Acts 7

Acts 7 – Persecution Moves Beyond the Disciples

Stephen’s Address: The Call of Abraham

Then the high priest (probably Caiaphas, but could be Annas) said, “Are these things so?” (knowing they were not)

2 And he (Stephen) said, “Brethren (showing his solidarity with them being Jewish—my fellow Jews) and fathers (showing his respect for their position as Jewish leaders), listen (hear my response): The God of glory (the God of creation and its history) appeared to our father Abraham (the father of our  great nation Israel) when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran (where God’s presence and glory filled the tabernacle), 3 and said to him, ‘Get out of your country (Ur) and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’

 (that I will direct you to.)  4 Then he (in faith) came out of the land of the Chaldeans (as God had commanded) and dwelt in Haran  (about 500 miles northwest of Ur). And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land (Israel) in which you now dwell. 5 And God gave him no inheritance in it (during his entire lifetime), not even enough to set his foot on (not even that much to call his own.  Even the cave he was buried in he couldn’t say God gave him as Abraham bought it with his own money). But even when Abraham had no child (no offspring to pass on any inheritance), He (God still) promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him (of which Abraham neither of: offspring or land). 6 But God spoke in this way: that (even before Abraham’s descendents would be given the land) his descendants would dwell in a foreign land (an alien land), and that they would bring them into bondage and oppress them (they will be enslaved and suffer great injustices) four hundred years. (430 years to be exact) 7 ‘And the nation to whom they will be in bondage (Egypt) I will judge,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out (be freed from their foreign enslavers)and serve Me (as the One, True and only God)in this place.’ (the covenant land promised to Abraham and his descendents, Israel) 8 Then He (God) gave him (Abraham) the covenant of circumcision (signifying all those who chose to be a recipient of the covenant); and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs (which became the 12 tribes which make up the nation Israel – Esau did not carry on the circumcision).

  • Regarding the Covenant:

Stephen’s purpose for introducing the concept covenant at this juncture is to show that it precedes the temple and law and therefore is basic to Israel’s religion. Thus he clears himself of the accusation that he has blasphemed against the law and against God. By establishing a covenant with Abraham and his descendants, God declares his enduring love toward his people.[1]

  • Regarding Circumcision:

This covenant symbolized in the rite of circumcision is Israel’s security. Not the temple (which could cease to exist, as in the days of the exile) but the covenant remains forever.[2]

  • Regarding Service:

Abraham and his offspring must serve and worship God without the benefit of a tabernacle or a temple. The covenant, therefore, supersedes the temple and its services. …The charge that Stephen blasphemed becomes meaningless, for Stephen demonstrates that he keeps the covenant by loving and serving God.[3]

  • Regarding Faith:

All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Faith is like radar that sees through the fog the reality of things at a distance that the human eye cannot see.

Corrie Ten Boom[4]

The Patriarchs in Egypt

9 “And the patriarchs (Jacob’s 12 sons), becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt (they sent Joseph out of the covenant land and away from its promises and people – they thought and lived in a way that was in contradiction to the covenant of which they claimed to live in and by). But (even though they did not live true to the covenant, opposing God’s and His purposes) God was with him (God never forgot His covenant and abandoned Joseph – He went to Egypt with him) 10 and delivered him out of all his troubles (strengthened and lifted him above them), and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt (even exalted Joseph against all odds and imagination, totally contrary to his brothers wishes); and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house (second only to Pharaoh). 11 Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance (no food in the land of Israel). 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13 And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to the Pharaoh (God’s sovereignty over His covenant and covenant people is obvious). 14 Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people (the further fulfillment of God’s unimaginable dream to Joseph – no one expected nor looked for its reality). 15 So Jacob went down to Egypt; and he died (in Egypt, far from the covenant land), he and our fathers. 16 And they (their bones) were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.

God Delivers Israel by Moses

17 “But when the time of the (fulfillment of the) promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham (400 years earlier), the people grew and multiplied in Egypt 18 till another king arose (Thutmose I, about 2 centuries later) who did not know (did not honor) Joseph. 19 This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose their babies, so that they might not live (he was known as an exceedingly cruel Pharoah).

Two observations are pertinent.

  • First, the destruction of the male babies in Egypt parallels the killing of the male infants in Bethlehem when Jesus was born (Matt. 2:16). The lives of both Moses and Jesus are spared, and [thus Moses serves as a type of Christ.
  • Second, through Pharaoh’s continued cruelty to the Israelites, God prepared them for their freedom and exodus and gave them a desire to travel to the Promised Land.[5]

20 At this time (at a critical time of Israel’s history) Moses was born, and was well pleasing to God (it pleased God to bring all of this about as He did); and he (Moses) was brought up in his father’s house for three months (until he could hide Moses no more). 21 But when (by faith) he was set out, (God’s will trumps Pharaoh’s again as) Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son (Moses was raised in the house of a king). 22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds (Moses stood out in a crowd like Daniel would later).

23 “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren (he was drawn to his people), the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong (unjustly treated), he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down (killed) the Egyptian. 25 For he (Moses) supposed that his brethren would have understood (anticipated and appreciated) that God would deliver them (free them from their bondage) by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them (act as a peacemaker), saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ 27 But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying (sarcastically), ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’ (Moses the peacemaker was ridiculed and rejected by his people) 29 Then, at this saying, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he had two sons.

30 “And when forty years had passed (at the age of 80, God providentially steps in to keep His covenant and), an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. 31 When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him, 32 saying, ‘I am the God of your fathers (those to whom I made a covenant with)—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and dared not look. 33 ‘Then the Lord said to him, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt (rather than the Promised Land); I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them (from their oppressors and out of the foreign land to the Promised Land). And now come (the timing is right), I will send you (my servant) to Egypt (I will deliver them through you, Moses).” ’

35 (Now Stephen begins to interpret the significance of his words) “This Moses whom they (Israel) rejected, saying, ‘Who made you (the one sent by God) a ruler and a judge?’ is the One God sent (Christ) to be a ruler (prince) and a deliverer (redeemer, liberator) by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush (God the Father sent both His servant Moses and His Son Christ). 36 He brought them out, after he had (authenticated His messenger and message having) shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

This is a constant pattern in Israel’s history—spiritual pride coupled with spiritual ignorance that causes them to reject the deliverers God sends them. …As Stephen points out, however, they rejected both Joseph and Moses. This was their typical response to those God sent to deliver them…

From Stephen’s discussion of Moses, it is obvious that he has the utmost respect for him. The charge of blaspheming Moses is as false as that of blaspheming God. Indeed, Stephen turned the tables on the Sanhedrin, showing that the nation itself had been guilty of rejecting Moses. The Jews’ response to Moses’ life, like their response to Joseph’s, parallels their response to Christ.[6]

Israel Rebels Against God

37 “This is that (very same) Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord your God (the God of Israel) will raise up for you (a fellow Israelite) a Prophet like me from your brethren (meaning the Messiah, Deliverer, Jesus Christ). Him you shall hear.’  (Had the Sanhedrin been willing to consider the facts, they could not have missed the parallels between their nation’s history and their behavior toward Jesus. Nor could they have missed the parallels between Jesus and Moses.[7])

38 “This is he (Moses) who was in (a part of) the congregation (ekklesia, lit. “church”) in the wilderness

F. F. Bruce observes, “As Moses was with the ἐκκλησία then, Christ is with his ἐκκλησία now, and it is still a pilgrim ἐκκλησία, ‘the assembly in the wilderness.’ ”[8]

with the Angel (ἄγγελος means “messenger” which God was on Mount Sinai) who spoke to him (Moses) on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living (meaning real, vital, impacting, to be respected) oracles to give to us (again Stephen showing his sincere belief in and respect for Moses and the Law),

(Another interpretation of “Angel” here is) “The angel who was speaking to him … and [to] our fathers.” The Old Testament account reveals that God himself spoke to the Israelites from Mount Sinai (Exod. 20:1; Deut. 5:4). At a later time, God himself gave Moses two tablets of stone on which God had written the Ten Commandments (Exod. 31:18; Deut. 9:10). But Jewish tradition, which Stephen transmitted to the Sanhedrin, taught that an angel served as a mediator between God and man and thus conveyed God’s law to the people.[9]

Yet a third view is: “God was the author of the law, angels were its mediator, and Moses was its recipient.” [10]

 39 (but) whom our fathers (Israel as a nation in the Exodus) would not obey (show their sincere belief in and respect for Moses and the Law), but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt (wished in their hearts that they had never left Egypt),

The ones the Sanhedrin were voicing their likeness and solidarity to were the ones that truly did the things Stephen was being accused of.

 40 saying to Aaron (when Moses was in the very process of getting the Law from God), ‘Make us gods to go before us (we want new and better divine leadership); as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ (who cares where he is, what he is doing or even if he is still alive)  41 And they made a calf in those days, (totally contrary to the Mosaic Law) offered sacrifices to the idol (they celebrated their accomplishment), and rejoiced in (were proud of, happy about) the works of their own hands. 42 Then (as a result of their sin) God turned and gave them up (gave them over to their lusts) to worship the host of heaven (the worship of the sun, moon, and other members of the starry host), as it is written in the book of the Prophets:

     ‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness,

     O house of Israel? (The idea here is with a single and true heart.  The answer is obvious, “No.”)

43  You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch, (who was the “Canaanite-Phoenician god of the sky and sun,”[11])

     And the star of your god Remphan, (Saturn)

     Images which you made (fabrications of your own hands) to worship; (the creator then worships the creation – how smart is that?!)

      And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’ (for doing so)

God’s True Tabernacle

44 “Our fathers (of whom you show such high regard for) had the tabernacle of witness (that contains the witness, the Law) in the wilderness, (which is not a fabrication of man) as He (God) appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, 45 which our fathers, having received it in turn (verbally acknowledged and embraced all the it represented and stood for), also brought with Joshua (after Moses’ death – meaning that the presence of God followed the Israelites, via. the tabernacle) into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers (all the way) until the days of David, (God was true to Israel, even thought Israel’s heart was not true to God) 46 (David) who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon (was the one who) built Him (God) a house (a temple to live in rather than the tabernacle—tent).

48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:

49  ‘Heaven (the universe) is My throne, and earth is My footstool. (So) What house (of any significance or consequence) will you build for Me? says the Lord, or what is the place of My rest? (That God should call His home.)

50  Has My hand not made all these things?’ (that earth and the heavens contain.  All these things are external of God.  He was before them and will live above and beyond them.)

Stephen was not guilty of blaspheming the temple. They were, for confining God to it. Instead, with Solomon and Isaiah, he argued that God was greater than any temple. The temple was the symbol of God’s presence, not the prison of His essence.[12]

Israel Resists the Holy Spirit

51 “You stiff-necked (a term God used of the Exodus Israelites, meaning obstinate)

The expression stiff-necked originates in the agricultural world of that day, in which oxen or horses refuse to yield to the yoke the farmers try to put around their necks. The expression is synonymous with “disobedience.”[13]

and uncircumcised (signifying those who were not a part of God’s covenant) in heart and ears!

God urged the Jewish people to circumcise their hearts (Deut. 10:16; 30:6; Jer. 4:4), which means that they should open their hearts and ears to listen obediently to God’s commands.

With these Old Testament terms, Stephen declares that his listeners are outside the covenant because by refusing to listen to God’s Word they have broken its obligations. They have the external sign on their physical bodies, but they lack the internal sign—an obedient heart regenerated by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 2:28–30).[14]

You always (continually) resist (rebel against and thus grieve) the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? (Inferring the persecuted them all.)  And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One (the Messiah, Jesus Christ, as Stephen himself was endeavoring to do), of whom you now (through you obstinacy, uncircumcised hearts, and unwillingness to yield to the Holy Spirit) have become the betrayers and murderers (of this Just One, the Messiah), 53 (you) who have (verbally) received the law by the direction of angels (God’s messengers) and have not kept it.” (Your walk has not matched you talk.  All of history points to your flagrant disrespect to God’s law and His temple, not mine.)

Stephen the Martyr

54 When they (the Sanhedrin) heard these things they were cut to the heart, (cut to the [heart] literally means “to saw in half.” Stephen’s words ripped apart the veneer of their false spirituality and exposed them for the blasphemous hypocrites they were.[15])  and they gnashed at him with their teeth. (that clenched and ground their teeth in hot anger)

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.

Plato[16]

It’s interesting the Stephen is not led of the Spirit to call these men to confession and repentance.  They are already lost for all eternity.  Dead men walking and talking…

55 But he (Stephen), being full (completely under the influence) of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the (Shekinah) glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man (Ouch!  That’s a phrase the Sanhedrin don’t want to hear,) standing at the right hand of God!”

Stephen was one of the few in Scripture blessed with a glimpse into heaven, along with Isaiah (Isa. 6:1–3), Ezekiel (Ezek. 1:26–28), Paul (2 Cor. 12:2–4), and John (Rev. 4:1ff.). [17]

57 Then they cried out with a loud voice (they gave a blood curdling scream), stopped their ears (in an endeavor to not hear any more, so called blasphemy), and ran at him with one accord (all at once and all together – as if possessed);

[The word] (rushed) vividly portrays the Sanhedrin’s fury. It is the word used to describe the mad rush of the herd of demon-possessed swine into the Sea of Galilee (Mark 5:13; Matt. 8:32). It is also used in Acts 19:29 to describe the frenzied mob that rushed into the theater at Ephesus. To put it in terms of modern English vernacular, they lost it. Casting aside dignity and propriety, the highest court in Israel was reduced to a howling, murderous mob.[18]

They don’t even take the time to proclaim a verdict.  This like an unfortunate creature finding itself in the midst of a school of famished piranhas viciously lunging and attacking their prey.

Stephen has been confessing Christ before men, and now he sees Christ confessing his servant before God. The proper posture for a witness is the standing posture. Stephen, condemned by an earthly court, appeals for vindication to a heavenly court, and his vindicator in that supreme court is Jesus, who stands at God’s right hand as Stephen’s advocate.

F. F. Bruce[19]

 58 and (according to the law) they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And (again according to the law) the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul (soon to become the Apostle Paul).  59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” (which would be similar to Christ when He said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit.”)

This passage lends more evidence to the fact of “absent from the body, present with the Lord.”

 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice (with a message very different from his persecutors – but very much like his Savior), “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep (he died).

Paul would soon be a recipient of that prayer of Stephen.

[1] Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953-2001). Vol. 17: New Testament commentary : Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles. New Testament Commentary (243). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

[2] Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953-2001). Vol. 17: New Testament commentary : Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles. New Testament Commentary (243). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

[3] Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953-2001). Vol. 17: New Testament commentary : Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles. New Testament Commentary (244). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

[4] Barton, B. B., & Osborne, G. R. (1999). Acts. Life application Bible commentary (108). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House.

[5] Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953-2001). Vol. 17: New Testament commentary : Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles. New Testament Commentary (251). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

[6] MacArthur, J. (1994). Acts (210). Chicago: Moody Press.

[7] MacArthur, J. (1994). Acts (210). Chicago: Moody Press.

[8] Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953-2001). Vol. 17: New Testament commentary : Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles. New Testament Commentary (262). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

[9] Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953-2001). Vol. 17: New Testament commentary : Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles. New Testament Commentary (262). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

[10] MacArthur, J. (1994). Acts (210). Chicago: Moody Press.

[11] Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953-2001). Vol. 17: New Testament commentary : Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles. New Testament Commentary (266). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

[12] MacArthur, J. (1994). Acts (214). Chicago: Moody Press.

[13] Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953-2001). Vol. 17: New Testament commentary : Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles. New Testament Commentary (273). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

[14] Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953-2001). Vol. 17: New Testament commentary : Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles. New Testament Commentary (274). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

[15] MacArthur, J. (1994). Acts (218). Chicago: Moody Press.

[16] Barton, B. B., & Osborne, G. R. (1999). Acts. Life application Bible commentary (125). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House.

[17] MacArthur, J. (1994). Acts (221). Chicago: Moody Press.

[18] MacArthur, J. (1994). Acts (222). Chicago: Moody Press.

[19] Barton, B. B., & Osborne, G. R. (1999). Acts. Life application Bible commentary (127). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House.