Speculate: Why no tongues in the Old Testament?
 

So why no tongues in the Old Testament? well... unless you count Balaam's ass as being tongues.

Re: Speculate: Why no tongues in the Old Testament
 

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.

Re: Speculate: Why no tongues in the Old Testament
 

Didn't they get the Holy Ghost at the tower of Babel? :heeheehee

Been Thinkin

Re: Speculate: Why no tongues in the Old Testament
 

OT and Tongues is cessationists favorite argument. Particularly, dissecting what Paul meant in his citation of Isaiah 28 in 1 Cor 14.

Re: Speculate: Why no tongues in the Old Testament
 

At the tower of Babel the people were scattered because of their languages. At Pentecost, the people were brought together because of their languages. Everything lost in the Old Testament is restored in the New. Read the first two and last two chapters of the Bible.

Re: Speculate: Why no tongues in the Old Testament
 

The Holy Ghost had not yet been poured out! With the outpouring of the Spirit (Promise
of The Father) came the language of the Spirit. HE was not of this world. Unless you connect
with the Spirit, you will never really know who JESUS was/is!
1 Cor. 12:3

Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

Falla39

Re: Speculate: Why no tongues in the Old Testament
 

How can you have a relationship with someone unless you both speak the
same language. Who are we talking to when we speak in an unknown tongue.
And what is being said. The Spirit within us is communing with the Father.
The Spirit which knows the Will of the Father, intercedes for us. And I feel
sure the Father knows what is being said. His native tongue?

Falla39

Re: Speculate: Why no tongues in the Old Testament
 

For those who do not believe you need to speak in tongues, how are you going to talk to your Father! Or do you expect Him to speak your earthly language. How are you going to talk (connect) with your loved one if you can't communicate due to language barriers!

Heb.11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Falla39

Re: Speculate: Why no tongues in the Old Testament
 

I think this is close. It must mean something, fulfillment of prophecy about languages (Isa 28). But that doesn't answer why tongues became a continual practice in the Church and for believers in prayer.

Re: Speculate: Why no tongues in the Old Testament
 

Faulty logic, FALLA. Whether tongues is or is not the initial evidence aside, God speaks to me in English. He knows and understands all languages.

Re: Speculate: Why no tongues in the Old Testament
 

Houston,

A Supernatural God does Supernatural things! He speaks to and through mankind in
a Supernatural means!
My natural parents taught me English. My heavenly Father speaks in and through me
through the language of the Spirit. I pray in the Spirit most, if not every day. My Father
in Heaven gives the utterance.

Falla39

Re: Speculate: Why no tongues in the Old Testament
 

I like Sam's answer.

I dislike the tower of babel reference because what was lost at the tower of babel was one unified langauge. What was restored in tongues wasn't one unified langauge.

Re: Speculate: Why no tongues in the Old Testament
 

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.