Some of the History of tongues in the Bible and it's connection to the nation of Israel.
GENESIS 11 In this important chapter describing the judgment upon Babel, tongues are mentioned for the very first time. Prior to Genesis 11 tongues (plural) did not exist! There was only one tongue throughout the inhabited earth: "And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech" (Genesis 11:1). Foreign tongues made their first historical appearance in Genesis 11. God has a message for the people. Following the great Genesis flood, God gave this simple command to Noah and his sons: "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth" (Genesis 9:1; cf. Genesis 9:7) How would the descendants of Noah respond to this divine command? The people refuse to listen to God. Instead of filling the earth as God had said, the people refused to obey. In their opposition to God’s Word and God’s will, they decided to build a huge tower and make a name for themselves, "Lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth" (Genesis 11:4). God causes tongues to be heard as a sign of judgment. For the first time in history foreign tongues were spoken: "Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech" (Genesis 11:7). God’s judgment fell upon a disobedient and godless people. Dispersion followed. "So the Lord scattered them abroad from there upon the face of all the earth" (Genesis 11:8). DEUTERONOMY 28 The Lord communicated His will to the nation Israel by giving the people His holy law. God set before them a blessing and a curse: a blessing if they would obey the commandments of the Lord, and a curse if they would disobey (Deuteronomy 11:26-28). The blessings and the curses that would come upon the nation are clearly enumerated in Deuteronomy 28. God has a message for the people. And it shall come to pass if thou shalt hearken dilligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth; And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God" (Deuteronomy 28:1). The people refuse to listen to God. But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee (Deuteronomy 28:15). God causes tongues to be heard as a sign of judgment. One of the curses which the Lord promised to bring upon His disobedient people was the terrible invasion of a conquering nation. As the foreigners would approach, Israel would hear the strange tongues of the enemy: The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand (Deuteronomy 28:49). Dispersion follows. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. And among these nations shalt thou find no case, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind (Deuteronomy 28:64-65). JEREMIAH 5 God has a message for the people. Through the Prophet Jeremiah, the Lord pleaded with His people Israel that they might turn from their evil ways and return to the Lord their God: "If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto Me" (Jeremiah 4:1; cf. Matthew 11:28). God would have done so much if they had simply turned to Him (Psalm 81:8-16)! The people refuse to listen to God. O LORD, are not Thine eyes upon the truth? Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; Thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return (Jeremiah 5:3). God causes tongues to be heard as a sign of judgment. When a people refuse to come to God, judgment must inevitably follow. The forbearance and long-suffering of God must someday come to an end. If Israel would not respond to Jeremiah’s warnings, then God would speak to the nation in a way they would never forget. Though they could not understand the strange tongues of their invaders, the message of their swords would be long remembered: Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, 0 house of Israel, saith the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say (Jeremiah 5:15). Dispersion follows. And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken Me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours (Jeremiah 5:19). For Israel, to be in the promised land was a sign of God’s blessing. To be out of the land, scattered and persecuted, was a sure indication that they were under God’s curse. ISAIAH 28 In his important discussion concerning the purpose of the gift of tongues (1 Corinthians 14:21-22), the Apostle Paul cites Isaiah 28:11-12 as evidence that tongues was given as a sign "to them that believe not." A proper understanding of this important Old Testament passage is crucial in determining the Biblical purpose of tongues. In Isaiah 28:9-10 ungodly Jews were apparently mocking the message of God’s prophet, Isaiah. They were expressing their indignation at Isaiah’s infantile teaching methods! They questioned, "Does he take us grave and revered seigniors, priests, and prophets, to be babies just weaned, that he pesters us with these monotonous petty preachings, fit only for the nursery, which he calls his "message"?" [Alexander Maclaren, The Book of Isaiah: Chapters 1-48 (6th ed.; London: Hodder and Stoughton, n.d.), p. 478.] Isaiah’s message was clear and simple and even monotonous! Line upon line, line upon line . . . Sin brings judgment, sin brings judgment . . .Turn to God, turn to God . . . Isaiah used the Chinese water-torture technique of teaching: drop, drop, drop . . . sin, sin, sin . . . judgment, judgment, judgment . . . repent, repent, repent. . . . So it is not a surprise that his hearers began to say, "Who do you think we are, Isaiah? Babies? To whom do you think you are lecturing? Your repetitious preaching is fit for infants: "Sav lasav sav lasav, kav lakav kav lakav, ze’er sham ze’er sham" (see NASV marginal note). These unbelieving Jews rejected God’s message, they rejected God’s messenger, and they rejected the teaching methods of God’s messenger’s. The Lord responded to their unbelieving scoffing by imitating their mockery and setting forth the unintelligible language of a foreign conqueror (verse 11). God first spoke to them through Isaiah’s clear and simple message. Now He will speak in judgment to them through a foreign tongue. He will speak to them with stammering lips and another (different, strange, foreign) tongue (cf. Acts 2:4 and 1 Corinthians 14:21--"other tongues"). These people closed their ears and refused the proclamation of a heavenly message. God then became, as it were, a barbarian to these people. The Assyrian tongue, which soon surrounded the Israelites, must have sounded to them like the lisping of children. It was a much less cultivated language than Hebrew, and had only the three basic vowels: a, i, and u. Because they would not hear words of comfort in their own language, they had to hear the enemy’s harsh sounds. [John Peter Lange, Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Isaiah, trans. and ed. by Philip Schaff (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, n.d.), p. 306.] God graciously would have given the people the rest that is found in Himself (cf. Matthew 11:28; Isaiah 30:15-17; Psalm 81:8-16), but they refused to listen. God’s wonderful promise of comfort and rest was tragically rejected. The Israelites were sick and tired of Isaiah’s repetitive assertions that sin was rampant, judgment was coming, and a return to God was the only answer. Finally, in verses 11-13 Isaiah tells these mockers that God will indeed speak to this people. This time His message will not come through Isaiah, but through a foreign tongue. When the enemy would enter their borders, killing many, and taking others captive, they would begin to get the message! Once again the terrible pattern is repeated: God has a message for the people. To whom He said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing (Isaiah 28:12). The people refuse to listen to God. Yet they would not hear (Isaiah 28:12). God causes tongues to be heard as a sign of judgment. For with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people (Isaiah 28:11). Dispersion follows. That they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken (Isaiah 28:13). ISAIAH 33 To the nation Israel, foreign tongues was a sign of God’s judgment and curse upon them. Likewise, the absence of foreign tongues is a sign that the nation is under the blessing of God. In Isaiah 33:17 Israel is given a wonderful promise concerning the future millennial kingdom: "Thine eyes shall see the king in His beauty." Certainly, during the kingdom age, Israel will enjoy God’s richest blessings! No longer will they be under God’s curse. Never again will they be invaded by foreign nations. They will dwell safely and securely in the land of promise, protected by the King Himself. Thus, the absence of foreign tongues will be a sign of God’s abundant blessing upon the nation: You will no longer see a fierce people, a people of unintelligible speech which no one comprehends, of a stammering tongue which no one understands" (Isaiah 33:19 NASV). THE PATTERN REPEATED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT Those who fail to learn from the lessons of history are bound to repeat its mistakes. The Assyrian and Babylonian captivities should have taught Israel a lesson. On the pages of the New Testament, however, the same disastrous pattern emerges. God has a message for the people. Come unto Me. . . and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28; cf. Jeremiah 4:1; Isaiah 28:12). The people refuse to listen to God. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathered her chickens under her wings, and ye would not [you were not willing, you refused] (Matthew 23:37). God causes tongues to be heard as a sign of judgment. The Lord Jesus predicted the terrible judgment that would come upon the nation which had refused God and rejected His Messiah: Behold, your house is left unto you desolate . . . Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down (Matthew 23:38; 24:2). The destruction of Jerusalem took place in 70 A.D. as the city was invaded by the Roman armies, led by General Titus. For the next two thousand years the living God would not dwell in a temple made with hands, but He would dwell in a unique body of believers, and in each member in particular (1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 6:19). God’s program was shifting from Israel to the Church. Years earlier God had caused foreign tongues to be spoken and heard as a judgmental sign to the nation Israel (Acts 2; 10; 19, etc.). For those Jews who were familiar with their Old Testament, the sounds of foreign tongues gave no cause for rejoicing! Tongues were a sign of God’s curse, not of God’s blessing. Tongues signified a coming invasion, and conveyed an ominous message of rebellion, judgment, and dispersion. When God spoke in tongues, the Jews understood the message (Isaiah 28:11; 1 Corinthians 14:21). The gift of tongues was a sign-gift, given to an unbelieving, Christ-rejecting nation: "Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not" (1 Corinthians 14:22). Dispersion follows. The nation Israel has been scattered throughout the world for nearly two thousand years! They have been out of the land, severely persecuted, and God’s curse has been upon them: "His blood be on us, and on our children" (Matthew 27:25). Although a small remnant has returned to the land, the nation is still without a temple and there is no rest or peace in the land. The destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 A.D. was something from which the nation of Israel has never recovered!
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