Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

PENTECOST

The Greek name (meaning “50th”) for the Israelite Feast of Weeks which celebrated the spring harvest. This feast took place 50 days after the offering of the sheaf of firstfruits at the time of Passover and Unleavened Bread (cf. Lev. 23:9-14). In later Judaism, the festival became associated with the giving of the law and the making of the covenant at Sinai. In Christian history, the day of Pentecost is associated specifically with the descent of the Spirit on the believing community in Jerusalem (Acts 2). At this time, the community began to proclaim the good news of God’s activity in the languages of all the nations of the world (Acts 2:1-13). Although the text of Acts fails to make any specific reference to Sinai or the Sinai covenant, it is probable that the writer of Acts understood the descent of the Spirit to mark the sacred beginning of the Christian community in a way that paralleled the sacred origin of the Israelite community at Sinai. As such, Pentecost functions as a celebration of the founding of the Christian community and the beginning of its evangelistic mission.

See Weeks, Feast of.

Bibliography. I. H. Marshall, “The Significance of Pentecost,” SJT 30 (1977): 347-69.

Frank H. Gorman, Jr.

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

PENTECOST

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)