Jewish+Geological+Dispersion

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Acts 2 is the beginning of the church: Pentecost. It is the coming of the Holy Spirit to Jewish and Gentile nations and bringing them together because they are the one through Jesus Christ. Because of the Babylonian Exile, the Jews were dispersed all over Asia Minor, Europe and the world. With the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the Jews from the Dispersion were brought together again, this time including Gentiles. In Acts 2:9-11, Luke lists the people and countries the Jews were coming from: “Parithians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians.” Like just about everything in the Bible, each people and country was not named in random order. Luke purposefully named the countries as it moved geographically from east to west, north to south. It is also no coincidence that Luke concludes with the naming of the countries in Rome.

The list of countries was written in a specific order. It had been thought earlier that the countries were written based on an astrological geography. However, it has since been proven impossible. It was then concluded that the closest analogy to Luke’s list is based upon the distribution of the Jews throughout the world.[|[1]] The list moves from east to west, except for the Parthians, which start the first pair, and Romans, which start the last pair, as they are important powers of the east and west.[|[2]] It starts with the Parthians and Medes, and those who are in Mesopotamia. It is interesting to start with this because not only are these peoples the farthest east and north, but they are also in the lands of the earliest part of the dispersion, where the exiles from the ten northern tribes of Israel had been sent by the Assyrians.[|[3]] The next countries mentioned are Judea and Cappadocia. There have been many questions about the reference to “Judea.” When “Judea” is mentioned, it should probably be thought of from its widest sense, which includes the land directly and indirectly controlled by the Judean kings David and Solomon.[|[4]] Because Syria plays such a big role in the book of Acts because of the church in Antioch, it has been questioned why it wasn’t mentioned; however, since “Judea” includes all of that land, Syria would be included in that.[|[5]] The next group of countries mentioned after that are Pontus, Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia. There is plenty of evidence of large Jewish communities in those areas of Asia Minor. Jewish inscriptions from that time period have been found in the Crimea.[|[6]] Egypt and parts of Libya are next. This was another section that was very populated by the Diaspora. Jews had been living in Egypt since the 6th century B.C.[|[7]] The last group of people mentioned were visitors from Rome, Cretans and Arabians. This part of the list includes regions scattered all over the eastern half of the Augustan Empire, and included both Jews and proselytes.[|[8]] The term “proselyte” means one who converted from paganism to Judaism.[|[9]] Rome is the only contingent from the European mainland that is mentioned in Luke’s list.[|[10]]

The saying “All roads lead to Rome” may not always be true, but it is in the case of Luke’s list of countries. Rome is a dominating nation. Luke is interested in Rome because it is the goal to where the book of Acts is leading.[|[11]] The fact that it is in the last group is important because it is where Acts will end. There was an estimated forty to sixty thousand Jews in Rome out of about one million citizens in the city. That is a very large number compared to ancient standards.[|[12]] It could be the origins of the Roman church, since it is relatively obscure of the beginnings.[|[13]] There was a lot of Jewish activity in Rome. There was a Jewish colony in Rome since the second century B.C. They were brought there from Palestine in 62 B.C. There are references to at least seven Jewish synagogues in Rome.[|[14]] As it is shown, Rome is a huge point of interest to Luke, especially since that is where Paul’s journey ends in the book of Acts.

The Jewish Diaspora is a very big event in Jewish history. The fact that even throughout the many years that the Jewish people were separated and yet they were still able to keep their traditions and religion alive is spectacular. At the coming of the Holy Spirit as the start of the Church, Luke showed that the Church not only included the Jews from all over the world, but also the Gentiles. Luke’s groups of the countries were written in precise order from east to west, north to south. In writing it this way, it highlights the ever important Rome.

Bibliography

Barrett, C.K. //A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles:// New York, NY: T & T Clark International, 2004. Bock, Darrell L. //Acts//: Grand Rapid, MI: Baker Academic, 2007. Bruce, F. F. //Commentary on the Book of Acts:// Grand Rapids, MI: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1973. Johnson, Luke Timothy. //The Acts of the Apostles//: Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1992. Yeager, Randolph O. //The Renaissance New Testament://Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Company, 1982.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13px;">[|[1]] C.K. Barrett, //A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles// (New York: T & T Clark International, 2004), 121-122. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13px;">[|[2]] Darrell Bock, //Acts// (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13px;">[|[3]] F. F. Bruce, //Commentary on the Book of Acts// (Grand Rapids: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1973), 61. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13px;">[|[4]] Ibid, 62. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13px;">[|[5]] Darrell Bock, //Acts// (Grand Rapids: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1973). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13px;">[|[6]] F. F. Bruce, //Commentary on the Book of Acts// (Grand Rapids: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1973), 62. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13px;">[|[7]] Ibid, 62. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13px;">[|[8]] Randolph O. Yeager, //The Renaissance New Testament// (Gretna: Pelican Publishing Company, 1982), 146. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13px;">[|[9]] Luke Timothy Johnson, //The Acts of the Apostles// (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1992), 44. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13px;">[|[10]] F. F. Bruce, //Commentary on the Book of Acts// (Grand Rapids: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1973), 63. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13px;">[|[11]] Ibid, 63. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13px;">[|[12]] Darrell Bock, //Acts// (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13px;">[|[13]] F. F. Bruce, //Commentary on the Book of Acts// (Grand Rapids: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1973), 63. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13px;">[|[14]] Ibid, 63.

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