One of the most debated quotation of the Old Testament by the New Testament writers must be the quotation that Peter gave to the crowd at Pentecost from Joel 2:28-32. Many people have sought to explained Joel's prophesy as speaking about the pouring of the Holy Spirit onto the 12 disciples. including Matthias and about 120 Jews (Acts 1:15). They reckoned that since Peter quoted from Joel, it must be so. Right?
Wrong. If one bother to read through the entire book of Joel (which isn't very long since it comprises only 3 chapters), one will realise that the only point of agreement was about the pouring of the Holy Spirit. The rest of the fulfillments were all missing at Pentecost.
The Timing Was Wrong
Joel 2:28 mentioned that the pouring of the Holy Spirit will "come about after this". What is this "after this"? Looking at Joel 2:1-10, the events preceding the pouring of the Holy Spirit will be a massive invasion of Jerusalem. This obviously did not happen in Acts.
The Composition Was Wrong
Joel 2:28-29 mentioned that the Holy Spirit will be poured out on all flesh (NKJV) which in the context of Joel was on all Jews. Furthermore, Joel mentioned that "your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions.". The Holy Spirit was only poured out onto the 12 disciples and possibly 120 followers in Acts. Also in Acts, no one did any prophesying, and certainly Luke did not record anyone dream dreams and see visions.
The Conditions Were Wrong
Peter's quote from Joel included the signs which said "I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.". Luke also did not record any such signs in Acts itself. Furthermore, Joel did not mentioned about the gift of tongues which were clearly manifested in Acts itself (Acts 2:4).
What we have here is a literal plus application quotation of the Old Testament. The literal meaning of the Joel passage speaks of Israel’s national salvation, when the Holy Spirit will be poured out on all Israel, resulting in Israel’s national salvation in preparation for the Messianic Kingdom.
Of course, that did not happen in the Book of Acts, but there was one point of similarity. Because of that one point of similarity, the passage was quoted; not as a point of fulfillment, but as an application. That one point of similarity is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, resulting in a unique manifestation. In Joel, the Holy Spirit will some day be poured out upon the whole nation of Israel, resulting in some unique manifestations.
In Acts 2, the Spirit was poured out upon twelve, or one hundred twenty at the most, resulting in a unique manifestation, which in that case was speaking in tongues. The one point of similarity was an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Because of that one point of similarity, the New Testament quoted the Old Testament passage as an application.
Acts 2 did not fulfill Joel 2 because, again, nothing that Joel prophesied actually happened in Acts 2. What did happen in Acts 2 was not even spoken of by Joel, because Joel did not mention the gift of tongues. So, because of one point of similarity, the Old Testament has quoted by the New Testament as an application.
(Passages in BLUE extracted from Fruchtenbaum Messianic Bible Studies MBS134M)
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