My question:
Is there a connection between Isaiah 5:24 and Acts 2:3 (think carefully)?
ChatGPT response:
Yes—but it’s a thematic / covenant-symbol connection, not a direct quotation.
What Isaiah 5:24 is doing
Isaiah says judgment comes “as the tongue of fire devours stubble” because they rejected:
“the instruction (torah) of Yahweh” “the word (dabar) of the Holy One of Israel”
So the “fire” image is: God’s response to a people who despise His word—their life withers from the root.
What Acts 2:3 is doing
At Pentecost, “tongues as of fire” rest on the disciples as the sign of the Spirit being given. In the Bible’s symbolic grammar, that fire isn’t “God losing His temper”—it’s divine presence + purification + commissioning.
The connection (think “reversal at Pentecost”)
Put side-by-side, the logic flips:
Isaiah 5:24: Reject the word/torah → fire that consumes (judgment; withering).
Acts 2:3: Receive the Spirit/word → fire that rests (presence; empowerment; a “new Sinai” moment).
Pentecost/Shavuot is already associated with Sinai / torah-giving, so Acts’ fire-sign reads like: God is now placing His “word” on/into His people by the Spirit—the very thing Isaiah condemns Judah for refusing.
So the shared “fire tongue” imagery connects word + covenant response:
fire as what happens when the word is despised (Isaiah 5), fire as what happens when the word is internalized and proclaimed (Acts 2).
Makes me think of this:
Ezekiel 36:26 (HCSB)
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
Godspeed, to the brethren!
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