet or the Mount of Olives where David ascended mourning at Absalom’s rebellion in 2Samuel 15:30. It plays a significant part in the end of history as per Zechariah 14:4 when Christ returns. Jesus sat on it when he talked about end times in Matthew 24. It is where He was arrested before His crucifixion as per Matthew 26:30 with the Garden of Gethsemane at the base of it. So, interestingly, God’s king ascends Mount Olivet in mourning, Christ speaks of the end of history from it, is arrested on it, and ascends from it, and will land on it.

 

The eleven remaining Apostles and the women, along with Jesus’ mother, Mary, pray together in a upper story of a house that was one of theirs or was provided for them by someone. Either Jesus’ brothers are referred to specifically here or it is a reference to His followers as brethren. There were no buildings specifically set aside for church worship until late in the second century.