AP

Jerusalem to Rome: A Journey Through Acts

Bible Studies on the Acts of the Apostles

Stephen, the First Martyr (Acts 7-8:1)

The High Priest gives Stephen the opportunity to explain himself. He proceeds to give a summary of Israel’s history, which only at the end gets to the point his accusers made about “the holy place” i.e., the temple, and “the customs Moses handed down” (6:13-14). His speech shows that he was well-versed in the Old Testament! So were many devout Jews, as can be seen from Zachariah’s song (Luke 1:67-79) and Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55). See also Paul in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:15-41).

Verse 2: Haran is both a person (the father of Lot) and a place, where the family settled initially after coming out of Ur of the Chaldeans (Genesis 11:31). In Hebrew they have a slightly different spelling, but the pronunciation was probably the same. Other family names were also commemorated as place names: Nahor, Serug, and Terah.

Verse 3-7 relates the call of Abram, later Abraham (Genesis 12:1), followed by a description of his situation and the promise of descendants. Abram means “exalted Father”; he must have felt ambivalent about his name as he was childless for so long! Abraham means “Father of Many.” God promises him: “I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you” (Genesis 17:6). The promise took a long time to be fulfilled: Abraham had only one legitimate son, Isaac only had two, Jacob had twelve with the aid of two wives and two concubines. It was not until they were settled in Egypt that “the Israelites were (1) fruitful and (2) multiplied greatly and (3) became exceedingly numerous, so that (4) the land was filled with them” (Exodus 1:7 and Acts 7:17). Then Stephen mentions the prophecy of Israel’s enslavement and liberation (Genesis 15:13-14).

Verse 8 tells of the covenant of circumcision (Genesis 17:10-14), the implementation of it, and the patriarchs.

Verses 9-16: The story of Joseph is told in some detail in Genesis chapter 37, and chapters 39 to 47.

Verses 17-43: These verses concern Moses, the wilderness years, and the idolatry that finally brought the Israelites into exile to Babylon. Note the similarity between Moses and Jesus: “He [Moses] was sent to be their ruler and deliverer [..] But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him …” (Acts 7:35 and 39). Moses had told the Israelites, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers” (Dt 18:15). Verse 38 mentions “the congregation in the desert” which in the LXX is translated as ekklesia, the church in the wilderness. As Moses was with the old ekklesia, so Christ is with the new. Moses received “living words to pass on to us” just as Jesus did: “The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.” (John 6:63). Even though the Lord manifested his presence among the Israelites by the cloud and fire that led them through the desert, they wanted something tangible to worship, something they themselves had made (the golden calf, see Exodus 32:1-6).

Verses 42b-43 are a quotation from Amos 5:25-27, probably from the Septuagint:

“Did you bring me [mere] sacrifices and offerings
    forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?
You have lifted up the shrine of your king,
    the pedestal of your idols,
    the star of your god—
    which you made for yourselves.
Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,”
    says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty.

When people become idolatrous, God gives them up to the consequences of their choices, as Paul stated in Romans 1:21-32. The sin of idolatry leads to other sins. Stephen traces the idolatry back to the wilderness years, but the Israelites continued in various forms of idolatry throughout their history, until the exile. They worshipped Moloch, Baal, various planets, and star-gods. As Paul said, “they worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator.”

At Verse 44 ff, Stephen addresses the crucial point of the dwelling place of God. First it was the tabernacle, “made as God directed Moses” (Exodus 36:8 to 38:31). The tabernacle was mobile: it went with the people through the desert. It was Solomon who was allowed to build the temple, a more permanent house for God. However, God’s presence is not confined to either structure. Jesus told the woman at the well that the mountain in Samaria and the temple in Jerusalem would lose their significance: God can be worshipped anywhere (John 4:19-24).

Verses 48-50: Stephen makes the point that God does not need an earthly dwelling, because he is the Creator of all (quoted from Isaiah 66:1-2 and in Psalm 24:1). God was with Abraham long before he set foot in the land of Canaan. He quotes from Isaiah to explain that as God created everything, the whole earth is his dwelling place. When Moses received the call from God in the burning bush, he was in the wilderness of Mt Sinai and yet it was “holy ground.”

Verses 51-53: Stephen, the accused, now makes an accusation against his interrogators. He doesn’t mince his words. He calls them “stiff-necked.” God did the same: “the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people’” (Exodus 33:5). Circumcision is worthless without obedience to God’s laws (Romans 2:25-29). He accuses them of resisting the Holy Spirit and being just like those who persecuted the prophets. The argument that they were following in the steps of those who had killed the prophets is in line with the words of Jesus (Matthew 23:29-37). In fact, they were worse: their ancestors killed the messengers who foretold the Righteous One. The present company had killed the Righteous One himself!

The people of God had received the law but had rejected it. “The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator” (Galatians 3:19). And “For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?” (Hebrews 2:2-3). Jesus is superior to the angels (Hebrews 1:4-6), but they rejected him also.

Verses 54-8:1a: The accusation results in a vicious reaction: they were cut to the heart (“furious” in NIV). The verb literally means: “they were sawn asunder.” Stephen reacts to their anger by looking up to heaven: he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Jesus stands up as witness or advocate in Stephen’s defense. When he told them what he saw, they were even more angry, rushed at him and began to stone him. Saul was standing nearby. It seems he did not participate in the stoning, but he “gave approval to his death” (literally, ‘his killing’). Stephen followed Jesus’ example in giving up his spirit to the Lord and in praying for his enemies.

Questions:

Our era is concerned with so-called hate-speech and hate-crimes. Giving offence is regarded as serious. How then are we to reckon with the offence that the Gospel gives to those who are perishing?

Today’s martyrs are being stoned, beheaded, and shot or burned to death. Are we sufficiently grateful to live in a country where we are still relatively free to confess our faith and preach the Gospel? Pray for the persecuted church and pray for courage to preach the Gospel, whatever the consequences.

How does Stephen refute the charges about “speaking against this holy place and against the law”? (Acts 6:13-14).

How does he charge them with resisting the Holy Spirit?

What are the similarities between Moses and Jesus? And between Joseph and Jesus? Stephen and Jesus?

– Alida Sewell