At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers. (Acts 2:5-6)
I have seen this look of bewilderment in regards to someone speaking a language who is obviously a foreigner. Recently, I was back in the islands of the South Pacific where we lived for many years in Bible translation work. In fact, it was well over a generation ago that we landed and began acquiring the language. I was standing next to two men who were having a conversation, with the inquiry starting about who was this fellow (me) and why was I there. One of the men obviously did not know me, though the other did, and I butted into the conversation to offer the reason that I had been there for that week. I made my conversational contribution in the local language. The immediate physical response of the man who did not know me was to drop his mouth wide open while his eyes enlarged. (Yes, a priceless, instantaneous photo opportunity lost to history.) He was literally speechless. “Who is this, and how did he learn our language?!”
I learned it the old-fashioned way: years living among the people, engaging in thousands of extemporaneous, life-situational conversations. From the man’s response, obviously I was communicating! Not only communicating conversationally in the language, but communicating to them that this unknown outsider was a speaker of their language. Because he was not aware of my existence, this demonstration of language ability was an undeniable shock.
One thing that’s interesting about this glimpse into history is that we can’t pinpoint the reference of “the loud noise” (verse 5) that the observers heard which caused them to all run together. Maybe the wind inside the house? (That is a first-glance, reasonable thought.) Unless the fire was crackling, it was probably not the tongues of fire on the heads. And we aren’t told that the chorus of languages was akin to a loud noise, but maybe so, and as I read the passage in its context, I think that’s the most likely explanation. Whatever it was, this loud noise got the attention and brought the folks outside the prayer meeting running to see what was happening. It’s also interesting that they didn’t stroll over, but ran over. There was a drop-everything-let’s-go-see response.
When they arrived, these observers were completely amazed at what they heard. They were bewildered. Sort of like the man whose spontaneous response towards me was open mouth and enlarging eyes. This was so because we learn a few verses later that the ones who ran up on this commotion were from north, south, east, and west of Jerusalem. They weren’t from around there. But the ones doing the speaking were. Incredibly, their language ability was so significant, so extraordinary, so compelling, so external to that of ordinary, ‘normal’ Galileans, that the bewildered ones were left seeking an answer: “What’s going on here?!”
Soon they will find out.
“Father, thank you for using this extraordinary gift of language to draw people to yourself!”
Freddy Boswell 