I was reading Acts chapter 2 the other day and I noticed this:
As Peter is giving his sermon at Pentecost, he shows Jesus’ Messiahship by going through some of the Hebrew Scriptures that were fullfilled in Christ’s death and resurrection. What I noticed is that when he shows that the coming of the Holy Spirit is fulfilling the prophet Joel, Peter throws in an extra phrase.
But Peter stood up with the eleven, raised his voice, and addressed them: “You men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, know this and listen carefully to what I say. In spite of what you think, these men are not drunk, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. But this is what was spoken about through the prophet Joel:
‘And in the last days it will be,’ God says,
‘that I will pour out my Spirit on all people,
and your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
and your young men will see visions,
and your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
And I will perform wonders in the sky above
and miraculous signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and clouds of smoke.
The sun will be changed to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.
And then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
It is easy to catch in the NET Bible, because “in the last days” is the only phrase of the quote that isn’t highlighted. If you go to Joel 2:28-32, you will find that Luke is directly quoting the prophet, except he is adding in the phrase “in the last days.” Is Luke simply misquoting Joel? Or maybe he is adding in this phrase to tell the reader something.
I’m not completley sure what Luke is doing here, but this is my stab at it.
Maybe Luke is showing that not only was the coming of the Holy Spirit spoken of by the prophet Joel, but that the coming of the Holy Spirit was part of YHWH’s awesome plan from the beginning. By adding the phrase “in the last days” to the quote, he could be making a textual connection to the eschatological King of the Torah- the king (the Messiah) that will come “in the last days” from the poems of the Torah (Gen 49, Dt 31, Num 24). My guess is that Luke is showing the reader that Jesus Christ is the King that will come “in the last days” that Moses spoke of, and that through his resurrection and sending of the Holy Spirit He has fulfilled Joel. In other words, Luke is showing the reader his interpretation of Joel which is this: the King that will come in the last days spoken of in the Torah is the same King that will bring God’s Spirit to Israel spoken of in the prophets. Jesus is that King, and He has fulilled both the Torah and the Prophets.
What do you guys think?
joewulf
cameronwyenberg
ryandavidtopper
dwyenberg
kjudd52
manscout
January 24, 2009 at 10:30 pm |
This isn’t anything Luke is doing – Joel does it, and Peter/Luke are simply putting the quote in it’s proper Joelian context. Their reference to “the last days” is simply a reference to the OT concept of “The day of YHWH”. As early as Joel 1:15, Joel notes that the judgments of desolation and locust in the opening verses are an indication that the “day of the Lord” is near, and that destruction is coming. If you follow this theme of the day of the Lord through the OT, you will find that this day is not only a time of war and judgment, but also a time of re-creation, new birth, and God appearing to his people. So that day will include the blessings in Joel 2.
The eschatological connections you note with Jesus as a fulfillment of the Law and the prophets is certainly something that Luke has already alluded to in his gospel, and Peter is simply reiterating the fact. Did he misquote – no more than any of the other writers of the NT (see Paul’s quote in Ephesians 4:8 (did he receive or give gifts), or in 5:14 (where exactly is this verse in the OT?). But then we think of quoting in a very exacting sense, and have an undercurrent of perjury charges and copyright infringement exacted on those who misquote. That exacting standard was completely foreign to the time. You’ll find that often the writers will summarize a section or a theme (this is what Paul is doing in Eph 5:14, and they will also quote their conclusions and their interpretations – what Paul is doing in Eph 4:8. So Peter/Luke is simply saying – “Remember, Joel spoke of the last days, and in those last days . . . ” Which is sobering if you think about it – because if the pouring out of the spirit is evidence that they are in the last days, then they are also under all the judgments that the OT appends to this time as well.
And then that suddenly gives a much richer field to play in when we find ourselves talking about speaking in tongues (something Paul raises in 1 Cor 14:21-22). But that’s a different topic – one that starts all the way back at Gen 1 when God speaks, and takes off in Gen 11 when he confuses their tongues at Babel.
January 27, 2009 at 10:43 pm |
Sweet! That helps alot. Would you say that Joel’s “last days” or “day of YHWH” is the same as Moses’ “last days”? Is Joel speaking further of the same “last days” or is this a completely new idea introduced in the Prophets?
February 16, 2009 at 10:51 am |
Great comment Gregg! I really enjoyed it too!