Apostolic Friends Forum - Speculate: Why no tongues in the Old Testament?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam (Post 1035732)

In the Old Testament when the Holy Spirit came upon a person, the person prophesied as in:
Numbers 11:16-30 the 70 elders
1 Samuel 10:6-13; 19:20-24 Saul
1 Samuel 19:20-21 Saul's messengers
2 Samuel 23:2 David
1 Peter 1:11-12; 2 Peter 1:19-21 other prophets whose names are not given.

Why did they prophesy/nawbaw/bubble up in their own language in the Old Testament and in "other tongues" in the New? I don't know, unless because they were one people of one language under the Old Covenant and the New Covenant is for all people of all tongues and nations and the Spirit is to be poured out upon all flesh.

It may be mistaken to say that the prophecy of the OT prophets always "bubbled up in their own language." The OT narratives seem to describe prophetic frenzies in such a way that the writers of the OT appear to assume that the readers are already familiar with the spectacle. Thus, we don't have a detailed account of "tongues and interpretations," but we do have accounts that mirror similar scenes in other cultures (1 Samuel 10, 1 Samuel 19, and etc).

Throughout the Ancient Mediterranean, Mesopotamia and Egypt, there are numerous accounts of prophets and oracles speaking in "languages" that no one but the priests could interpret. One example involves what is perhaps the most famous prophesy outside of the Bible - given in about 480 BC.

The Athenian military leader, Themistocles, asked the prophetic oracle at Delphi how to save the city of Athens from the Persians.

"O Apollo! How may we save Athens from the wrath of Xerxes?"

The "oracle" was a prophetess who would breath deeply the fumes from the volcanic vent at Delphi and enter into a trance like state. She would then answer the question put to her in a language that many observers described as being "hissing" (The sacred site of Delphi was "protected" by a huge serpent and had a lot of serpentine motifs). Upon payment of the negotiated sum, the priest responded back to the Athenians:

"Fly to the ends of the earth; for nothing can now save your city. Yet when all is lost, a wooden wall shall shelter the Athenians."

The "wooden walls," of course, turned out to be the ships of the Athenian navy. Unable to stop Xerxes on land, the Athenians abandoned their city and were transported by the "wooden walls" of the navy to safety on the island of Salamis. The navy then turned and destroyed the Persian navy. Without a navy to resupply his huge army, Xerxes was forced to evacuate Greece. Athens and all of Greece were saved by the "wooden walls" spoken of in the "tongues and interpretation" earlier at Delphi.

See: http://tinyurl.com/4rxam23 (link goes to a book at Google Books).

Another famous scene was described by the Egyptian official, Wen-Amon, who had been sent by Pharaoh to purchase cedars at Byblos in modern day Lebanon. After being robbed and swindled of his money, Wen-Amon asked the king of Byblos for justice. The king in turn asked his prophets what they should do.

In a scene rather reminiscent of 1 Samuel 10, and 1 Samuel 19, and not quite illustrating the enthusiasm of the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18, the prophets go through an elaborate demonstration of their spiritual sensitivities and speak in languages unknown to Wen-Amon and even the king. In the end, Wen-Amon has to go home and plead poverty to Pharaoh. The prophets were only able to clear the king of any responsibility in the robbery of Pharaoh's funds.

See: http://tinyurl.com/4pwn727 (Another book at Google Books).

Given the similarities between the activities of the "pagan" prophets and the prophets of Yahweh in OT times and the proliferation of "tongues and interpretation" throughout the region, it would be both hasty and naive to assume that the prophets of Yahweh did not "speak in tongues."

Another point comes from the NT era: The Day of Pentecost. No one questioned what was going on. They had all seen such displays before. On Pentecost they asked, "What does this mean?"

Some in the crowd who had no doubt witnessed the Bacchanalian rites of the Hellenistic peoples associated the "speaking in tongues" with those types of activities and accused the apostles of being "drunk." They knew a "Prophetic" demonstration when they saw one, but they struggled at first to understand this particular demonstration.

The whole experience of "speaking in tongues" is a very ancient and a very human experience. Many scholars in the past had dismissed the accounts in Acts as being something fabricated entirely out of whole cloth by the "simple minded" authors of the NT. Subsequent research has revealed that there is much more at work here and modern scholars now accept the accounts of "speaking in tongues" in the NT as being part of a broader tapestry of human experience and as being something very valid, if not entirely divine.