The Pentateuch’s prophets and Moses predicted the outpouring of the Holy Spirit

Photo credit: KUL Heschel Center

In the Pentateuch, the Holy Spirit gifts were the privilege of a limited number of chosen individuals. Yet, the hope was expressed – by Moses himself as well as by later prophets – that in the end of days all will receive the Spirit. the Book of Acts embraces those Jewish ideas of broader circulation, but differs from them in its belief that this new era has already started, with the new revelation, if you wish, a new Sinai, proclaiming – with the power of Spirit – Jesus’ resurrection and messiahship”, writes Prof. Serge Ruzer, lecturer at the Department of Comparative Religious Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and researcher at the Center for Christian Studies at the same university.

„In the times of the earliest Christianity, the idea that the days of redemption would witness the outpouring of the Spirit seems to have been widely spread among the Jews. This is reflected both in the Qumranic Rule of the Community and in the Mishnah, where the reception of the holy Spirit directly precedes general resurrection in the redemption scenario,” Prof. Ruzer emphasizes and adds that in the Acts of the Apostles there is also another motif of the last days – the assembly of exiles. „In its fascinating modification, however, the pilgrims are to go back and bring the Jesus-centered message to all the diasporas,” he adds.

In the biblical tradition, the gift of the Holy Spirit has two main functions: prophecy and „cleansing people’s hearts and thus enabling them to righteously follow God’s will”. The Acts of the Apostles, like the rule of community life of Qumran, combine these two ideas. „Paul in his epistles would gradually shift the emphasis from prophetic and/or ecstatic phenomena like in Joel, to Ezekiel’s cleansing effect of the Spirit — that finally grants the ability to love God and to fulfill his great commandment from Leviticus 19 of loving your neighbor as yourself,”  emphasizes Prof. Serge Ruzer in his commentary on the Gospel.

 

We publish the full commentary on the Gospel of Pentecost:

The Book of Acts tells that the apostles and others gathered to celebrate Pentecost or Shavuot (Weeks) – a core Jewish holiday occurring seven weeks after the Passover. By the 1^st century CE, this feast, originally with a primarily agricultural meaning, became associated with the gift of the Torah at Mt Sinai. In rabbinic tradition, the Sinai revelation was portrayed as delivered in a number of languages – to be potentially comprehensible for various peoples – and as accompanied by heavenly fire. The event described in Acts seems to be in dialogue with those broader Jewish ideas. The most fascinating link to Sinai is, however, the gift of the Spirit.

In the Pentateuch, Moses was endowed with the Spirit of prophecy, and a modicum of that Spirit was also granted some other leaders of the people, but it remained – also in the times of biblical prophets – the privilege of a limited number of chosen individuals. Yet, the hope was expressed – by Moses himself as well as by later prophets – that in the end of days all will receive the Spirit. In the times of the earliest Christianity, the idea that the days of redemption would witness the outpouring of the Spirit seems to have been widely spread among the Jews. This is reflected both in the Qumranic Rule of the Community and in the Mishnah, where the reception of the holy Spirit directly precedes general resurrection in the redemption scenario. Thus the Book of Acts embraces those Jewish ideas of broader circulation, but differs from them in its belief that this new era has already started, with the new revelation, if you wish, a new Sinai, proclaiming – with the power of Spirit – Jesus’ resurrection and messiahship.

Another motif reflecting Jewish perceptions of the end-of-days redemption featuring here in the Book Of Acts is the ingathering of exiles. In its fascinating modification, however, the pilgrims are to go back and bring the Jesus-centered message to all the diasporas. The Pentecost ingathering includes Jews only (and converts to Judaism). The presence of converts, more exactly the presence of non-Jews attracted to Judaism, is important here: further on in the Book of Acts, we will read of such people attending Sabbath services in the Diaspora synagogues, where they encountered Paul’s preaching and became Jesus’ followers.

In biblical tradition, two main functions are attributed to the end-of-days gift of the holy Spirit.  In Joel, quoted in the Pentecost episode in Acts, it is the restoration of prophecy, the outburst of  which will be given to the whole community. In Ezekiel, it is the Spirit as cleansing people’s hearts and thus enabling them to righteously follow God’s will. The second idea features prominently elsewhere in the Book of Acts, so the book aspires to combine them both as distinguishing the life of Jesus’ followers. Similar combination appears in the Qumranic community rule, which I have already mentioned. But the contents of the end of days prophecy are different there.

Aware of the postponement of the final redemption, Paul in his epistles would gradually shift the emphasis from prophetic and/or ecstatic phenomena like in Joel, to Ezekiel’s cleansing effect of the Spirit — that finally grants the ability to love God and to fulfill his great commandment from Leviticus 19 of loving your neighbor as yourself.

 

About Author:

Serge Ruzer obtained his PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1996, eventually becoming an Associate Professor at the Department of Comparative Religion and a Research Fellow at the Center for the Study o Christianity of that University. His research and publications pertain mostly to the Jewish background to nascent Christianity and early Syriac literature.

 

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