"...Israel was a nation of people accustomed to signs (Matt 12:38, 1 Cor 1:20-22). Within the covenant contract they were given warning signs which would serve to indicate that the calamities which would befall them were indeed the judgements of God on them. One of the most often-seen signs was the loss of national freedom and self-rule (Deut 28:49). It is also referred to in similar context in Jer 5:15 and Isa 28:11.
In scripture after scripture, foreign tongues were a sign of covenant curse on Israel. Most often it was the language of the foreign occupiers of Israel, but at the dawn of the New Covenant it becomes especially poignant. All of this becomes relevant to the gift of tongues in the New Testament by the fact that Paul applies the sign of covenantal curse (Isa 28:11) to his explanation of the gift of tongues in 1 Cor 14:21-22. The fact that Paul lifted this scripture out of a passage dealing with covenantal curse is extremely significant! To grasp its impact you need to look at the reference Paul is quoting in his 1 Cor 14 discourse — Isa 28. In the very heart of God’s rebuke against Israel is the verse Paul quotes... the one that gives the sign of the curse (verse 11). Of course the Isaiah passage referred to the impending Assyrian invasion of Israel, but the Apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, applies it further to the future and climactic judgement upon Israel subsequent to their rejection of Christ...."
"The Truth about the Gift of Tongues" by Robin Arnaud
In scripture after scripture, foreign tongues were a sign of covenant curse on Israel. Most often it was the language of the foreign occupiers of Israel, but at the dawn of the New Covenant it becomes especially poignant. All of this becomes relevant to the gift of tongues in the New Testament by the fact that Paul applies the sign of covenantal curse (Isa 28:11) to his explanation of the gift of tongues in 1 Cor 14:21-22. The fact that Paul lifted this scripture out of a passage dealing with covenantal curse is extremely significant! To grasp its impact you need to look at the reference Paul is quoting in his 1 Cor 14 discourse — Isa 28. In the very heart of God’s rebuke against Israel is the verse Paul quotes... the one that gives the sign of the curse (verse 11). Of course the Isaiah passage referred to the impending Assyrian invasion of Israel, but the Apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, applies it further to the future and climactic judgement upon Israel subsequent to their rejection of Christ...."
"The Truth about the Gift of Tongues" by Robin Arnaud