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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Acts 2:5 - 2:5
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5. ἦσαν δὲ ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ. Probably, in addition to the visitors who had come to the feast, many religious Jews from foreign parts were permanent residents in Jerusalem, for it was to the Jew a thing much to be desired, that he might die and be buried near the Holy City. It is said (T. B. Kethuboth, 111 a), ‘Every one that is buried in the land of Israel is in as good case as if he were buried under the altar,’ and there are many other like expressions in the immediate context of this quotation. That among the crowd were some residents seems the more likely, because when they recognized the new tongues, some asked as though they were acquainted with the speakers, ‘Are not these men Galilæans?’
εὐλαβεῖς, devout. The word is used of the aged Simeon (Luk 2:25) and of the men who carried Stephen to his burial (Act 8:2). It is one of those Greek words which Christianity has taken hold of and dignified. In classical language its sense is merely = circumspect. The LXX. (according to some authorities) has it (Mic 7:2) of the good, godly, merciful man; other MSS. read εὐσεβὴς there.
ἀπὸ παντὸς ἔθνους. This expression is hyperbolic. We say from every part of the world, when we only mean from a great many parts. Cf. also Deu 2:25, ‘This day will I begin to put the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven.’ That the Jews were spread abroad very widely is seen from Josephus (B. J. II. 16, 4) where Herod Agrippa says ‘There is not a nation in the world which does not contain some of us’ (Jews). So Philo In Flaccum, § 7, says of them, τὰς πλείστας καὶ εὐδαιμονεστάτας τῶν ἐν Ευρώπῃ καὶ Ἀσίᾳ κατά τε νήσους καὶ ἠπείρους ἐκνέμονται.