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Acts 2:1
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Pentecost and the Coming of the Holy Spirit
1 And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in the same [place].Images for Acts 2:1
Acts 2:1 Meaning and Commentary
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come
Or "was come", was begun and entered upon; for it was not over, or ended, it being but the third hour of the day, or nine of the clock in the morning, when Peter began his sermon; see ( Acts 2:15 ) . The Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions read, "when the days of Pentecost were fulfilled"; not that there were more days than one, kept at this festival; for though the feasts of passover and tabernacles were observed each of them seven days, according to the law, and eight days according to the Scribes, yet the feast of Pentecost was kept but one day; and hence it is often said by the Jews, that Atzereth, which is one of the names they call this feast by, is but one day F12; in the captivity they kept two days F13, as they did for the beginning of the year, because of the uncertainty of calculations; but the sense is, when the whole fifty days from the passover to this time were fully come, or fulfilled, when the fiftieth day from thence, which was properly the day of Pentecost, was come: on the second day of the passover, on the sixteenth of Nisan, the sheaf of the first fruits was offered up; after which, and not before, it was lawful to reap the corn, ( Leviticus 23:10 Leviticus 23:11 ) from this time the Jews reckoned their feast of weeks, or seven weeks, or fifty days; see ( Exodus 34:22 ) ( Deuteronomy 16:9 ) ( Leviticus 23:15 Leviticus 23:16 ) which measured out the time of their harvest. Now the last of these fifty days was the day of Pentecost, on which day was offered the two wave loaves, as a thanksgiving that their harvest was ended. Josephus calls F14 this feast by the same name that Luke here does; and says F15, the Jews so call it, from the number of the days, that is fifty; and so R. Sol Jarchi F16 calls this day, (Myvymx Mwy) , "the fiftieth day": on this day, the Jews say F17, the law was given; and observe F18, that
``from the day that Israel went out of Egypt, unto the day that the law was given, were fifty days.''And on this day, and which was the first day of the week, the Spirit was poured forth upon the disciples; the Gospel began to be preached to all nations, and a harvest of souls was gathered in:
they were all with one accord in one place;
in two ancient copies of Beza's, and in some others it is read, "all the apostles"; Matthias, and the eleven, with whom he was numbered, who are last spoken of, in ( Acts 1:26 ) . Though this need not be restrained to the twelve apostles, but may be understood of the hundred and twenty, on whom, as well as on the apostles, the Holy Ghost might be poured forth, that so they might speak with tongues; since among these were many ministers of the Gospel, as the seventy disciples, and it may be more; and that his extraordinary gifts should be bestowed on others, is but what was afterwards done; see ( Acts 8:17 ) ( 10:14 ) ( 11:15 ) and though there were so many of them together, they were very unanimous and peaceable; there were no jars nor contentions among them; they were of the same mind and judgment in faith and practice, and of one heart and soul, and had a cordial affection for one another; and were all in one place, which seems to be the temple; see ( Acts 2:46 ) . And indeed, no other place or house could hold so many as came to hear them, of which number three thousand were converted.
F12 T. Bab. Menachot, fol. 65. 1. Gloss. in. T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 17. 2. Bereshit Rabba, sect. 100. fol. 88. 2.
F13 T. Bab. Erachin, fol. 10. 1.
F14 Antiqu. l. 3. c. 10. sect. 6.
F15 De Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 3. sect. 1.
F16 In Lev. xxiii. 15.
F17 T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 68. 2.
F18 Zohar in Exod. fol. 34. 4. Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 9. 4.