When did the Holy Spirit first give the gift of speaking known languages in Scripture?
Scripture first records this at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit filled the disciples and they began to speak with other tongues. Those tongues were known languages, understood by Jews gathered from many regions. This was the first manifestation of the Spirit giving men this gift of speaking languages outside their own education.
Les explains that Gentiles had nothing to do with Pentecost; it was Jewish. On the day of Pentecost, when it was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place, and a sound from heaven like a rushing mighty wind filled the house. Cloven tongues like fire sat upon each one, perhaps the twelve and maybe the whole hundred and twenty. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues. Those tongues were other languages, because Jews were present from all over the unknown world, many displaced from Israel for generations, coming from places like Babylon and Spain and speaking different languages. Les says the miracle of Pentecost was that God gave these apostles the gift to speak all the languages of the massive crowd before them. In verse 6 the people were confounded because every man heard them speak not in an unknown guttural noise but in a language they could understand. This is the first time in Scripture that the Holy Spirit is manifested giving men the gift of speaking known languages that were not intrinsic to their own education. Peter and most of the disciples were from Galilee, uneducated fishermen, yet suddenly they spoke the various languages evident on the day of Pentecost.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
More Questions
Who received the gift of tongues the first and second times it happened in Acts?
In Acts the tongue-speaking occurrences follow a pattern: the first time it happened to Jews in Acts 2, strictly to the Jew, and the second time it happened to a whole house of Gentiles.
What were the 'other tongues' spoken at Pentecost?
The 'other tongues' the disciples spoke at Pentecost were other real languages, not unknown speech.