…it’s only nine in the morning!!

This will be a quick little addendum to my Holy Ghost Drunk and Drunk in the Spirit articles.

I recently acquired my set of Adam Clarke commentaries. Wow. Immense breadth of knowledge and insight into the cultures of the times of the writtings in the bible. This is what has caused todays little contribution. I went to have my oil changed and my truck inspected and brought my commentary along with me to read while I waited. I wanted to see his mind on Acts chapter 2. Then my eye’s fell on his comments on verse 15, which I will quote in a moment. But when this hit me, I felt as though a huge revelation was given. Once again for my Reformed friends, I mean revelation in the sense of that which is already true being revealed to me when I had not previously known it, not “new truth” that is outside the scope of that which is already established biblically or contradictory to the nature of God revealed in scripture.

If you haven’t had any experience with charismatic nut cases who abuse scripture, you just haven’t lived! You don’t know what elevated blood pressure really feels like until you’ve heard one of them say:
“Well, the 120 from the upper room must have been acting drunk for everyone to say that they were.”

Now there’s a new excuse for ungodly behavior coming out of Bethel Church in Redding, CA. Of course it may have come from someone else who passed it on to them. Whatever…I have still heard that phrase quoted by the congregants and the pastors before. It goes something like this:

“Notice that Peter didn’t say they weren’t drunk. He just said they aren’t drunk the way you think they are.” I’ve heard him say this many times, and it was posted on their website a while back in a foolish article called, “Drunk People do Crazy Things” or something like that.
This is how they interpret Peters statement, “these are not drunk, as you suppose….”. For one thing, this violates the clear language of scripture and all this is obviously implicit in Peter’s statement. Secondly, there is a very profound reason why everyone knew that Peter was in fact saying, “these guys aren’t drunk at all…”. His reason for this was simple: “it’s only 9 in the morning!”. What does 9 in the morning mean to us?

For me, it meant nothing for years. I used to party all the time. I’d be drunk at 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 AND 9 in the morning, so why not these guys?
You see that right there? See what I just did? I showed you the pathway to an assumption when knowledge is missing. We interpret the bible according to 21st century thought and reason and culture. You see what happens? We don’t understand cultural realities relevant to the times of the writtings of scripture, so we make up rediculous and stupid crap like this.

So what I’m saying is that there is an important piece of Jewish culture that we don’t know anything about that will give the insight into this saying of Peter’s. It will sort of dial in the camera lense of biblical understanding and interpretation, giving a clear understanding of what he meant.
So how can we prove that the people being addressed understood Peter to be saying emphatically that none of these were drunk, and that because it was only 9 in the morning?

I quote Adam Clarke on Acts 2:15, page 695 of his volume on Matthew–Acts:
“Verse 15. the third hour of the day] That is, about 9 o’clock in the morning, previously to which the Jews scarcely ever ate or drank, for that hour was the hour of prayer. This custom appears to have been so common the even the most intemperate amont the Jews were not known to transgress it; Peter therefore spoke with confidence when he said, these are not drunken—seeing it is but the third hour of the day, previously to which even the intemperate did not use wine.”

*sigh*

This is in regards to the accusation of drunkenness leveled against those first 120 disciples whom the Holy Spirit fell upon in Acts chapter 2.
Now, I have already dealt extensively with wether or not the 120 were drunk in anyway. The logic of “they must have had a reason to think they were drunk” has already been shot here and here. So, needless to say, we won’t be “going there” on this one.

I’m tempted to just let this ride on Adam Clarke and call it a day. But…
…notice the culture regarding food and drink and the hour of prayer. They wouldn’t even eat a normal breakfast before 9, much less indulge in alchohol. Also of note is that even the “intemperate” didn’t drink before 9. So society as a whole knew better than to make a slander of this kind, and in fact this insult carries more gravity because to imply that these were drunk meant that they had standards that were lower than the low who would drink all day. Again, this is keeping with the same spirit of insult that labeled John the Baptist demon possesed, Jesus a drunkard and glutton and demon possesed and many other things like this.

You see what not studying the historical facts of the days of the apostles can lead to? Making up stupid reasons to back up your bogus and Godless laughing/drunk-in-the-spirit parties is what it leads to. Ignorance is not bliss, ignorance is darkened understanding. Ignorance is lack. And you know what else? Ignorance is no excuse.

If these guys would spend a little time studying the bible (I don’t even go to seminary folks, I just try as best I can with what I have!) they would quit embarassing themselves with doctrines that can’t even hold water for all the holes in them.

John Wesley’s note on this same verse says, “…on the solemn festivals the Jews rarely ate or drank anything till noon.”
Remember, this is the feast of Pentecost here. This is a very solemn and holy occasion that commemorates the Great Exodus from Egypt. This would have no doubt created the atmosphere that Wesley speaks of here, i.e. abstinence from all food and drink till noon.

Historical context is so important to understanding the bible guys!! Don’t look at the bible through 21st century American eye’s!

If the folks in these prophetic/apostolic/laughter/other-dumb-psuedo-movements would actually study just a little….

But until they do, you guys can on your own. I recommend investing in Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole bible (not the cutesy little concise one, the big dawg), Adam Clarke’s commentary on the whole bible, Kael and Delitzch’s commentary on the Old Testament and the works of John Wesley. Look for these things through discount bible bookstores (mail order or online) or Ebay or Amazon. Get ‘em used if you have to, I did.

Anyway, you can be just as informed as a seminary student without going to one. You can pay 50,000 dollars for a seminary education at a prestigious university of Divinity or invest about $1,000 dollars in some high quality material (over a few years if your broke like me). IT CAN BE DONE!!!

mark jr.