Other Tongues and a Famine of the Word

“For eye,” it says, “has not known, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Then he shows what kind of affliction will come upon them first: “through contempt of lips,” he says, “and through another tongue” (Isaiah 28:11).

This is the meaning of the prophecy. In the Acts of the holy apostles it is written that “on the day of Pentecost they were all gathered together in one place, and behold, there came from heaven a sound as of a mighty wind rushing” (Acts 2:1-2). Then it says: “There appeared to them tongues dividing, as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them, and they began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:3-4).

For Christ had commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, until they should be clothed with power from on high (Acts 1:4; Luke 24:49). Then they went down and spoke to those of Israel, and to all who had come from other countries, in the tongues given them by God; “and those who heard were amazed, and indeed said: Look, are not all these who are speaking Jews? And how do we each hear them speaking in our own tongue? But others said,” it says, “They are full of new wine” (Acts 2:7-8, 13), that is, they are drunk.

This, I think, is the “through contempt of lips, through another tongue.” For they spoke in other tongues, and the God who can do all things had foretold this too: “In other tongues,” he says, “and with the lips of others I will speak to this people, and not even so will they believe” (1 Corinthians 14:21). They ought to have accepted the sign as full proof, bearing in mind the prediction God had made about it. This they did not do; instead they mocked the apostles as drunk and remained in disobedience.

“For they will speak to this people, saying to it: This is the rest for the one who drinks, and this is the ruin; and they would not hear” (Isaiah 28:12).

God once said, angered at the madness of the Jews: “Behold, I am bringing a famine upon the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. And from the east to the west they will run about seeking the word of the Lord, and they will not find it” (Amos 8:11-12).

So a spiritual famine has been brought upon those of Israel. Since they did not receive through faith the bread of life that came down from heaven and gives life to the world (John 6:33), they have quite fittingly come to lack the food that God gives: “For man shall not live by bread alone,” it says, “but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3).

They behaved outrageously toward the Savior and Redeemer of all; yet because He is good, He called Israel to repentance, though it had been impious beyond bearing…