Acts 2:1

And when the day of Pentecost was now come, they were all together in one place.

'PENTECOST'-4005. pentekoste pen-tay-kos-tay'; feminine of the ord. of 4004; fiftieth (2250 being implied) from Passover, i.e. the festival of "Pentecost": -Pentecost.

In the O.T. this Jewish feast is called: (a) The Feast of Harvest (Exodus 2:16); (b) The Feast of the First-Fruits (Leviticus 23:17); (c) The Feast of Weeks (Exodus 2:22). 'But after the Greek language became known in Palestine, in consequence of Alexander's conquest..it acquired the name Pentecost (a Greek word signifying the fiftieth part of. thing, or the fiftieth in order), because it was the fiftieth day after the Passover Sabbath.' (Reese p. 43)

Points to Note:

'This feast was. kind of thanksgiving day,. feast of thanksgiving to God for the bountiful crops that were just beginning to be harvested ("first fruits")...It was celebrated...by the special service of offering the first-fruits of the wheat harvest in the form of two loaves of bread (Leviticus 23:15; Numbers 2:26).' (Reese p. 43)

Among commentators there is some disagreement concerning upon what day of the week this day fell in New Testament times.

Bruce notes, 'i.e. the fifth day from the first Sunday after Passover (Leviticus 23:15)..This was the reckoning of the Sadducean party in the first century A.D. In the phrase "the morrow after the sabbath" (Leviticus 23:15) they interpreted the sabbath as the weekly sabbath. While the temple stood, their interpretation would be normative for the public celebration of the festival; Christian tradition is therefore right in fixing the anniversary of the descent of the Spirit on. Sunday. (The 'fifty days' of Leviticus 23:15 are to be reckoned inclusively.) The Pharisees, however, interpreted the "sabbath" of Leviticus 23:15 as the festival day of unleavened bread itself...in that case Pentecost would always fall on the same day of the month...but not on the same day of the week...It was the Pharisaic reckoning that became normative in Judaism after A.D. 70..' (p. 53)

McGarvey makes. good point when he makes the following observation on Leviticus 23:15. 'This language is not easily misunderstood; for if even in the first clause, the word "from the morrow after the sabbath" could be construed as meaning from the morrow after the first day of unleavened bread, the latter part of the sentence precludes such. construction; for the count was to be "unto the morrow after the seventh SABBATH" (Acts 23:16), and the word sabbath here unquestionably means. weekly sabbath.' (pp. 19-20)

In later Judaism, Pentecost came to be reckoned as the anniversary of the giving of the Law at Sinai..'There is no evidence that Jews in N.T. (or O.T.) times looked on Pentecost as the anniversary of the giving of the Law.' (Reese p. 43)

'HAD COME'-'in process of fulfillment' (Vincent. 448); 'While the Day of Pentecost was running its course' (NEB).

'THEY WERE ALL TOGETHER IN ONE PLACE'-

Point to Note:

Various Charismatic groups try to argue that the "they" of Acts 2:1 includes the 120 mentioned in Acts 1:15. They argue this because it is their contention that every Christian receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In response: (a) 'the grammatical construction of Acts 1:26 and Acts 2:1 points only to the apostles as the recipients of the baptism with the Holy Spirit.' (Reese p. 46). The "they" of Acts 2:1 naturally refers back to the 12 apostles (the last group mentioned) in Acts 1:26. (b) The only men speaking by inspiration upon this day will be the 12 apostles (Acts 2:14). (c) The crowd addressed their question to the apostles--inferring, they were the only ones manifesting that the Spirit had come upon them (Acts 2:37). (d) Only the apostles are working miracles (Acts 2:43; Acts 3:1-6; Acts 4:33; Acts 5:12); until they lay their hands on others (Acts 6:6; Acts 6:8). (e) The assumption that every Christian was baptized in the Holy Spirit, is. false assumption to begin with (Acts 8:12; Acts 11:15; 1 Corinthians 12:28).