‘And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying, Behold, are not all these that speak Galileans? And how hear we, every man in our own language wherein we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia; and Judaea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and those of Asia; and Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and sojourners from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them speaking in our tongues the mighty works of God.'
Luke emphasises their astonishment, ‘they were all amazed and marvelled'. And the reason was that they heard these men declaring the mighty works of God, each of them in their own language, and we may presume with reasonably good accents. All the people present would speak Greek or Aramaic, and many would probably speak both, which seems to confirm that these ‘other tongues' in their native languages were intended as a sign rather than as a means of conveying knowledge. The declaring of ‘the mighty works of God' probably therefore indicates praise and worship rather than preaching. These ‘mighty works' may well have included reference to the wind and fire, as well as to Old Testament Scriptures connected with them. The actual informative preaching was to be done by Peter.
In order to bring home the marvel Luke lists many of the nationalities that were represented, followed by general descriptions. There are grammatical reasons for suggesting that we might list them as follows:
· Parthians, Medes, Elamites and dwellers in Mesopotamia.
· And Judaea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and those of Asia.
· And Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and resident aliens from Rome.
· And Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians.
Each of the first three sets ends with a description or descriptions commencing with the article and representing a generality of peoples. The last three sets begin with ‘te', distinguishing one from the other (otherwise where ‘and' appears it is kai). The four descriptions in the final set, which also begins with te, appear to be added on as a kind of postscript in order to explain both that these were all recognised ‘Jews' and in order to expand the descriptions overseas to the west and over the desert to the east. ‘Cretans and Arabians' certainly appear abruptly like a postscript. It would appear to be a comment intended to include all who were not already in the list. Some suggest that ‘Judaea' is intended to signify the province of Syria, including Syria and Palestine, with all speaking similar Aramaic. If so the first ten are all northerly, with Egypt and Libya southerly. Luke may well have known little about Arabia.
Parthians, Medes, Elamites and dwellers in Mesopotamia came from the north east, the Cappadocians through to the Pamphylians from the north and north west, the Egyptians and Libyans from the South, the Cretans from over the Great Sea, and the Arabians from due east across the Transjordanian desert. They also included some who were resident aliens in Rome. Luke probably saw these last as the initial sortie on Rome, which would eventually result in Paul's presence there. Possibly some of these returned to Rome to establish a church there. But their description as ‘resident aliens' emphasises their differing nationalities
‘The dwellers in Mesopotamia', ‘those of Asia', ‘the parts of Libya about Cyrene', and ‘the resident aliens from Rome' are thus all descriptions that could represent a multiplicity of languages, the point being that while Luke had identified specific peoples whom he had cause to know were present, presumably because during his enquiries he had ascertained the fact, he wanted it known that the number of languages spoken went well beyond that.
‘In Judaea' possibly included the whole Aramaic speaking province of Syria, thus indicating those in ‘home territory'. But in fact the vast majority of visitors at the feast would actually be Judaeans, and Luke may therefore simply be saying that they too were catered for in the fact that some of these Aramaic speaking Galileans, whose pronunciation of Aramaic was mocked at by Judaeans (the Galileans found difficulty with the gutturals which they themselves did not pronounce quite so heavily), were speaking refined Judaean (which would certainly come as a shock to the Judaeans). The specific reference to Cyrene may suggest that Luke had precise knowledge of some who were from thereabouts, possibly because they had become Christians and had given Luke some of his information (compare Simon of Cyrene - Luke 23:26 - whom Mark identifies as the father of Alexander and Rufus, thus suggesting they were well known in Christian circles). But it may instead be his way of referring to the multiplicity of tribal languages known to be spoken in northern Africa identified by reference to a well known northern African city.
He also mentions that there were both true-born Jews, and proselytes These last were converted Gentiles who had submitted to circumcision and had undergone a once-for-all ritual self-bathing in order to make themselves ‘clean' from their defilement resulting from living previously as Gentiles. Such proselytes could come from peoples of many languages. Whether the reference to Jews and proselytes is limited to the resident aliens from Rome is open to question. But more probably Luke is just being general in his designations and intending it to apply to all, and proselytes could come from any language background. The main point is that there were many languages being spoken and that all heard their own tongue being spoken by these unlearned Galileans, as they declared the mighty works of God under the inspiration of the Spirit. One of the points undoubtedly being pressed home by this was that their message was for the whole world, and especially for these hearers.
It must be considered as quite probable that all the disciples who were speaking in ‘other tongues' had often previously heard men praising God in those tongues within the Temple area, even if they had not understood them themselves, so that one of the explanations of the phenomenon may well be that the Holy Spirit drew on their subconscious memory to enable them to repeat openly such praises as they had often heard, precisely so as to emphasise the universality of the Gospel.