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Acts describes the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost using language similar to Rabbinic tradition, such as Exodus Rabbah, that describes God giving the Torah at Sinai. Both feature wind, fire, and divine speech understood in multiple languages.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Acts 2:4
New Testament
2 Suddenly a sound like a violent wind blowing came from heaven and filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And tongues spreading out like a fire appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven residing in Jerusalem. 6 When this sound occurred, a crowd gathered and was in confusion because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 Completely baffled, they said, “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that each one of us hears them in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and the province of Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own languages about the great deeds God has done!” 12 All were astounded and greatly confused, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”
Exodus Rabbah 5:9
Aggadah
Rabbinic
When the Holy One blessed be He gave the Torah at Sinai, He displayed His voice to Israel with miracles and wonders. How so? The Holy One blessed be He would speak, and the voice emerged and circulated throughout the world. Israel heard the voice coming to them from the south and were running to the south to greet the voice. From the south it shifted for them to the north, and they were running to the north. From the north it shifted to the east, and they were running to the east. From the east it shifted for them to the west, and they were running to the west. From the west it shifted for them to the heavens, and they were raising their eyes. It shifted to the earth, and they were looking at the earth, as it is stated: “From the heavens, He sounded His voice to you to admonish you [and on the earth He showed you His great fire]” (Deuteronomy 4:36). Israel were saying to each other: “But wisdom, where shall it be found?” (Job 28:12). Israel was saying: ‘From where does the Holy One blessed be He come, from the east or from the south?’ As it is stated: “The Lord came from Sinai and shone to them from Seir” (Deuteronomy 33:2), and it is written: “God came from the south” (Habakkuk 3:3), and it says: “All the people were seeing the voices” (Exodus 20:15). Voice is not written here, but “voices.” Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The voice would emerge and divide into seventy voices for seventy languages, so that all the nations could understand. Each and every nation would hear a voice in the language of that nation, and their souls departed. But Israel heard and they were not harmed.
Date: 1200 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The later Middle Ages saw the inclusion, on the Sabbath, of Psalm 29 among the verses recited during the return of the Torah scroll to the Ark. In this connection, it is noteworthy that, in the New Testament description of the Pentecostal experience (Acts 2:1-13), the 'gift of the Holy Spirit' is likewise accompanied by physical phenomena reminiscent of thunderstorms and, therefore, of the Sinaitic Revelation. Here we read that 'a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, ... and there appeared to them tongues as of fire'. This New Testament passage is all the more remarkable in view of the fact that, regardless of the later, Amoraic, identification of Pentecost with the season of the giving of our Torah, the synagogue lectionary of the Tannaitic period lists a section of the festival calendar of Deuteronomy 16 as the Scripture pericope for Pentecost - rather than any of the passages which deal with the 'giving of the Torah'. It may just be possible, therefore, that, in Acts, we have our first literary evidence of the change of Pentecost from a purely agricultural festival to the annual commemoration of the Sinaitic Revelation ..."
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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