I must admit that this spiritual gift has puzzled me. If it only means suddenly bursting into ramblings in a language that you never learned, then this gift must be almost totally absent in our church today. So we often explain it by being able to learn a language quickly when required, for instance when we go on a mission to a foreign country. I believe both of these cases can be manifestations of the gift of tongues, but I don't find them completely satisfactory.
After some studying, I have become convinced that there is more to the gift of tongues. But before we get there, I would like to make a case for this gift being available before the day of Pentecost. We tend to think that this is where it all started. If that were the case, the gift of tongues would be very unique. When the gifts of the spirit are listed in the scriptures, e.g. in Moroni 10, all other gifts are gifts that are easily found in the Old Testament: The gift of faith, knowledge, teaching, prophecy, healing, miracles, beholding angels. None of those started only after Christ, they are found all over the Old Testament and in the BC part of the Book of Mormon.
I don't know the Old Testament that well, but I can't think of any story where someone miraculously starts talking a language he/she doesn't know. Neither in the Book of Mormon. There is talk about the gift of tongues but not one such example. In fact, the only story I know about in the entire scriptures where this is happening, is the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. Kind of strange when you think about it.
Amaleki was one of the Nephite record keepers. He lived a couple of centuries before Christ. In the Book of Omni, he wrote
exhorting all men to come unto God, the Holy One of Israel, and believe in prophesying, and in revelations, and in the ministering of angels, and in the gift of speaking with tongues, and in the gift of interpreting languages, and in all things which are
He is basically listing several spiritual gifts and speaking with tongues is one of them, long before the day of Pentecost. So why do we never read about any of the prophets or other faithful people in the Old Testament and Book of Mormon miraculously speak in a language that they don't know? Is there more to this gift?
Remember at the day of Pentecost, there appeared "cloven tongues like as of fire". Knowing the background for Pentecost, this must have meant something to the early disciples. Pentecost was an existing holiday, just like Passover. Even though there where great events happening on those occasions (Passover and Pentecost) in the New Testament, they didn't start there, they only changed meaning. The original Feast of Pentecost is described in the Pentateuch as a harvest festival, a celebration of the firstfruits of the spring harvest. But there is also specific theological significance as a commemoration of the Sinai covenant and God's gift of Torah, the Law. As we know, Moses received this on Mount Sinai and Jews believe it happened around the time of the Feast of Pentecost. In Exodus 20, right after the 10 commandments are given, we read
And all the people the thunderings, and the lightning
The translation is a bit tricky here. 'Thunderings' and 'lightning' are from the Hebrew, 'qol' and 'lappid', which are better translated as 'voice' and 'torch'. I understand the translators, though, because that sounds weird. Anyway, the point is that there is a voice and there is fire. That is how the Law was conveyed, the same Law that they commemorated when cloven tongues of fire appeared. Fire is something we usually link to the Holy Ghost. For ancient Jews, fire signified God's presence (think pillar of fire, burning bush, etc.). The Holy Ghost is a member of the Godhead of course, so it's not wrong either way. Maybe the reader at this point is getting an idea about where I am going with this: Tongues and fire relate to speaking and God. It signifies the word of God or a heavenly language/manner of speaking.
Nephi teaches us about this:
After ye have repented of your sins, and witnessed unto the Father that ye are willing to keep my commandments, by the baptism of water, and have received the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost, and can speak with a new tongue, yea, even with the tongue of angels (2 Nephi 31:14)
2 Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the of angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of angels save it were by the Holy Ghost?
3 speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. (2 Nephi 32)
Is the gift of tongues short for 'the gift of speaking with the tongue of angels'? That is, the gift of speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost and therefore speak the words of Christ, just like angels do? I think at least it can be understood that way. When you speak the words of Christ you can miraculously do that in a foreign language but I don't think that is the main point. On the day of Pentecost, the disciples did, but they also spoke the "words of Christ". They spoke "the wonderful works of God (Acts 2:11) "as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:4).
This expanded view of the gift of tongues certainly answers the question posed above about why we only have one example in the scriptures. The simple answer is we don't. The prophets and other faithful people in the scriptures did speak in tongues, we have plenty of examples. The gift was always there among the faithful, we just might have misunderstood what it really is or downplayed the most important aspect of it.
At this point I need to put out a disclaimer. Since I don't know of any modern-day prophets or apostles endorsing my view or even addressing it, I stress that this is my opinion and not official church doctrine. I certainly think and hope they would not disagree with what I'm writing here. I have more on this topic, including more examples from the scriptures and even the Dead Sea Scrolls. But it's too much for one post, so I will continue in part 2.