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THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
CHAPTER 7
Stephen recounts the history of Israel and names Moses as a prototype of Christ—He testifies of the apostasy in Israel—He sees Jesus on the right hand of God—Stephen’s testimony is rejected and he is stoned to death.
1 THEN said the high priest, Are these things so? [ Stephen is on trail for blaspheming against Moses and attempting to change the Law. This chapter deal with Stephens response. ]
2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; [ Hebrew "Shema" is translated here as hearken which means to "listen" and "obey". ] ; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, [ Sp believe it or not but God appeared to Abraham while he lived in a place other than Jerusalem, or there are a lot of righteous things that have happened elsewhere. God appeared in another country if you can believe that. ] before he dwelt in Charran, [ Stephen begins his defense by referring, in contrast, to the obedience of Abraham. Because Abraham obeyed the Lord, a covenant was made with him that his seed would inherit the promised land (see Acts 7:5–7). Abraham’s faith and obedience set a standard for his descendants that would, unfortunately, largely be ignored. Vs 2 - 34 recount Israel's history - which includes the Lord to saving them from bondage with Moses. So Stephen will kind of turn that into accusation against them and gives a lengthy discourse to show them that the purpose of the entire Old Testament is to point them toward Jesus Christ and basically try to convince them that the whole point of everything they're doing is to adhere to the teachings of the coming Messiah, who's the person who gave them the teachings of Moses in the first place. Stephen's a good scriptural scholar, and chapter seven is actually a great recap of the Old Testament. It's kind of the Old Testament in five minutes basically where he walks through everything going back to all the way to Abraham where he starts. Talks about Joseph, talks about the Egypts, and now he gets to where Moses is. But all of this is leading to the main point that Stephen's trying to make, which is basically, "I'm not trying to change your system of worship, I'm trying to show you what the point of your system of worship really is to begin with." So you continue to walk through the verses and he talks about Moses, he even gives us some interesting biographical information about Moses and how Moses got in trouble with the Egyptians and some of the things that happened there after Moses killed the Egyptian. This is a good commentary on the Old Testament. ]
3 And said unto him, [ Abraham. ] Get thee out of thy country, [ Leave where you are at. ] and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. [ I have a place prepared for you. Why, because God wanted to raise up a righteous people and if he was going to do that he needed them out of the influence that they were under everyday in Ur. ]
4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, 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 [ God. ] gave him [ Abraham. He did not give him an inheritance there because it did not belong to him there. ] 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. [ God promised that he would give it to his seed but he had none. ]
6 And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; [ So he sent his children, the children of Israel in to Egypt. ] 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. [ Later known as the twelve tribes. ]
9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, [ They did not like that Joseph was the favored child. So we see that envy and hatred were already gripping the people of promise at this early stage threatening the unfolding of the promise of God. ] sold Joseph into Egypt: [ So they got rid of him by selling him into Egypt. ] but God was with him, [ But really that was the hand of God at work here. SP Stephen is emphasizing that God works all over the place for your information. ]
10  And delivered him [ God was there with him to help fight his battles, even if it did not appear so. ] out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he [ The Pharaoh. ] made him [ Joseph. Joseph’s journey is one of God providentially bringing good out of the evil intention of the patriarchs and appointing the rejected one over those who rejected him. ] governor over Egypt and all his house.
11  Now there came a dearth [ Great drought. ] 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.
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. [ There were so many Jews that the Pharaoh killed the young children to limit the growth. ]
20  In which time Moses was born, a [ And this was all happening at the time that Moses himself was born. ] and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father’s house three months:
21 And when he [ Moses. ] was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, [ So Moses would have become the next Pharaoh of Egypt if only he had chosen to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. This pattern goes back to the time of Cain being born. Eve declares: “I have gotten a man from the Lord; wherefore may he not reject his words” (Moses 5:16). Cain was supposed to be the next patriarch after Adam. Eve declared that she has now gotten a man that would be righteous and could become the next patriarch. Cain was the firstborn after Adam and Eve received the Gospel. It was her right to choose the next patriarch. ] and nourished him for her own son.
22  And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, [ He received a great education. ] and was mighty in words [ He knew how to speak with power and authority when he was speaking in Egyptian, but he needed a translator whem he tries to speak Hebrew. He often said and he even told the Lord that he did not speak well, but that was because he was not as versed on the Hebrew language, but he did know Egyptian very well. ] and in deeds. [ He had a righteous heart. ]
23 And when he was full forty years old, [ So he has spent the first 40 years in Egypt. ] 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 shewed 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, [ So Moses flees to Madian (Midian), where he will marry, have children and live for forty years. So he is now 80. ] and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.
30  And when forty years were expired, [ So we had 40 years in Egypt, now 40 years in the wilderness tending sheep have expired. ] there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. [ Moses is called to do a specific work by the Lord at the burning 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: [ Separate yourself from the earth. ] 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, [ The Jews as a people became disobedience and hardhearted they refused to accept the laws of God as gievn by Moses. ] 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 shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years. [ And now Moses is in the wilderness with the children of Israel for 40 years so he is now 120. ]
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. [ Stephen is pointing to Christ right there. Suggesting that you say that you rely on Moses and yet Moses spoke of a greater prophet than he would come forth. He is saying, "Moses knew about Christ and told them he was coming." He's taking their scriptures and doing the same thing the Savior did to say, "Hey, all of this history was leading to something," Moses said there would be a prophet that would come. ]
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 [ Living words of life, the revelations the inspired truths received by the Prophets. THey are lively or living because God's word goes forth with power. and the promises are always fulfilled DocNT Comm pg 73. ] to give unto us: [ So in a way Stephen is saying: "Let me tell you about Moses," as he has given this detailed account of Moses and by doing so he is saying YES I honor Moses. And then he seems to sum it up with Moses was a type of Christ and then leads up to, "I'm not destroying Moses. I honor Moses," and he takes them all of the way to the temple. So how am I speaking against Moses? "What do you think Moses was going for in the first place? Why do you think Moses told you there was going to be another prophet that would come along if what Moses gave to you was the end of everything that you're supposed to get to?" And if you recall correctly Moses wanted them to receive more on Sinai, but they rejected it. ]
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, [ You are the ones that distorted and changed the Law - for example that there should be not other Gods before me and yet what was done by the people? They made idols and worshipped them. ] and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
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: [ The Israelites would continue to reject the Lord for idols throughout their history, causing them to be punished and exiled on multiple occasions. ] 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 an house.
48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; [ When men choose to worship the works of their own hands they are not worshipping God. Both the Temple and the Tabernacle were design to get men to worship God, but because they were used by the priests and people as objects of men - they lost their use as Houses of God - they had become defiled. Ancient Israel had a Tabernacle among them and they worshiped idols instead, so do the contemporary Jews ignore the Temple and worship the work of their own hands instead. Here Stephen is on a roll an he just keeps going explaining, "Hey, this is your heritage. Let me explain to you what your background is." Then he starts talking about David and solomon. David and solomon build the temple, but people misuse the temple. People use the temple to worship these false gods. And David and solomon are complicit in this in some sense because of their own personal wickedness. ] 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? [ He's trying to say to them, yeah, the temple's important, but the temple's not the point. There is a higher law which is greater than the law that you administer in the temple today, in a way saying you are not as important as you think that you are. The point of all this is to understand and know God. If the temple is helping you get closer to God, then that's good. But you guys are so concerned with the tickety tackety of the law that you've sort of looked past the whole reason of the law, which was to bring you to Jesus Christ. And in your obsession with the law, you've started to see the law and the temple to a lesser extent as the point of your religion when it never really was to begin with. We don't worship the temple. We worship the Lord. ]
50  Hath not my hand made all these things? [ Stephen is saying Hey man it's not Moses that you're supposed to be worshiping. I think that it is supposed to be God; Right? And Moses, the temple, and the entire system that Moses gave you are only useful in the sense that they get you to God." This is pretty blunt and in their face so no wonder they were upset. But Hey you have to hand it to Stephen he tells it the way that he see's it. ]
51 ¶ Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart [ Circumcision is very much an outward thing, that's literally done to the outside of your body to show a covenant. When he says you're uncircumcised of heart, It would appear that he is saying you're going through the motions and you're acting like a righteous person, but inwardly, you're really not a righteous person. Circumcision should be an outward expression of an inward commitment. ] and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: [ Stephen suggests that they have problme because they have rejected the Holy Ghost. What do you think it means to resist the Holy Ghost? Why does resisting the Holy Ghost lead to rejecting the Savior and his servants? ] as your fathers did, so do ye. [ You can say what you want, but you are no different than your ancient fathers - you to are stiff-necked, hardhearted and deaf to the words of the Lord. You too will strive to kill the prophets because you do not listen to the wisperings of the Holy Ghost. As a matter of fact you may be worse because with you the greatest rejection take place: just like Joseph was rejected by his brothers, just like Moses was repeatedly rejected by the children of Israel, Jesus Christ was ultimately rejected and killed by you of this present generation of the house of Israel. Which led to Stephen offering this stinging rebuke. He has used some strong language. Suggesting that you guys have betrayed Moses by killing the people who were sent to do the same thing that Moses did up to and including the very one whom Moses said would come, even Jesus Christ himself. After all what was the responsibility of these men? The Jewish leaders were responsible for preparing the people for the coming of the Messiah, yet they had failed to recognize the Messiah and rejected him. How did this happen? Part of the answer may be found in Stephen's words, Acts 7, 51, ‘You do always resist the Holy Ghost.’ ]
52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed 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’s indictment suggests that killing Jesus is related to the people’s rejection of the law. ]
54 ¶ When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, [ This all came as a spontaneous reaction to what Stephen was teaching. The heart is the center that recognizes truth, they understood it in their heart, this is the difference in the type of man natural or godly. If one is carnal he will lash out against the deliverer of the word, if he is godly and recognizes that it is true - as hard as it is he will humble himself, repent and change. "wherefore, the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center." 1 Ne 16:2. Stephen has just delivered a resounding discourse on the law where and it came from. He knows his stuff and He is trying to get them to connect the law for themselves and see their history as the fulfillment of that law, which because they were understandably expecting something different than a suffering savior. But at the same time too, they should have known that the point of the law wasn't to destroy their enemies. It was to free people from sin. ] and they gnashed on him with their teeth. [ Pretty descriptive language of how much hatred they seem to have for him at this point. ]
55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, [ Stephen teaches them that at this point Jesus is on the right hand of God, so that makes Jesus a God exalted, and man they do not like to hear that. ] and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, [if he is full of the Holy Ghost and Jesus is on the right hand of God to which he can see both Jesus and God does that not make 3 members of the Godhead? and now the testimony of Joseph Smith it is much different in nature and character of God(s)? "When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other – 'This is My Beloved son, hear Him.' " Joseph Smith History 1832 A.D. "They are distinct beings, but they are one in purpose and effort. They are united as one in bringing to pass the grand, divine plan for the salvation and exaltation of the children of God. " (Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, March 1998) "We believe these three divine persons constituting a single Godhead are united in purpose, in manner, in testimony, in mission. … I think it is accurate to say we believe They are one in every significant and eternal aspect imaginable except believing Them to be three persons combined in one substance, a Trinitarian notion never set forth in the scriptures because it is not true.” (Jeffrey R. Holland, Ensign, Nov. 2007, p. 40) see also John 17:11-23; ]
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: [ They are so angry with his words that they stone him. Not a long mission but boy was he a powerful missionary. This then becomes mob behavior. Such that, the idea of stoning is everybody throws stones and nobody knows who really killed him. So no one is really accountable for his death - Yeah RIGHT, nice try. So we might ask ourselves was Stephen a successful missionary? Well if we go by numbers maybe not. But he did give way to the conversion of most likely the greatest missionary of all time - Saul (Paul). So what then makes a successful missionary? ] and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. [ So Luke is setting up the next chapter of the story by showing this person who doesn't participate in the stoning, he's careful to say, but is okay with the stoning and actually assists the people that are stoning Stephen, who's going to become a huge figure in the story as it goes forward. ]
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. [ I think this is evidence that He must have really been filled with the spirit, and we know that he was otherwise he could not have seen God the Father and Jesus on the right hand- as after he is stoned to death he asks that they not be condemned for it - I don't think I am there yet as I think that I would have asked that they all rot in hell forever.] And when he had said this, he fell asleep. [ He died. ]