Why was the crowd confounded at Pentecost?
The crowd was confounded because each person heard the apostles speaking in his own known language rather than an unknown guttural noise. The Galilean disciples, uneducated fishermen, were suddenly speaking the various languages represented among the Jews gathered from Babylon, Spain, and elsewhere.
Les explains that Pentecost was Jewish, not Gentile. The believers were in one place when a sound like a rushing mighty wind filled the house, and tongues resembling little flames of fire sat upon each one. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues—meaning other languages. Jews had come from all over the unknown world, many displaced from Israel for generations, from places like Babylon and Spain, speaking different languages. The miracle was that God gave the apostles the gift to speak all the languages of the massive crowd before them. So when the crowd heard them, they were confounded because every man heard them speak, not in an unknown guttural noise, but in a language he could understand. This was the first time in Scripture that the Holy Spirit manifested this gift of speaking known languages not intrinsic to the speakers’ own education. Peter and most of the disciples were from Galilee, uneducated fishermen, yet suddenly they were speaking the various languages evident at Pentecost.
Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
More Questions
What really happened when the disciples spoke in tongues at Pentecost?
At Pentecost, the twelve disciples were speaking the languages of the Jewish pilgrims who had come from all over the empire, so each person could understand in his own language.
What were the believing Jews doing when the crowd gathered at Pentecost?
At Pentecost the believing Jews were speaking the languages of the Jewish pilgrims who had come in from every end of the empire.