Acts Chapter Seven

Read Acts 7:1-36

v1. “THEN SAID THE HIGH PRIEST, ARE THESE THINGS SO?”

Apparently the high priest presided over the Sanhedrin. He asks Stephen if indeed the charges made against him were true and gives Stephen an opportunity to make his defense. As we noted earlier this allows Stephen to present one of the most powerful sermons that these men, or any others, have ever heard.

v2. “AND HE SAID, MEN, BRETHREN, AND FATHERS, HEARKEN; THE GOD OF GLORY APPEARED UNTO OUR FATHER ABRAHAM, WHEN HE WAS IN MESOPOTAMIA, BEFORE HE DWELT IN CHARRAN.”

Stephen’s address to this group of men is very similar to that of Paul at a later time:

Acts 22:1 “MEN, BRETHREN, AND FATHERS, HEAR YE MY DEFENSE which I make NOW UNTO YOU.”

Where is Mesopotamia? The land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is today Iraq. And the city of Charran, is that the way we usually see it spelled? No, in earlier scriptures we see it spelled Haran.

Genesis 11:31-32 “AND TERAH TOOK ABRAM HIS SON, AND LOT THE SON OF HARAN HIS SON’S SON, AND SARAI HIS DAUGHTER IN LAW, HIS SON ABRAM’S WIFE; AND THEY WENT FORTH WITH THEM FROM UR OF THE CHALDEES, TO GO INTO THE LAND OF CANAAN; AND THEY CAME UNTO HARAN, AND DWELT THERE. AND THE DAYS OF TERAH WERE TWO HUNDRED AND FIVE YEARS: AND TERAH DIED IN HARAN.”

Haran is located in what is today extreme northeastern Syria near the border with Turkey on the Belikh River.

v3. “AND SAID UNTO HIM, GET THEE OUT OF THY COUNTRY, AND FROM THY KINDRED, AND COME INTO THE LAND WHCH I SHALL SHOW THEE.”

Stephen is referring to Genesis 12:1 where God did indeed tell Abram to leave Haran and go a land that God would show him. The Hebrew writer also refers to this:

Hebrews 11:8 “BY FAITH ABRAHAM, WHEN HE WAS CALLED TO GO OUT INTO A PLACE WHICH HE SHOULD AFTER RECEIVE FOR AN INHERITANCE, OBEYED; AND HE WENT OUT, NOT KNOWING WHITHER HE WENT.”

v4. “THEN CAME HE OUT OF THE LAND OF THE CHALDEANS, AND DWELT IN CHARRAN: AND FROM THENCE, WHEN HIS FATHER WAS DEAD, HE REMOVED HIM INTO THIS LAND, WHEREIN YE NOW DWELL.”

As we’re told in Genesis, Abram took his father, wife, nephew and others, left Ur of Chaldea and came to Haran. How do we know that there were others? Where did they get Isaac’s wife? Where did Jacob get his wives? They went back to Haran to their extended family there, the extended family that moved there from Ur. Then as we read earlier he left Haran as well and came to Canaan.

v5. “AND HE GAVE HIM NONE INHERITANCE IN IT, NO, NOT so much as TO SET HIS FOOT ON: YET HE PROMISED THAT HE WOULD GIVE IT TO HIM FOR A POSSESSION, AND TO HIS SEED AFTER HIM, WHEN as yet HE HAD NO CHILD.”

This promise was made to Abraham even before he had a son; that the land of Canaan would be given to his descendants. Yet Abraham himself, Stephen says, didn’t inherit himself even so much as the area that could be covered by his foot.

v6. “AND GOD SPAKE ON THIS WISE, THAT HIS SEED SHOULD SOJOURN IN A STRANGE LAND; AND THAT THEY SHOULD BRING THEM INTO BONDAGE, AND ENTREAT them EVIL FOUR HUNDRED YEARS.”

God told Abraham that his seed would be enslaved and mistreated for 400 years:

Genesis 15:13 ‘AND HE SAID UNTO ABRAM, KNOW OF A SURETY THAT THY SEED SHALL BE A STRANGER IN A LAND that is NOT THEIRS, AND SHALL SERVE THEM; AND THEY SHALL AFFLICT THEM FOUR HUNDRED YEARS.”

This is exactly what happened:

Exodus12:40 “NOW THE SOJOURNING OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, WHO DWELT IN EGYPT, was FOUR HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS.”

Paul ties this all together for us in his writing:

Galatians 3:16-17 “NOW TO ABRAHAM AND HIS SEED WERE THE PROMISES MADE. HE SAITH NOT, AND TO SEEDS, AS OF MANY; BUT AS OF ONE, AND TO THY SEED, WHICH IS CHRIST. AND THIS I SAY, that THE COVENANT, THAT WAS CONFIRMED BEFORE OF GOD IN CHRIST, THE LAW, WHICH WAS FOUR HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS AFTER, CANNOT DISANNUL, THAT IT SHOULD MAKE THE PROMISE OF NONE EFFECT.”

v7. “AND THE NATION TO WHOM THEY SHALL BE IN BONDAGE WILL I JUDGE, SAID GOD: AND AFTER THAT SHALL THEY COME FORTH, AND SERVE ME IN THIS PLACE.”

Of course, we know that this nation was Egypt and God tells Moses that when he calls him to lead his people:

Exodus 3:12 “AND HE SAID, CERTAINLY I WILL BE WITH THEE; AND THIS shall be A TOKEN UNTO THEE, THAT I HAVE SENT THEE: WHEN THOU HAST BROUGHT FORTH THE PEOPLE OUT OF EGYPT, YE SHALL SERVE GOD UPON THIS MOUNTAIN.”

And God did judge Egypt; he reduced their power and removed his people from their country. The “THIS PLACE” that Stephen speaks of is where? Mount Sinai, where God spoke to Moses from the burning bush and where the Law or Covenant between God and the Israelite nation was given.

v8. “AND HE GAVE HIM THE COVENANT OF CIRCUMCISION: AND so Abraham BEGAT ISAAC, AND CIRCUMCISED HIM THE EIGHTH DAY; AND ISAAC begat JACOB; AND JACOB begat THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.”

The seal or sign of this covenant with Abraham was circumcision:

Genesis 17:10 “THIS is MY COVENANT, WHICH YE SHALL KEEP, BETWEEN ME AND YOU AND THY SEED AFTER THEE; EVERY MAN CHILD AMONG YOU SHALL BE CIRCUMCISED.”

And then Stephen proceeds to review the Israelite linage down to the twelve tribes, calling the heads of these twelve tribes the Patriarchs.

v9. “AND THE PATRIARCHS, MOVED WITH ENVY, SOLD JOSEPH INTO EGYPT: BUT GOD WAS WITH HIM.”

The KJV says they were moved by envy, the ASV says they were moved by jealousy, and sell Joseph they did! But that was God’s plan wasn’t it? God sent Joseph to Egypt.

Psalms 105:17 “HE SENT A MAN BEFORE THEM, even JOSEPH, who WAS SOLD FOR A SERVANT.”

v10. “AND DELIVERED HIM OUT OF ALL HIS AFFLICTIONS, AND GAVE HIM FAVOUR AND WISDOM IN THE SIGHT OF PHAROAH KING OF EGYPT; AND HE MADE HIM GOVERNOR OVER EGYPT AND ALL HIS HOUSE.”

God’s plan all the way. Send a representative to Egypt to prepare the way for Israel, make him a powerful figure in the Egyptian government so that they would have a warm welcome and be taken in by that country.

v11. “NOW THERE CAME A DEARTH OVER ALL THE LAND OF EGYPT AND CHANAAN, AND GREAT AFFLICTION: AND OUR FATHERS FOUND NO SUSTENANCE.”

Another piece of God’s plan comes into place. A famine occurs in the land where Israel dwelt so that they would have to go to Egypt for food. Of course Egypt was in a famine as well but they were not effected where they? Why? Because God had given them Joseph to prepare them for the famine that was to come and his plan to bring Israel to them. It was so bad that they could not find sustenance; there was literally nothing for them or their cattle to eat.

Genesis 41:54 “AND THE SEVEN YEARS OF DEARTH BEGAN TO COME, ACCORDING AS JOSEPH HAS SAID: AND THE DEARTH WAS IN ALL LANDS; BUT IN ALL THE LAND OF EGYPT THERE WAS BREAD.”

All of the lands were affected but Egypt was prepared, prepared because of the wisdom of Joseph and his relationship with God.

v12. “BUT WHEN JACOB HEARD THAT THERE WAS CORN IN EGYPT, HE SENT OUT OUR FATHERS FIRST.”

This is found in the first part of Genesis 42. What does the word corn mean here, are we talking about what some folks make hominy grits out of or something else? The Greek word commonly translated corn in scripture is more generic and means “grain” in general. Actually we’re told that the word could just as well be translated victuals or provisions - food.

v13. “AND AT THE SECOND time JOSEPH WAS MADE KNOWN TO HIS BRETHREN; AND JOSEPH’S KINDRED WAS MADE KNOWN UNTO PHAROAH.”

On the second trip of his brothers to Egypt, Joseph is made known to them and they were made known to Pharoah. More of God’s plan unfolding.

v14. “THEN SENT JOSEPH, AND CALLED HIS FATHER JACOB TO him, AND ALL HIS KINDRED, THREESCORE AND FIFTEEN SOULS.”

How many people were there? Who all did Stephen count?

Genesis 46:26-27 “ALL THE SOULS THAT CAME WITH JACOB INTO EGYPT, WHICH CAME OUT OF HIS LOINS, BESIDES JACOB’S SONS’ WIVES, ALL THE SOULS were THREESCORE AND SIX; AND THE SONS OF JOSEPH, WHICH WERE BORN HIM IN EGYPT, were TWO SOULS: ALL THE SOULS OF THE HOUSE OF JACOB, WHICH CAME INTO EGYPT, were THREESCORE AND TEN.”

All the production of Jacob’s loins, all except his son’s wives were numbered at 66, add Joseph, Jacob and Joseph’s two sons and you have seventy. Who must we be missing for we know that Stephen was speaking as directed by the Holy Spirit and his statements are true? Commentators agreed that Stephen is counting Joseph’s grandsons.

v15. “SO JACOB WENT DOWN INTO EGYPT, AND DIED, HE, AND OUR FATHERS.”

They stayed through the time that Jacob and all his sons died.

v16. “AND WERE CARRIED OVER INTO SYCHEM, AND LAID IN THE SEPULCHRE THAT ABRAHAM BOUGHT FROM A SUM OF MONEY OF THE SONS OF EMMOR the father OF SYCHEM.”

We’re told that Abraham did not inherit any of the land of Canaan from God’s promise to him and his seed, yet we find that he owned a burial cave and if we turn to Genesis we find that Jacob owned a field at Shechem, how can that be? They were both purchased with money during the time that they lived there, not given as part of God’s promise.

v17. “BUT WHEN THE TIME OF THE PROMISE DREW NIGH, WHICH GOD HAD SWORN TO ABRAHAM, THE PEOPLE GREW AND MULTIPLIED IN EGYPT,”

What promise is he referring to?

Genesis 12:7 “AND THE LORD APPEARED UNTO ABRAM, AND SAID, UNTO THY SEED WILL I GIVE THIS LAND: AND THERE BUILDED HE AN ALTAR UNTO THE LORD, WHO APPEARED UNTO HIM.”

Genesis 15:16 “BUT IN THE FOURTH GENERATION THEY SHALL COME HITHER AGAIN: FOR THE INIQUITY OF THE AMORITES is NOT YET FULL.”

And in Stephen’s sermon the time had come that God would fulfill his promises.

v18. “TILL ANOTHER KING AROSE, WHICH KNEW NOT JOSEPH.”

Several generations have passed, and understandably there would arise a new regime, a new king who did not remember, or maybe not even appreciate the arrangement that the Israelite nation had with Egypt during the time that Israel’s son was Egypt’s governor. Again we see the plan of God in execution, not as a result of His direct intervention but rather through the process of time and providence.

v19. “THE SAME DEALT SUBTLY WITH OUR KINDRED, AND EVIL ENTREATED OUR FATHERS, SO THAT THEY CAST OUT THEIR CHILDREN, TO THE END THEY MIGHT NOT LIVE.”

This new regime, this new king feared Israel. They had grown and multiplied through God’s blessings so that they had become a powerful nation in their own right. They occupy a major portion of the Nile River delta, which is the most fertile area of Egypt. So he deals with them “SUBTLY” or as the ASV “CRAFTILY”, what does that mean? He tricked them, used deceit or fraud to mislead them and when he has gained control of them he’s mistreating them. They’re actually being required to cast out their babies to die. Would someone do that today? Thousands are cast out every day and many for no more than for convenience or to remove the fruits of sin, we call it abortion.

v20. “IN WHICH TIME MOSES WAS BORN, AND WAS EXCEEDING FAIR, AND NOURISHED UP IN HIS FATHER’S HOUSE THREE MONTHS.”

Amram, a Levite, had married a woman named Jochebed. They have already two children, Miriam and Aaron but now Moses is born. They protect him until he’s three months old and hide him from those who might carry out the king’s commands. Stephen tells us that this was three months. How do we know that the time was three months?

Exodus 2:2 “AND THE WOMAN CONCEIVED, AND BARE A SON: AND WHEN SHE SAW HIM THAT HE was a GOODLY child, SHE HID HIM THREE MONTHS.”

Does he being a “GOODLY” child mean that he was any better than others born at the same time? No, this is again God’s providence, God’s plan in action. All children are “GOODLY” aren’t they? Especially grandchildren.

v21. “AND WHEN HE WAS CAST OUT, PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER TOOK HIM UP, AND NOURISHED HIM FOR HER OWN SON.”

Jochebed; after taking care of Moses for three months can’t do that any more. The baby’s cry was strong enough that he would be heard readily and they have a problem. I’m sure we all remember the story of how she hid him in a reed basket and but that basket on the river Nile, Pharaoh’s daughter found him, rescued him and took him as her own son. Why is Stephen reviewing the history of Moses in his defense to the Sanhedrin? Most think it’s because he has been accused of blaspheming Moses and he does this to show his respect and knowledge of Moses and the other things that these men who have accused him hold dear.

v22. “AND MOSES WAS LEARNED IN ALL THE WISDOM OF THE EGYPTIANS, AND WAS MIGHTY IN WORDS AND IN DEEDS.”

Moses was raised, educated and treated as though he was a grandson of the king. We don’t know but that he was prepared to become king some day. However, even the priests of the Egypt was highly educated in the knowledge of science, mathematics, medicine, and other subjects. And we’re told that he was mighty in words and deeds. That contrasts with what he told God at the burning bush doesn’t it?

Exodus 4:10 “AND MOSES SAID UNTO THE LORD, O MY LORD, I am NOT ELOQUENT, NEITHER HERETOFORE, NOR SINCE THOU HAS SPOKEN UNTO THY SERVANT: BUT I am SLOW OF SPEECH, AND OF A SLOW TONGUE.”

v23. “AND WHEN HE WAS FULL FORTY YEARS OLD, IT CAME INTO HIS HEART TO VISIT HIS BRETHREN THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.”

We’re not told how Moses was moved to visit the children of Israel but only that he was. Stephen tells us here he was forty years old, in Exodus 2:11 we’re told when he was grown and the expression in Hebrews 11:24 is that “WHEN HE WAS COME TO YEARS”. So he’s not a young hot blood, but grown, matured and probably has some authority in Egypt, if only because he’s the king’s adopted grandson.

v24. “AND SEEING ONE of them SUFFER WRONG, HE DEFENDED him, AND AVENGED HIM THAT WAS OPPRESSED, AND SMOTE THE EGYPTIAN:”

Moses has gone to Goshen to see about his extended family, after all, even though he has been raised as a son of Pharaoh, the king; these are his people. He sees one being mistreated, man’s description of the scene in my old Bible story book, depicts the scene as one man standing over another with a whip, beating him. He stopped the beating, a physical confrontation resulted and the Egyptian was killed. We can learn several things from this verse but perhaps most obvious is that the best of intentions can end in results that we don’t want.

v25. “FOR HE SUPPOSED HIS BRETHREN WOULD HAVE UNDERSTOOD HOW THAT GOD BY HIS HAND WOULD DELIVER THEM: BUT THEY UNDERSTOOD NOT.”

Things just don’t work unless they’re done God’s way do they? Moses knew, Stephen tells us and Luke records by inspiration; that it was God’s plan for him to lead the Israelite nation out of bondage. I don’t remember knowing this before I put this lesson together. I’ve just always kind of assumed that Moses didn’t know what God wanted him to do until instructing him at the burning bush. Has anyone else had that impression? But Moses knew at this at this point in time that God had chosen him to lead his brethren out of bondage and he apparently supposed that his brethren knew that too.

v26. “ AND THE NEXT DAY HE SHOWED HIMSELF UNTO THEM AS THEY STROVE, AND WOULD HAVE SET THEM AT ONE AGAIN, SAYING, SIRS, YE ARE BRETHREN; WHY DO YE WRONG ONE TO ANOTHER?”

The next day Moses tries to make peace between two of his brethren who were striving one against the other. I think we could interpret this as physical violence, fighting.

v27. “BUT HE THAT DID HIS NEIGHBOR WRONG THRUST HIM AWAY, SAYING, WHO MADE THEE A RULER AND A JUDGE OVER US?”

You notice who has the problem with Moses’ interference, the one who was doing wrong, not the one who was being wronged. And his basic question was; who are you to try to interfere, who made you our ruler.

v28. “WILT THOU KILL ME, AS THOU DIDDEST THE EGYPTIAN YESTERDAY?

The man asks; are you going to kill me like you did the Egyptian yesterday? Moses has gotten himself in a pickle. Isn’t that what most often happens when we try to help God? Isn’t this what Moses has been doing, helping God to get started freeing his people?

v29. “THEN FLED MOSES AT THIS SAYING, AND WAS A STRANGER IN THE LAND OF MADIAN, WHERE HE BEGAT TWO SONS.”

Who was Madian that this land was named after? He was another son of Abraham. We’re told by scripture that after Isaac’s mother (Sarah’s) death that Abraham married again:

Genesis 25:1-2 “THEN AGAIN ABRAHAM TOOK A WIFE, AND HER NAME was KETURAH. AND SHE BARE HIM ZIMRAM AND JOKSHAN, AND MEDAN, AND MIDIAN, AND ISHBAK, AND SHUAH.”

So Moses fled to the land of Midian, a land that was peopled by those who were also descendants of Abraham by another wife that he married after Sarah died.

v30. “AND WHEN FORTY YEARS WERE EXPIRED, THERE APPEARED TO HIM IN THE WILDERNESS OF MOUNT SINA AN ANGEL OF THE LORD IN A FLAME OF FIRE IN A BUSH.”

Moses has lived in the land of Midian, the Sinai peninsula as we know it today, for forty years. He’s a shepherd, a somewhat lower station in life as man measures things than being the grandson of the king of Egypt. An angel appeared, God’s messenger, not God himself, but he hears the voice of God.

v31. “WHEN MOSES SAW it, HE WONDERED AT THE SIGHT; AND AS HE DREW NEAR TO BEHOLD it, THE VOICE OF THE LORD CAME UNTO HIM,”

What was strange about this burning bush? The fire didn’t consume it. It burned but didn’t burn up as would be the natural order of things.

v32. “saying, I am THE GOD OF THY FATHERS, THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB. THEN MOSES TREMBLED, AND DUREST NOT BEHOLD.”

It’s would be a fearful thing to stand in the presence of God, wouldn’t it. We’ll find out some day. Moses, who probably wasn’t bothered by a lot, realizing that God is talking to him, doesn’t even dare to look toward the voice he’s hearing. But God’s nearby all the time isn’t he? He knows everything that anyone ever needed or wanted to know about us whether we want Him to or not. We’re in God’s presence at all times.

v33. “THEN SAID THE LORD TO HIM, PUT OFF THY SHOES FROM THY FEET: FOR THE PLACE WHERE THOU STANDEST IS HOLY GROUND.”

This was the custom wasn’t it? If you stood in the presence of God, you did so without shoes because the very ground you stood on was holy:

Exodus 3:5 “AND HE SAID, DRAW NOT NIGH HITHER: PUT OFF THY SHOES FROM OFF THY FEET, FOR THE PLACE WHEREON THOU STANDEST is HOLY GROUND.”

Is God concerned about how we’re dressed or not dressed as the case may be when we come to worship him today? Does our dress at Bible Study or in worship tell something about our reverence for God? Men and women are to both dress modestly, Paul though the inspiration of the Holy Spirit gives us direction in I Timothy 2 especially regarding women being modestly dressed. But if we treat the worship service as a “come as you are party” what does that tell us about our attitude toward God. Wouldn’t that say that we don’t hold him in very high esteem? Think about it.

v34. “I HAVE SEEN, I HAVE SEEN THE AFFLICTION OF MY PEOPLE WHICH IS IN EGYPT, AND I HAVE HEARD THEIR GROANING, AND AM COME DOWN TO DELIVER THEM, AND NOW COME, I WILL SEND THEE INTO EGYPT.”

It has been 40 years as man counts time. Moses is 80 and his most important life work is just starting. God’s own good time has come for his people to be delivered. He tells Moses, now I want you to go do what you were so eager to do forty years ago. Stephen continues to remind them of the greatness of Moses, his dedication to God’s way, his esteem in the sight of God. Hardly the action of a man who has blasphemed the name of Moses is it?

v35. “THIS MOSES WHOM THEY REFUSED, SAYING, WHO MADE THEE A RULER AND A JUDGE? THE SAME DID GOD SEND to be A RULER AND A DELIVERER BY THE HAND OF THE ANGEL WHICH APPEARED TO HIM IN THE BUSH.”

Here Stephen starts to build his defense of Jesus. This Moses that the Israelites had rejected 40 years before has now been chosen by God and is being sent to rule His people. Jesus Christ was also rejected by these same people that Stephen is preaching too at this time and He will also, in God’s own good time, be sent to deliver them from the grave and rule over them for eternity.

v36. “HE BROUGHT THEM OUT, AFTER THAT HE HAD SHOWED WONDERS AND SIGNS IN THE LAND OF EGYPT, AND IN THE RED SEA, AND IN THE WILDERNESS FORTY YEARS.”

Just as Jesus Christ had come before the people and the rulers of Judaea, showed them signs and wonders, Moses had come before the Egyptian rulers and the Israelite people and showed them signs and wonders that confirmed the source of his authority and proved that he was indeed sent from God. David writes about it:

Psalms 105:26-27 “HE SENT MOSES HIS SERVANT; and AARON WHOM HE HAD CHOSEN. THEY SHOWED HIS SIGNS AMONG THEM, AND WONDERS IN THE LAND OF HAM.”

Now Stephen gets to one of the main points that he wants to make in his sermon.

Read Acts 7:37-50

v37. “THIS IS THAT MOSES, WHICH SAID UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, A PROPHET SHALL THE LORD YOUR GOD RAISE UP UNTO YOU OF YOUR BRETHREN, LIKE UNTO ME; HIM SHALL YE HEAR.”

This prophecy of Moses was well known to them and Stephen quotes it almost word for word as we have it translated today in the KJV:

Deuteronomy 18:15 “THE LORD THY GOD WILL RAISE UP UNTO THEE A PROPHET FROM THE MIDST OF THEE, OF THY BRETHREN, LIKE UNTO ME; UNTO HIM YE SHALL HEARKEN;”

Peter had quoted this same prophecy in his sermons that they had probably also heard:

Acts 3:22-23 “FOR MOSES TRULY SAID UNTO THE FATHERS, A PROPHET SHALL THE LORD YOUR GOD RAISE UP UNTO YOU OF YOUR BRETHREN, LIKE UNTO ME; HIM SHALL YE HEAR IN ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER HE SHALL SAY UNTO YOU. AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS, that EVERY SOUL, WHICH WILL NOT HEAR THAT PROPHET, SHALL BE DESTROYED FROM AMONG THE PEOPLE.”

v38. “THIS IS HE, THAT WAS IN THE CHURCH IN THE WILDERNESS WITH THE ANGEL WHICH SPAKE TO HIM IN THE MOUNT SINA, AND with OUR FATHERS: WHO RECEIVED THE LIVELY ORACLES TO GIVE UNTO US:”

This Moses was the one who received the “LIVELY ORACLES” or living oracles, the Covenant, the Law; from an angel in the wilderness of Sinai, we find this confirmed in other scripture.

Deuteronomy 5:27 “GO THOU NEAR, AND HEAR ALL THAT THE LORD OUR GOD SHALL SAY: AND SPEAK THOU UNTO US ALL THAT THE LORD OUR GOD SHALL SPEAK UNTO THEE; AND WE WILL HEAR it, AND DO it.”

Galatians 3:19 “WHEREFORE THEN serveth THE LAW? IT WAS ADDED BECAUSE OF TRANSGRESSIONS, TILL THE SEED SHOULD COME TO WHOM THE PROMISE WAS MADE; and it was ORDAINED BY ANGELS IN THE HAND OF A MEDIATOR.”

Hebrews 2:2 “FOR IF THE WORD SPOKEN BY ANGELS (the old law) WAS STEDFAST, AND EVERY TRANSGRESSION AND DISOBEDIENCE RECEIVED A JUST RECOMPENSE OF REWARD;”

So it was this Moses who received the law in the wilderness from the messenger of God. He didn’t fare much better than Jesus did he? The ancestors of the men who refused Jesus, refused Moses.

v39. “TO WHOM OUR FATHERS WOULD NOT OBEY, BUT THRUST him FROM THEM, AND IN THEIR HEARTS TURNED BACK AGAIN INTO EGYPT.”

And we remember the story. While Moses was on the mountain receiving this law from God what was happening back down below? Within the time span of forty days the Israelite nation had lost their faith completely, created idols of gold to worship and completely turned their back on Moses and God.

v40. “SAYING UNTO AARON, MAKE US GODS TO GO BEFORE US: FOR as for THIS MOSES, WHICH BROUGHT US OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT, WE WOT NOT WHAT IS BECOME OF HIM.”

They complain that Moses, though he was speaking for God, makes to them promises of freedom; brings them out here in the desert and then disappears. Hadn’t they seen the signs and wonders in Egypt? Did they think that Moses and Aaron had somehow pulled the wool over their eyes? Moses tells them later:

Deuteronomy 9:16 “AND I LOOKED, AND, BEHOLD, YE HAD SINNED AGAINST THE LORD YOUR GOD, and HAD MADE YOU A MOLTEN CALF: YE HAD TURNED ASIDE QUICKLY OUT OF THE WAY WHICH THE LORD HAD COMMANDED YOU.”

They wanted god’s, not God. Very quickly Moses says they turned aside out of the way of the Lord.

v41. “AND THEY MADE A CALF IN THOSE DAYS, AND OFFERED SACRIFICE UNTO THE IDOL, AND REJOICED IN THE WORKS OF THEIR OWN HANDS.”

The Psalmist writes:

Psalm 106:19 “THEY MADE A CALF IN HOREB, AND WORSHIPPED THE MOLTEN IMAGE.”

This verse describes their idolatrous worship. Stephen calls it “the idol.” Many scholars think that since Israel had seen the Egyptians worship the bull of Apis at Memphis as the symbol of Osiris the sun they copied what they saw. The Egyptians had another sacred bull, Mnevis, at Heliopolis. The Israelites rejoice in the idol that they had made, as though it were God himself.

v.42 “⁴²Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?”

The Psalms of Asaph describes God’s attitude toward his rebellious people this way:

Psalms 81:12 “SO I GAVE THEM UP UNTO THEIR OWN HEARTS’ LUST; and THEY WALKED IN THEIR OWN COUNSELS.”

The word translated “gave them up” is the same word that Paul uses in:

Romans 1:24 “²⁴Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:”

He literally abandoned them to do their own thing their own way and in the terms of the Israelites allowed them to wander in the wilderness until they died. They worshipped the celestial bodies of heaven, the bull, Mnevis at Heliopolis in Egypt was worshipped as a representative of the sun god.

v.43 “⁴³Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.”

When left to their own devices, even after God had brought them into the promised land; the Israelite nation took to worship, Moloch, the god of the Amorites. Part of their worship was to offer children to this idol god as live sacrifices. It was an image with the head of an ox with arms outstretched in which children were placed and then burned by fire from underneath to consume the offering.

We think of this as being atrocious, horrible and unspeakable and we’re perhaps even embarrassed to discuss such but children by the thousands are sacrificed to the gods of convenience, pleasure and selfishness in this country every day. Our government has made it legal, it’s called abortion.

v.44 “⁴⁴Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.”

The Israelite nation had the tabernacle to remind them of the presence of God in their midst. If we but would remember, the mercy seat above the ark of the covenant; was the symbolic seat, the throne of their King, Almighty God.

Exodus 26:30 “³⁰And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was showed thee in the mount.”

The worship facility, the worship content, means, methods, everything was to be according to the pattern that God had given them. Hebrews 8:5 tells us the same thing, Moses was to follow the pattern shown to him on Mount Sinai. We, today, must not forget that God has given us patterns to follow as well; in many things, not just in our worship.

v.45 “⁴⁵Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;”

The Jesus in this verse is not our Lord, but rather Joshua, another translation of the same name. The worship of God in the tabernacle and later in the temple was all according to the commandments given to the Israelite nation through Moses. Joshua had the ark of the covenant carried over Jordan when the promised land was invaded (Joshua 3:14).

And God gave them the land promised to the Abraham for his seed:

Nehemiah 9:24 “²⁴So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they would.”

v.46-47 “⁴⁶Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. ⁴⁷But Solomon built him an house.”

David found favor before God and desired to build God a more permanent house of worship than the tabernacle but was constrained by God, not allowed to go so. His son, Solomon, built the first permanent house of worship for Israel.

I Kings 6:1 “¹And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.”

v.48-50 “⁴⁸Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, ⁴⁹Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? ⁵⁰Hath not my hand made all these things?”

God does not live in houses made by man’s hands, just as God does not dwell in our houses of worship today. Solomon knew that:

I Kings 8:27 “²⁷But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?”

Then Stephen quotes the prophet Isaiah:

Isaiah 66:1-2 “¹Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? ²For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.”

v.51 “⁵¹Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.”

Just like the news gambit that some of us enjoy listening to occasionally. Stephen has told them about all of these things, the rebellion and idolatry of the Israelite nation and how Moses was chosen of God to lead them out of physical captivity. Now he tells them the rest of the story. Now that one who was to be like Moses; Jesus the Messiah as been sent to lead them out of spiritual captivity; but they are just as rebellious, obstinate, and disobedient to God as their fathers. This is the seventy or so most prominent religious leaders of an entire race of people. They are just like their fathers:

Isaiah 48:4 “⁴Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;”

Obstinate, stiffnecked, neck like an iron sinew and hard headed, like it was made out of brass. Why did he call them that? The same reason that Jeremiah did in his prophecy:

Jeremiah 6:10 “¹⁰To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.”

The word used in the Greek here for resist means “to fall against, to rush against” as to rush against an enemy in combat. This is the only place it is used in the New Testament. Stephen charges them with treating the Holy Spirit of God as an enemy; a true charge because of their persecution of Jesus Christ and the events that are about to happen.

v. 52-53 “⁵²Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: ⁵³Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.”

In their history it is recorded:

II Chronicles 36:16 “¹⁶But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.”

The record inspired of God says they continued until there was no remedy, they were so reprobate and rebellious that redemption was no longer possible. Jesus in his parables concerning the vineyard and its husbandmen brought the same message:

Matthew 21:35 “³⁵And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.”

Mark 12:6-7 “⁶Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. ⁷But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.”

And they ignored and rejected the law spoken to them by God (Exodus 20:1).

Stephen has made a charge that they cannot and will not ignore as we know. Instead of being on trial himself he put the Sanhedrin on trial in God’s court and they stand condemned. In his presentation he makes four major points:

First; God began with Abraham and in his dealings with his people brought them along much like a teacher would do children in a classroom. He developed, prepared and made them ready to receive the one who would bring redemption to mankind.

Second; the temple was not God’s exclusive dwelling place. He appeared to Abraham in a heathen land, Joseph was blessed in another heathen land, Egypt, He called Moses in another heathen land, Midian. They placed great emphasis on the temple as the house of God and themselves as children of God because of their physical ancestry. But they were far from God.

Third God was patient and longsuffering with his children even though they gave him no reason to be such. Joseph was persecuted by his brothers, they rebelled against Moses and an entire generation died lost in the wilderness as a result, they rebelled against the promised Messiah, the one who fulfilled all of their prophecies the same way.

Fourth he showed up their false witnesses by his teaching from Moses and the prophets. And then he helps them see just how much they really despised the commandments and precepts of God and His Son Jesus Christ. It’s more than they can stand, they react violently.

v.54 “⁵⁴When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.”

They are not just pricked in their hearts as those on Pentecost, but cut to the heart and react like mad dogs in the alleys of the city. Our English language leaves a little to be desired in the translation here as the real meaning of the words is not that they ran and bit him but that they were so enraged that they ground their teeth. The physical violence comes in a couple of more verses.

v.55-56 “⁵⁵But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, ⁵⁶And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.”

At this point, Stephen is allowed to see a glimpse of heaven. It is as though Jesus, sitting on the throne next to God, has risen to his feet in support and agreement with the preaching of Stephen. Stephen describes the scene that he sees to the Sanhedrin and that is the final straw; that brings out the reaction of physical violence against him.

v.57-58 “⁵⁷Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, ⁵⁸And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.”

They will hear no more. Their mock trial has become what it really was in the first place; the vindictive, mob reaction of those who were enemies of God. They stop their ears, just like a child that sticks his fingers in his ears and screams in a temper tantrum; rush upon Stephen, take him out of the city and stone him. They don’t even bother with the Roman authorities that rule their city and have forbiden them to carry out an execution.

They do have the presence of mind to carry out the Mosaic requirement to carry out their execution outside the city (Leviticus 24:10-16, Numbers 15:35). The witnesses had to cast the first stone according to Deuteronomy 17:7 and to do so they took off their outer garments so that they would not be hindered or constrained by them and laid them at the feet of Saul. This is our first record of Saul who became the Apostle Paul.

v.59 “⁵⁹And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Having just seen Jesus standing in heaven, Stephen prays to God that He might receive his spirit.

v.60 “⁶⁰And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Stephen’s attitude toward these people was much the same as that of Jesus when he was on the cross. He prays to God that he does not hold them accountable for this sin, that they, if repentant as those were on Pentecost, could be forgiven. The word sleep is used here rather than death, do we know why? Even though Stephen is physically dead, just as we will be when we leave this earth, if Jesus does not return first, his spirit is very much alive in that it is not separated from God. Consequently sleep is a very appropriate description of physical death for those who are the saints of God, Jesus used it often. The Greek word that is translated “fell asleep” means just that and is the source word for our English word cemetery, the sleeping place of the dead.