When our Lord Jesus called his apostles out to be employed in services
and sufferings for him, he told them that yet the last should be first,
and the first last, which was remarkably fulfilled in St. Stephen and
St. Paul, who were both of them late converts, in comparison of the
apostles, and yet got the start of them both in services and
sufferings; for God, in conferring honours and favours, often crosses
hands. In this chapter we have the martyrdom of Stephen, the first
martyr of the Christian church, who led the van in the noble army. And
therefore his sufferings and death are more largely related than those
of any other, for direction and encouragement to all those who are
called out to resist unto blood, as he did. Here is,
I. His defence of himself before the council, in answer to the matters
and things he stood charged with, the scope of which is to show that it
was no blasphemy against God, nor any injury at all to the glory of his
name, to say that the temple should be destroyed and the customs of the
ceremonial law changed. And,
1. He shows this by going over the history of the Old Testament, and
observing that God never intended to confine his favours to that place,
or that ceremonial law; and that they had no reason to expect he
should, for the people of the Jews had always been a provoking people,
and had forfeited the privileges of their peculiarity: nay, that that
holy place and that law were but figures of good things to come, and it
was no disparagement at all to them to say that they must give place to
better things, ver. 1-50 .
And then,
2. He applies this to those that prosecuted him, and sat in judgment
upon him, sharply reproving them for their wickedness, by which they
had brought upon themselves the ruin of their place and nation, and
then could not bear to hear of it, ver. 51-53 .
II. The putting of him to death by stoning him, and his patient,
cheerful, pious submission to it, ver. 54-60 .
1 Then said the high priest, Are these things so?
2 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,
3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy
kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee.
4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldæans, and dwelt in
Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed
him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.
5 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.
6 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.
7 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.
8 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.
9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt:
but God was with him,
10 And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him
favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he
made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
11 Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and
Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no
sustenance.
12 But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent
out our fathers first.
13 And at the second time Joseph was made known to his
brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.
14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and
all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our
fathers,
16 And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre
that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the
father of Sychem.
Stephen is now at the bar before the great council of the nation,
indicted for blasphemy: what the witnesses swore against him we had an
account of in the foregoing chapter, that he spoke blasphemous words
against Moses and God; for he spoke against this holy place and the
law. Now here,
I. The high priest calls upon him to answer for himself, v. 1 .
He was president, and, as such, the mouth of the court, and therefore
he saith, "You, the prisoner at the bar, you hear what is sworn against
you; what do you say to it? Are these things so? Have you ever
spoken any words to this purport? If you have, will you recant them, or
will you stand to them? Guilty or not guilty? " This carried a
show of fairness, and yet seems to have been spoken with an air of
haughtiness; and thus far he seems to have prejudged the cause, that,
if it were so, that he had spoken such and such words, he shall
certainly be adjudged a blasphemer, whatever he may offer in
justification or explanation of them.
II. He begins his defence, and it is long; but it should seem by his
breaking off abruptly, just when he came to the main point
( v. 50 ),
that it would have been much longer if his enemies would have given him
leave to say all he had to say. In general we may observe,
1. That in this discourse he appears to be a man ready and mighty in
the scriptures, and thereby thoroughly furnished for every good word
and work. He can relate scripture stories, and such as were very
pertinent to his purpose, off-hand without looking in his Bible. He was filled with the Holy Ghost, not so much to reveal to him new
things, or open to him the secret counsels and decrees of God
concerning the Jewish nation, with them to convict these gainsayers;
no, but to bring to his remembrance the scriptures of the Old
Testament, and to teach him how to make use of them for their
conviction. Those that are full of the Holy Ghost will be full of the
scripture, as Stephen was.
2. That he quotes the scriptures according to the Septuagint
translation, by which it appears he was one of the Hellenist Jews, who
used that version in their synagogues. His following this, occasions
divers variations from the Hebrew original in this discourse, which the
judges of the court did not correct, because they knew how he was led
into them; nor is it any derogation to the authority of that Spirit by
which he spoke, for the variations are not material. We have a maxim, Apices juris non sunt jura--Mere points of law are not law
itself. These verses carry on this his compendium of church history to the end of the book
of Genesis. Observe,
(1.) His preface: Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken. He gives
them, though not flattering titles, yet civil and respectful ones,
signifying his expectation of fair treatment with them; from men he
hopes to be treated with humanity, and he hopes that brethren and
fathers will use him in a fatherly brotherly way. They are ready to
look upon him as an apostate from the Jewish church, and an enemy to
them. But, to make way for their conviction to the contrary, he
addresses himself to them as men, brethren, and fathers, resolving to look on himself as one of them, though they would not so
look on him. He craves their attention: Hearken; though he was
about to tell them what they already knew, yet he begs them to hearken
to it, because, though they knew it all, yet they would not without a
very close application of mind know how to apply it to the case before
them.
(2.) His entrance upon the discourse, which (whatever it may seem to
those that read it carelessly) is far from being a long ramble only to
amuse the hearers, and give them a diversion by telling them an old
story. No; it is all pertinent and ad rem--to the purpose, to
show them that God had no this heart so much upon that holy place and
the law as they had; but, as he had a church in the world many ages
before that holy place was founded and the ceremonial law given, so he
would have when they should both have had their period.
First, From this call of Abraham we may observe,
1. That in all our ways we must acknowledge God, and attend the
directions of his providence, as of the pillar of cloud and fire. It is
not said, Abraham removed, but, God removed him into this land
wherein you now dwell, and he did but follow his Leader.
2. Those whom God takes into covenant with himself he distinguishes
from the children of this world; they are effectually called out of the
state, out of the land, of their nativity; they must sit loose to the
world, and live above it and every thing in it, even that in it which
is most dear to them, and must trust God to make it up to them in
another and better country, that is, the heavenly, which he will show
them. God's chosen must follow him with an implicit faith and
obedience.
Secondly, But let us see what this is to Stephen's case.
1. They had charged him as a blasphemer of God, and an apostate from
the church; therefore he shows that he is a son of Abraham, and values
himself upon his being able to say, Our father Abraham, and that
he is a faithful worshipper of the God of Abraham, whom therefore he
here calls the God of glory. He also shows that he owns divine
revelation, and that particularly by which the Jewish church was
founded and incorporated.
2. They were proud of their being circumcised; and therefore he shows
that Abraham was taken under God's guidance, and into communion with
him, before he was circumcised, for that was not till v. 8 .
With this argument Paul proves that Abraham was justified by faith,
because he was justified when he was in uncircumcision: and so here.
3. They had a mighty jealousy for this holy place, which may be meant
of the whole land of Canaan; for it was called the holy land,
Immanuel's land; and the destruction of the holy house inferred
that of the holy land. "Now," says Stephen, "you need not be so proud
of it; for,"
(1.) "You came originally out of Ur of the Chaldees, where your fathers served other gods ( Josh. xxiv. 2 ),
and you were not the first planters of this country. Look therefore unto the rock whence you were hewn, and the holy of the pit out of
which you were digged; " that is, as it follows there, " look unto
Abraham your father, for I called him alone ( Isa. li. 1, 2 )--
think of the meanness of your beginnings, and how you are entirely
indebted to divine grace, and then you will see boasting to be for ever
excluded. It was God that raised up the righteous man from the east, and called him to his foot. Isa. xli. 2 .
But, if his seed degenerate, let them know that God can destroy this
holy place, and raise up to himself another people, for he is not a
debtor to them."
(2.) "God appeared in his glory to Abraham a great way off in
Mesopotamia, before he came near Canaan, nay, before he dwelt in
Charran; so that you must not think God's visits are confined to this land; no; he that brought the seed of the church from a
country so far east can, if he pleases, carry the fruit of it to
another country as far west."
(3.) "God made no haste to bring him into this land, but let him linger
some years by the way, which shows that God has not his heart so much
upon this land as you have yours, neither is his honour, nor the
happiness of his people, bound up in it. It is therefore neither
blasphemy nor treason to say, It shall be destroyed,"
But let us see how this serves Stephen's purpose.
1. The Jewish nation, for the honour of which they were so jealous, was
very inconsiderable in its beginnings; as their common father Abraham
was fetched out of obscurity in Ur of the Chaldees, so their tribes,
and the heads of them, were fetched out of servitude in Egypt, when
they were the fewest of all people, Deut. vii. 7 .
And what need is there of so much ado, as if their ruin, when they
bring it upon themselves by sin, must be the ruin of the world, and of
all God's interests in it? No; he that brought them out of Egypt can
bring them into it again, as he threatened
( Deut. xxviii. 68 ),
and yet be no loser, while he can out of stones raise up children unto
Abraham.
2. The slow steps by which the promise made to Abraham advanced towards
the performance, and the many seeming contradictions here taken notice
of, plainly show that it had a spiritual meaning, and that the land
principally intended to be conveyed and secured by it was the better
country, that is, the heavenly; as the apostle shows from this very
argument that the patriarchs sojourned in the land of promise, as in
a strange country, thence inferring that they looked for a city
that had foundations, Heb. xi. 9, 10 .
It was therefore no blasphemy to say, Jesus shall destroy this
place, when at the same time we say, "He shall lead us to the
heavenly Canaan, and put us in possession of that, of which the earthly
Canaan was but a type and figure."
First, God engaged to be a God to Abraham and his seed; and, in
token of this, appointed that he and his male seed should be
circumcised, Gen. xvii. 9, 10 .
He gave him the covenant of circumcision, that is, the covenant
of which circumcision was the seal; and accordingly, when Abraham had a
son born, he circumcised him the eighth day ( v. 8 ),
by which he was both bound by the divine law and interested in the
divine promise; for circumcision had reference to both, being a seal of
the covenant both on God's part--I will be to thee a God
all-sufficient, and on man's part-- Walk before me, and be thou
perfect. And then when effectual care was thus taken for the
securing of Abraham's seed, to be a seed to serve the Lord, they
began to multiply: Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob the twelve
patriarchs, or roots of the respective tribes.
Secondly, Joseph, the darling and blessing of his father's
house, was abused by his brethren; they envied him because of
his dreams, and sold him into Egypt. Thus early did the children
of Israel begin to grudge those among them that were eminent and
outshone others, of which their enmity to Christ, who, like Joseph, was
a Nazarite among his brethren, was a great instance.
Thirdly, God owned Joseph in his troubles, and was with him
( Gen. xxxix. 2, 21 ),
by the influence of his Spirit, both on his mind, giving him comfort,
and on the minds of those he was concerned with, giving him favour in
their eyes. And thus at length he delivered him out of his
afflictions, and Pharaoh made him the second man in the kingdom, Ps. cv. 20-22 .
And thus he not only arrived at great preferment among the Egyptians,
but became the shepherd and stone of Israel, Gen. xlix. 24 .
Fourthly, Jacob was compelled to go down into Egypt, by a famine
which forced him out of Canaan, a dearth (which was a great
affliction ), to that degree that our fathers found no
sustenance in Canaan, v. 11 .
That fruitful land was turned into barrenness. But, hearing that
there was corn in Egypt (treasured up by the wisdom of his own
son), he sent out our fathers first to fetch corn, v. 12 .
And the second time that they went, Joseph, who at first made
himself strange to them, made himself known to them, and it was
notified to Pharaoh that they were Joseph's kindred and had a
dependence upon him
( v. 13 ),
whereupon, with Pharaoh's leave, Joseph sent for his father Jacob to
him into Egypt, with all his kindred and family, to the
number of seventy-five souls, to be subsisted there, v. 13 .
In Genesis they are said to be seventy souls, Gen. xlvi. 27 .
But the Septuagint there makes them seventy-five, and Stephen or Luke
follows that version, as Luke iii. 36 ,
where Cainan is inserted, which is not in the Hebrew text, but in the
Septuagint. Some, by excluding Joseph and his sons, who were in Egypt
before (which reduces the number to sixty-four), and adding the sons of
the eleven patriarch, make the number seventy-five.
Fifthly, Jacob and his sons died in Egypt
( v. 15 ),
but were carried over to be buried in Canaan, v. 16 .
A very considerable difficulty occurs here: it is said, They were
carried over into Sychem, whereas Jacob was buried not in Sychem,
but near Hebron, in the cave of Machpelah, where Abraham and Isaac were
buried, Gen. l. 13 .
Joseph's bones indeed were buried in Sychem
( Josh. xxiv. 32 ),
and it seems by this (though it is not mentioned in the story) that the
bones of all the other patriarchs were carried with his, each of them
giving the same commandment concerning them that he had done; and of
them this must be understood, not of Jacob himself. But then the
sepulchre in Sychem was bought by Jacob
( Gen. xxxiii. 19 ),
and by this it is described, Josh. xxiv. 32 .
How then is it here said to be bought by Abraham? Dr. Whitby's
solution of this is very sufficient. He supplies it thus: Jacob went
down into Egypt and died, he and our fathers; and ( our fathers ) were carried over into Sychem; and he, that is, Jacob, was
laid in the sepulchre that Abraham brought for a sum of money, Gen. xxiii. 16 .
(Or, they were laid there, that is, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.) And
they, namely, the other patriarchs, were buried in the sepulchre
bought of the sons of Emmor, the father of Sychem.
Let us now see what this is to Stephen's purpose.
1. He still reminds them of the mean beginning of the Jewish nation, as
a check to their priding themselves in the glories of that nation; and
that it was by a miracle of mercy that they were raised up out of
nothing to what they were, from so small a number to be so great a
nation; but, if they answer not the intention of their being so raised,
they can expect no other than to be destroyed. The prophets frequently
put them in mind of the bringing of them out of Egypt, as a aggravation
of their contempt of the law of God, and here it is urged upon them as
an aggravation of their contempt of the gospel of Christ.
2. He reminds them likewise of the wickedness of those that were the
patriarchs of their tribes, in envying their brother Joseph, and
selling him into Egypt; and the same spirit was still working in them
towards Christ and his ministers.
3. Their holy land, which they doted so much upon, their fathers were
long kept out of the possession of, and met with dearth and great
affliction in it; and therefore let them not think it strange if, after
it has been so long polluted with sin, it be at length destroyed.
4. The faith of the patriarchs in desiring to be buried in the land of
Canaan plainly showed that they had an eye to the heavenly country, to
which it was the design of this Jesus to lead them.
17 But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had
sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
18 Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.
19 The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated
our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the
end they might not live.
20 In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and
nourished up in his father's house three months:
21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up,
and nourished him for her own son.
22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,
and was mighty in words and in deeds.
23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart
to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that
God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
26 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?
27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying,
Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?
29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the
land of Madian, where he begat two sons.
I. The wonderful increase of the people of Israel in Egypt; it was by a
wonder of providence that in a little time they advanced from a family
into a nation.
1. It was when the time of the promise drew nigh --the time when
they were to be formed into a people. During the first two hundred and
fifteen years after the promise made to Abraham, the children of the
covenant were increased but to seventy; but in the latter two hundred
and fifteen years they increased to six hundred thousand fighting men.
The motion of providence is sometimes quickest when it comes nearest
the centre. Let us not be discouraged at the slowness of the
proceedings towards the accomplishment of God's promises; God knows how
to redeem the time that seems to have been lost, and, when the year
of the redeemed is at hand, can do a double work in a single day.
2. It was in Egypt, where they were oppressed, and ruled with
rigour; when their lives were made so bitter to them that, one would
think, they should have wished to be written childless, yet they
married, in faith that God in due time would visit them; and God blessed them, who thus honoured him, saying, Be fruitful, and
multiply. Suffering times have often been growing times with the
church.
II. The extreme hardships which they underwent there, v. 18, 19 .
When the Egyptians observed them to increase in number they increased
their burdens, in which Stephen observes three things:--
1. Their base ingratitude: They were oppressed by another king that
knew not Joseph, that is, did not consider the good service that
Joseph had done to that nation; for, if he had, he would not have made
so ill a requital to his relations and family. Those that injure good
people are very ungrateful, for they are the blessings of the age and
place they live in.
2. Their hellish craft and policy: They dealt subtly with our
kindred. Come on, said they, let us deal wisely, thinking
thereby to secure themselves, but it proved dealing foolishly, for they
did but treasure up wrath by it. Those are in a great mistake who think
they deal wisely for themselves when they deal deceitfully or
unmercifully with their brethren.
3. Their barbarous and inhuman cruelty. That they might effectually
extirpate them, they cast out their young children, to the end they
might not live. The killing of their infant seed seemed a very
likely way to crush an infant nation. Now Stephen seems to observe this
to them, not only that they might further see how mean their beginnings
were, fitly represented (perhaps with an eye to the exposing of the
young children in Egypt) by the forlorn state of a helpless, out-cast
infant
( Ezek. xvi. 4 ),
and how much they were indebted to God for his care of them, which they
had forfeited, and made themselves unworthy of: but also that they
might consider that what they were now doing against the Christian
church in its infancy was as impious and unjust, and would be in the
issue as fruitless and ineffectual, as that was which the Egyptians did
against the Jewish church in its infancy. "You think you deal subtly in
your ill treatment of us, and, in persecuting young converts, you do as
they did in casting out the young children; but you will find it is to
no purpose, in spite of your malice Christ's disciples will increase
and multiply. "
III. The raising up of Moses to be their deliverer. Stephen was
charged with having spoken blasphemous words against Moses, in answer
to which charge he here speaks very honourably of him.
1. Moses was born when the persecution of Israel was at the hottest,
especially in that most cruel instance of it, the murdering of the
new-born children: At that time, Moses was born ( v. 20 ),
and was himself in danger, as soon as he came into the world (as our
Saviour also was at Bethlehem) of falling a sacrifice to that bloody
edict. God is preparing for his people's deliverance, when their way is
darkest, and their distress deepest.
2. He was exceedingly fair; his face began to shine as soon as
he was born, as a happy presage of the honour God designed to put upon
him; he was asteios to Theo -- fair towards God; he
was sanctified from the womb, and this made him beautiful in God's
eyes; for it is the beauty of holiness that is in God's sight of great
price.
3. He was wonderfully preserved in his infancy, first, by the care of
his tender parents, who nourished him three months in their own
house, as long as they durst; and then by a favourable providence
that threw him into the arms of Pharaoh's daughter, who took him up,
and nourished him as her own son ( v. 21 );
for those whom God designs to make special use of he will take special
care of. And did he thus protect the child Moses? Much more will he
secure the interests of his holy child Jesus (as he is called ch. iv. 27 )
from the enemies that are gathered together against him. 4. He became a great scholar
( v. 22 ): He was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, who were then
famed for all manner of polite literature, particularly philosophy,
astronomy, and (which perhaps helped to lead them to idolatry)
hieroglyphics. Moses, having his education at court, had opportunity
of improving himself by the best books, tutors, and conversation, in
all the arts and sciences, and had a genius for them. Only we have
reason to think that he had not so far forgotten the God of his fathers
as to acquaint himself with the unlawful studies and practices of the
magicians of Egypt, any further than was necessary to the confuting of
them.
5. He became a prime minister of state in Egypt. This seems to be meant
by his being mighty in words and deeds. Though he had not a
ready way of expressing himself, but stammered, yet he spoke admirably
good sense, and every thing he said commanded assent, and carried its
own evidence and force of reason along with it; and, in business, none
went on with such courage, and conduct, and success. Thus was he
prepared, by human helps, for those services, which, after all, he
could not be thoroughly furnished for without divine illumination. Now,
by all this, Stephen will make it appear that, notwithstanding the
malicious insinuations of his persecutors, he had as high and
honourable thoughts of Moses as they had.
IV. The attempts which Moses made to deliver Israel, which they
spurned, and would not close in with. This Stephen insists much upon,
and it serves for a key to this story
( Exod. ii. 11-15 ),
as does also that other construction which is put upon it by the
apostle, Heb. xi. 24-26 .
There it is represented as an act of holy self-denial, here as a
designed prelude to, or entrance upon, the public service he was to be
called out to
( v. 23 ): When he was full forty years old, in the prime of his time for
preferment in the court of Egypt, it came into his heart (for
God put it there) to visit his brethren the children of Israel, and to see which way he might do them any service; and he showed
himself as a public person, with a public character.
1. As Israel's saviour. This he gave a specimen of in avenging an
oppressed Israelite, and killing the Egyptian that abused him
( v. 24 ). Seeing one of his brethren suffer wrong, he was moved with
compassion towards the sufferer, and a just indignation at the
wrong-doer, as men in public stations should be, and he avenged him
that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian, which, if he had been
only a private person, he could not lawfully have done; but he knew
that his commission from heaven would bear him out, and he supposed
that his brethren (who could not but have some knowledge of the
promise made to Abraham, that the nation that should oppress them
God would judge) would have understood that God by his hand would
deliver them; for he could not have had either presence of mind or
strength of body to do what he did, if he had not been clothed with
such a divine power as evinced a divine authority. If they had but
understood the signs of the times, they might have taken this for the
dawning of the day of their deliverance; but they understood
not, they did not take this, as it was designed, for the setting up
of a standard, and sounding of a trumpet, to proclaim Moses their
deliverer. 2. As Israel's judge. This he gave a specimen of, the very next day, in offering to accommodate matters between two
contending Hebrews, wherein he plainly assumed a public character
( v. 26 ): He showed himself to them as they strove, and, putting on an air
of majesty and authority, he would have set them at one again, and as their prince have determined the controversy between them, saying, Sirs, you are brethren, by birth and profession of
religion; why do you wrong one to another? For he observed that
(as in most strifes) there was a fault on both sides; and therefore, in
order to peace and friendship, there must be a mutual remission and
condescension. When Moses was to be Israel's deliverer out of Egypt, he
slew the Egyptians, and so delivered Israel out of their hands; but,
when he was to be Israel's judge and lawgiver, he ruled them with the
golden sceptre, not the iron rod; he did not kill and slay them when
they strove, but gave them excellent laws and statutes, and decided
upon their complaints and appeals made to him, Exod. xviii. 16 . But the contending Israelite that was most in the wrong
thrust him away ( v. 27 ),
would not bear the reproof, though a just and gentle one, but was ready
to fly in his face, with, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over
us? Proud and litigious spirits are impatient of check and control.
Rather would these Israelites have their bodies ruled with rigour by
their task-masters than be delivered, and have their minds ruled with
reason, by their deliverer. The wrong-doer was so enraged at the
reproof given him that he upbraided Moses with the service he had done
to their nation in killing the Egyptian, which, if they had pleased,
would have been the earnest of further and greater service: Wilt
thou kill me, as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday? v. 28 ,
charging that upon him as his crime, and threatening to accuse him for
it, which was the hanging out of the flag of defiance to the Egyptians,
and the banner of love and deliverance to Israel. Hereupon Moses
fled into the land of Midian, and made no further attempt to
deliver Israel till forty years after; he settled as a stranger in
Midian, married, and had two sons, by Jethro's daughter, v. 29 .
Now let us see how this serves Stephen's purpose.
1. They charged him with blaspheming Moses, in answer to which he
retorts upon them the indignities which their fathers did to Moses,
which they ought to be ashamed of, and humbled for, instead of picking
quarrels thus, under pretence of zeal for the honour of Moses, with one
that had as great a veneration for him as any of them had.
2. They persecuted him for disputing in defence of Christ and his
gospel, in opposition to which they set up Moses and his law: "But,"
saith he, "you had best take heed,"
(1.) "Lest you hereby do as your fathers did, refuse and reject one whom God has raised up to be to you a prince and a Saviour; you
may understand, if you will not wilfully shut your eyes against the
light, that God will, by this Jesus, deliver you out of a worse slavery
than that in Egypt; take heed then of thrusting him away, but receive
him as a ruler and a judge over you."
(2.) "Lest you hereby fare as your fathers fared, who for this were
very justly left to die in their slavery, for the deliverance came not
till forty years after. This will be the issue of it, you put away the
gospel from you, and it will be sent to the Gentiles; you will
not have Christ, and you shall not have him, so shall your doom be." Matt. xxiii. 38, 39 .
30 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.
31 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,
32 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 durst not behold.
33 Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet:
for the place where thou standest is holy ground.
34 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.
35 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.
36 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.
37 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.
38 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:
39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from
them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
40 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.
41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice
unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
Stephen here proceeds in his story of Moses; and let any one judge
whether these are the words of one that was a blasphemer of Moses or
no; nothing could be spoken more honourably of him. Here is,
I. The vision which he saw of the glory of God at the bush
( v. 30 ): When forty years had expired (during all which time Moses was
buried alive in Midian, and was now grown old, and one would think past
service), that it might appear that all his performances were products
of a divine power and promise (as it appeared that Isaac was a child of
promise by his being born of parents stricken in years), now, at eighty
years old, he enters upon that post of honour to which he was born, in
recompence for his self-denial at forty years old. Observe,
1. Where God appeared to him: In the wilderness of Mount Sinai, v. 30 .
And, when he appeared to him there, that was holy ground
( v. 33 ),
which Stephen takes notice of, as a check to those who prided
themselves in the temple, that holy place, as if there were no
communion to be had with God but there; whereas God met Moses, and
manifested himself to him, in a remote obscure place in the wilderness
of Sinai. They deceive themselves if they think God is confined to
places; he can bring his people into a wilderness, and there speak
comfortably to them.
2. How he appeared to him: In a flame of fire (for our God is a
consuming fire), and yet the bush, in which this fire was,
though combustible matter, was not consumed, which, as it
represented the state of Israel in Egypt (where, though they were in
the fire of affliction, yet they were not consumed), so perhaps it may
be looked upon as a type of Christ's incarnation, and the union between
the divine and human nature: God, manifested in the flesh, was as the
flame of fire manifested in the bush.
3. How Moses was affected with this:
(1.) He wondered at the sight, v. 31 .
It was a phenomenon with the solution of which all his Egyptian
learning could not furnish him. He had the curiosity at first to pry
into it: I will turn aside now, and see this great sight; but
the nearer he drew the more he was struck with amazement; and,
(2.) He trembled, and durst not behold, durst not look
stedfastly upon it; for he was soon aware that it was not a fiery
meteor, but the angel of the Lord; and no other than the
Angel of the covenant, the Son of God himself. This set him a
trembling. Stephen was accused for blaspheming Moses and God
( ch. vi. 11 ),
as if Moses had been a little god; but by this it appears that he was a man, subject to like passions as we are, and particularly that
of fear, upon any appearance of the divine majesty and glory.
II. The declaration which he heard of the covenant of God
( v. 32 ): The voice of the Lord came to him; for faith comes by hearing;
and this was it: I am the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and therefore,
1. "I am the same that I was." The covenant God made with Abraham some
ages ago was, I will be to thee a God, a God all-sufficient.
"Now," saith God, "that covenant is still in full force; it is not
cancelled nor forgotten, but I am, as I was, the God of Abraham, and
now I will make it to appear so;" for all the favours, all the honours
God put upon Israel, were founded upon this covenant with Abraham, and
flowed from it.
2. "I will be the same that I am." For if the death of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, cannot break the covenant-relation between God and them (as
by this it appears it cannot), then nothing else can: and then he will
be a God,
(1.) To their souls, which are now separated from their bodies. Our
Saviour by this proves the future state, Matt. xxii. 31, 32 .
Abraham is dead, and yet God is still his God, therefore Abraham is
still alive. God never did that for him in this world which would
answer the true intent and full extent of that promise, that he would
be the God of Abraham; and therefore it must be done for him in the
other world. Now this is that life and immortality which are brought to
light by the gospel, for the full conviction of the Sadducees, who
denied it. Those therefore who stood up in defence of the gospel, and
endeavoured to propagate it, were so far from blaspheming Moses that
they did the greatest honour imaginable to Moses, and that glorious
discovery which God made of himself to him at the bush.
(2.) To their seed. God, in declaring himself thus the God of their
fathers, intimated his kindness to their seed, that they should be beloved for the fathers' sakes, Rom. xi. 28; Deut. vii. 8 .
Now the preachers of the gospel preached up this covenant, the
promise made of God unto the fathers; unto which promise those of the twelve tribes that did continue serving God hoped to
come, ch. xxvi. 6, 7 .
And shall they, under colour of supporting the holy place and the law,
oppose the covenant which was made with Abraham and his seed, his
spiritual seed, before the law was given, and long before the holy
place was built? Since God's glory must be for ever advanced, and our
glorying for ever silenced, God will have our salvation to be by
promise, and not by the law; the Jews therefore who persecuted the
Christians, under pretence that they blasphemed the law, did themselves
blaspheme the promise, and forsook all their own mercies that were
contained in it.
III. The commission which God gave him to deliver Israel out of Egypt.
The Jews set up Moses in competition with Christ, and accused Stephen
as a blasphemer because he did not do so too. But Stephen here shows
that Moses was an eminent type of Christ, as he was Israel's deliverer.
When God had declared himself the God of Abraham he proceeded,
1. To order Moses into a reverent posture: " Put off thy shoes from
thy feet. Enter not upon sacred things with low, and cold, and
common thoughts. Keep thy foot, Eccl. v. 1 .
Be not hasty and rash in thy approaches to God; tread softly."
2. To order Moses into a very eminent service. When he is ready to
receive commands, he shall have commission. He is commissioned to
demand leave from Pharaoh for Israel to go out of his land, and to
enforce that demand, v. 34 .
Observe,
(1.) The notice God took both of their sufferings and of their sense of
their sufferings: I have seen, I have seen their affliction, and
have heard their groaning. God has a compassionate regard to the
troubles of his church, and the groans of his persecuted people; and
their deliverance takes rise from his pity.
(2.) The determination he fixed to redeem them by the hand of Moses: I am come down to deliver them. It should seem, though God is
present in all places, yet he uses that expression here of coming down
to deliver them because that deliverance was typical of what Christ
did, when, for us men, and for our salvation, he came down from
heaven; he that ascended first descended. Moses is the man that
must be employed: Come, and I will send thee into Egypt: and, if
God send him, he will own him and give him success.
IV. His acting in pursuance of this commission, wherein he was a figure
of the Messiah. And Stephen takes notice here again of the slights they
had put upon him, the affronts they had given him, and their refusal to
have him to reign over them, as tending very much to magnify his agency
in their deliverance.
1. God put honour upon him whom they put contempt upon
( v. 35 ): This Moses whom they refused (whose kind offers and good offices
they rejected with scorn, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge?
Thou takest too much upon thee, thou son of Levi, Num. xvi. 3 ),
this same Moses did God send to be a ruler, and a deliverer, by the
hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. It may be
understood either that God sent to him by the hand of the angel going
along with him he became a complete deliverer. Now, by this example,
Stephen would intimate to the council that this Jesus whom they now
refused, as their fathers did Moses, saying, Who made thee a
prophet and a king? Who gave thee this authority? even this same
has God advanced to be a prince and a Saviour, a ruler and a
deliverer; as the apostles had told them awhile ago
( ch. v. 30, 31 ), that the stone which the builders refused was become the head-stone
in the corner, ch. iv. 11 .
2. God showed favour to them by him, and he was very forward to serve
them, though they had thrust him away. God might justly have refused
them his service, and he might justly have declined it; but it is all
forgotten: they are not so much as upbraided with it, v. 36 . He brought them out, notwithstanding, after he had shown
wonders and signs in the land of Egypt (which were afterwards
continued for the completing of their deliverance, according as the
case called for them) in the Red Sea and in the wilderness forty
years. So far is he from blaspheming Moses that he admires him as a
glorious instrument in the hand of God for the forming of the
Old-Testament church. But it does not at all derogate from his just
honour to say that he was but an instrument, and that he is outshone by
this Jesus, whom he encourages these Jews yet to close with, and to
come into his interest, not fearing but that then they should be
received into his favour, and receive benefit by him, as the people of
Israel were delivered by Moses, though they had once refused him.
V. His prophecy of Christ and his grace, v. 37 .
He not only was a type of Christ (many were so that perhaps had not an
actual foresight of his day), but Moses spoke of him
( v. 37 ): This is that Moses who said unto the children of Israel, A prophet
shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren. This is
spoken of as one of the greatest honours God put upon him (nay, as that
which exceeded all the rest), that by him he gave notice to the
children of Israel of the great prophet that should come into the
world, raised their expectation of him, and required them to receive
him. When his bringing them out of Egypt is spoken of it is with an
emphasis of honour, This is that Moses, Exod. vi. 26 .
And so it is here, This is that Moses. Now this is very full to
Stephen's purpose; in asserting that Jesus should change the customs of
the ceremonial law, he was so far from blaspheming Moses that really he
did him the greatest honour imaginable, by showing how the prophecy of
Moses was accomplished, which was so clear, that, as Christ told them
himself, If they had believed Moses, they would have believed
him, John v. 46 .
1. Moses, in God's name, told them that, in the fulness of time, they
should have a prophet raised up among them, one of their own nation,
that should be like unto him
( Deut. xviii. 15, 18 ),--
a ruler and a deliverer, a judge and a lawgiver, like him,--who should
therefore have authority to change the customs that he had delivered,
and to bring in a better hope, as the Mediator of a better
testament. 2. He charged them to hear that prophet, to receive his dictates, to
admit the change he would make in their customs, and to submit to him
in every thing; "and this will be the greatest honour you can do to
Moses and to his law, who said, Hear you him; and came to be a
witness to the repetition of this charge by a voice from heaven, at the transfiguration of Christ, and by his silence gave consent to
it," Matt. xvii. 5 .
VI. The eminent services which Moses continued to do to the people of
Israel, after he had been instrumental to bring them out of Egypt, v. 38 .
And herein also he was a type of Christ, who yet so far exceeds him
that it is no blasphemy to say, "He has authority to change the customs
that Moses delivered." It was the honour of Moses,
1. That he was in the church in the wilderness; he presided in
all the affairs of it for forty years, was king in Jeshurun, Deut. xxxiii. 5 .
The camp of Israel is here called the church in the wilderness; for it was a sacred society, incorporated by a divine charter under a
divine government, and blessed with divine revelation. The church in
the wilderness was a church, though it was not yet perfectly formed, as
it was to be when they came to Canaan, but every man did that which
was right in his own eyes, Deut. xii. 8, 9 .
It was the honour of Moses that he was in that church, and many a time
it had been destroyed if Moses had not been in it to intercede for it.
But Christ is the president and guide of a more excellent and glorious
church than that in the wilderness was, and is more in it, as the life
and soul of it, than Moses could be in that.
2. That he was with the angel that spoke to him in the mount Sinai,
and with our fathers --was with him in the holy mount twice forty
days, with the angel of the covenant, Michael, our prince. Moses was
immediately conversant with God, but never lay in his bosom as Christ
did from eternity. Or these words may be taken thus: Moses was in
the church in the wilderness, but it was with the angel that
spoke to him in mount Sinai, that is, at the burning bush; for that
was said to be at mount Sinai
( v. 30 );
that angel went before him, and was guide to him, else he could not
have been a guide to Israel; of this God speaks
( Exod. xxiii. 20 ), I send an angel before thee, and Exod. xxxiii. 2 .
And see Num. xx. 16 .
He was in the church with the angel, without whom he could have done no
service to the church; but Christ is himself that angel which was with
the church in the wilderness, and therefore has an authority above
Moses.
3. That he received the lively oracles to give unto them; not
only the ten commandments, but the other instructions which the Lord
spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak them to the children of Israel. (1.) The words of God are oracles, certain and infallible, and
of unquestionable authority and obligation; they are to be consulted as
oracles, and by them all controversies must be determined.
(2.) They are lively oracles, for they are the oracles of the
living God, not of the dumb and dead idols of the heathens: the word
that God speaks is spirit and life; not that the law of Moses could
give life, but it showed the way to life: If thou wilt enter into
life, keep the commandments. (3.) Moses received them from God, and delivered nothing as an oracle
to the people but what he had first received from God. (4.) The lively oracles which he received from God he faithfully gave
to the people, to be observed and preserved. It was the principal
privilege of the Jews that to them were committed the oracles of
God; and it was by the hand of Moses that they were committed. As
Moses gave them not that bread, so neither did he give them that law
from heaven
( John vi. 32 ),
but God gave it to them; and he that gave them those customs by his
servant Moses might, no doubt, when he pleased, change the customs by
his Son Jesus, who received more lively oracles to give unto us than
Moses did.
VII. The contempt that was, after this, and notwithstanding this, put
upon him by the people. Those that charged Stephen with speaking
against Moses would do well to answer what their own ancestors had
done, and they tread in their ancestors' steps.
1. They would not obey him, but thrust him from them, v. 39 .
They murmured at him, mutinied against him, refused to obey his orders,
and sometimes were ready to stone him. Moses did indeed give them an
excellent law, but by this it appeared that it could not make the
comers there unto perfect ( Heb. x. 1 ),
for in their hearts they turned back again into Egypt, and
preferred their garlic and onions there before the manna they had under
the guidance of Moses, or the milk and honey they hoped for in Canaan.
Observe, Their secret disaffection to Moses, with their inclination to
Egyptianism, if I may so call it. This was, in effect, turning back to
Egypt; it was doing it in heart. Many that pretend to be going forward
towards Canaan, by keeping up a show and profession of religion, are,
at the same time, in their hearts turning back to Egypt, like Lot's
wife to Sodom, and will be dealt with as deserters, for it is the heart
that God looks at. Now, if the customs that Moses delivered to them
could not prevail to change them, wonder not that Christ comes to
change the customs, and to introduce a more spiritual way of worship.
2. They made a golden calf instead of him, which besides the
affront that was thereby offered to God, was a great indignity to
Moses: for it was upon this consideration that they made the calf,
because " as for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt,
we know not what is become of him; therefore make us gods of gold;"
as if a calf were sufficient to supply the want of Moses, and as
capable of going before them into the promised land. So they made a
calf in those days when the law was given them, and offered
sacrifices unto the idol, and rejoiced in the work of their own
hands. So proud were they of their new god that when they had sat down to eat and drink, they rose up to play! By all this it
appears that there was a great deal which the law could not do, in
that it was weak through the flesh; it was therefore necessary that
this law should be perfected by a better hand, and he was no blasphemer
against Moses who said that Christ had done it.
42 Then 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?
43 Yea, 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.
44 Our 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.
45 Which 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;
46 Who found favour before God, and desired to find a
tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
47 But Solomon built him a house.
48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with
hands; as saith the prophet,
49 Heaven 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?
50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
I. Stephen upbraids them with the idolatry of their fathers, which God
gave them up to, as a punishment for their early forsaking him in
worshipping the golden calf; and this was the saddest punishment of all
for that sin, as it was of the idolatry of the Gentile world that
God gave them up to a reprobate mind. When Israel was joined to
idols, joined to the golden calf, and not long after to Baal-peor,
God said, Let them alone; let them go on
( v. 42 ): Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven. He particularly cautioned them not to do it, at their peril, and gave
them reasons why they should not; but, when they were bent upon it, he gave them up to their own hearts; lust, withdrew his
restraining grace, and then they walked in their own counsels, and were
so scandalously mad upon their idols as never any people were. Compare Deut. iv. 19 with Jer. viii. 2 .
For this he quotes a passage out of Amos v. 25 .
For it would be less invidious to tell them their own [character and
doom] from an Old-Testament prophet, who upbraids them,
1. For not sacrificing to their own God in the wilderness
( v. 42 ): Have you offered to me slain beasts, and sacrifices, by the space of
forty years in the wilderness? No; during all that time sacrifices
to God were intermitted; they did not so much as keep the passover
after the second year. It was God's condescension to them that he did
not insist upon it during their unsettled state; but then let them
consider how ill they requited him in offering sacrifices to idols,
when God dispensed with their offering them to him. This is also a
check to their zeal for the customs that Moses delivered to them, and
their fear of having them changed by this Jesus, that
immediately after they were delivered these customs were for forty
years together disused as needless things.
2. For sacrificing to other gods after they came to Canaan
( v. 43 ): You took up the tabernacle of Moloch. Moloch was the idol of the
children of Ammon, to which they barbarously offered their own children
in sacrifice, which they could not do without great terror and grief to
themselves and their families; yet this unnatural idolatry they arrived
at, when God gave them up to worship the host of heaven. See 2 Chron. xxviii. 3 .
It was surely the strongest delusion that ever people were given up to,
and the greatest instance of the power of Satan in the children of
disobedience, and therefore it is here spoken of emphatically: Yea,
you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, you submitted even to that,
and to the worship of the star of your god Remphan. Some think
Remphan signifies the moon, as Moloch does the sun; others take it for Saturn, for that planet is called Remphan in the Syriac and Persian languages. The Septuagint puts
it for Chiun, as being a name more commonly known. They had
images representing the star, like the silver shrines for Diana, here
called the figures which they made to worship. Dr. Lightfoot
thinks they had figures representing the whole starry firmament, with
all the constellations, and the planets, and these are called Remphan --"the high representation," like the celestial globe: a
poor thing to make an idol of, and yet better than a golden calf! Now
for this it is threatened, I will carry you away beyond Babylon. In Amos it is beyond Damascus, meaning to Babylon, the land
of the north. But Stephen changes it, with an eye to the captivity
of the ten tribes, who were carried away beyond Babylon, by the
river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 2 Kings xvii. 6 .
Let it not therefore seem strange to them to hear of the destruction of
this place, for they had heard of it many a time from the prophets of
the Old Testament, who were not therefore accused as blasphemers by any
but the wicked rulers. It was observed, in the debate on Jeremiah's
case, that Micah was not called to an account though he prophesied,
saying, Zion shall be ploughed as a field, Jer. xxvi. 18, 19 .
II. He gives an answer particularly to the charge exhibited against him
relating to the temple, that he spoke blasphemous words against that
holy place, v. 44-50 .
He was accused for saying that Jesus would destroy this holy place:
"And what if I did say so?" (saith Stephen) "the glory of the holy God
is not bound up in the glory of this holy place, but that may be
preserved untouched, though this be laid in the dust;" for,
1. "It was not till our fathers came into the wilderness, in their way
to Canaan, that they had any fixed place of worship; and yet the
patriarchs, many ages before, worshipped God acceptably at the altars
they had adjoining to their own tents in the open air--sub dio; and he that was worshipped without a holy place in the first, and best,
and purest ages of the Old-Testament church, may and will be so when
this holy place is destroyed, without any diminution to his glory."
2. The holy place was at first but a tabernacle, mean and movable,
showing itself to be short-lived, and not designed to continue always.
Why might not this holy place, though built of stones, be decently
brought to its end, and give place to its betters, as well as that
though framed of curtains? As it was no dishonour, but an honour to
God, that the tabernacle gave way to the temple, so it is now that the
material temple gives way to the spiritual one, and so it will be when,
at last, the spiritual temple shall give way to the eternal one.
3. That tabernacle was a tabernacle of witness, or of
testimony, a figure of good things to come, of the true tabernacle
which the Lord pitched, and not men, Heb. viii. 2 .
This was the glory both of the tabernacle and temple, that they were
erected for a testimony of that temple of God which in the latter days
should be opened in heaven
( Rev. xi. 19 ),
and of Christ's tabernacling on earth (as the word is, John i. 14 ),
and of the temple of his body.
4. That tabernacle was framed just as God appointed, and according
to the fashion which Moses saw in the mount, which plainly
intimates that it had reference to good things to come. Its rise being
heavenly, its meaning and tendency were so; and therefore it was no
diminution at all to its glory to say that this temple made with hands
should be destroyed, in order to the building of another made
without hands, which was Christ's crime
( Mark xiv. 58 ),
and Stephen's.
5. That tabernacle was pitched first in the wilderness; it was not a
native of this land of yours (to which you think it must for ever be
confined), but was brought in in the next age, by our fathers, who came
after those who first erected it, into the possession of the Gentiles,
into the land of Canaan, which had long been in the possession of the
devoted nations whom God drove out before the face of our
fathers. And why may not God set up his spiritual temple, as he had
done the material tabernacle, in those countries that were now the
possession of the Gentiles? That tabernacle was brought in by those who
came with Jesus, that is, Joshua. And I think, for
distinction sake, and to prevent mistakes, it ought to be so read, both here and Heb. iv. 8 .
Yet in naming Joshua here, which in Greek is Jesus, there
may be a tacit intimation that as the Old-Testament Joshua brought in
that typical tabernacle, so the New-Testament Joshua should bring in
the true tabernacle into the possession of the Gentiles.
6. That tabernacle continued for many ages, even to the days of
David, above four hundred years, before there was any thought of
building a temple, v. 45 .
David, having found favour before God, did indeed desire this
further favour, to have leave to build God a house, to be a constant
settled tabernacle, or dwelling-place, for the Shechinah, or the tokens
of the presence of the God of Jacob, v. 46 .
Those who have found favour with God should show themselves forward to
advance the interests of his kingdom among men.
7. God had his heart so little upon a temple, or such a holy place as
they were so jealous for, that, when David desired to build one, he was
forbidden to do it; God was in no haste for one, as he told David
( 2 Sam. vii. 7 ),
and therefore it was not he, but his son Solomon, some years after,
that built him a house. David had all that sweet communion with God in
public worship which we read of in his Psalms before there was any
temple built.
8. God often declared that temples made with hands were not his
delight, nor could add any thing to the perfection of his rest and joy.
Solomon, when he dedicated the temple, acknowledged that God dwelleth not in temples made with hands; he has not need of
them, is not benefited by them, cannot be confined to them. The whole
world is his temple, in which he is every where present, and fills it
with his glory; and what occasion has he for a temple then to manifest
himself in? Indeed the pretended deities of the heathen needed temples
made with hands, for they were gods made with hands
( v. 41 ),
and had no other place to manifest themselves in than in their own
temples; but the one only true and living God needs no temple, for the heaven is his throne, in which he rests, and the earth is
his footstool, over which he rules
( v. 49, 50 ),
and therefore, What house will you build me, comparable to this
which I have already? Or, what is the place of my rest? What
need have I of a house, either to repose myself in or to show myself? Hath not my hand made all these things? And these show his
eternal power and Godhead ( Rom. i. 20 );
they so show themselves to all mankind that those who worship other
gods are without excuse. And as the world is thus God's temple, wherein
he is manifested, so it is God's temple in which he will be worshipped.
As the earth is full of his glory, and is therefore his temple
( Isa. vi. 3 ),
so the earth is, or shall be, full of his praise
( Hab. iii. 3 ), and all the ends of the earth shall fear him ( Ps. lxvii. 7 ),
and upon this account it is his temple. It was therefore no reflection
at all upon this holy place, however they might take it, to say that
Jesus should destroy this temple, and set up another, into which
all nations should be admitted, ch. xv. 16, 17 .
And it would not seem strange to those who considered that scripture
which Stephen here quotes
( Isa. lxvi. 1-3 ),
which, as it expressed God's comparative contempt of the external part
of his service, so it plainly foretold the rejection of the unbelieving
Jews, and the welcome of the Gentiles that were of a contrite spirit
into the church.
51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do
always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
52 Which 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:
53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and
have not kept it.
Stephen was going on in his discourse (as it should seem by the thread
of it) to show that, as the temple, so the temple-service must come to
an end, and it would be the glory of both to give way to that worship
of the Father in spirit and in truth which was to be established in the
kingdom of the Messiah, stripped of the pompous ceremonies of the old
law, and so he was going to apply all this which he had said more
closely to his present purpose; but he perceived they could not bear
it. They could patiently hear the history of the Old Testament told (it
was a piece of learning which they themselves dealt much in); but if
Stephen go about to tell them that their power and tyranny must come
down, and that the church must be governed by a spirit of holiness and
love, and heavenly-mindedness, they will not so much as give him the
hearing. It is probable that he perceived this, and that they were
going to silence him; and therefore he breaks off abruptly in the midst
of his discourse, and by that spirit of wisdom, courage, and power,
wherewith he was filled, he sharply rebuked his persecutors, and
exposed their true character; for, if they will not admit the testimony
of the gospel to them, it shall become a testimony against them.
I. They, like their fathers, were stubborn and wilful, and would not be
wrought upon by the various methods God took to reclaim and reform
them; they were like their fathers, inflexible both to the word of God
and to his providences.
1. They were stiff-necked ( v. 51 ),
and would not submit their necks to the sweet and easy yoke of God's
government, nor draw in it, but were like a bullock unaccustomed to
the yoke; or they would not bow their heads, no, not to God
himself, would not do obeisance to him, would not humble themselves
before him. The stiff neck is the same with the hard heart, obstinate
and contumacious, and that will not yield--the general character of the
Jewish nation, Exod. xxxii. 9;
xxxiii. 3, 5; xxxiv. 9; Deut. ix. 6, 13; xxxi. 27; Ezek. ii. 4 .
2. They were uncircumcised in heart and ears their hearts and
ears were not devoted and given up to God, as the body of the people
were in profession by the sign of circumcision: "In name and show you
are circumcised Jews, but in heart and ears you are still uncircumcised
heathens, and pay no more deference to the authority of your God than
they do, Jer. ix. 26 .
You are under the power of unmortified lusts and corruptions, which
stop your ears to the voice of God, and harden your hearts to that
which is both most commanding and most affecting." They had not that circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins
of the flesh, Col. ii. 11 .
II. They, like their fathers, were not only not influenced by the
methods God took to reform them, but they were enraged and incensed
against them: You do always resist the Holy Ghost. 1. They resisted the Holy Ghost speaking to them by the prophets, whom
they opposed and contradicted, hated and ridiculed; this seems
especially meant here, by the following explication, Which of the
prophets have not your fathers persecuted? In persecuting and
silencing those that spoke by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost they
resisted the Holy Ghost. Their fathers resisted the Holy Ghost in the
prophets that God raised up to them, and so did they in Christ's
apostles and ministers, who spoke by the same Spirit, and had greater
measures of his gifts than the prophets of the Old Testament had, and
yet were more resisted.
2. They resisted the Holy Ghost striving with them by their own
consciences, and would not comply with the convictions and dictates of
them. God's Spirit strove with them as with the old world, but in vain;
they resisted him, took part with their corruptions against their
convictions, and rebelled against the light. There is that in our
sinful hearts that always resists the Holy Ghost, a flesh that lusts
against the Spirit, and wars against his motions; but in the hearts of
God's elect, when the fulness of time comes, this resistance is
overcomer and overpowered, and after a struggle the throne of Christ is
set up in the soul, and every thought that had exalted itself against
it is brought into captivity to it, 2 Cor. x. 4, 5 .
That grace therefore which effects this change might more fitly be
called victorious grace than irresistible.
III. They, like their fathers, persecuted and slew those whom God sent
unto them to call them to duty, and make them offers of mercy.
1. Their fathers had been the cruel and constant persecutors of the
Old-Testament prophets
( v. 51 ): Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? More or
less, one time or other, they had a blow at them all. With regard even
to those that lived in the best reigns, when the princes did not
persecute them, there was a malignant party in the nation that mocked
at them and abused them, and most of them were at last, either by
colour of law or popular fury, put to death; and that which aggravated
the sin of persecuting the prophets was, that the business of the
prophets they were so spiteful at was to show before of the coming
of the just One, to give notice of God's kind intentions towards
that people, to send the Messiah among them in the fulness of time.
Those that were the messengers of such glad tidings should have been
courted and caressed, and have had the preferments of the best of
benefactors; but, instead of this, they had the treatment of the worst
of malefactors.
2. They had been the betrayers and murderers of the just One himself, as Peter had told them, ch. iii. 14, 15; v. 30 .
They had hired Judas to betray him, and had in a manner forced Pilate
to condemn him; and therefore it is charged upon them that they were
his betrayers and murders. Thus they were the genuine seed of those who
slew the prophets that foretold his coming, which, by slaying him, they
showed they would have done if they had lived then; and thus, as our
Saviour had told them, they brought upon themselves the guilt of the
blood of all the prophets. To which of the prophets would those have
shown any respect who had no regard to the Son of God himself?
IV. They, like their fathers, put contempt upon divine revelation, and
would not be guided and governed by it; and this was the aggravation of
their sin, that God had given, as to their fathers his law, so to them
his gospel, in vain.
1. Their fathers received the law, and did not observe it, v. 53 .
God wrote to them the great things of his law, after he had first
spoken them to them; and yet they were counted by them as a strange or
foreign thing, which they were no way concerned in. The law is said to
be received by the disposition of angels, because angels were
employed in the solemnity of giving the law, in the thunderings and
lightnings, and the sound of the trumpet. It is said to be ordained
by angels ( Gal. iii. 19 ),
God is said to come with ten thousand of his saints to give the
law
( Deut. xxxiii. 2 ),
and it was a word spoken by angels, Heb. ii. 2 .
This put an honour both upon the law and the Lawgiver, and should
increase our veneration for both. But those that thus received the law
yet kept it not, but by making the golden calf broke it immediately in
a capital instance.
2. They received the gospel now, by the disposition, not of angels, but
of the Holy Ghost,--not with the sound of a trumpet, but, which was
more strange, in the gift of tongues, and yet they did not embrace it.
They would not yield to the plainest demonstrations, any more than
their fathers before them did, for they were resolved not to comply
with God either in his law or in his gospel.
We have reason to think Stephen had a great deal more to say, and would
have said it if they would have suffered him; but they were wicked and
unreasonable men with whom he had to do, that could no more hear reason
than they could speak it.
54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart,
and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
55 But 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,
56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of
man standing on the right hand of God.
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their
ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
58 And 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.
59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying,
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
60 And 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.
We have here the death of the first martyr of the Christian church, and
there is in this story a lively instance of the outrage and fury of the
persecutors (such as we may expect to meet with if we are called out to
suffer for Christ), and of the courage and comfort of the persecuted,
that are thus called out. Here is hell in its fire and darkness, and
heaven in its light and brightness; and these serve as foils to set off
each other. It is not here said that the votes of the council were
taken upon his case, and that by the majority he was found guilty, and
then condemned and ordered to be stoned to death, according to the law,
as a blasphemer; but, it is likely, so it was, and that it was not by
the violence of the people, without order of the council, that he was
put to death; for here is the usual ceremony of regular executions--he
was cast out of the city, and the hands of the witnesses were first
upon him.
Let us observe here the wonderful discomposure of the spirits of his
enemies and persecutors, and the wonderful composure of his spirit.
I. See the strength of corruption in the persecutors of Stephen--malice
in perfection, hell itself broken loose, men become incarnate devils,
and the serpent's seed spitting their venom.
1. When they heard these things they were cut to the heart ( v. 54 ), dieprionto, the same word that is used Heb. xi. 37 ,
and translated they were sawn asunder. They were put to as much
torture in their minds as ever the martyrs were put to in their bodies.
They were filled with indignation at the unanswerable arguments that
Stephen urged for their conviction, and that they could find nothing to
say against them. They were not pricked to the heart with sorrow, as
those were ch. ii. 37 ,
but cut to the heart with rage and fury, as they themselves were, ch. v. 33 .
Stephen rebuked them sharply, as Paul expresses it
( Tit. i. 13 ), apotomos -- cuttingly, for they were cut to the heart
by the reproof. Note, Rejecters of the gospel and opposers of it are
really tormentors to themselves. Enmity to God is a heart-cutting
thing; faith and love are heart-healing. When they heard how he that looked like an angel before he began his discourse talked like
an angel, like a messenger from heaven, before he concluded it, they
were like a wild bull in a net, full of the fury of the Lord, ( Isa. li. 20 ),
despairing to run down a cause so bravely pleaded, and yet resolved not
to yield to it.
2. They gnashed upon him with their teeth. This denotes,
(1.) Great malice and rage against him. Job complained of his enemy
that he gnashed upon him with his teeth, Job xvi. 9 .
The language of this was, Oh that we had of his flesh to eat! Job xxxi. 31 .
They grinned at him, as dogs at those they are enraged at; and
therefore Paul, cautioning against those of the circumcision, says, Beware of dogs, Phil. iii. 2 .
Enmity at the saints turns men into brute beasts.
(2.) Great vexation within themselves; they fretted to see in him such
manifest tokens of a divine power and presence, and it vexed them to
the heart. The wicked shall see it and be grieved, he shall gnash
with his teeth and melt away, Ps. cxii. 10 .
Gnashing with the teeth is often used to express the horror and
torments of the damned. Those that have the malice of hell cannot but
have with it some of the pains of hell.
3. They cried out with a loud voice ( v. 57 ),
to irritate and excite one another, and to drown the noise of the
clamours of their own and one another's consciences; when he said, I
see heaven opened, they cried with a loud voice, that he might not
be heard to speak. Note, It is very common for a righteous cause,
particularly the righteous cause of Christ's religion, to be attempted
to be run down by noise and clamour; what is wanting in reason is made
up in tumult, and the cry of him that ruleth among fools, while the
words of the wise are heard in quiet. They cried with a loud voice,
as soldiers when they are going to engage in battle, mustering up all
their spirit and vigour for this desperate encounter.
4. They stopped their ears, that they might not hear their own
noisiness; or perhaps under pretence that they could not bear to hear
his blasphemies. As Caiaphas rent his clothes when Christ said, Hereafter you shall see the Son of man coming in glory ( Matt. xxvi. 64, 65 ),
so here these stopped their ears when Stephen said, I now see
the Son of man standing in glory, both pretending that what was
spoken was not to be heard with patience. Their stopping their ears
was,
(1.) A manifest specimen of their wilful obstinacy; they were resolved
they would not hear what had a tendency to convince them, which was
what the prophets often complained of: they were like the deaf
adder, that will not hear the voice of the charmer, Ps. lviii. 4, 5 .
(2.) It was a fatal omen of that judicial hardness to which God would
give them up. They stopped their ears, and then God, in a way of
righteous judgment, stopped them. This was the work that was now in
doing with the unbelieving Jews: Make the heart of this people fat,
and their ears heavy; thus was Stephen's character of them
answered, You uncircumcised in heart and ears.
5. They ran upon him with one accord --the people and the elders
of the people, judges, prosecutors, witnesses, and spectators, they all
flew upon him, as beasts upon their prey. See how violent they were,
and in what haste--they ran upon him, though there was no danger of his
outrunning them; and see how unanimous they were in this evil
thing--they ran upon him with one accord, one and all, hoping
thereby to terrify him, and put him into confusion, envying him his
composure and comfort in soul, with which he wonderfully enjoyed
himself in the midst of this hurry; they did all they could to ruffle
him.
6. They cast him out of the city, and stoned him, as if he were
not worthy to live in Jerusalem; nay, not worthy to live in this world,
pretending herein to execute the law of Moses
( Lev. xxiv. 16 ), He that blasphemeth the name of the Lord shall surely be put to
death, all the congregation shall certainly stone him. And thus
they had put Christ to death, when this same court had found him guilty
of blasphemy, but that, for his greater ignominy, they were desirous he
should be crucified, and God overruled it for the fulfilling of the
scripture. The fury with which they managed the execution is intimated
in this: they cast him out of the city, as if they could not bear the
sight of him; they treated him as an anathema, as the offscouring of
all things. The witnesses against him were the leaders in the
execution, according to the law
( Deut. xvii. 7 ), The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him, to put him to
death, and particularly in the case of blasphemy, Lev. xxiv. 14; Deut. xiii. 9 .
Thus they were to confirm their testimony. Now, the stoning of a man
being a laborious piece of work, the witnesses took off their upper
garments, that they might not hang in their way, and they laid them
down at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul, now a pleased
spectator of this tragedy. It is the first time we find mention of his
name; we shall know it and love it better when we find it changed to Paul, and him changed from a persecutor into a preacher. This
little instance of his agency in Stephen's death he afterwards
reflected upon with regret
( ch. xxii. 20 ): I kept the raiment of those that slew him.
II. See the strength of grace in Stephen, and the wonderful instances
of God's favour to him, and working in him. As his persecutors were
full of Satan, so was he full of the Holy Ghost, fuller than
ordinary, anointed with fresh oil for the comb at, that, as the day, so
might the strength be. Upon this account those are blessed who are
persecuted for righteousness' sake, that the Spirit of God and
of glory rests upon them, 1 Pet. iv. 14 .
When he was chosen to public service, he was described to be a man full of the Holy Ghost ( ch. vi. 5 ),
and now he is called out to martyrdom he has still the same character.
Note, Those that are full of the Holy Ghost are fit for any thing,
either to act for Christ or to suffer for him. And those whom God calls
out to difficult services for his name he will qualify for those
services, and carry comfortably through them, by filling them with the
Holy Ghost, that, as their afflictions for Christ abound, their
consolation in him may yet more abound, and then none of these
things move them. Now here we have a remarkable communion between
this blessed martyr and the blessed Jesus in this critical moment. When
the followers of Christ are for his sake killed all the day long,
and accounted as sheep for the slaughter, does this separate them
from the love of Christ? Does he love them the less? Do they love him
the less? No, by no means; and so it appears by this narrative, in
which we may observe.
1. Christ's gracious manifestation of himself to Stephen, both for his
comfort and for his honour, in the midst of his sufferings. When they
were cut to the heart, and gnashed upon him with their teeth, ready to
eat him up, then he had a view of the glory of Christ sufficient to
fill him with joy unspeakable, which was intended not only for his
encouragement, but for the support and comfort of all God's suffering
servants in all ages.
(1.) He, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into
heaven, v. 55 .
[1.] Thus he looked above the power and fury of his persecutors, and
did as it were despise them, and laugh them to scorn, as the daughter
of Zion, Isa. xxxvii. 22 .
They had their eyes fixed upon him, full of malice and cruelty; but he
looked up to heaven, and never minded them, was so taken up with the
eternal life now in prospect that he seemed to have no manner of
concern for the natural life now at state. Instead of looking about
him, to see either which way he was in danger or which way he might
make his escape, he looks up to heaven; thence only comes his help, and
thitherward his way is still open; though they compass him about on
every side, they cannot interrupt his intercourse with heaven. Note, A
believing regard to God and the upper world will be of great use to us,
to set us above the fear of man; for as far as we are under the
influence of that fear we forget the Lord our Maker, Isa. li. 13 .
[2.] Thus he directed his sufferings to the glory of God, to the honour
of Christ, and did as it were appeal to heaven concerning them (Lord,
for thy sake I suffer this) and express his earnest expectation that
Christ should be magnified in his body. Now that he was ready to be
offered he looks up stedfastly to heaven, as one willing to offer
himself.
[3.] Thus he lifted up his soul with his eyes to God in the heavens, in
pious ejaculations, calling upon God for wisdom and grace to carry him
through this trial in a right manner. God has promised that he will be
with his servants whom he calls out to suffer for him; but he will for
this be sought unto. He is nigh unto them, but it is in that for
which they call upon him. Is any afflicted? Let him pray. [4.] Thus he breathed after the heavenly country, to which he saw the
fury of his persecutors would presently send him. It is good for dying
saints to look up stedfastly to heaven: "Yonder is the place whither
death will carry my better part, and then, O death! where is thy
sting? "
[5.] Thus he made it to appear that he was full of the Holy Ghost; for,
wherever the Spirit of grace dwells, and works, and reigns, he directs
the eye of the soul upward. Those that are full of the Holy Ghost will
look up stedfastly to heaven, for there their heart is.
[6.] Thus he put himself into a posture to receive the following
manifestation of the divine glory and grace. If we expect to hear from
heaven, we must look up stedfastly to heaven.
(2.) He saw the glory of God
( v. 55 ); for he saw, in order to this, the heavens opened, v. 56 .
Some think his eyes were strengthened, and the sight of them so raised
above its natural pitch, by a supernatural power, that he saw into the
third heavens, though at so vast a distance, as Moses's sight was
enlarged to see the whole land of Canaan. Others think it was a
representation of the glory of God set before his eyes, as, before,
Isaiah and Ezekiel; heaven did as it were come down to him, as Rev. xxi. 2 .
The heavens were opened, to give him a view of the happiness he was
going to, that he might, in prospect of it, go cheerfully through
death, so great a death. Would we by faith look up stedfastly, we might
see the heavens opened by the mediation of Christ, the veil being rent,
and a new and living way laid open for us into the holiest. The heaven
is opened for the settling of a correspondence between God and men,
that his favours and blessings may come down to us, and our prayers and
praises may go up to him. We may also see the glory of God, as far as
he has revealed it in his word, and the sight of this will carry us
through all the terrors of sufferings and death.
(3.) He saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God ( v. 55 ), the Son of man, so it is v. 56 .
Jesus, being the Son of man, having taken our nature with him to
heaven, and being there clothed with a body, might be seen with bodily
eyes, and so Stephen saw him. When the Old-Testament prophets saw the
glory of God it was attended with angels. The Shechinah or divine
presence in Isaiah's vision was attended with seraphim, in Ezekiel's
vision with cherubim, both signifying the angels, the ministers of
God's providence. But here no mention is made of the angels, though
they surround the throne and the Lamb; instead of them Stephen sees
Jesus at the right hand of God, the great Mediator of God's grace, from
whom more glory redounds to God than from all the ministration of the
holy angels. The glory of God shines brightest in the face of Jesus
Christ; for there shines the glory of his grace, which is the most
illustrious instance of his glory. God appears more glorious with Jesus
standing at his right hand than with millions of angels about him. Now,
[1.] Here is a proof of the exaltation of Christ to the Father's right
hand; the apostles saw him ascend, but they did not see him sit down, A cloud received him out of their sight. We are told that he sat
down on the right hand of God; but was he ever seen there? Yes, Stephen
saw him there, and was abundantly satisfied with the sight. He saw
Jesus at the right hand of God, denoting both his transcendent dignity
and his sovereign dominion, his uncontrollable ability and his
universal agency; whatever God's right hand gives to us, or receives
from us, or does concerning us, it is by him; for he is his right hand.
[2.] He is usually said to sit there; but Stephen sees him standing there, as one more than ordinarily concerned at present
for his suffering servant; he stood up as a judge to plead his cause
against his persecutors; he is raised up out of his holy
habitation ( Zech. ii. 13 ), comes out of his place to punish, Isa. xxvi. 21 .
He stands ready to receive him and crown him, and in the mean time to
give him a prospect of the joy set before him.
[3.] This was intended for the encouragement of Stephen. He sees Christ
is for him, and then no matter who is against him. When our Lord Jesus
was in his agony an angel appeared to him, strengthening him; but
Stephen had Christ himself appearing to him. Note, Nothing so
comfortable to dying saints, nor so animating to suffering saints, as
to see Jesus at the right hand of God; and, blessed be God, by faith we
may see him there.
(4.) He told those about him what he saw
( v. 56 ): Behold, I see the heavens opened. That which was a cordial to
him ought to have been a conviction to them, and a caution to them to
take heed of proceeding against one upon whom heaven thus smiled; and
therefore what he saw he declared, let them make what use they pleased
of it. If some were exasperated by it, others perhaps might be wrought
upon to consider this Jesus whom they persecuted, and to believe in
him.
2. Stephen's pious addresses to Jesus Christ. The manifestation of
God's glory to him did not set him above praying, but rather set him
upon it: They stoned Stephen, calling upon God, v. 59 .
Though he called upon God, and by that showed himself to be a true-born
Israelite, yet they proceeded to stone him, not considering how
dangerous it is to fight against those who have an interest in heaven.
Though they stoned him, yet he called upon God; nay, therefore he
called upon him. Note, It is the comfort of those who are unjustly
hated and persecuted by men that they have a God to go to, a God
all-sufficient to call upon. Men stop their ears, as they did here
( v. 57 ),
but God does not. Stephen was now cast out of the city, but he was not
cast out from his God. He was now taking his leave of the world, and
therefore calls upon God; for we must do this as long as we live.
Note, It is good to die praying; then we need help--strength we never
had, to do a work we never did--and how can we fetch in that help and
strength but by prayer? Two short prayers Stephen offered up to God in
his dying moments, and in them as it were breathed out his soul:--
(1.) Here is a prayer for himself: Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit. Thus Christ had himself resigned his spirit immediately
into the hands of the Father. We are here taught to resign ours into
the hands of Christ as Mediator, by him to be recommended to the
Father. Stephen saw Jesus standing at the Father's right hand, and he
thus calls to him: "Blessed Jesus, do that for me now which thou
standest there to do for all thine, receive my departing spirit into
thy hand." Observe,
[1.] The soul is the man, and our great concern, living and dying, must
be about our souls. Stephen's body was to be miserably broken and
shattered, and overwhelmed with a shower of stones, the earthly house
of this tabernacle violently beaten down and abused; but, however it
goes with that, "Lord," saith he, "'let my spirit be safe; let it go
well with my poor soul." Thus, while we live, our care should be that
though the body be starved or stripped the soul may be fed and clothed,
though the body lie in pain the soul may dwell at ease; and, when we
die, that though the body be thrown by as a despised broken vessel, and
a vessel in which there is no pleasure, yet the soul may be presented a
vessel of honour, that God may be the strength of the heart and its
portion, though the flesh fail.
[2.] Our Lord Jesus is God, to whom we are to seek, and in whom we are
to confide and comfort ourselves living and dying. Stephen here prays
to Christ, and so must we; for it is the will of God that all men
should thus honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. It
is Christ we are to commit ourselves to, who alone is able to keep what
we commit to him against that day; it is necessary that we have an eye
to Christ when we come to die, for there is no venturing into another
world but under his conduct, no living comforts in dying moments but
what are fetched from him.
[3.] Christ's receiving our spirits at death is the great thing we are
to be careful about, and to comfort ourselves with. We ought to be in
care about this while we live, that Christ may receive our spirits when
we die; for, if he reject and disown them, whither will they betake
themselves? How can they escape being a prey to the roaring lion? To
him therefore we must commit them daily, to be ruled and sanctified,
and made meet for heaven, and then, and not otherwise, he will receive
them. And, if this has been our care while we live, it may be our
comfort when we come to die, that we shall be received into everlasting
habitations.
3. His expiring with this: When he had said this, he fell
asleep; or, as he was saying this, the blow came that was mortal.
Note, Death is but a sleep to good people; not the sleep of the soul
(Stephen had given that up into Christ's hand), but the sleep of the
body; it is its rest from all its griefs and toils; it is perfect ease
from toil and pain. Stephen died as much in a hurry as ever any man
did, and yet, when he died, he fell asleep. He applied himself to his
dying work with as much composure of mind as if he had been going to
sleep; it was but closing his eyes, and dying. Observe, He fell asleep
when he was praying for his persecutors; it is expressed as if he
thought he could not die in peace till he had done this. It contributes
very much to our dying comfortably to die in charity with all men; we
are then found of Christ in peace; let not the sun of life go down upon
our wrath. He fell asleep; the vulgar Latin adds, in the Lord, in the embraces of his love. If he thus sleep, he shall do well; he
shall awake again in the morning of the resurrection.
Ver. 1. Then said the high priest,.... The Ethiopic version adds, "to him"; that is, to Stephen; for to him he addressed himself: or he "asked him", as the Syriac version renders it; he put the following question to him:
are these things so? is it true what they say, that thou hast spoken blasphemous words against the temple, and the law, and hast said that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the one, and change the other? what hast thou to say for thyself, and in thine own defence? this high priest was either Annas, or rather Caiaphas;
See Gill on "Ac 4:6".
Acts 7:2
Ver. 2. And he said,.... Stephen replied, in answer to the high priest's question, and addressed himself to the whole sanhedrim, saying:
men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; to the following oration and defence; he calls them men, brethren, by an usual Hebraism, that is, "brethren"; and that, because they were of the same nation; for it was common with the Jews to call those of their own country and religion, brethren; and he calls them "fathers", because of their age and dignity, being the great council of the nation, and chosen out of the senior and wiser part of the people:
the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham; he calls God "the God of glory", because he is glorious in himself, in all his persons, perfections, and works, and is to be glorified by his people; and his glory is to be sought by all his creatures, and to be the end of all their actions; and the rather he makes use of this epithet of him, to remove the calumny against him, that he had spoke blasphemous things against God; and because God appeared in a glorious manner to Abraham, either in a vision, or by an angel, or in some glorious form, or another; and it is observable, that when the Jews speak of Abraham's deliverance out of the fiery furnace, for so they interpret Ur of the Chaldees, they give to God much such a title; they say {r}
""the King of glory" stretched out his right hand, and delivered him out of the fiery furnace, according to
Ge 15:7.''
Stephen uses a like epithet; and he calls Abraham "our father", he being a Jew, and according to the common usage of the nation: and this appearance of God to Abraham was "when he was in Mesopotamia"; a country that lay between the two rivers Tigris and Euphrates, from whence it had its name; and is the same with Aram Naharaim, the Scriptures speak of; See Gill on "Ac 2:9". Of this appearance of God to Abraham, mentioned by Stephen, the Scriptures are silent; but the Jewish writers seem to hint at it, when they say {s},
"thus said the holy blessed God to Abraham, as thou hast enlightened for me Mesopotamia and its companions, come and give light before me in the land of Israel.''
And again, mentioning those words in Isa 41:8 "the seed of Abraham my friend, whom I have taken from the ends of the earth"; add by way of explanation, from Mesopotamia and its companions {t}: and this was
before he dwelt in Charan; or Haran; see Ge 11:31 where the Septuagint call it "Charan", as here; and by Herodish {u} it is called karrai, where Antoninus was killed; and by Pliny {w}, "Carra"; and by Ptolomy {x}, "Carroe"; it was famous for the slaughter of M. Crassus, by the Parthians {y}. R. Benjamin gives this account of it in his time {z};
"in two days I came to ancient Haran, and in it were about twenty Jews, and there was as it were a synagogue of Ezra; but in the place where was the house of Abraham our father, there was no building upon it; but the Ishmaelites (or Mahometans) honour that place, and come thither to pray.''
Stephanus {a} says it was a city of Mesopotamia, so called from "Carra", a river in Syria.
{r} Pirke Eliezer, c. 26. {s} Bereshit Rabba, sect. 30. fol. 25. 1 {t} lb. sect. 44. fol. 38. 3. {u} L. 4. sect. 24. {w} L. 5. c. 24. {x} L. 5. c. 18. {y} ----Miserando funere Crassus Assyrias Latio maculavit sanguine Carrhas. Lucan. Pharsal. l. 1. v. 105. {z} Itinerar. p. 60. {a} De Urbibus.
Acts 7:3
Ver. 3. And said unto him,.... Not the words in Ge 12:1 for they were said in Haran, these in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt there, and besides, these are different from them; no mention is here made of getting out from his father's house, as there; because his father's house sent along with him, or rather he with them from Mesopotamia to Haran:
get thee out of thy country; from Ur of the Chaldees, where he was born:
and from thy kindred; his relations that lived in the same place, who did not go along with him:
and come into the land which I shall show thee; not telling him the place whither he was to go; wherefore when he had his first call, and first set out, he knew not whither he went; see Heb 11:8. This was an emblem of the calling of the saints out of the world, from their former course of life, and from among their old companions and friends, to follow Christ whithersoever he is pleased to lead them; and who at last will bring them safe to the land afar off, the better and heavenly country.
Acts 7:4
Ver. 4. Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans,.... The same with Mesopotamia; so Pliny says {b}, that
"because of Babylon the head of the Chaldean nation---the other part of Mesopotamia and Assyria is called Babylonia.''
And he places Babylon in Mesopotamia; it was out of Ur, in the land of the Chaldeans particularly, that Abraham came, upon his first call:
and dwelt in Charan: according to the Jewish writers {c}, he dwelt here five years:
and from thence, when his father was dead; who died in Haran, as is said in Ge 11:32 and that it was after the death of Terah his father, that Abraham went from thence, is manifest from Ge 11:31 and yet a Jew {d} has the impudence to charge Stephen with a mistake, and to affirm, that Abraham went from Haran, whilst his father was yet living; proceeding upon a false hypothesis, that Terah begat Abraham when he was seventy years of age: but Philo the Jew is expressly with Stephen in this circumstance; he says {e},
"I think no man versed in the laws can be ignorant, that Abraham, when he first went out of the land of Chaldea, dwelt in Charan; teleuthsantov te autw tou patrov ekenyi "but his father dying there", he removed from thence:''
and so says Stephen:
he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell; the land of Canaan; see Ge 12:5 or "he removed himself", as the Ethiopic version renders it; or rather "God removed him", as the Syriac version reads, and so one copy in the Bodleian library; for it was by the order and assistance, and under the direction and protection of God, that he came into that land: after the words
wherein ye now dwell, Beza's ancient copy adds, "and our fathers that were before us".
{b} De Urbibus, l. 6. c. 26. {c} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 1. p. 2. Ganz Tzemach David, par. 1. fol. 5. 2. {d} R. Isaac Chizzuk Emuna, par. 2. c. 61. p. 448. {e} De Migratione Abrahami, p. 415.
Acts 7:5
Ver. 5. And he gave him none inheritance in it,.... To be personally enjoyed by him; and which was a great trial to Abraham's faith, to be brought out of his country, and into another land, and which was promised to him and his; and yet, as not the whole, so not a single part of it was given him to possess:
no, not so much as to set his foot on: so that when Sarah his wife died, he was obliged to buy a piece of ground for a burying place to bury her in: and which could not be said to be given him by the Lord, for he bought it with his money:
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; which was another exercise of Abraham's faith, that he should have a whole country promised him and his seed, and yet had no seed given him; see Ge 12:7.
Acts 7:6
Ver. 6. And God spake on this wise,.... The Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions read, "and God spake to him", and so does one of Beza's copies; and the Ethiopic version reads it both ways, God "said thus to Abraham", as in Ge 15:13.
That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; or "be a stranger in a land not theirs"; first in the land of Canaan, and then in Egypt, which were possessed by other persons, the natives of them:
and that they should bring them into bondage; that is, the inhabitants of the lands, and particularly Egypt, should bring the seed of Abraham into bondage, as they did; and very hard bondage it was, at least some part of it:
and entreat them evil four hundred years; which must be reckoned not from the time of their going down into Egypt, which to their coming up out of it were but two hundred and ten years, but from the birth of Isaac: which was as soon as Abraham had the promised seed, and may be reckoned after this manner; from the birth of Isaac to the birth of Jacob, sixty years, Ge 25:26 and from thence to the coming of Jacob into Egypt, one hundred and thirty years, Ge 47:9 and from thence to the coming of the children of Israel out of Egypt, two hundrd and ten years; which in all make up four hundred years; for the sojourning and evil entreating of Abraham's seed are not to be confined to the land of Egypt, but belong to other lands, where they were within this time, though that land is more especially intended; and so the Septuagint version renders the text in Ex 12:40. "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, which they (and some copies add, and their fathers) sojourned in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, were four hundred and thirty years": and this text is differently read in the Talmuds, in one of them thus {f}; "and the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt", twurah
lkbw, "and in all the lands, were four hundred and thirty years"; and in the other of them thus {g}, "and the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt", twura ravbw, "and in the rest of the lands, were four hundred years"; upon which latter the gloss has these words;
"from the time that the decree of the captivity was made between them to the birth of Isaac, were thirty years; and from the birth of Isaac, until the Israelites went out of Egypt, were four hundred years; take out of them the sixty of Isaac, and the one hundred and thirty that Jacob had lived when he went down into Egypt, and there remain two hundred and ten; and so is the decree, that "thy seed shall be a stranger in a land not theirs", Ge 15:13 and it is not said in Egypt, but in a land not theirs; and when Isaac was born, Abraham was a sojourner in the land of the Philistines; and from thence, till they went out of Egypt, it will be found that Isaac and his seed who were the seed of Abraham, were strangers: and the thirty years before that are not numbered in the decree;''
See Gill on "Ga 3:17".
{f} T. Hieros, Megilla, fol. 71. 4. {g} T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 9. 1. Vid. Aben Ezra, in Exod. xii. 40.
Acts 7:7
Ver. 7. And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage,.... At the end of the four hundred years, and which was the Egyptian nation:
I will judge, said God; that is, condemn and punish them, as he did, by inflicting the ten plagues upon them:
and after that they shall come forth; out of the land of Egypt, and their hard bondage there; and which was brought about by the judgments executed upon the Egyptians:
and serve me in this place; in the land of Canaan; though these words are not to be found in Ge 15:13 what comes nearest them is in Ex 3:12. "Ye shall serve God upon this mountain"; meaning Mount Horeb, where Moses then was, and from whence the law was afterwards given.
Acts 7:8
Ver. 8. And he gave him the covenant of circumcision,.... Or the covenant, of which circumcision was a sign or token, Ge 17:11. Stephen speaks here in the language of the Jews, who are wont to speak of circumcision after this manner; hence in the Jewish liturgy, there is a collect, hlym tyrbl, "for the covenant of circumcision" {h}; and so it is said {i},
"when Joseph died, they made void the "covenant of circumcision":''
and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; according to the express command in Ge 17:12
and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs; the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel.
{h} Seder Tephillot, fol. 197. 1. Ed. Basil. Vid. Kimchi in Mal. iii. 1. {i} Shemot Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 90. 1.
Acts 7:9
Ver. 9. And the patriarchs, moved with envy,.... See Ge 37:11 the sons of Jacob and brethren of Joseph were filled with envy, and enraged at him, because of the evil report of them he brought to his father; and because he had a greater share in his father's love than they had; and because of his dreams, which signified that he should have the dominion over them, and they should be obliged to yield obedience to him: wherefore they
sold Joseph into Egypt; they sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver, who were going down to Egypt, and who carried him thither with them: these twenty pieces of silver, the Jews say, the ten brethren of Joseph divided among themselves; everyone took two shekels, and bought shoes for his feet; to which they apply the passage in Am 2:6 "they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes" {k}: and they suggest, that the redemption of the firstborn among the Israelites on account of the selling of Joseph; they say {l},
"because they sold the firstborn of Rachel for twenty pieces of silver, let everyone redeem his son, his firstborn, with twenty pieces of silver; says R. Phinehas, in the name of R. Levi, because they sold the firstborn of Rachel for twenty pieces of silver, and there fell to each of them a piece of coined money (the value of half a shekel), therefore let everyone pay his shekel coined.''
They also affirm {m}, that the selling of Joseph was not expiated by the tribes, until they were dead, according to Isa 22:14 and that on the account of it, there was a famine in the land of Israel seven years. There seems to be some likeness between the treatment of Joseph and Jesus Christ, which Stephen may have some respect unto; as Joseph was sold by his brethren for twenty of silver, so Christ was sold by one of his disciples, that ate bread with him, for thirty pieces of silver; and as it was through envy the brethren of Joseph used him in this manner, so it was through envy that the Jews delivered Jesus Christ to Pontius Pilate, to be condemned to death: of this selling of Joseph into Egypt, Justin the historian speaks {n}; his words are,
"Joseph was the youngest of his brethren, whose excellent wit his brethren fearing, secretly took him and sold him to strange merchants, by whom he was carried into Egypt.''
And then follow other things concerning him, some true and some false; Stephen here adds,
but God was with him; see Ge 39:2 he was with him, and prospered him in Potiphar's house; he was with him, and kept him from the temptations of his mistress; he was with him in prison, and supported and comforted him, and at length delivered him from it, and promoted him as follows; and caused all the evil that befell him to work for good to him and his father's family.
{k} Pirke Eliezer, c. 38. {l} T. Hieros. Shekalim, fol. 46. 4. {m} Pirke Eliezer, ib. {n} L. 36. c. 2.
Acts 7:10
Ver. 10. And delivered him out of all his afflictions,.... From the evil designs of his mistress, and from all the miseries of a prison:
and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; so Justin in the place above cited says, that Joseph was very dear to the king; but not through his knowledge of magic arts, as he suggests, but on account of the wisdom which God gave him; for when he is said to have favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, the meaning is, that he was highly esteemed of by him, because of the wisdom he saw in him; and both the favour he had with him, and the wisdom he had in himself, were from the Lord; and in a very humble and modest manner does he speak of himself, in Ge 41:16 which Onkelos the Targumist paraphrases thus:
""not from my wisdom", but from the Lord, shall the peace of Pharaoh be answered;''
the name of this Pharaoh was Misphragmuthosis; by the Jews he is called Rian ben Walid {o}:
and he made him governor over Egypt: a deputy governor under him; for Pharaoh kept the throne, and in it was greater than Joseph, and had the other ensigns of royalty, and Joseph rode in the second chariot to him:
and all his house; see Ge 41:40 as he had the affairs of the kingdom committed to him, so likewise the domestic affairs of Pharaoh, he was steward of his household.
{o} Juchasin, fol. 135. 2.
Acts 7:11
Ver. 11. Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt, and Canaan,.... This dearth, or famine, is said to be in all lands, Ge 41:54 though only Egypt and Canaan are mentioned here, because the history is concerned with no other. The Jewish writers {p} speak of three lands particularly, which were affected with it, Phenicia, Arabia, and Palestine; and this famine in the land of Israel, they say {q}, which lasted seven years, was on account of the selling of Joseph into Egypt, as before observed. The Heathen writers make mention of this famine, particularly Justin {r}, who speaking of Joseph says, that he foresaw many years before the barrenness of the fields; and all Egypt would have perished with famine, had not the king, through his advice, ordered by an edict, that corn should be laid up for many years: this was the fifth of the ten famines, the Jews say have been, or shall be in the world {s}:
and great affliction; meaning the famine, which was very severe, and lasted a long time, even seven years: want of eating is called
ywnye, "affliction", by the Jews {t}; by which they mean fasting, which is a voluntary want of eating, or abstinence from it; and if that is an affliction, then much more want of food, or abstinence through necessity; compare 1Ti 5:10.
And our fathers found not sustenance; Jacob and his family could not get sufficient provision for them in the land of Canaan, where they then were, but were obliged to go to Egypt for it.
{p} Bereshit Rabba, sect. 90. fol. 78. 1. {q} Pirke Eliezer, c. 38. {r} Ex Trogo, l. 36. c. 2. {s} Targum in Ruth i. 1. {t} Moses Kotsensis Mitzvot Tora pr. Affirm. 32.
Acts 7:12
Ver. 12. But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt,.... Not then growing, or gathering in there, or that was of that year's produce; for the famine was strong in the land of Egypt, as well as in Canaan; but was what had been laid up, and preserved in the seven years of plenty, by the order and care of Joseph; which by some means or another, Jacob had heard of; see Ge 42:1 the Jews suggest {u}, that it was by divine revelation:
he sent out our fathers first; the first time, or the first year of the famine; or he sent them first, he laid his commands on them, or they had not gone; these were the ten sons of Jacob, and brethren of Joseph, who were sent the first time, for Benjamin stayed with his father: see Ge 42:3.
{u} Bereshit Rabba, sect. 91. fol. 78. 1, 2.
Acts 7:13
Ver. 13. And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren,.... That is, when the brethren of Joseph went a second time down to Egypt for corn, Joseph made himself known unto them, Ge 45:1.
And Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh; for though it was known before that he was an Hebrew, see Ge 39:17 yet it was not known of what family he was, who was his father, or his brethren, but now it was known, Ge 45:16.
Acts 7:14
Ver. 14. Then sent Joseph,.... Gifts and presents to his father, and wagons, to fetch down him and his family into Egypt, Ge 45:21.
and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls; which seems to disagree with the account of Moses, who says, that "all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten", Ge 46:27. But there is no contradiction; Moses and Stephen are speaking of different things; Moses speaks of the seed of Jacob, which came out of his loins, who came into Egypt, and so excludes his sons' wives; Stephen speaks of Jacob and all his kindred, among whom his sons' wives must be reckoned, whom Joseph called to him: according to Moses's account, the persons that came with Jacob into Egypt, who came out of his loins, and so exclusive of his sons' wives, were threescore and six; to which if we add Jacob himself, and Joseph who was before in Egypt, and who might be truly said to come into it, and his two sons that were born there, who came thither in his loins, as others in the account may be said to do, who were not yet born, when Jacob went down, the total number is threescore and ten, Ge 46:26 out of which take the six following persons, Jacob, who was called by Joseph into Egypt, besides the threescore and fifteen souls, and Joseph and his two sons then in Egypt, who could not be said to be called by him, and Hezron and Hamul, the sons of Pharez not yet born, and this will reduce Moses's number to sixty four; to which sixty four, if you add the eleven wives of Jacob's sons, who were certainly part of the kindred called and invited into Egypt, Ge 45:10 it will make up completely threescore and fifteen persons: or the persons called by Joseph maybe reckoned thus; his eleven brethren and sister Dinah, fifty two brother's children, to which add his brethren's eleven wives, and the amount is threescore and fifteen: so that the Jew {w} has no reason to charge Stephen with an error, as he does; nor was there any need to alter and corrupt the Septuagint version of Ge 45:27 to make it agree with Stephen's account; or to add five names in it, in Ac 7:20 as Machir, Galaad, Sutalaam, Taam, and Edom, to make up the number seventy five: and it may be observed, that the number is not altered in the version of De 10:22 which agrees with the Hebrew for seventy persons.
{w} R. Isaac Chizzuk Emuna, par. 2. c. 63. p. 450.
Acts 7:15
Ver. 15. So Jacob went down into Egypt,.... At the invitation of his son Joseph:
and died, he, and our fathers; both Jacob and his twelve sons died in Egypt, though we have no account of the death of any of them, but Jacob and Joseph, particularly; only in general, that Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation, Ge 49:33 Ex 1:6 the Syriac version adds "there", that is, in Egypt.
Acts 7:16
Ver. 16. And were carried over into Sichem,.... The Syriac version reads in the singular number, "and he was translated into Sichem, and laid", &c. as if this was said of Jacob only, whereas he is not spoken of at all, only the fathers, the twelve patriarchs; for Jacob, though he was carried out of Egypt, he was not buried in Sichem, but in the cave of Machpelah, Ge 50:13. But Joseph and the rest of the patriarchs, who died in Egypt, when the children of Israel came out from thence, they brought their bones along with them, and buried them in Sichem: of the burial of Joseph there, there is no doubt, since it is expressly affirmed in Jos 24:32 and that the rest of the patriarchs were buried there, and not in Hebron, as Josephus asserts {x}, may be concluded from hence; because in the cave of Machpelah at Hebron, there are never mentioned more in Jewish writers {y}, than these four couple; Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah; from whence, they say, Hebron was called Kirjath Arba, the city of four; as also, because it is the general consent of the Jews; and if they had not agreed in it, or said nothing about it, the thing is natural to suppose, that the children of Israel brought the bones of all the patriarchs out of Egypt, along with Joseph's {z}; and since they buried the bones of Joseph in Sichem, it is most reasonable to believe, that the rest were buried there likewise; though it must be owned, that there is an entire silence about them, even when the sepulchre of Joseph is taken notice of: so R. Benjamin speaking of the Samaritans says {a},
"among them is the sepulchre of Joseph the righteous, the son of Jacob our father, on whom be peace, as it is said, Jos 24:32.''
And says another of their writers {b},
"from Sichem about a sabbath day's journey, in a village, called Belata, there Joseph the just was buried;''
but of the rest, no mention is made:
and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor, the father of Sichem; the last clause, the father "of Sichem", is left out in the Syriac version; and the Alexandrian copy reads it, "in Sichem"; as if it was the name of a place, and not of a man: the Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions read, "the son of Sichem"; whereas it is certain, that Sichem was the son of Emmor, or Hamor, Ge 33:19 unless it can be thought there were two Sichems, one that was the father of Emmor, and another that was his son: but the great difficulty is, how the sepulchre in which the fathers were laid at Sichem, can be said to be bought by Abraham of the sons of Emmor, when what Abraham bought was the field and cave of Machpelah; and that not of the sons of Emmor, but of the sons of Heth, and of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hitrite, Ge 23:16. Whereas the parcel of ground in Sichem, bought of the sons of Emmor, the father of Sichem, was bought by Jacob, Ge 33:19. Various things are suggested, to reconcile this; some think the word Abraham is an interpolation, and that it should be read, which he (Jacob) bought; but to support this, no copy can be produced: others observe, that it may be read, which he bought for Abraham; that is, which Jacob bought for Abraham and his seed, as a pledge of the inheritance of the whole land, promised unto him; others think that by Abraham is meant a son of Abraham, that is, Jacob; as children are sometimes called by their father's name; as the Messiah is called David, and the like; but what best seems to remove the difficulty is, that the words refer to both places and purchases; to the field of Machpelah bought by Abraham, and to the parcel of field is Sichem bought by Jacob, of the sons of Emmor; for the words with the repetition of the phrase, "in the sepulchre", may be read thus; "and were laid in the sepulchre, that Abraham bought for a sum of money", and in the sepulchre (bought by Jacob) "of the sons of Emmor", the father of Sichem; or the words may be rendered thus, "they were carried over into Sichem, and laid in the sepulchre which Abraham bought for a sum of money, besides" that "of the sons of Emmor", the father "of Sichem"; namely, which Jacob bought, and in which Joseph was laid, Ge 33:19. And this agrees with Stephen's account and design, in the preceding verse; he observes, that Jacob died in Egypt, and all the twelve patriarchs; and here he tells us how they were disposed of, and where they were buried, both Jacob and his sons; they were removed from Egypt, and brought into the land of Canaan; Jacob, he was laid in the cave of Machpelah, in the sepulchre Abraham bought of the children of Heth; and Joseph and his brethren, they were laid in the sepulchre at Sichem, which Jacob bought of the sons of Emmor: upon the whole, the charge of several errors brought by the {c} Jew against Stephen appears to be groundless; the sum this sepulchre was bought for was an hundred pieces of money, Ge 33:19.
{x} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 8. sect. 2. {y} T. Bab. Sota, fol. 13. 1. Cippi Heb. p. 4. R. Benjamin. Itinerar. p. 48, 49. {z} T. Bab. Sota, fol. 13. Bava Kama, fol. 92. 1. Maccot fol. 11. 1. & Gloss. in ib. Bereshit, fol. 89. 1. Sepher Jasher apud Gaulmin. not. in Vita Mosis, l. 2. c. 2. p. 287. {a} ltinerar. p. 39. {b} Cippi Heb. p. 34. {c} R. Isaac Chizzuk Emuna, par. 2. c. 63. p. 450, 451.
Acts 7:17
Ver. 17. But when the time of the promise drew nigh,.... That is, the time of the four hundred years; when God promised to deliver the seed of Abraham out of their affliction and servitude, and bring them into the land of Canaan to inherit it:
which God had sworn to Abraham; in Ge 15:13 for though there is no express mention made of an oath, yet there is a most solemn affirmation, which is equivalent to one; the Alexandrian copy and some others, and the Vulgate Latin version read,
which God promised unto Abraham; the people grew and multiplied in Egypt; see Ex 1:7 insomuch, that though their number were but threescore and ten when they went down to Egypt, and though various methods were taken to destroy them, and lessen their numbers, yet in little more than two hundred years, their number was increased to six hundred thousand, and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men, besides old men, women, and children, and besides two and twenty thousand Levites, Nu 1:46. And it seems, that they multiplied the more towards the time when the promise of deliverance drew nigh to be accomplished, and even when they were the most afflicted, Ex 1:12.
Acts 7:18
Ver. 18. Till another king arose,.... In, or over Egypt, as the Alexandrian copy, and others, and the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions read; in Ex 1:8 it is a new king; the Jewish writers are divided about him, whether he was a different king from the former; or only so called, because he made new edicts {d}:
"Rab and Samuel, one says a new one absolutely: and the other says, because his decrees were renewed; he that says a new one absolutely, (thinks so) because it is written a new one; and he who says, because his decrees are renewed (or he makes new decrees, he thinks so) from hence, because it is not written, and he died, and there reigned; and (it makes) for him that says, because his decrees are renewed, what is written, "who knew not Joseph"; what is the meaning of that, "who knew not Joseph?" that he was like one who knew not Joseph at all.''
The Septuagint version of Ex 1:8 renders it "another" king, as does Stephen here; another king from the Pharaoh of Joseph: the name of this was Ramesses Miamun; and one of the treasure cities built for him seems to be called after his name, Raamses, Ex 1:11. The Jews call him Talma {e} and by Theophilus of Antioch {f} he is called Tethmosis; and by Artapanus {g}, Palmanotha: "which knew not Joseph"; nor what great things he had done, to the advantage of the Egyptian nation; he was acquainted with the history of him, and of his worthy deeds, and therefore had no regard to his people, as the other Pharaoh had Josephus {h} says, the kingdom was translated to another family; which might be the reason why he was not known, nor his friends taken notice of: Aben Ezra says, he was not of the seed royal; wherefore it is written, "and there arose"; he the kingdom, and had not a just right and title so that being a stranger, it is no wonder that he should not know Joseph; Jarchi's note is,
"he made himself as if he did not know him''
he dissembled, he pretended ignorance of him, because he would show no respect unto his people. Beza's ancient copy, and another in the Bodleian library, read, "which remembered not Joseph".
{d} T. Bab. Erubin, fol. 53. 1. & Sota, fol. 11. 1. {e} Juchasin, fol. 135. 2. {f} Ad Autolycum, l. 3. p. 130. {g} Apud Euseb. de prep. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. {h} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 9. sect. 1.
Acts 7:19
Ver. 19. The same dealt subtilly with our kindred,.... See Ex 1:10 he took crafty, and yet cruel methods, to diminish the children of Israel, and to humble them; weakening their strength by labour, that they might not be able to beget children; ordering the Hebrew midwives to kill all the males that were born; and charging all his people to drown such male children that should escape the hands of the midwives;
and evil entreated our fathers; keeping them to hard labour, in mortar and brick, and all rural service; in which he made them to serve with rigour, and thereby made their lives bitter to them; employing them in building cities, pyramids, walls, and towers; making ditches, throwing up trenches, cutting watercourses, and turning rivers, with other things; which he added, setting taskmasters over them, to afflict them with burdens:
so that they cast out their young children, or "by making their children cast outs": or as the Arabic version renders it, "by making that their children should be cast out": that is, by ordering his people to expose them to ruin, and to cast them in the rivers; and so the Syriac version, "and he commanded that their children be cast out"; for this refers to Pharaoh, and his orders to his officers and people, to cast out the male children of the Israelites; and not to the parents of the children, which our version and the Vulgate Latin incline to: for though Moses's mother, after she had hid him three months, put him into an ark of bulrushes, and laid him among the flags by the river's side, yet that was in order to save his life: whereas the end of the casting out of these young children was as follows,
to the end they might not live: for this has not respect unto the parents of the children, that they might not increase or multiply their offspring, but to the young children, that they being cast into the waters, might perish, and not live and become men; the Ethiopic version is rather a paraphrase, "and he commanded that they should kill every male that was born".
Acts 7:20
Ver. 20. In which time Moses was born,.... The word Moses, is differently written in the New Testament; sometimes Moses, as here, sometimes Mo-yses, as in Ac 7:35 sometimes Mo-yseus, as in
Ac 15:1 and sometimes Moseus, as in Ro 5:14. He had his name from the Hebrew word, hvm, which signifies "to draw", Ps 18:16 according to the reason of it given by Pharaoh's daughter,
she called his name Moses; and she said, because I drew him out of the water, Ex 2:10 Though Josephus {i}, Philo {k}, and others {l}, make it to be an Egyptian name; the former of which serves, that the Egyptians call water "Mo", and "yses", such who are saved from water; wherefore compounding the name of both, they gave it to him: though according to Aben Ezra {m}, his name in the Egyptian language was Monios; his words are these,
"the name of Moses is interpreted out of the Egyptian language into the Hebrew language, for his name in the Egyptian language was Monios; and so it is written in a book of agriculture, translated out of the Egyptian language into the Arabic, and also in the books of some Greek writers.''
Moses had many names, as a Jewish chronologer observes {n};
"Pharaoh's daughter called his name Moses; his father called him Chabar, or Heber; his mother called him Jekuthiel; and his sister called him Jether (perhaps Jared, since this was one of his names); and his brethren called him Abizanoah; and Kohath called him Abi Socos; and the Israelites called him Shemaiah ben Nathaneel, and sometimes Tobiah, sometimes Shemaiah, and sometimes Sopher; but the Egyptians called him Monios.''
For "Mo", in the Egyptian language, signifies "water", and "Ni" is "out"; and so both together signify, "out of the water", which agrees with the Hebrew etymology of his name. Now he was born at the time that orders were given by Pharaoh to cast all the male children of the Israelites into the rivers, to drown them; Moses was born, whose parents were Amram and Jochebed, of the tribe of Levi; he was born, according to the Jews {o}, on the seventh day of Adar, or February:
and was exceeding fair; or "fair to God"; divinely fair and beautiful; and so Pharaoh's daughter, acccording to Josephus, said to her father, that she had brought up a child that was morfh yeion {p} "in form divine": and so the Jews say {q}, that his form was as an angel of God; or he was fair in the sight of God, as the Ethiopic version; the Syriac version renders it, "he was dear to God"; and the Vulgate Latin version, grateful to God; was well-pleasing to him, in whom he delighted, having designed to do great things by him: or "fair by God": he had a peculiar beauty put upon him by God; partly to engage his parents the more to seek the preservation of him; and partly to engage the affection of Pharaoh's daughter to him, when she should see him. Justin the historian {r} makes mention of his extraordinary beauty, for which he was praised; but very wrongly makes him to be the son of Joseph; and the account Josephus gives of it, is very remarkable {s};
"as to beauty, says he, no man could be so out of love with it, as to see the goodly form of Moses, and not be amazed; it happened to many who met him, as he was carried along the way, that they would turn back at the sight of the child, and neglect their business, to indulge themselves with the sight of him; for such was the loveliness of the child, that it detained those that saw him.''
The Arabic version renders it, he "was consecrated by a vow to God"; but of this we have no account: the Jews say {t}, that
"the Spirit of God came upon Miriam, and she prophesied; saying, behold a son shall be born to my father and to my mother at this time, who shall save Israel out of the hand of the Egyptians--and it is further said, that at the time of his birth, the whole house was filled with a great light, as the light of the sun and moon;''
upon which they had raised expectations of him: though this phrase, "fair to God", may be only an Hebraism, just as Niniveh is said to be a city "great to God", i.e. exceeding great, Jon 3:3 it being usual with the Jews to join the word God to an adjective, to express the superlative degree; and so it is rightly rendered here, "exceeding fair: and nourished up in his father's house three months"; so long he was hid by his mother there, which was a great instance of her faith; see Ex 2:2. The reason why he was kept no longer there was, because as the Jews say {u}, the three months after Jochebed was delivered of a son, the thing was known in the house of Pharaoh, wherefore she could hide him no longer.
{i} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 9, sect. 6. {k} De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 605. {l} Clement. Alexandrin. Stromat, l. 1. p. 343. {m} Comment. in Exod. ii. 10. {n} Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 2. Vid. Targum in 1 Chron. iv. 18 Vajikra Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 146. 3. {o} T. Bab. Kiddushin, fol. 38. 1. Shemot Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 91. 2. Targum Jon in Deut. xxxiii. 5. {p} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 9. sect. 7. {q} Pirke Eliezer, c. 48. {r} L. 36. c. 2. {s} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 9. sect. 6. Vid. Shemot Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 91. 3. {t} Heb. Chronicon Mosis, fol. 3. 1. Jarchi in Exod. ii. 2. Shemot Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 91. 1. {u} Ib. col. 2.
Acts 7:21
Ver. 21. And when he was cast out,.... Into the river, or by the river, as some copies read; the Syriac version adds, by his own people; by his father and mother and sister; who might be all concerned in it, and were privy to it; and which was done after this manner; his mother perceiving she could keep him no longer, made an ark of bulrushes, daubed with slime and pitch, into which she put him; and then laid it in the flags, by the river's side, and set his sister Miriam at a proper distance, to observe what would be done to him, Ex 2:3.
Pharaoh's daughter took him up; her name, according to Josephus {w}, was "Thermuthis"; she is commonly, by the Jews {x}, called "Bithiah"; and by Artapanus in Eusebius {y}, she is called "Merrhis". This princess coming down to the river to wash, as she and her maidens were walking by the river side, spied the ark in which the child was laid, among the flags, and ordered one of her maids to go and fetch it; and which being done by her orders, is attributed to her; and opening the ark, she was struck at once with the loveliness of the babe, and being filled with compassion to it, which wept, she took him,
and nourished him for her own son: not that she took him to the king's palace, and brought him up there, but the case was this; Miriam the sister of Moses, observing what was done, and perceiving the inclination of Pharaoh's daughter to take care of the child, offered to call an Hebrew nurse, to nurse the child for her; to which she agreed, and accordingly went and fetched her own and the child's mother, who took it upon wages, and nursed it for her; and when it was grown, brought it to her, who adopted it for her son, Ex 2:5. According to Josephus {z}, and some other Jewish writers {a}, so it was, that when the child was taken out of the ark, the breast was offered it by several Egyptian women, one after another, and it refused to suck of either of them; and Miriam being present, as if she was only a bystander and common spectator, moved that an Hebrew woman might be sent for; which the princess approving of, she went and called her mother, whose breast the child very readily sucked; and at the request of the princess she took and nourished it for her: according to Philo the Jew {b}, this princess was the king's only daughter, who had been a long time married, but had had no children, of which she was very desirous; and especially of a son, that might succeed in the kingdom, that so the crown might not pass into another family; and then relating how she came with her maidens to the river, and found the child; and how that the sister of it, by her orders, fetched an Hebrew nurse to her, which was the mother of the child, who agreed to nurse it for her; he suggests that from that time she gave out she was with child and feigned a big belly, that so the child might be thought to be gnhsiov all' mh upobolimaiov "genuine, and not counterfeit": but according to Josephus {c}, she adopted him for her son, having no legitimate offspring, and brought him to her father, and told him how she had taken him out of the river, and had nourished him; (Josephus uses the same word as here;) and that she counted of him to make him her son, and the successor of his kingdom; upon which Pharaoh took the child into his arms, and embraced him, and put his crown upon him; which Moses rolling off, cast to the ground, and trampled upon it with his feet: other Jewish writers say {d}, that he took the crown from off the king's head, and put it on his own; upon which, the magicians that were present, and particularly Balaam, addressed the king, and put him in mind of a dream and prophecy concerning the kingdom being taken from him, and moved that the child might be put to death; upon which his daughter snatched it up, and saved it, the king not being forward to have it destroyed: and they also tell this story as a means of saving it, that Jethro who was sitting by, or Gabriel in the form of one of the king's princes, suggested that the action of the child was not to be regarded, since it had no knowledge of what it did; and as a proof of it, proposed that there might be brought in a dish, a coal of fire, and a piece of gold, or a precious stone; and that if he put out his hand and laid hold on the piece of gold, or precious stone, then it would appear that he had knowledge, and deserved death; but if he took the coal, it would be a plain case that he was ignorant, and should be free: the thing took with the king and his nobles, and trial was made, and as the child put out his hand to lay hold on the piece of gold or precious stone, the angel Gabriel pushed it away, and he took the coal, and put it to his lips, and to the end of his tongue; which was the cause of his being slow of speech, and of a slow tongue: by comparing Philo's account with this text, one would be tempted to think that Pharaoh's daughter did really give out, that Moses was her own son; and the author of the epistle to the Hebrews seems to confirm this, Heb 11:24 who says, "that Moses denied to be called, or that he was the son of Pharaoh's daughter"; as the words may be rendered.
{w} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 9. sect. 5, 7. & l0, 12. {x} Targum in 1 Chron. iv. 18. Shemot Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 91. 3. Vajikra Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 146. 3. & Pirke Eliezer, c. 48. T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 13. 1. & Derech Eretz Zuta, c. 1. fol. 19. 1. & Chronicon Mosis, fol. 4. l. {y} De prepar. Evangel l. 9. c. 27. {z} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 9. sect. 5. {a} Shemot Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 91. 3. Heb. Chronicon Mosis, fol. 4. 1. Jarchi in Exod. ii. 7. {b} De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 604, 605. {c} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 9. sect. 7. {d} Shemot Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 91. 3. Chronicoa Mosis, fol. 4. 2. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 2.
Acts 7:22
Ver. 22. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, &c,] Which was reckoned very considerable: 1Ki 4:30 Philo the Jew says {e} that he learned arithmetic, geometry, and every branch of music, the hieroglyphics, the Assyrian language, and the Chaldean knowledge of the heavens, and the mathematics; yet was not a magician, or skilled in unlawful arts, as Justin suggests {f}:
and was mighty in words; he had a command of language, and a large flow of words, and could speak properly and pertinently upon any subject; for though he was slow of speech, and of tongue, and might have somewhat of a stammering in speaking, yet he might have a just diction, a masculine style, and a powerful eloquence, and the matter he delivered might be very great and striking:
and in deeds; or in "his deeds", as the Alexandrian copy, the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions read: he was a man of great abilities, and fit for business both in the cabinet and in the field. Josephus {g} relates an expedition of his against the Ethiopians, whilst he was in Pharaoh's court, in which he obtained victory over them, when the Egyptians had been greatly oppressed by them; in which his prudence and fortitude were highly commended.
{e} De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 859. Clement. Alex. Strom. l. 1. p. 343. {f} L. 36. c. 2. {g} Antiqu l. 2. c. 10. sect. 1. 2. 3.
Acts 7:23
Ver. 23. And when he was full forty years old,.... This Stephen had from tradition, and not from Scripture, which is silent about the age of Moses at this time, and only says, "it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown", Ex 2:11 but that he was at this time at such an age, is the general sense of the Jews. Upon the above mentioned passage they have this note {h}
"twenty years old was Moses at that time; and there are that say, that he was forty years old. And {i} elsewhere still more particularly; Moses was "forty" years in the palace of Pharaoh, forty years in Midian, (the Amsterdam edition reads,
rbdmb, "in the wilderness", wrongly,) and he served Israel forty years.''
Indeed, the fabulous history of his life makes him to be but fifteen years of age at this time {k}; but Stephen's account is undoubtedly right, and which is confirmed by the above testimonies.
It came into his heart; by the Spirit of God, under a more than ordinary impulse of which he now was:
to visit his brethren, the children of Israel; whom he knew to be his brethren, partly from the common report in Pharaoh's court concerning him, and partly from the mark of circumcision in his flesh, and chiefly from divine revelation: for some years he had lived a courtly and military life, and had took no notice of the Israelites in their oppressions; but now the Lord laid it upon his heart to visit them, and observe how things were with them; and though he could not use any public and open authority, yet Philo the Jew says {l}, that he exhorted the officers to use mildness and moderation with them, and comforted and encouraged the Israelites to bear their burdens with patience and constancy, and not sink under them; suggesting, that things would take another turn, and would change for the better in time.
{h} Shemot Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 91. 3. {i} Bereshit Rabba, sect. 100, fol. 88. 4. {k} Chronicon Mosis, fol. 5. 2. {l} De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 608, 609.
Acts 7:24
Ver. 24. And seeing one of them suffer wrong,.... Beza's Cambridge copy, and one of Stephens's, and one in the Bodleian library add, "of his own kindred": and so Ex 2:11 he is said to be "one of his brethren"; which Aben Ezra explains, wtxpvmm, "of his family", one of the tribe of Levi; and so another Jewish writer {m} is very particular, and says,
"Moses went out to the camp of the Israelites, and saw an Egyptian smite one of the sons of Kohath, who was of his brethren of the tribe of Levi, as it is said, Ex 2:11.''
This man, according to some of the Jewish writers {n}, was the husband of Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, Le 24:11 but, according to others, it was Dathan {o}: the cause and manner of his suffering wrong was this, as they report {p}; one of the taskmasters having set his eyes upon his wife, who was a beautiful woman, came early one morning, and got him out of his house to work, and then went into his wife, and lay with her; which when the man understood, he made some disturbance about it, for which he caused him to serve in very hard bondage, and beat him severely; who flying to Moses for protection,
he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed; he took his part, and screened him from the insults and blows of the officer, and avenged his cause:
and smote the Egyptian; and killed him: it is commonly said by the Jews {q}, that he killed him by the sword of his mouth, by making use of the word Jehovah; though others {r} say, he smote him with his fist, which is more likely; or rather with his sword; the Ethiopic version adds, "and buried him in the sand". Beza's ancient copy, and one of Stephens's, add, "and he hid him in the sand", as it is in Ex 2:12 and which the Jews understand not literally of any sand pit, into which he might cast him, and cover him; or of the sand of the sea, near which he was, and which does not appear; but mystically of the people of Israel, comparable to the sand of the sea, among whom he hid him. So in one of their Midrashes {s} it is observed on these words,
"and "he hid him in the sand"; though there were none there but the Israelites---who are like to sand: he said unto them, ye are like the sand; take this man here and put him there, and his voice is not heard; so this thing will be hid among you, and not heard. And so you find that the thing was not heard but by the means of the Hebrews, as it is said, "and he went out on the second day, and two men of the Hebrews", &c.''
And another of their {t} writers, says, that when Moses saw the Egyptian smiting the Hebrew,
"he began to curse him, and took the sword of his lips, and killed him, and hid him in the camp of the Israelites, as it is said, Ex 2:12 not in the sand, but among the Israelites: hence it is said, "the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea", Ho 1:10.''
To which may be added what one of their chronologers {u} affirms, that
"Moses slew the Egyptian with the ineffable name of God, and hid him among the children of Israel, who are like to sand.''
This Egyptian is said, by Jarchi, to be one of the taskmasters who was appointed over the officers of Israel, who, from the cockcrowing, kept them to their work, which is very probable.
{m} Pirke Eliezer, c. 48. {n} Jarchi in Exod. ii. 12. {o} Shemot Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 91. 4. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 2. {p} Shemot Rabba, & Shalshalet, ib. & Chronicon Mosis, fol. 5. 2. & Jarchi in Exod. ii. 12. {q} Pirke Eliezer, c. 48. Shalshalet, ib. Clement. Alex. Strom. l. 1. p. 344. {r} Shemot Rabba, ib. {s} Shemot Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 9l. 4. {t} Pirke Eliezer, c. 48. {u} R. Gedaliah, Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 2.
Acts 7:25
Ver. 25. For he supposed his brethren would have understood him,.... From his being an Hebrew in such high life; from his wonderful birth, and miraculous preservation in his infancy, and education in Pharaoh's court; and from the promise of God that he would visit them and save them:
how that God by his hand would deliver them: wherefore he was the more emboldened to kill the Egyptian, believing that his brethren would make no advantage of it against him; but look upon it as a beginning and pledge of their deliverance by him:
but they understood not; or "him not", as the Ethiopic version reads; they did not understand that he was to be their deliverer, or that this action of his was a token of it.
Acts 7:26
Ver. 26. And the next day he showed himself to them, as they strove,.... To two men of the Hebrews, who were quarrelling and contending with one another: these are said by the Jews {w} to be Dathan and Abiram; who were disputing and litigating the point, and were very warm, and at high words. The occasion of their contention is {x} said to be this,
"the Hebrew man (that had been abused) went to his house to divorce his wife, who was defiled, but she fled and told the affair to Abiram her brother: and on the morrow, Moses returned a second time to the Hebrew camp, and found Dathan and Abiram contending about the divorce.''
Though some think this is prophetically said, because they afterwards contended and divided in the business of Korah {y} Moses came up to them, and let them know who he was; and this was the day after he had killed the Egyptian. So Stephen explains the "second day" in Ex 2:13 and to this agrees what a Jewish writer {z} says, that in the morning, Moses returned a second time to the camp of the Hebrews:
and would have set them at one again; persuaded them to peace and concord, composed their difference, reconciled them, and made them good friends:
saying, sirs, ye are brethren; as Abraham said to Lot, when there was a strife between their herdsmen, Ge 13:8 and if these two were Dathan and Abiram, they were brethren in the strictest sense, Nu 16:1
why do ye wrong one to another? by abusing each other, calling ill names, or striking one another; or by lifting up the hand to strike, as Jonathan the Targumist says Dathan did against Abiram.
{w} Shalshalet, ib. {x} Targum Jon. Jarchi, & Baal Hattuim in Exod. ii. 13. Shemot Rabba, Shalshalet & Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. {y} Shemot Rabba, ib. & Yade Mose & Mattanot Cehunah in ib. {z} Shelsheleth, ib.
Acts 7:27
Ver. 27. But he that did his neighbour wrong,.... Who seems to be the same person whom Moses had defended the day before; and, according to the Jews, must be Dathan {a}: the same
thrust him away; from them, when he went to part them, and persuade them to be good friends:
saying, who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? which was very ungrateful, if he was the man he had delivered the day before; and very impertinent, since he did not take upon him to rule and judge, but only to exhort and persuade to peace and brotherly love: the language suits with the spirit of Dathan or Abiram; Nu 16:3 This is thought to be said to him by way of contempt of him, as being a very young man: the words are thus commented on in one of the ancient commentaries of the Jews {b},
"R. Judah says, Moses was twenty years of age at that time: wherefore it was said to him, thou art not yet fit to be a prince and a judge over us, seeing one of forty years of age is a man of understanding. And R. Nehemiah says, he was forty years of age; See Gill on "Ac 7:23" and it was said to him, truly thou art a man, but thou art not fit to be a prince and a judge over us: and the Rabbans say, he said to him, art thou not the son of Jochebed, though they call thee the son of Bithiah? and dost thou seek to be a prince and a judge over us? it is known concerning thee what thou didst to the Egyptian.''
{a} Targum Jon. in Exod. ii. 14. Debarim Rabba, sect. 2. fol. 237. 1. {b} Shemot Rabba, ib.
Acts 7:28
Ver. 28. Wilt thou kill me as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday?] That is, is it thy will? dost thou design to kill me? or, as in Ex 2:14 "intendest" thou to kill me? In the Hebrew text it is, "wilt thou kill me, dost thou say?" that is, as Aben Ezra rightly interprets it, dost thou say so "in thine heart?" which is a much better observation than that of Jarchi's;
"from hence we learn, says he, that he slew him by the ineffable name:''
though this is the sense of some of their ancient doctors {c};
""to kill me dost thou say?" it is not said, "dost thou seek?" but "dost thou say?" from whence you may learn, that the ineffable name was made mention of over the Egyptian, and he slew him.''
The word "yesterday" is added by Stephen, but with great truth and propriety, and is in the Septuagint version of Ex 2:14. The "as" here does not intend the manner of killing, whether by the fist or sword, or by pronouncing the word Jehovah, as Jarchi thinks, but killing itself, by whatsoever way; and the words were very spitefully said, on purpose to publish the thing, and to expose Moses to danger of life, as it did.
{c} Shemot Rabba, ib.
Acts 7:29
Ver. 29. Then fled Moses at this saying,.... For hereby the thing was known to Pharaoh, being presently carried to court, who sought to kill him for it, Ex 2:15 The Jews have a very fabulous story, that Moses was taken up upon it, and put in prison, and delivered into the hands of an executioner to be put to death; but that God wrought a miracle for him; he made his neck as hard as a pillar of marble, and the sword turned upon the neck of the executioner, and he died; and God sent Michael, the prince, in the likeness of the executioner, who took Moses by the hand, and led him out of Egypt, and left him at the borders of it, the distance of three days' journey {c} but the truth of the matter is, as Stephen relates, he fled directly, as soon as he heard the above words, for he knew his life was in the utmost danger:
and was a stranger in the land of Madian; which, as Josephus says {d}, lay near the Red sea, and took its name from one of the sons of Abraham by Keturah. Philo the Jew {e} says, it was on the borders of Arabia; and according to Jerom {f}, it was near Arnon and Areopolis, the ruins of which only were shown in his days; here he sojourned many years with Jethro the priest of that place:
where he begat two sons; whose names were Gershom and Eliezer, having married Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, Ex 18:2.
{c} Shalshaleth Hakabala, fol. 5. 2. & Chronicon Mosis, fol. 6. 1. {d} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 11. sect. 1. {e} De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 609. {f} De locis Hebr. fol. 93. B.
Acts 7:30
Ver. 30. And when forty years were expired,.... "Forty other years" the Arabic version reads; for so long the Jews {g} say Moses kept Jethro's flock, and so many years he lived in Midian; and so the Syriac version, "when then he had filled up forty years"; which agrees exactly with the account of the Jewish writers observed on Ac 7:23 who say, that he was forty years in Pharaoh's court, and forty years in Midian; so that he was now, as they {h} elsewhere justly observe, fourscore years of age:
there appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai; the same with Horeb, Ex 3:1 where it is said, "Moses came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb"; where he saw the sight of the burning bush, and out of which the angel appeared to him: and Stephen is to be justified in calling it Mount Sinai; the account which Jerom {i} gives of it is this;
"Horeb is the Mount of God in the land of Midian, by Mount Sinai, above Arabia, in the desert, to which is joined the mountain and desert of the Saracenes, called Pharan: but to me it seems, that the same mountain was called by two names, sometimes Sinai, and sometimes Horeb;''
and in which he was right. Some think the same mountain had two tops, and one went by one name, and the other by another; or one side of the mountain was called Horeb, from its being dry and desolate; and the other Sinai, from the bushes and brambles which grew upon it. So Nynyo, "Sinin", in the Misna {k}, signifies the thin barks of bramble bushes; and the bush hereafter mentioned, in the Hebrew language, is called hno, "Seneh"; from whence, with the Jews, it is said to have its name.
"Says {l} R. Eliezer, from the day the heavens and the earth were created, the name of this mountain was called Horeb; but after the holy blessed God appeared to Moses out of the midst of the bush, from the name of the bush "(Seneh)", Horeb was called Sinai.''
Some say the stones of this mountain, when broken, had the resemblance of bramble bushes {m} in them. Add to this, that Josephus {n} calls this mountain by the same name as Stephen does, when he is reciting the same history. Moses, he says,
"led the flock to the Sinaean mountain, as it is called: this is the highest mountain in that country, and best for pasture, abounding in good herbage; and because it was commonly believed the Divine Being dwelt there, it was not before fed upon, the shepherds not daring to go up to it.''
Here Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law; for to such a life did he condescend, who for forty years had been brought up in the court of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Here appeared to him
an angel of the Lord, and who was no other than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as appears from Ac 7:32 and was the second person in the Trinity, the Son of God, the angel of the divine presence, and of the covenant, an uncreated angel. And this is the sense of many of the Jewish writers, who interpret it of the angel the Redeemer, the God of Bethel {o}; though Jonathan the paraphrast seems to understand it of a created angel, whose name he calls Zagnugael {p}, and some say it was Michael, and some Gabriel {q}.
In a flame of fire in a bush; and which yet was not consumed by it. This bush was a bramble bush, or thorn; so Aben Ezra {r} says it was a kind of thorn, and observes, that in the Ishmaelitish or Turkish language, the word signifies a kind of dry thorn; and so Philo the Jew says {s}, it was a thorny plant, and very weak; and therefore it was the more wonderful, that it should be on fire, and not consumed. Josephus {t} affirms, that neither its verdure, nor its flowers were hurt, nor any of its fruitful branches consumed, though the flame was exceeding fierce. The Jerusalem Targum of Ex 3:2 is,
"and he saw and beheld the bush burned with fire, and the bush byjrm: "became green"; or, as Buxtorf renders it, "emitted a moisture", and was not burnt.''
This sight, the Arabic writers {u} say, Moses saw at noon day. Artapanus {w}, an ancient writer, makes mention of this burning, but takes no notice of the bush; yea, denies that there was anything woody in the place, and represents it only as a stream of fire issuing out of the earth: his words are,
"as he (Moses) was praying, suddenly fire broke out of the earth, and burned, when there was nothing woody, nor any matter fit for burning in the place.''
But Philo better describes it; speaking of the bush, he says {x},
"no one bringing fire to it, suddenly it burned, and was all in a flame from the root to the top, as if it was from a flowing fountain, and remained whole and unhurt, as if it was no fuel for the fire, but was nourished by it.''
The Jews allegorize this vision different ways: sometimes they say {y},
"the fire designs the Israelites, who are compared to fire, as it is said, Ob 1:18 "the house of Jacob shall be a fire"; and the bush denotes the nations of the world, which are compared to thorns and thistles; so shall the Israelites be among the people, their fire shall not consume the people, who are like to thorns and briers; nor shall the nations of the world extinguish their flame, which is the words of the law: but in the world to come, the fire of the Israelites shall consume all people, who are compared to thorns and thistles, according to Isa 33:12'
But it is much better observed in the same place;
"the bush pricks, afflicts, and gives pain, why does he (the Lord) dwell in affliction and anguish? because he saw the Israelites in great affliction, he also dwelt with them in affliction, as it is said, Isa 63:9 "in all their affliction he was afflicted"''
And very appropriately is it remarked by Philo {z};
"the burning bush (says he) is a symbol of the oppressed, the flaming fire, of the oppressors; and whereas that which was burning was not burnt, it shows, that they that are oppressed shall not perish by those who attempt it; and that their attempt shall be in vain, and they shall escape safe.''
And so Aben Ezra has this note on Ex 3:2.
"the enemy is compared to fire, and Israel to the bush, wherefore it was not burnt:''
this may be very well considered as an emblem of the state of the Jewish people in fiery trials, and very severe afflictions; who were like a bush for the number of its twigs and branches, they being many, and for its weakness and liableness to be consumed by fire, and yet wonderfully preserved by the power and presence of God among them.
{g} Pirke Eliezer, c. 40. {h} Sepher Cosri, fol. 38. 1. & Moses Kotsensis praefat ad Mitzvot Tora. {i} De locis Hebraicis, fol. 92. E. {k} Misn. Celim, c. 10. sect. 6. {l} Pirke Eliezer, c. 41. Aben Ezra in Exod. iii. 2. {m} R. Moses Narbonensis apud Drusii Preterita in loc. Vid. Hilleri Onomasticum, p. 523. {n} Antiqu l. 2. c. 12. sect. 1. {o} R. Menachem in Ainsworth in Exod. iii. 2. {p} Targum Jon. in ib. {q} Shemot Rabba, sect. 2. fol. 92. 4. {r} Comment. in Exod. iii. 2. {s} De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 612, 613. {t} In loc. supra citat. {u} Patricides, p. 26. Elmacinus, p. 47. apud Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. l. 1. c. 8. p. 415. {w} Apud Euseb. Evangel. praepar. l. 9. c. 27. p. 434. {x} Ut supra. (De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 612, 613.) {y} Pirke Eliezer, c. 40. Vid. Shemot Rabba, sect. 2. fol. 92. 4. {z} Ut supra. (De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 612, 613.)
Acts 7:31
Ver. 31. When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight,.... To see a bush on fire was no extraordinary thing; but to see a bush on fire, and yet not consumed by it, which was the case here, was wonderful indeed: and that an angel of the Lord, or the Lord himself, should appear in it, made it still more amazing; though, as yet, this was not observed by Moses, only the former; and which struck him with wonder, and excited his curiosity:
and as he drew near to behold it; to take a more exact view of it, and satisfy himself with the truth of it, and, if it was possible, to find out the reason why it was not burnt:
the voice of the Lord came unto him; to his ears, out of the bush, and expressed the following words.
Acts 7:32
Ver. 32. Saying, I am the God of thy fathers,.... Who made a covenant with them, promised the land of Canaan to them, and to their posterity, and to bring the children of Israel out of their servitude and bondage, and into the possession of the promised land:
the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; words which our Lord makes use of to prove the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, since God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, See Gill on "Mt 22:32"
Then Moses trembled; this Stephen had by tradition; in which way also the author of the epistle to the Hebrews had the account of his trembling and quaking at the same mount, when the law was given, Heb 12:21
and durst not behold; either "the sight" of the burning bush, and curiously consider and inquire into that, as the Syriac version reads; or him, as the Ethiopic version; that is, God, and which is expressed in Ex 3:6
Acts 7:33
Ver. 33. Then said the Lord to him,.... To Moses, who through curiosity had made too near an approach:
put off thy shoes from thy feet; in token of humility, obedience, and reverence:
for the place where thou standest is holy ground; not really, but relatively, on account of the divine presence in it, and only so long as that continued.
Acts 7:34
Ver. 34. I have seen, I have see the affliction of my people, &c] The repetition of the phrase denotes the certainty of it, the exquisite and exact knowledge the Lord took of the affliction of his people, and how much his heart was affected with it:
which is in Egypt; from whence Moses had fled and had left them, he being now in the land of Midian, which was the place of his sojourning: and
I have heard their groaning; under their various oppressions and burdens, and by reason of the cruel usage of their taskmasters:
and am come down to deliver them; not by local motion, or change of place, God being omnipresent, who fills all places at all times; but by the effects of his grace and power.
And now come, I will send thee into Egypt; to Pharaoh, the king of it, Ex 3:10 to require of him to let the children of Israel go, and to deliver them out of their bondage.
Acts 7:35
Ver. 35. This Moses, whom they refused,.... That is, the Israelites; the Ethiopic version reads, "his kinsmen denied"; those of his own nation, and even of his family: "saying, who made thee a ruler and a judge?" as Dathan, or whoever said the words in Ac 7:27.
the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer; or "a redeemer"; so the Jews often call Moses, saying {z}
"as was the first redeemer, so shall be the last Redeemer.''
He was an eminent type of the Messiah; and the redemption of the people of Israel out of the Egyptian bondage, by him, was emblematical of redemption from the bondage of sin, Satan, and the law by Jesus Christ; and as Moses had his mission and commission from God, so had Jesus Christ, as Mediator; and as Moses was despised by his brethren, and yet made the ruler and deliverer of them, so, though Jesus was set at nought by the Jews, yet he was made both Lord and Christ, and exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour. Moses was sent "by the hands of the angel, which appeared to him in the bush"; and who was the second person in the Godhead; the Father sent him by the Son, not as an instrument, but as having the power and authority over him, to govern, direct, and assist him. The Alexandrian copy, and the Vulgate Latin version read, "with the hand of the angel"; he sent Moses along with him to be used by him as an instrument in his hand, to deliver the people of Israel; nor does this at all contradict what the Jews say {a} at the time of the passover:
"and the Lord hath brought us out of Egypt, Kalm ydy le al, "not by the hands of an angel", nor by the hands of a seraph, nor by the hands of a messenger, but the holy blessed God, by his own glory, by himself;''
for he did not deliver them by a created angel, but by an uncreated one.
{z} Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 11. fol. 202. 2. Midrash Ruth, fol. 33. 2. & Midrash Kohelet, fol. 63. 2. {a} Haggada Shel Pesach. p. 13. Ed. Rittangel.
Acts 7:36
Ver. 36. He brought them out,.... Of Egypt, and delivered them from all their oppressions in it:
after that he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt; by turning his rod into a serpent, and by his rod swallowing up the rods of the Egyptians, and by the ten plagues, which were inflicted on Pharaoh, and his people, for not letting the children of Israel go:
and in the Red sea; by dividing the waters of it, so that the people of Israel went through it as on dry ground, which Pharaoh and his army attempting to do, were drowned. This sea is called the Red sea, not from the natural colour of the water, which is the same with that of other seas; nor from the appearance of it through the rays of the sun upon it, or the shade of the red mountains near it; but from Erythrus, to whom it formerly belonged, and whose name signifies red; and is no other than Esau, whose name was Edom, which signifies the same; it lay near his country: it is called in the Hebrew tongue the sea of Suph, from the weeds that grew in it; and so it is in the Syriac version here:
and in the wilderness forty years; where wonders were wrought for the people in providing food for them, and in preserving them from their enemies, when at last they were brought out of it into Canaan's land, by Joshua. This exactly agrees with what has been before observed on Ac 7:23 from the Jewish writings, that Moses was forty years in Pharaoh's court, forty years in Midian, and forty years in the wilderness.
Acts 7:37
Ver. 37. This is that Moses which said unto the children of Israel,.... What is recorded in De 18:15.
a prophet, &c.
See Gill on "Ac 3:22".
Acts 7:38
Ver. 38. This is he that was in the church in the wilderness,.... Which must be understood of the children of Israel, who were the then church of God, whom he had chosen and separated from the rest of the world, to be a peculiar people to himself, to whom were given the word and ordinances, the service of God, and the promises; and God always had, and will have a church, though that is sometimes in the wilderness; which has been the case under the Gospel dispensation, as well as before; Re 12:6 and it was a peculiar honour to Moses, that he was in this church, though it was in the wilderness; even a greater honour than to be in Pharaoh's court. This has a particular respect to the time when all Israel were encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai, when Moses was not only in the midst of them, and at the head of them; but was
with the angel which spake to him in the Mount Sina: this is the same angel as before, in Ac 7:30 and refers either to his speaking to him then, saying, I am the God of thy fathers, &c. which was at Mount Sinai; or rather to the time when the law was given on that mount; and it may be to both; it is true of each, though it, may more especially regard the latter; for it was the angel of the divine presence, the second person in the Trinity, the word of God, that bid Moses come up into the mount; and who spake all the ten words to him; and who is described in so grand and august a manner in De 33:2
and with our fathers; the Jewish ancestors, who came out of Egypt under Moses, with whom he was as their deliverer and ruler, their guide and governor:
who received the lively oracles to give unto us; he received from the angel which spake to him the law, to deliver to the children of Israel; which is called "the oracles", because it came from God, and contained his mind and will, and was a sure and infallible declaration of it; and "lively" ones, because delivered "viva voce", with an articulate voice, and in audible sounds, and because it is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword. The Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions render it, "the words of life": not that the law gives life, or points out the way of life and salvation to sinful men; it is to them all the reverse; it is the killing letter, and the ministration of condemnation and death: it is indeed a rule of life, or of walk and conversation to men, and it promises life in case of perfect obedience, Le 18:5 but this is impracticable by fallen men, and therefore there is no life nor righteousness by the law. Though these lively oracles may be considered in a larger extent, as including all the promises of God respecting the Messiah, delivered to Moses, and all the rites and ordinances of the ceremonial law, which pointed out Christ, as the way of life, righteousness, and salvation, from whence they may very well take this name.
Acts 7:39
Ver. 39. To whom our fathers would not obey,.... But often murmured against him, and were disobedient to him, and to the oracles he delivered to them, and so to God, whose oracles they were:
but thrust him from them; as one of the two Hebrews did, when he interposed to make up the difference between them; and which was an emblem and presage of what that people would afterwards do; Ac 7:27
and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt; they wished themselves there again, they lusted after the fish, the cucumbers, the melons, leeks, onions, and garlic there; and went so far as to move for a captain, and even to appoint one to lead them back thither again.
Acts 7:40
Ver. 40. Saying unto Aaron, make us gods to go before us,.... This is a proof of their disobedience to the law of Moses, and of their rejection of him, and of the inclination of their hearts to the idolatry of the Egyptians; which shows the gross stupidity, as well as ingratitude of this people, to think that gods could be made; and that those that are made could go before them, be guides unto them, and protectors of them; when they have eyes, but see not, and hands, but handle not, and feet, but walk not:
for as for this Moses; whom they speak of with great contempt, and in a very irreverent way:
which brought us out of the land of Egypt; which they mention not with gratitude, but as reflecting upon him for doing it:
we wot not what is become of him; they thought he was dead, according to the Targum of Jonathan on Ex 32:1 they concluded he was consumed with fire on the mount which flamed with fire. {b} The following story is told by the Jews;
"when Moses went up on high, he said to the Israelites, at the end of forty days, at the beginning of the sixth hour I will come; at the end of forty days came Satan, and disturbed the world; he said to them, where is Moses your master? they answered him, he is gone up on high: he said to them, the sixth hour is come; they took no notice of him; he is dead (says he); they had no regard to him; he showed them the likeness of his bier; then they said to Aaron, "as for this man Moses", &c.''
{b} T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 89. 1. Vid. Jarchi & Baal Hatturim in Exod. xxxii. 1.
Acts 7:41
Ver. 41. And they made a calf in those days,.... Whilst Moses was in the mount; this was done in imitation of the Egyptian idol Apis or Serapis, which was an ox or a bullock; and it was made of the golden earnings of the people, which were melted down, and cast into the form of a calf, and graved by Aaron with a graving tool, Ex 32:2 And so the Syriac version here reads in the singular number, "and he made them a calf"; this was a most shameful and scandalous piece of idolatry. The Jews themselves are so sensible of the horribleness of it, and of the guilt of it, and of the reproach that lies on them for it, that it is common for them to say {c},
"there is not a generation, or an age, in which there is not an ounce of the sin of the calf.''
Or, as elsewhere {d} expressed,
"no punishment befalls thee, O Israel, in "which there is not an ounce of the sin of the calf".''
And offered sacrifice unto the idol; an altar was built, and proclamation made, that the next day would be the feast of the Lord; and accordingly early in the morning the people rose, and offered both burnt offerings and peace offerings, Ex 32:5 and rejoiceth in the works of their own hands; for so the calf was; and which rejoicing they showed by eating, and drinking, and singing, and dancing.
{c} T. Hieros. Taaniot, fol. 68. 3. {d} Vid. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 102. 1.
Acts 7:42
Ver. 42. Then God turned,.... Away from them, withdrew his presence, and his favours from them:
and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; not angels, but the sun, moon, and stars; for since they liked not to retain the knowledge and worship of the true God, who made the heavens, and the earth, God in righteous judgment, in a judicial way, gave them up to a reprobate mind, to commit all the idolatry of the Gentiles, as a punishment of their former sin in making and worshipping the calf:
as it is written in the book of the prophets; of the twelve lesser prophets, which were all in one book; and which, as the Jews say {e}, were put together, that a book of them might not be lost through the smallness of it; among which Amos stands, a passage in whose prophecy is here referred to; namely, in Am 5:25 "O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness"; no; they offered to devils, and not to God, De 32:17 and though there were some few sacrifices offered up; yet since they were not frequently offered, nor freely, and with all the heart, and with faith, and without hypocrisy, they were looked upon by God as if they were not offered at all.
{e} Kimchi praefat. ad Hoseam.
Acts 7:43
Ver. 43. Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch,.... Sometimes called Molech, and sometimes Milcorn; it was the god of the Ammonites, and the same with Baal: the one signifies king, and the other lord; and was, no doubt, the same with the Apis or Serapis of the Egyptians, and the calf of the Israelites. Frequent mention is made of giving seed to Molech, and causing the children to pass through fire to him. The account the Jews give of this image, and of the barbarous worship of it, is this {f}:
"though all idolatrous places were in Jerusalem, Molech was without Jerusalem; and it was made an hollow image, placed within seven chancels or chapels; and whoever offered fine flour, they opened to him the first; if turtle doves or two young pigeons, they opened the second; if a lamb, they opened the third; if a ram, they opened the fourth; if a calf, they opened the fifth; if an ox, they opened the sixth; but whoever offered his son, they opened the seventh: his face was a calf's, and his hands were stretched out, as a man opens his hands to receive any thing from his friend; and they make him hot with fire, and the priests take the infant and put it into the hands of Molech, and the infant expires: and wherefore is it called Topher and Hinnom? Tophet, because they make a noise with drums, that its father may not hear the voice of the child, and have compassion on it, and return to it; and Hinnom, because the child roars, and the voice of its roaring ascends.''
Others give a milder account of this matter, and say, that the service was after this manner {g}; that
"the father delivered his son to the priests, who made two large fires, and caused the son to pass on his feet between the two fires,''
so that it was only a sort of a lustration or purification by fire; but the former account, which makes the child to be sacrificed, and put to death, seems best to agree with the scriptural one. Now this idol was included in chancels or chapels, as in the account given, or in shrines, in tabernacles, or portable temples, which might be taken up and carried; and such an one is here mentioned: by which is meant, not the tabernacle of the Lord made by Bezaleel; as if the sense was, that the idolatrous Israelites, though not openly, yet secretly, and in their hearts worshipped Moloch, as if he was included in the tabernacle; so that to take it up means no other, than in the heart to worship, and to consider him as if he had been shut up and carried in that tabernacle; nor is it to be thought that they publicly took up, and carried a tabernacle, in which was the image of Moloch, during their forty years' travels in the wilderness; for whatever they might do the few days they worshipped the golden calf, which is possible, it cannot be received, that Moses, who was so severe against idolatry, would ever have connived at such a practice: this therefore must have reference to after times, when they sacrificed their children to him, and took up and carried his image in little shrines and tabernacles.
And the star of your god Remphan. The Alexandrian copy reads "Raiphan"; some copies read "Raphan"; and so the Arabic version; others "Rephan"; the Syriac version reads "Rephon"; and the Ethiopic version "Rephom". Giants, with the Hebrews, were called "Rephaim"; and so Moloch, who is here meant, is called "Rephan", and with an epenthesis "Remphan", because of his gigantic form; which some have concluded from the massy crown on his head, which, with the precious stones, weighed a talent of gold, which David took from thence, 2Sa 12:30 for not the then reigning king of the Ammonites, but Molech, or Milchom, their idol, is meant: this is generally thought to be the same with Chiun in Amos; but it does not stand in a place to answer to that; besides, that should not be left untranslated, it not being a proper name of an idol, but signifies a type or form; and the whole may be rendered thus, "but ye have borne the tabernacle of your king, and the type, or form of your images, the star of your god"; which version agrees with Stephens's, who, from the Septuagint, adds the name of this their king, and their god Rephan, or Remphan. Drusius conjectures, that this is a fault of the Scribes writing Rephan for Cephan, or that the Septuagint interpreters mistook the letter k for r, and instead of Cevan read Revan; and Chiun is indeed, by Kimchi and Aben Ezra {h}, said to be the same with Chevan, which, in the Ishmaelitish and Persian languages, signifies Saturn; and so does Rephan in the Egyptian language: and it is further to be observed, that the Egyptians had a king called Remphis, the same with Apis; and this may be the reason why the Septuagint interpreters, who interpreted for Ptolomy, king of Egypt, put Rephan, which Stephen calls Remphan, instead of Chiun, which they were better acquainted with, since they both signify the same deity, and the same star; and which also was the star of the Israelites, called by them yatbv, because supposed to have the government of the sabbath day, and therefore fitly called the "star of your god". Upon the whole, Moloch, Chiun, Rephan, or Remphan, and Remphis, all are the same with the Serapis of the Egyptians, and the calf of the Israelites; and which idolatry was introduced on account of Joseph, who interpreted the dream of Pharaoh's kine, and provided for the Egyptians in the years of plenty against the years of famine, and was worshipped under the ox with a bushel on his head;
figures which ye made to worship them; in Amos it is said, "which you made for yourselves": meaning both the image and the tabernacle in which it was, which they made for their own use, to worship their deity in and by:
and I will carry you beyond Babylon; in Amos it is beyond Damascus, and so some copies read here, which was in Babylon; and explains the sense of the prophet more fully, that they should not only be carried for their idolatry beyond Damascus, and into the furthermost parts of Babylon, but beyond it, even into the cities of the Medea, Halah, and Habor, by the river Gozan; and here is no contradiction: how far beyond Damascus, the prophet does not say; and if they were carried beyond Babylon, they must be carried beyond Damascus, and so the words of the prophet were fulfilled; and Stephen living after the fulfilment of the prophecy, by which it appeared that they were carried into Media, could say how far they were carried; wherefore the Jew {i} has no reason to cavil at Stephen, as if he misrepresented the words of the prophet, and related things otherwise than they were; and so Kimchi interprets it, far beyond Damascus; and particularly mentions Halah and Habor, cities in Media, where the ten tribes were carried.
{f} R. David Kimchi in 2 Kings xxiii. 10. {g} Jarchi & Ben Melech in Lev. xviii. 23. Kimchi in Sepher Shorash. rad. Klm. {h} In Amos v. 25. {i} R. Isaac Chizzuk Emuna, par. 2. c. 64. p. 451.
Acts 7:44
Ver. 44. Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness,.... The Ethiopic version adds, "of Sinai"; there it was that the tabernacle was first ordered to be built, and there it was built, and set up; which was a sort of a portable temple, in which Jehovah took up his residence, and which was carried from place to place: of it, and its several parts and furniture, there is a large account in Ex 25:1. It is sometimes called Ohel Moed, or "the tabernacle of the congregation", because there the people of Israel gathered together, and God met with them; and sometimes "the tabernacle of the testimony", or "witness", as here; Ex 38:21 Nu 1:50 because the law, called the tables of the testimony, and the testimony, it being a testification or declaration of the will of God, was put into an ark; which for that reason is called the ark of the testimony; and which ark was placed in the tabernacle; and hence that took the same name too. The Jewish writers say {k}, it is so called,
"because it was a testimony that the Shekinah dwelt in Israel'';
or as another {l} expresses it,
"it was a testimony to Israel that God had pardoned them concerning the affair of the calf, for, lo, his Shekinah dwelt among them.''
This tabernacle, in which was the testimony of the will of God, what he would have done, and how he would be worshipped, and which was a token of his presence, was among the Jewish fathers whilst they were in the wilderness; and is mentioned as an aggravation of their sin, that they should now, or afterwards, take up and carry the tabernacle of Moloch. The Alexandrian copy reads, "your fathers"; the sense is the same.
As he had appointed; that is, as God appointed, ordered, and commanded:
speaking unto Moses, Ex 25:40
that he should make it according to the fashion he had seen; when in the Mount with God; Heb 8:5 for it was not a bare account of the tabernacle, and its vessels, which he hearing, might form an idea of in his mind; but there was a visible form represented to his eye, a pattern, exemplar, or archetype of the whole, according to which everything was to be made; which teaches us, that everything in matters of worship ought to be according to the rule which God has given, from which we should never swerve in the least.
{k} Baal Hatturim in Exod. xxxiii. 21. {l} Jarchi in ib.
Acts 7:45
Ver. 45. Which also our fathers that came after,.... Who came after those that died in the wilderness, and never saw nor entered into the land of Canaan; the children of that generation whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, who sprung from them, came up in their room, and succeeded them:
brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles; that is, they having received the tabernacle from their fathers, brought it into the land of Canaan, which was possessed by the Gentiles, when they entered into it with Joshua their leader, and captain, at the head of them; who is here called Jesus, as he is in Heb 4:8 for Joshua and Jesus are the same name, and signify a saviour; for such an one Joshua was to the people of Israel; and was an eminent type of Jesus Christ, the captain of our salvation, in his bringing many sons to glory:
whom God drove out before the face of our fathers; the Gentiles, who before possessed the land of Canaan, were drove out by God before the Israelites, to make way for their settlement there; for to whom can the success of those victories over the Canaanites be ascribed, which the Israelites under Joshua obtained, but to God? The language on the "Tingitane", or Hercules's pillars, said to be set up by some of these Canaanites, agrees with this, on which they inscribed these words;
"we are they who fled from the face of Joshua the robber, the son of Nave,''
or Nun:
unto the days of David; this clause must not be read in connection with the words immediately preceding, as if the sense was, that the inhabitants of Canaan were drove out of their land unto the times of David, and then returned and resettled, as in the Ethiopic version; but with the beginning of the verse, and the meaning is, that the tabernacle which the Israelites received from their fathers, and brought into the land of Canaan with them, was there unto the times of David.
Acts 7:46
Ver. 46. Who found favour before God,.... That is, David, who had an interest in the free favour and love of God, was chosen of God, a man after his own heart, and raised up to do his will; and who had the grace of God implanted in him, and was acceptable, and well pleasing to God through Christ; the same is said of Noah, Ge 6:8
and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob; from whom the Israelites descended: David having a deep sense of the love of God to him, and the grace of God wrought in his heart, was exceeding desirous of finding a place for the building of an house, or fixed habitation for God; for there was a tabernacle already, which had been from the time of Moses, and which the children of Israel brought with them into Canaan, and was moved from place to place; sometimes it was at Gilgal, sometimes at Shiloh, and then it was at Nob, and Gibeah, and at length it was brought by David into his own city; but he wanted to build a settled and stable house for the Lord, of which there was a hint given that the Lord would choose a place to put his name in, De 16:2 but it seems, where that was to be was not known; and therefore David very anxiously sought after it; the reference is had to Ps 132:3 where David determines not to go to his house, nor up to his bed, nor give sleep, to his eyes, nor slumber to his eyelids, till he had found out a place for the habitation of the God of Jacob.
Acts 7:47
Ver. 47. But Solomon built him an house. Though David was so set upon it, and made such large provisions for it, he was not to be the man that should build it, he having been greatly concerned in wars, and in the effusion of blood; but Solomon his son, who enjoyed much peace, was the person designed for this work, and who did accomplish it; of which there is a large account in the 1Ki 6:1.
Acts 7:48
Ver. 48. Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands,.... Such an one as Solomon's was; he did indeed dwell in his temple, but he was not confined to it, nor included in it, or circumscribed by it; and so much Solomon himself suggests, when he expresses his wonder at his dwelling on earth, seeing the heaven of heavens could not contain him, and still less the house which he had built, 1Ki 8:27, Nwyle, "the most High", is one of the names of God, Ge 14:18 the Apostle Paul says the same of God as Stephen does here; Ac 17:24 "as saith the prophet"; the prophet Isaiah, Isa 66:1.
Acts 7:49
Ver. 49. Heaven is my throne,.... There is the seat of the divine Majesty; there his glory is most conspicuous; there he keeps his court, that is his palace; and there are his attendants, the angels; and from thence are the administrations of his regal power and government, over the whole world:
and earth is my footstool; which is under his feet, is subject to him, and at his dispose, and which he makes use of at his pleasure: these things are not to be literally understood, but are images and figures, representing the majesty, sovereignty, and immensity of God; who is the maker of all things, the governor of the universe, and is above all places, and not to be contained in any:
what house will ye build me? saith the Lord; or where can any be built for him, since he already takes up the heaven and the earth? what house can be built by men, or with hands, that can hold him, or is fit for him to dwell in?
or what is the place of my rest? not in any house made with hands, but in the church among his saints, who are the temples of the living God; and this is his rest for ever, and here will he dwell, because he has chosen and desired them, and built them up for an habitation for himself, Ps 132:13
Acts 7:50
Ver. 50. Hath not my hand made all these things? The heaven, and the earth, and all that is in them; the Arabic version renders it, "all these creatures"; and therefore what can be made for God? or what house built for him? in Isaiah the words are read without an interrogation, and affirm that his hand had made all these things, and therefore nothing could be made for him suitable to him, by the hands of men.
Acts 7:51
Ver. 51. Ye stiffnecked,.... Or "hard necked", the same with
Prwe hvq, which is a character frequently given of this people, Ex 32:9 and elsewhere, and is expressive of their obstinacy, stubbornness and refractoriness; who would not submit their necks to the yoke of God's law, and be obedient to his commands:
and uncircumcised in heart and ears; for though they had the mark of circumcision in their flesh, of which they boasted; yet they had not the true circumcision of the heart; their hearts were not circumcised to fear and love the Lord, nor their ears to hear the word of the Lord and the Gospel of Christ; so that notwithstanding their confidence in carnal privileges, they were uncircumcised persons:
ye do always resist the Holy Ghost; the resistance made by these persons was not to the Spirit of God in them, of which they were destitute, but to the Spirit of God in his ministers, in his apostles, and particularly in Stephen; nor to any internal operation of his grace, but to the external ministry of the word, and to all that objective light, knowledge, evidence, and conviction that it gave of Jesus's being the Messiah: and such who resist Christ's ministers, resist him, and such who resist him, may be said to resist his Holy Spirit; and the word here used signifies a rushing against, and falling upon, in a rude and hostile way, and fitly expresses their ill treatment of Christ and his ministers, by falling upon them and putting them to death: which is the resistance here designed, as appears by the following verse: so that this passage is no proof of the resistance of the Holy Spirit, and the operations of his grace in conversion, when he is in men, and acts with a purpose and will to convert them; since it does not appear that he was in these persons, and was acting in them, with a design to convert them; and if he was, it wilt be difficult to prove that they so resisted, and continued to resist, as that they were not hereafter converted; since it is certain that one of them, Saul, was really and truly converted, and how many more we know not. Though it will be allowed, that the Holy Ghost in the operations of his grace upon the heart in conversion may be resisted, that is, opposed; but not so as to be overcome or be hindered in, or be obliged to cease from, the work of conversion, insomuch that may come to nothing:
as your fathers did, so do ye; or as "your fathers were, so are ye"; as they were stiffnecked, self-willed, obstinate, and inflexible, so are ye; as they were uncircumcised in heart and ears, so are ye; and as they resisted the Spirit of God in his prophets, so do ye resist him in the apostles and ministers of the Gospel.
Acts 7:52
Ver. 52. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?.... Either by reviling and speaking all manner of evil of them, Mt 5:11 or by killing them, Mt 23:31 and they have slain them; as Isaiah, Zachariah, and others:
which showed before of the coming of the just one; of Jesus the Messiah, whose character in the prophecies of the Old Testament is righteous servant, righteous branch, just, and having salvation; and whom Stephen styles so partly on account of the holiness of his nature, and the innocence and harmlessness of his life; and partly because he is the author of righteousness, and the end of the law for it to all that believe; of whose coming in the flesh all the prophets more or less spoke: and this being good news, and glad tidings, made the sin of the Jewish fathers the greater, in putting them to death, as the innocent character of Christ was an aggravation of the Jews' sin, in murdering of him, as it follows:
of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers; Judas, one of their nation, betrayed him into the hands of the chief priests and elders; and they betrayed, or delivered him into the hands of Pontius Pilate to be condemned to death, which they greatly importuned, and would not be satisfied without; and therefore are rightly called the murderers, as well as the betrayers of him.
Acts 7:53
Ver. 53. Who have received the law, by the disposition of angels,.... Who attended the angel that spake to Moses on Mount Sinai, Ac 7:38 who is the head of all principality and power, and whom he might make use of in giving the law to Moses: hence the law is said to be ordained by angels, in the hand of a Mediator, and is called the word spoken by angels, Ga 3:19 and certain it is, that there were great numbers of angels on Mount Sinai, when the law was given, De 33:2 And so the Jews say {m}, that
"when the holy blessed God descended on Mount Sinai, there came down with him many companies of angels, Michael and his company, and Gabriel and his company''
Indeed they often say {n},
"the law was not given to the ministering angels:''
their meaning is, it was not given to them to observe and keep, because there are some things in it, which do not concern angels; but then it might be given to them to deliver to Moses, who gave it to the Israelites, and so may be said to receive it by the ministration of angels, through the hands of Moses. And now the law being given and received in so grand a manner, was an aggravation of the sin of the Jews in violating it, as it follows:
and have not kept it; but broke it in innumerable instances, and scarce kept it in any; for no man can keep it perfectly.
{m} Debarim Rabba, sect. 2. fol. 237. 3. {n} T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 25. 2. Yoma. fol. 30. 1. Kiddushin, fol. 54. 1.
Acts 7:54
Ver. 54. When they heard these things,.... How that Abraham, the father of them, was called before he was circumcised, or the law was given to Moses, or the temple was built, which they were so bigoted to, and charged with speaking blasphemously of; and how that Joseph and Moses were very ill treated by the Jewish fathers, which seemed to resemble the usage Christ and his apostles met with from them; and how their ancestors behaved in the wilderness when they had received the law, and what idolatry they fell into there, and in after times; and how that though there was a temple built by Solomon, yet the Lord was not confined to it, nor would he dwell in it always; and especially when they heard him calling them a stiffnecked people, and uncircumcised in heart and ears; saying, that they persecuted and slew the prophets, and were the betrayers and murderers of an innocent person; and notwithstanding all their zeal for the law, and even though it was ministered to them by angels, yet they did not observe it themselves:
they were cut to the heart; as if they had been sawn asunder; they were filled with anguish, with great pain and uneasiness; they were full of wrath and madness, and could neither bear themselves nor him:
and they gnashed on him with their teeth: being enraged at him, and full of fury and indignation against him.
Acts 7:55
Ver. 55. But he being full of the Holy Ghost,.... That is, Stephen, as Beza's ancient copy, and some others express it; and so the Ethiopic version; the Syriac version reads, "full of faith, and of the Holy Ghost", as in Ac 6:5 and so some copies; being under the influences of the Spirit of God, and filled with his divine comforts, and strong in the faith of Jesus Christ, and having a holy boldness, courage, and intrepidity of mind; instead of being discouraged and dejected, of being cast down in his spirits, and looking down upon the ground, he
looked up steadfastly to heaven; where he desired to be, and hoped and believed he should be; and from whence he knew his help came, and which he might now implore, as well as forgiveness for his enemies.
And saw the glory of God; not the essential glory of God, but some extraordinary light and brightness, which was a token and representation of him:
and Jesus standing on the right hand of God; of that glory which was a Symbol of him: Jesus being risen from the dead, and ascended on high, was set at the right hand of God, in human nature, and so was visible to the corporeal eye of Stephen; whose visual faculty was so extraordinarily enlarged and assisted, as to reach the body of Christ in the third heavens; where he was seen by him standing, to denote his readiness to assist him, and his indignation at his enemies.
Acts 7:56
Ver. 56. And said, behold, I see the heavens opened,.... As they were at the baptism of Christ, See Gill on "Mt 3:16":
and the son of man standing at the right hand of God; he calls Jesus "the son of man"; a name by which he often called himself in his state of humiliation; and that though he was now glorified, it being the name of the Messiah in Ps 80:17 as was well known to the Jews; and this Stephen said to show that God was on his side, and to let them know what honour was done him, what divine supports and comforts he had, and that he was an eyewitness of Jesus, and of his being alive, and in glory.
Acts 7:57
Ver. 57. Then they cried out with a loud voice,.... These were not the sanhedrim, but the common people; the Ethiopic version reads, "the Jews cried out"; which, they did, in a very clamorous way, either through rage and madness, or in a show of zeal against blasphemy; and cried out, either to God to avenge the blasphemy, or rather to the sanhedrim to pass a sentence on him, or, it may be, to excite one another to rise up at once, and kill him, as they did:
and stopped their ears; with their fingers, pretending they could not bear the blasphemy that was uttered. This was their usual method; hence they say, {o}
"if a man hears anything that is indecent, (or not fit to be heard,) let him put his fingers in his ears hence the whole ear is hard, and the tip of it soft, that when he hears anything that is not becoming, he may bend the tip of the ear within it.''
By either of these ways these men might stop their ears; either by putting in their fingers, or by turning the tip of the ear inward.
And ran upon him with one accord; without any leave of the sanhedrim, or waiting for their determination, in the manner the zealots did; See Gill on "Mt 10:4" See Gill on "Joh 16:2".
{o} T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 5. 1. 2.
Acts 7:58
Ver. 58. And cast him out of the city,.... Of Jerusalem; for the place of stoning was without the city. The process, when regular, according to the sentence of the court, was after this manner {p};
"judgment being finished, (or the trial over,) they brought him out (the person condemned) to stone him; the place of stoning was without the sanhedrim, as it is said, Le 24:14 "bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp", when he was ten cubits distant from the place of stoning, they order him to confess and when four cubits from it, they take off his garments--the place of stoning was twice a man's height.''
And elsewhere {q} it is said, that the place of stoning was without three camps (the camp of the Shekinah, the camp of the Levites, and the camp of the Israelites): upon which the gloss has these words;
"the court is the camp of the Shekinah, and the mountain of the house the camp of the Levites, and every city the camp of the Israelites; and in the sanhedrim in every city, the place of stoning was without the city like to Jerusalem.''
And these men, though transported with rage and fury, yet were so far mindful of rule, as to have him out of the city before they stoned him:
and they stoned him; which was done after this manner, when in form {r}:
"the wise men say, a man was stoned naked, but not a woman; and there was a place four cubits from the house of stoning, where they plucked off his clothes, only they covered his nakedness before. The place of stoning was two men's heights, and there he went up with his hands bound, and one of the witnesses thrust him on his loins, that he might fall upon the earth; and if he died not at that push, the witnesses lifted up a stone, which lay there, the weight of two men, and one cast it with all his strength upon him; and if he died not, he was stoned by all Israel.''
And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul; for the witnesses, according to the above account, were first concerned in the stoning; and this was agreeably to the rule in De 17:7 and which they seem to have observed amidst all their hurry and fury: and that they might perform their work with more ease and expedition, they plucked off their upper garments, and committed them to the care of Saul of Tarsus; who was now at Jerusalem, and belonged to the synagogue of the Cilicians, that disputed with Stephen, and suborned false witnesses against him. He is called a young man; not that he was properly a youth, for he must be thirty years of age, or more; since about thirty years after this he calls himself Paul the aged, Phm 1:9 when he must be at least sixty years of age, if not more; besides, Ananias calls him a "man", Ac 9:13 nor would the high priests have given letters to a mere youth, investing him with so much power and authority as they did; but he is so called, because he was in the prime of his days, hale, strong, and active. The learned Alting has taken a great deal of pains to show, that this Saul, who was afterwards Paul the apostle, is the same with Samuel the little, who is frequently mentioned in the Talmud; he living at this time, and being a disciple of Rabban Gamaliel, and a bitter enemy of the heretics, or Christians; and who, at the instigation of his master, composed a prayer against them; and his name and character agreeing with him: but it is not likely that the Jews would have retained so high an opinion of him to the last, had he been the same person: for they say {s},
"that as the elders were sitting in Jabneh, Bath Kol came forth, and said, there is one among you fit to have the Holy Ghost, or the Shekinah, dwell upon him; and they set their eyes on Samuel the little; and when he died, they said, ah the holy, ah the meek disciple of Hillell!''
{p} Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 6. sect. 1, 2, 3, 4. {q} T. Bab Sanhedrin, fol. 42. 2. {r} Moses Kotsensis Mitzvot Tora, pr. Affirm. 99. Vid. Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 6. sect. 4. & Maimon. Hilchot Sanhedrin, c. 15. sect. 1. {s} Shilo, l. 4. c. 26, 27, 28.
Acts 7:59
Ver. 59. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God,.... As he was praying, and putting up the following petition;
and saying, Lord Jesus receive my Spirit; from whence we learn, that the spirit or soul of man sleeps not, nor dies with the body, but remains after death; that Jesus Christ is a fit person to commit and commend the care of the soul unto immediately upon its separation; and that he must be truly and properly God; not only because he is equal to such a charge, which none but God is, but because divine worship and adoration are here given him. This is so glaring a proof of prayer being made unto him, that some Socinians, perceiving the force of it, would read the word Jesus in the genitive case, thus; "Lord of Jesus receive my Spirit": as if the prayer was made to the Father of Christ, when it is Jesus he saw standing at the right hand of God, whom he invokes, and who is so frequently called Lord Jesus; whereas the Father is never called the Lord of Jesus; and besides, these words are used in like manner in the vocative case, in
Re 22:20 to which may be added, that the Syriac version reads, "our Lord Jesus"; and the Ethiopic version, "my Lord Jesus".
Acts 7:60
Ver. 60. And he kneeled down,.... It seems as if he stood before while they were stoning him, and while he was commending his soul to Christ, but now he kneeled down; prayer may be performed either kneeling or standing:
and cried with a loud voice; not only to show that he was in good spirits, and not afraid to die, but chiefly to express his vehement and affectionate desire to have the following petition granted:
Lord, lay not this sin to their charge: do not impute it to them, or place it to their account; let it not rise and stand in judgment against them, or they be condemned for it; grant them forgiveness for it, and for every other sin: there is a great deal of likeness between Christ and this first martyr of his at their deaths; Christ committed his Spirit into the hands of his Father, and Stephen commits his into the hands of Christ; both prayed for forgiveness for their enemies; and both cried with a loud voice before they expired; for so it follows here,
and when he had said this, he fell asleep; or died; for death, especially the death of the saints, or dying in Jesus, is expressed by sleep. This way of speaking is common with the Jews, who say {t}, that Rabbi such an one Kymd, "slept"; i.e. "died"; and this they say is a pure and honourable way of speaking with respect to an holy body, whose death is no other than as it were a sleep: and elsewhere {u} it is said, that one saw such an one Mnmnm, "sleeping"; the gloss upon it is, oowg, "expiring": See Gill on "Joh 11:11",
See Gill on "1Th 4:13". The Vulgate Latin version adds, "in the Lord."
{t} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 11. 1. T. Hieros. Sota, fol. 23. 2. Avoda Zara, fol. 42. 3. & Horayot, fol. 483. {u} Bereshit Rabba. sect. 91. fol. 79. 3. & Mattanot Cehuna in ib. T. Bab. Moed. Katon, fol. 28. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
Stephen was charged as a blasphemer of God, and an
apostate from the church; therefore he shows that he is a son of
Abraham, and values himself on it. The slow steps by which the
promise made to Abraham advanced toward performance, plainly
show that it had a spiritual meaning, and that the land intended was
the heavenly. God owned Joseph in his troubles, and was with him
by the power of his Spirit, both on his own mind by giving him
comfort, and on those he was concerned with, by giving him favour
in their eyes. Stephen reminds the Jews of their mean beginning as
a check to priding themselves in the glories of that nation. Likewise
of the wickedness of the patriarchs of their tribes, in envying their
brother Joseph; and the same spirit was still working in them toward
Christ and his ministers. The faith of the patriarchs, in desiring to be
buried in the land of Canaan, plainly showed they had regard to the
heavenly country. It is well to recur to the first rise of usages, or
sentiments, which have been perverted. Would we know the nature
and effects of justifying faith, we should study the character of the
father of the faithful. His calling shows the power and freeness of
Divine grace, and the nature of conversion. Here also we see that
outward forms and distinctions are as nothing, compared with
separation from the world, and devotedness to God.
Stephen was charged as a blasphemer of God, and an
apostate from the church; therefore he shows that he is a son of
Abraham, and values himself on it. The slow steps by which the
promise made to Abraham advanced toward performance, plainly
show that it had a spiritual meaning, and that the land intended was
the heavenly.
His calling shows the power and freeness of
Divine grace, and the nature of conversion. Here also we see that
outward forms and distinctions are as nothing, compared with
separation from the world, and devotedness to God.
Sources: Matthew Henry; Gill's Exposition; Matthew Henry Concise
Commentary
Commentary