After the ascension, all the apostles seem to have removed their
families and business from Galilee, and to have made Jerusalem their
permanent abode. From this time no more mention is made of any part of
Galilee as the home of Peter or his friends; and even the lake, with
its cities, so long hallowed by the presence and the deeds of the son
of man, was thenceforth entirely left to the low and vulgar pursuits
which the dwellers of that region had formerly followed upon it,
without disturbance from the preaching and the miracles of the Nazarene.
The apostles finding themselves in Jerusalem the object of odious, or
at best of contemptuous notice from the great body of the citizens,
being known as Galileans and as followers of the crucified Jesus,
therefore settled themselves in such a manner as would best secure
their comfortable and social subsistence. When they came back to the
city from Galilee, (having parted from their Master on the Olive mount,
about a mile off,) they went up into a chamber in a private house,
where all the eleven passed the whole time, together with their
wives, and the women who had followed Jesus, and with Mary, the
mother of Jesus, and his brethren. These all continued with one accord
in this place, with prayer and supplication, at the same time no
doubt comforting and instructing one another in those things, of
which a knowledge would be requisite or convenient for the successful
prosecution of their great enterprise, on which they were soon to
embark. In the course of these devout and studious pursuits, the
circumstances and number of those enrolled by Christ in the apostolic
band, became naturally a subject of consideration and discussion, and
they were particularly led to notice the gap made among them, by the
sad and disgraceful defection of Judas Iscariot. This deficiency the
Savior had not thought of sufficient importance to need to be filled
by a nomination made by him, during the brief period of his stay among
them after his resurrection, when far more weighty matters called
his attention. It was their wish however, to complete their number
as originally constituted by their Master, and in reference to the
immediate execution of this pious and wise purpose, Peter, as their
leader, forcibly and eloquently addressed them, when not less than one
hundred and twenty were assembled. The details of his speech, and the
conclusion of the business, are deferred to the account of the lives of
those persons who were the subjects of the transaction. In mentioning
it now, it is only worth while to notice, that Peter here stands most
distinctly and decidedly forward, as the director of the whole affair,
and such was his weight in the management of a matter so important,
that his words seem to have had the force of law; for without further
discussion, commending the decision to God in prayer, they adopted
the action suggested by him, and filled the vacancy with the person
apparently designated by God. In the faithful and steady confidence
that they were soon to receive, according to the promise of their risen
Lord, some new and remarkable gift from above, which was to be to them
at once the seal of their divine commission, and their most important
equipment for their new duties, the apostles waited in Jerusalem until
the great Jewish feast of the pentecost. This feast is so named from a
Greek word meaning “_fiftieth_,” because it always came on the fiftieth
day after the day of the passover feast. Jesus had finally disappeared
from his disciples about forty days after his resurrection,――that is
forty-two days after the great day of the passover, which will leave
just one week for the time which passed between the ascension and the
day of pentecost. These seven days the apostolic assembly had passed
in such pursuits as might form the best preparation for the great event
they were expecting. Assembled in their sacred chamber, they occupied
themselves in prayer and exhortation. At length the great feast
arrived, on which the Jews, according to the special command of Moses,
commemorated the day, on which of old God gave the law to their fathers,
on Mount Sinai, amid thunder and lightning. On this festal occasion,
great numbers of Jews who had settled in different remote parts of the
world, were in the habit of coming back to their father-land, and their
holy city, to renew their devotion in the one great temple of their
ancient faith, there to offer up the sacrifices of gratitude to their
fathers’ God, who had prospered them even in strange lands among the
heathen. The Jews were then, as now, a wandering, colonizing people
wherever they went, yet remained perfectly distinct in manners, dress
and religion, never mixing in marriage with the people among whom
they dwelt, but every where bringing up a true Israelitish race, to
worship the God of Abraham with a pure religion, uncontaminated by
the idolatries around them. There was hardly any part of the world,
where Roman conquest had planted its golden eagles, to which Jewish
mercantile enterprise did not also push its adventurous way, in the
steady pursuit of gainful traffic. The three grand divisions of the
world swarmed with these faithful followers of the true law of God, and
from the remotest regions, each year, gathered a fresh host of pilgrims,
who came from afar, many for the first time, to worship the God of
their fathers in their fathers’ land. Amid this fast gathering throng,
the feeble band of the apostles, unknown and unnoticed, were assembled
in their usual place of meeting, and employed in their usual devout
occupations. Not merely the twelve, but all the friends of Christ in
Jerusalem, to the number of one hundred and twenty, were here awaiting,
in prayer, the long promised Comforter from the Father. All of a sudden,
the sound of a mighty wind, rushing upon the building, roared around
them, and filled the apartments with its appalling noise, rousing them
from the religious quiet to which they had given themselves up. Nor
were their ears alone made sensible of the approach of some strange
event. In the midst of the gathering gloom which the wind-driven clouds
naturally spread over all, flashes of light were seen by them, and
lambent flames playing around, lighted at last upon them. At once
the anxious prayers with which they had awaited the coming of the
Comforter, were hushed: they needed no longer to urge the fulfilment
of their Master’s word; for in the awful rush of that mighty wind,
they recognized the voice they had so long expected, and in that solemn
sound, they knew the tone of the promised Spirit. The approach of
that feast-day must have raised their expectations of this promised
visitation to the highest pitch. They knew that this great national
festival was celebrated in commemoration of the giving of the old law
on Mount Sinai to their fathers, through Moses, and that no occasion
could be more appropriate or impressive for the full revelation of the
perfect law which the last restorer of Israel had come to teach and
proclaim. The ancient law had been given on Sinai, in storm and thunder
and fire; when therefore, they heard the roar of the mighty wind about
them, the firm conviction of the approach of their new revelation must
have possessed their minds at once. They saw too, the dazzling flash
of flame among them, and perceived, with awe, strange masses of light,
in the shape of tongues, settling with a tremulous motion on the head
of each of them. The tempest and the fire were the symbols of God’s
presence on Sinai of old, and from the same signs joined with these
new phenomena, they now learned that the aid of God was thus given to
equip them with the powers and energies needful for their success in
the wider publication of the doctrine of Christ. With these tokens of
a divine presence around them, their feelings and thoughts were raised
to the highest pitch of joy and exultation; and being conscious of a
new impulse working in them, they were seized with a sacred glow of
enthusiasm, so that they gave utterance to these new emotions in words
as new to them as their sensations, and spoke in different languages,
praising God for this glorious fulfilment of his promise, as this holy
influence inspired them.
_An upper room._――The location of this chamber has been the
subject of a vast quantity of learned discussion, a complete
view of which would far exceed my limits. The great point mooted
has been, whether this place was in a private house or in the
temple. The passage in Luke xxiv. 53, where it is said that the
apostles “were continually in the temple, praising and blessing
God,” has led many to suppose that the same writer, in this
continuation of the gospel story, must have had reference to
some part of the temple, in speaking of the upper room as the
place of their abode. In the Acts ii. 46, also, he has made
a similar remark, which I can best explain when that part of
the story is given. The learned Krebsius (Observationes in
Novvm Testamentvm e Flavio Iosepho, pp. 162‒164) has given a
fine argument, most elegantly elaborated with quotations from
Josephus, in which he makes it apparently quite certain from
the grammatical construction, and from the correspondence of
terms with Josephus’s description of the temple, that this upper
room must have been there. It is true, that Josephus mentions
particularly a division of the inner temple, on the upper side
of it, under the name of ὑπερῳον, (_hyperoon_,) which is the
word used by Luke in this passage, but Krebsius in attempting
to prove this to be a place in which the disciples might be
constantly assembled, has made several errors in the plan of the
later temple, which I have not time to point out, since there
are other proofs of the impossibility of their meeting there,
which will take up all the space I can bestow on the subject.
Krebsius has furthermore overlooked entirely the following part
of the text in Acts i. 13, where it is said, that when they
returned to Jerusalem, “they went up into an upper room _where
they had been staying_,” in Greek, οὑ ησαν καταμενοντες,
(_hou esan katamenontes_,) commonly translated “they _abode_.”
The true force of this use of the present participle with the
verb of existence is _repeated_ action, as is frequently true
of the imperfect of that verb in such combinations. Kuinoel
justly gives it this force,――“_ubi commorari_ sive _convenire
solebant_.” But the decisive proof against the notion that this
room was in the temple, is this. In specifying the persons there
assembled, it is said, (Acts i. 14,) that the disciples were
assembled there with the _women_ of the company. Now it is most
distinctly specified in all descriptions of the temple, that
the women were always limited to one particular division of the
temple, called the “women’s court.” Josephus is very particular
in specifying this important fact in the arrangements of the
temple. (Jewish War, V. 5. 2.) “A place on this part of the
temple specially devoted to the religious use of the women,
being entirely separated from the rest by a wall, it was
necessary that there should be another entrance to this. * * *
There were on the other sides of this place two gates, one on
the north and one on the south, through which the court of the
women was entered; for women were not allowed to enter through
any others.” (Also V. 5, 6.) “But women, even when pure, were
not allowed to pass within the limit before mentioned.” This
makes it evident beyond all doubt, that women could never be
allowed to assemble with men in this upper chamber within the
forbidden precincts, to which indeed it was impossible for them
to have access, entering the temple through two private doors,
and using only one court, which was cut off by an impenetrable
wall, from all communication with any other part of the sacred
inclosure.
This seems to me an argument abundantly sufficient to upset all
that has ever been said in favor of the location of this upper
apartment within the temple; and my only wonder is, that so many
learned critics should have perplexed themselves and others with
various notions about the matter, when this single fact is so
perfectly conclusive.
The _upper room_, then, must have been in some private house,
belonging to some wealthy friend of Christ, who gladly received
the apostles within his walls. Every Jewish house had in
its upper story a large room of this sort, which served as
a dining-room, (Mark xiv. 15: Luke xxii. 12,) a parlor, or
an oratory for private or social worship. (See Bloomfield’s
Annotations, Acts i. 13.) Some have very foolishly supposed this
to have been the house of Simon the leper, (Matthew xxvi. 6,)
but his house was in Bethany, and therefore by no means answers
the description of their entering it after their return to
Jerusalem from Bethany. Others, with more probability, the house
of Nicodemus, the wealthy Pharisee; but the most reasonable
supposition, perhaps, is that of Beza, who concludes this to
have been the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, which
we know to have been afterwards used as a place of religious
assembly. (Acts xii. 12.) Others have also, with some reason,
suggested that this was no doubt the same “upper room furnished,”
in which Jesus had eaten the last supper with his disciples.
These two last suppositions are not inconsistent with each other.
_Tongues of fire._――This is a classic Hebrew expression for
“a lambent flame,” and is the same used by Isaiah, (v. 24,)
where the Hebrew is לשון אש (_leshon esh_,) “a tongue of fire;”
――commonly translated, simply “fire.” In that passage there
seems to be a sort of poetical reference to the tongue, as an
organ used in devouring food, (“as the tongue of fire devoureth
the stubble,”) but there is abundant reason to believe that the
expression was originally deduced from the natural similitude of
a rising flame to a tongue, being pointed and flexible, as well
as waving in its outlines, and playing about with a motion like
that of licking, whence the Latin expression of “a _lambent_
flame,”――from _lambo_, “lick.” Wetstein aptly observes, that
a flame of fire, in the form of a divided tongue, was a sign
of the gift of tongues, corresponding to the Latin expression
_bilinguis_, and the Greek διγλωσος, (_diglossos_,) “two-tongued,”
as applied to persons skilled in a plurality of languages. He
also with his usual classic richness, gives a splendid series of
quotations illustrative of this idea of a lambent flame denoting
the presence of divine favor, or inspiration imparted to the
person about whom the symbol appeared. Bloomfield copies these
quotations, and also draws illustrations in point, from other
sources.
My own opinion of the _nature_ of this whole phenomenon is
that of Michaelis, Rosenmueller, Paulus and Kuinoel,――that a
tremendous tempest actually descended at the time, bringing down
clouds highly charged with electricity, which was not discharged
in the usual mode, by thunder and lightning, but quietly
streamed from the air to the earth, and wherever it passed from
the air upon any tolerable conductor, it made itself manifest
in the darkness occasioned by the thick clouds, in the form
of those pencils of rays, with which every one is familiar who
has seen electrical experiments in a dark room; and which are
well described by the expression, “cloven tongues of fire.”
The temple itself being covered and spiked with gold, the best
of all conductors, would quietly draw off a vast quantity of
electricity, which, passing through the building, would thus
manifest itself on those within the chambers of the temple, if
we may suppose the apostles to have been there assembled. These
appearances are very common in peculiar electrical conditions
of the air, and there are many of my readers, no doubt, who have
seen them. At sea, they are often seen at night on the ends of
the masts and yards, and are well known to sailors by the name
which the Portuguese give them, “corpos santos,”――“holy bodies,”
――connecting them with some popish superstitions. A reference
to the large quotations given by Wetstein and Bloomfield, will
show that this display at the pentecost is not the only occasion
on which these electric phenomena were connected with spiritual
mysteries. No one would have the slightest hesitation in
explaining these passages in other credible historians, by this
physical view; and I know no rule in logic or common sense,――no
religious doctrine or theological principle, which compels me
to explain two precisely similar phenomena of this character,
in two totally different ways, because one of them is found
in a heathen history, and the other in a sacred and inspired
record. The vehicle thus chosen was not unworthy of making
the peculiar manifestation of the presence of God, and of the
outpouring of his spirit;――nor was it an unprecedented mode of
his display. The awful thunder which shook old Sinai, and the
lightnings which dazzled the eyes of the amazed Israelites,
were real thunder and lightning, nor will an honest and reverent
interpretation of the sacred text allow us to pronounce them
acoustical and optical delusions. If they were real thunder
and lightning, they were electrical discharges, and cannot be
conceived of in any other way. Why should we hesitate at the
notion that He who “holds the winds in the hollow of his hand,”
and “makes a way for the lightning of thunder,” should use these
same awful instruments as the symbols of his presence, to strike
awe into the hearts of men, making the physical the token of
the moral power; and accomplishing the deep prophetic meaning
of the solemn words of the Psalmist, “He walks upon the wings of
the wind――he makes the winds his messengers――the lightnings his
ministers.” For this is the just translation of Psalm civ. 4.
See Lowth, Clarke, Whitby, Calmet, Thomson, &c. But Jaspis,
Bloomfield, Stuart, &c., support the common version.
_Were all assembled_, &c.――It has been questioned whether
this term, “_all_,” refers to the one hundred and twenty, or
merely to the apostles, who are the persons mentioned in the
preceding verse, (Acts i. 26, ii. 1,) and to whom it might
be grammatically limited. There is nothing to hinder the
supposition that all the brethren were present, and Chrysostom,
Jerome, Augustine and other ancient fathers, confirm this view.
The place in which they met, need not, of course, be the same
where the events of the preceding chapter occurred, but was
very likely some one of the thirty apartments, (οικοι, _oikoi_,
Josephus, Antiquities, viii. 3. 2,) which surrounded the inner
court of the temple, where the apostles might very properly
assemble at the third hour, which was the hour of morning
prayer, and which is shown in verse 15, to have been the time
of this occurrence. Besides, it is hard to conceive of this vast
concourse of persons (verse 41,) as occurring in any other place
than the temple, in whose vast and thronged courts it might
easily happen, for Josephus says “that the apartments around
the courts opened into each other,” ησαν δια αλληλων, “and
there were entrances to them on both sides, from the gate of
the temple,” thus affording a ready access on any sudden noise
attracting attention towards them.
_Foreign Jews staying in Jerusalem._――The phrase “dwelling,”
(Acts ii. 5,) in the Greek κατοικουντες, (_katoikountes_,) does
not necessarily imply a fixed residence, as Wolf and others
try to make it appear, but is used in the LXX. in the sense of
temporary residence; and seems here to be applied to foreign
Jews, who chose to remain there, from the passover to the
pentecost, but whose _home_ was not in Jerusalem; for the
context speaks of them as dwellers in Mesopotamia, &c. (verse 9.)
A distinction is also made between two sorts of Jews among those
who had come from Rome,――the Jews by birth and the proselytes,
(verse 10,) showing that the Mosaic faith was flourishing, and
making converts from the Gentiles there.