The Fiery Tongues of Ancient Judaism

In the New Testament (NT) book of Acts chapter 2, a peculiar event occurred on
the biblical holiday called Chag Shavuot { }, also known as Pentecost:

Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one
place.
2
And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing
wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3
And there appeared
to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of
them.
4
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with
other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.
5
Now there were Jews
living in Jerusalem, devout men, from every nation under heaven.
6
And when
this sound occurred, the multitude came together and were bewildered because
they were each one hearing them speak in his own dialect.


This event, at first glance, seems unlike any other recorded in scripture. There appears to be
no miracles that are comparable to it wherein one might gain a relative context. And in the
apparent absence of any relative data, an entire Christian denomination was framed on a
misinterpretation of what those tongues were. Though a thorough exegesis can present a
fairly clear picture of what the tongues represented, the answer has been hidden in Jewish
tradition all along - even before Yeshua
i
walked the earth.


The Relevance of Jewish Tradition


Why study Jewish tradition? one might ask. In short, the NT is a Jewish book that actually
quotes Jewish tradition at times. For example, Paul writes to his Jewish disciple Timothy,

NAS
2 Timothy 3:8
8
And just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men
also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected as regards the faith.


Who are Jannes and Jambres? They surely arent recorded anywhere in the Tanach (OT). So
whence did Paul derive this information? Many people forget that Paul remained a Pharisee
even after his conversion to the sect known as The Way. Luke writes of Pauls trial:

i
Yeshua is the Hebrew name of Jesus of Nazareth.



NAS
Acts 23:6
6
But perceiving that one part were Sadducees and the other
Pharisees, Paul began crying out in the Council, "Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a
son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!"


Paul exclaimed in the present tense that he was undoubtedly a Pharisee. This means that he
espoused their teachings, one of which is found in the Jewish Targum of Jonathan Ben
Uzziel on the Exodus 7 pericope. Regarding Jannes and Jambres it states,

And Mosheh and Aharon went in unto Pharaoh, and did as the Lord had
commanded. And Aharon threw down the rod before the sight of Pharaoh, and
before the sight of his servants, and it became a basilisk. But Pharaoh called the
wise men and magicians; and they also, Jannes and Jambres, magicians of Egypt,
did the same by their burnings of divination. They threw down each man his rod,
and they became basilisks; but were forthwith changed to be what they were at
first; and the rod of Aharon swallowed up their rods. And the disposition of
Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not hearken to them, as the Lord
had said.


According to the Targum, Jannes and Jambres were the sorcerers that opposed Moses and
Aaron with their staffs, corroborating Pauls words to Timothy. As the aforementioned
proves, Paul certainly relied upon Jewish tradition for exposition; therefore, it should not be
discounted by any serious exegete.


Tongues of Fire


So why are tongues likened to fire in Acts 2? one might ask. Because ADONAI is a
consuming fire, the spirits that issue from Him are fiery as well.
ii
Therefore any speech
issuing from ADONAIs spirit is fiery. Attesting to this understanding, the construction
tongues of fire actually predates the NT and is found in fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls
(DSS):



Fragment 1
[] the stone, like they will provide you with light and he will go out
with it with tongues of fire { }; the stone of the left side which is at its
left side will shine to the eyes of all the assembly until the priest finishes
speaking. And after it (the cloud?) has been removed and you shall keep and do

ii
See Dt 4:24, 9:3; Ex 3:2; Ps 104:4; II Kgs 2:11; Is 66:15



all that he tells you. And the proph[et] who speaks apostasy [][ A]DONAI,
GOD of []
iii



The foregoing liturgy is not only fascinating, but it corroborates the notion that tongues of
fire was a concept not unique to the NT. The Qumran fragments indicate that the high
priest who wore the urim and tumim would speak with fiery tongues while receiving
information from GOD via those two stones. And the congregation would be bound to keep
his charge.

iv
The DSS fragments and the Pentecost incident of Acts 2 have a commonality:
in both cases GOD speaks through men using tongues of fire.


Pentecost and Sinai


Acts 2 records Jews from every place under heaven (v.5) as living in Jerusalem to fulfill the
requirement of appearing before the temple.

v

Our first clue in establishing a link between this case and another in the Tanach is found in
verse 41:

NAS
Acts 2:41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and there
were added that day about three thousand souls.


There were about three thousand people brought to new life that day. Now notice what
occurred at Mount Sinai fourteen hundred years earlier:

NAS
Exodus 32:28 So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three
thousand men of the people fell that day.


Those 3,000 that perished were of the golden calf idolaters. So in the first case about three
thousand were gained while about three thousand were lost in the second case (over a
millennium earlier) also note the approximating word about in both pericopes. There is
certainly an affinity between the Pentecost outpouring of Acts 2 and the Sinai event of Ex
19-20 when Israel received the Torah from GOD. With the understanding that these Jews in
Acts 2 wouldve been situated in front of the Temple,
vi
the possible connection between the
Sinai Mountain and the Temple also becomes clear as both places held the presence of GOD.

iii
1Q29 - 1QLiturgy of the Three Tongues of Fire; also confer 4Q376.
iv
See also how even the wicked high priest Caiaphas prophesied in the NT Gospel of John 11:51 regarding Yeshua.
v
The day of Pentecost is one of the Shelosh Regalim or three pilgrimages of the year. It mandates that all men
come before the temple an submit their offerings (Ex 23:14-17; Dt 16:16).
vi
The outpouring of fiery tongues occurred around nine oclock antemeridian (Acts 2:13-15) being when the
shacharit prayer was (and still is) conducted. It was the hour of prayer on Pentecost; these Jews wouldve certainly
been at the Temple.




But why would Pentecost be connected with the giving of the Torah at Sinai? Though our
scriptures are silent on the matter, Jewish tradition says that the Torah was given on
Pentecost (the 6
th
day of the Jewish month Sivan). The Babylonian Talmud, tractate
Sanhedrin 86b states,

Our Rabbis taught: On the sixth day of the month [Sivan/Pentecost] were the Ten
Commandments given to Israel. R. Jose maintained: On the seventh thereof. Said
Raba: All agree that they arrived in the Wilderness of Sinai on the first of the
month. [For] here it is written, on this day they came into the wilderness of Sinai;
whilst elsewhere it is written, This month shall be unto you the beginning of
months: just as there the first of the month, so here [too] the first of the month [is
meant]. Again, all agree that the Torah was given to Israel on the Sabbath.


Apart from Rabbi Joses disagreement, the overall opinion was that the Torah was given on
the 6
th
of Sivan, again, which is Pentecost. Judaism still teaches this today. So, here is a
second clue that links Ex 19-20 with Acts 2. Further, these Jews from every land and tongue
under the sky all heard the disciples speak their own respective languages. Now notice what
Jewish tradition tells us occurred at Sinai. An ancient Jewish commentary known as the
Midrash Exodus Rabbah (5:9) states,

When GOD gave the Torah on Sinai, He displayed untold marvels to Israel with
His voice. What happened? GOD spoke and the Voice reverberated throughout the
world It says: And all the people perceived the thunderings (Ex. XX, 18). Note
that it does not say the thunder ,but the thunderings ; wherefore R. Johanan
said that GOD's voice, as it was uttered, was distributed into seventy voices, in
seventy tongues, so that all the nations should understand. When each nation
heard the Voice in their own dialect their souls departed, save Israel who heard


According to this ancient midrash, the Torah was given in seventy tongues or languages not
ecstatic utterances. Moreover, each nation heard the Voice (of GOD) in their own dialect!
This wording is almost identical to the report of Acts 2:6: every man heard them speak in
his own dialect. Further, Acts 2:3 describes the fiery tongues as distributing themselves
while Midrash Rabbah reports that GODs voice was was distributed in seventy
tongues.
vii

As is well known, The Book of Genesis documents seventy peoples coming from the loins
of Noah in a pericope called the table of nations.
viii
In that same pericope, the seventy
peoples having one language are stricken with the confusion of speech and left unable to

vii
Perhaps an allusion to the multiple languages spoken at Mt Sinai, the Decalogues first word is anokhi { }
which means I (am) in Hebrew, but also in Egyptian {anok}. See Midrash Tanchuma Buber Yitro 16.
viii
The table of nations is found in Gn 10-11. Also cross-reference Dt 32:7-8 where GOD is said to have partitioned the
sons of Adam (mankind) according to the number of the children of Israel (MT). Then see Gn 46:27 & Ex 1:5 where
Israel is reckoned as seventy persons in total.



understand each other.
ix
This explains why ADONAI
x
spoke the Torah in seventy tongues at
Mount Sinai: the mixed multitude, being a combination of nations, sojourned with Israel
and was present at the mountain also.
xi


Next, Rabbi Johanon in the midrash brought up how Ex 20:18 doesnt say the thunder,
but the thunderings. What did he mean by this? The first part of Ex 20:18 states,

And each of the people (were)
perceiving the thunders and the
lamps.



The plural noun { qoloth} meaning thunderings can also mean sounds or voices.
Rather than the text speaking of a singular sound { qol}, it speaks of plural sounds or
voices - the crux of R. Johanons observation. So this ancient commentary provides great
insight into a pericope that has caused much controversy in the Christian world.
Christendom has much to learn from its older brother Judah.


Summary


In conclusion, the episode of Acts 2 is not only consistent with events in the Torah but also
with details found in Pharisaic and Rabbinic tradition. Certainly the Jews from every nation
that stood before the temple hearing fiery words, each in his own language, were familiar
with the story of the Torah being issued in seventy languages at Sinai.
GOD, who is a consuming fire, spoke Torah in seventy tongues and then destroyed about
3,000 idolaters before the mountain by the hands of the Levites. Fourteen-hundred years
later, He saved about 3,000 souls before the Temple wherein He spoke in each mans native
dialect by the twelve apostles using fiery tongues.
xii
And both events occurred on the
morning of Pentecost.
xiii
What begins as a possible correlation between the Pentecost of Acts
2 and the Sinai event is only solidified by the backdrop of Judaisms traditions. There is
much to glean from the written word, but one can only reach its fullest understanding by
seeking the rich history that Yeshua and Paul were brought up in Jewish tradition.

ix
See Genesis 11:1-9
x
The Hebrew term ADONAI { = my Lords} is a biblical title used instead of the name YHWH so as to keep
from profaning GODs holy name.
xi
See Ex 12:38, 49 & Nm 11:4
xii
Also compare Ex 24:3-8 with Acts 2:1-15 where in both accounts the people are all of one accord; the twelve pillars
and twelve apostles; the ratification of the covenant at Sinai and the Temple etc. Perhaps there is more to document
than Ive undertaken.
xiii
The giving of the Torah occurred in the morning - confer Ex 19:16 & Acts 2:15.