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The close association between the inspiration of David (Acts 1:16) and the inspiration of the apostles (Acts 2:4)
forced into prominence by the structure, is further emphasized by Peter himself when he wrote his second epistle,
the `rushing' wind of Acts 2:2 finding its echo in 2 Peter 1:21, where he says:
`For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by
pneuma hagion (holy spirit)'.
Here the word `moved' is the same as is translated `rushing' in Acts 2:2.
There are many today who feel that the absence of the gift of tongues is a serious handicap to witness, but when
the facts are faced we find it is not so. During the period covered by the Acts of the Apostles the church possessed
no other Scriptures than the Old Testament. The New Testament, as we know it, did not exist. Slowly, as years
went by, an Epistle here and a `Gospel' there would be written, and when the church finally possessed the prophetic
writings now known to us as the New Testament, the need for the gift of tongues and other supernatural
endowments ceased. Consequently, today he who faithfully uses the inspired Word of God in its fulness is on the
same level of equipment as those of the early church. The fact that physical healing and other phenomena are not
now associated with the preaching of the word is explainable on the ground of the absence of Israel, as a nation, a
feature that is of the utmost dispensational importance.
Those who are acquainted with the Jewish mind and Jewish history know that it was the ambition of many Jews
who had been born in foreign lands, to spend their last days in Jerusalem. These are described as `dwellers' at
Jerusalem. That there were those who had come to keep the feast, other than `dwellers', is clear from Acts 2:10,
where some are called `strangers of Rome', and where, in the same verse, the whole company is summed up as
`Jews and proselytes'.
At first sight the enumeration of the countries from which the assembled Jews came strikes the reader as
somewhat odd, but when we stand with Peter and think of the dispersion of Israel, we shall see definite order and
intention. There had been three great dispersions of the Jews and these are indicated in the list of countries given in
Acts 2:9-11.
The first was of the ten tribes into Media and Assyria, and the two tribes to Babylon. At the time of the apostles,
the Parthians ruled over a district that extended from the Euphrates to the Jordan and the Oxus to the Persian Gulf.
The second took the Jews to Asia Minor, Cappadocia, etc., and was an offshoot of the Assyrian dispersion. The
third, or Egyptian dispersion, took place under Ptolemy Lagus. There is also in this list of countries an evident
allusion to the prophecy of restoration found in Isaiah 11:11:
`It shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of
His people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam,
and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea'.
Fuller details of these dispersions are given in Conybeare and Howson, Vol. I. 20, 22, and in Medes' Essays.
We do not further pursue the matter here, but would remark in passing that Peter seems to have kept in touch with
the dispersion during his lifetime. He went to Babylon (1 Peter 5:13). He also wrote his two epistles to the
dispersion in Asia Minor, and, if Jerome is to be trusted, he provided for the spiritual needs of the Egyptian
dispersion by sending John Mark to them.
Returning to the narrative, we find there was a division of opinion among the hearers. Some were amazed and in
doubt, saying to one another, `What is the meaning of this?' In this question there is rather unusual use made of
thelo, to wish, or to will, as though they said to one another: `What is the intention of all this?' `What purpose does
it express?' We have already demonstrated the fact that the Acts of the Apostles places the ministry of Peter and
Paul in correspondence. This correspondence is set forth not merely in large parallel sections, but in actual
repetition of words, phrases and actions, and the peculiar usage of thelo, just noticed, is an example of this minute
correspondence. The gathered multitude at Jerusalem say, Ti an theloi touto einai (Acts 2:12). So, also, another
assembly, at the great city of wisdom, Athens, say, Ti an theloi tauta einai, `What these things mean' (Acts 17:20).
It is possible that the word theloi is used in a similar sense in 2 Peter 3:5 where the phrase: `For this they willingly
are ignorant of', may mean that the scoffers missed the true meaning or intention that is to be discovered in the