Feast of Pentecost
The feast of Pentecost was in NT times the name for the celebration of the Feast of Weeks because it occurred on the fiftieth day after Passover. It was a one-day festival in which special sacrifices were offered, and originally it was a harvest (firstfruits) festival (Exod. 23:16; 34:22; Lev. 23:15–21; Num. 28:26; Deut. 16:9–12). It is possible, but not certain, that as early as this time this festival was associated with the giving of the Law on Sinai. There is an interesting tradition, of a later period, that the Law had been initially promulgated in the seventy languages of the nations that made up the whole world (b. Shab. 88b). Even more intriguing is what Philo, writing well before the time of Luke, says about the giving of the Law: “Then from the midst of the fire that streamed from heaven there sounded forth to their utter amazement a voice, for the flame became the articulate speech in the language familiar to the audience” (Decal. 46). If Luke knew such traditions his portrayal of these Pentecost events could be taken to suggest not only that Christianity will have a worldwide impact, but that the giving of the Spirit is parallel to (and supersedes?) the giving of the Law. In favor of this connection is the fact that Luke uses the Moses typology consistently as he tells the story of Jesus, and of course in Luke’s view it is Jesus who is sending the Spirit. 6 More broadly this feast was associated with the renewal of the covenant with Noah, before and during the first century A.D. (cf. Jub. 6:17, 18). There is no hard evidence that Luke intended Theophilus to think of Pentecost as the Tower of Babel in reverse, not least because the Spirit does not eliminate the difference in languages, but rather allows each to hear in those different languages.
Witherington, Ben, III. The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998. Print.
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