Albert Barnes Commentary Acts 2:1

"And when the day of Pentecost was now come, they were all together in one place." — Acts 2:1 (ASV)

Acts CHAPTER 2

And when the day of Pentecost. The word Pentecost is a Greek word, signifying the fiftieth part of a thing, or the fiftieth in order.

Among the Jews, it was applied to one of their three great feasts, which began on the fiftieth day after the Passover. This feast was calculated from the sixteenth day of the month ABIB, or April—the second day of the Passover.

The paschal lamb was slain on the fourteenth of the month in the evening (Leviticus 23:5). On the fifteenth of the month was a holy convocation—the proper beginning of the feast. On the sixteenth was the offering of the first-fruits of the harvest, and from that day they were to count seven weeks (i.e., forty-nine days) to the feast called the feast of Pentecost, so that it occurred fifty days after the first day of the Passover. This feast was also called the feast of weeks because it followed a succession of weeks (Exodus 34:22; Numbers 28:26; Deuteronomy 16:10).

It was also a harvest festival and was accordingly called the feast of harvest. For this reason, two loaves made of new meal were offered on this occasion as first-fruits (Leviticus 23:17, 20; Numbers 28:27–31).

Was fully come. This means when the day had arrived. The word here simply means had come (Luke 1:57).

This detail—that the time of Pentecost had come, or fully arrived—is mentioned to explain the subsequent report of so many strangers and foreigners being present.

The promised influences of the Spirit were withheld until the greatest possible number of Jews could be present in Jerusalem at the same time. This provided an opportunity to preach the gospel to vast multitudes in the very place where the Lord Jesus was crucified. It also afforded an opportunity to send the gospel by them into distant parts of the earth.

They were all. This probably refers not only to the apostles but also to the one hundred and twenty mentioned in Acts 1:15.

With one accord . It is probable they had continued together until this time and had given themselves entirely to the practice of devotion.

In one place. Where this was cannot be known; commentators have been much divided in their conjectures about it.

Some have supposed it was in the upper room mentioned (Acts 1:13); others that it was a room in the temple; others that it was in a synagogue; and others that it was among the mixed multitude that assembled for devotion in the courts of the temple.

. Many have supposed that this took place on the first day of the week, that is, on the Christian Sabbath. However, there is a difficulty in establishing this.

There was probably a difference among the Jews themselves on this subject. The law said that they should count seven Sabbaths, that is, seven weeks, from the morrow after the Sabbath (Leviticus 23:15).

By this Sabbath, the Pharisees understood the second day of the Passover, on whatever day of the week it occurred, which was kept as a holy assembly and might be called a Sabbath. But the Karaite Jews (or those who insisted on a literal interpretation of the Scriptures) maintained that by the Sabbath here was meant the usual Sabbath, the seventh day of the week.

Consequently, with them, the day of Pentecost always occurred on the first day of the week. If the apostles adopted their views, the day had fully come on what is now the Christian Sabbath.

But if the views of the Pharisees were followed, and the Lord Jesus had, with them, kept the Passover on Thursday (as many have supposed), then the day of Pentecost would have occurred on the Jewish Sabbath, that is, on Saturday (Kuinoel; Lightfoot).

It is impossible to determine the truth on this subject, nor is it of much importance.

The day of Pentecost was also kept by the Jews as a festival to commemorate the giving of the law on Mount Sinai.