When the time for this feast arrived there was at Jerusalem a remarkable gathering which shows to what extent the Jewish nation had already been scattered over the world. There were visitors from Parthia, Media, and Elam, from 600 to 700 miles on the east; from Mesopotamia, about 400 miles on the northeast; from Cappadocia, 500 miles on the north and midway between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea; from Pontus lying on the Black Sea; and from that part of Asia Minor then called “Asia.”
This last mentioned district, although it afterward gave its name to the whole vast continent, at this time comprised only the extreme southwestern parts of the peninsula, such as Caria and Lydia and a part of Mysia, its chief city being Ephesus. This was in after times the region of the “seven churches” of Revelation.[180] There were gathered Jews from Phrygia and Pamphylia, 500 to 600 miles off towards the northwest, the former on the high tableland and the latter on the low seacoast southeast. They were there from Egypt on the southwest, and from Libya and Cyrene, 400 miles west of the Nile, on the African coast, and from Rome, nearly 1,500 miles to the northwest; also from the island of Crete, 600 miles west by north, and from Arabia on the southeast.
=4. It was upon the occasion= of this great gathering to Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost that Peter exhibited the beginning of that remarkable Christian courage, knowledge, and endurance which characterized him ever after. He was now not only the orator, but the able Christian expositor of the prophets and of the Psalms. The general outline of his address at this time is given us in Acts 2:14‒40, but the effect was so great that 3,000 came out publicly and were baptized on that one day.
=5. The extreme poverty= of the little band of apostles, as a whole, is evident;[181] but after the Pentecost some of those who were added contributed to the general fund, and there was no suffering after the organization was complete, Acts 4:34. Even those who immediately after the crucifixion returned to their trades were enabled to devote their whole time to mission work, so far as we have any records of them, Acts 6:4.
=6. From the various notices= of additions to their number and from the official appointment of seven men of ability to disburse the funds and attend to the needy, Acts 6:3, it is evident that the numbers of the early church before the first great persecution began must have amounted to many thousands, Acts 2:42, 47; 5:14; 6:1, 7.