How did Israel respond to God speaking through foreign languages?
Israel did not hear the Lord. When God spoke through foreign languages, Moses wrote, "yet for all that they will not hear me, saith the Lord." Paul applies this to tongues as a sign to the Jew, indicating that even that sign did not produce the hearing God warned about.
Les teaches that Deuteronomy 28:49 warned Israel that a foreign nation with a tongue they could not understand would come from far and invade them. Whether Babylonians, Greeks, or Romans, the Jews would hear their language while being occupied. This was not an unknown tongue, but a foreign language they could not understand, and it was a warning to the nation. Paul refers back to this in 1 Corinthians 14:21: "with men of other languages, and other lips, I will speak unto this people, by occupying them, by taking tribute from them, by putting them under servitude." Yet for all that, Moses wrote, they will not hear me, saith the Lord. Verse 22 shows tongues were for a sign to the Jew. So Israel's response was refusal to hear the Lord, even through this sign.
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;
In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the LORD.
More Questions
What does the law say about God speaking to Israel through men of other languages?
The Deuteronomy passage Paul quotes says that with men of other languages and other lips the Lord will speak to this people, and yet for all that they will not hear Him.