VERSES 1-5 " 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 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 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."

A. " Then said the high priest, Are these things so?"

1. The High now called on Stephen to give an answer to the accusations that were brought against him.

2. Stephen did not hesitate to give a defense, as we should not. See 1 Peter 3:15

B. "And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham..."

1. Stephen's intention was not to defend himself, but to present Christ to them. He did that by starting at the very beginning of Jewish history, the call of Abraham.

2. His purpose in starting with Abraham was to show that Jesus was not a rebel against the law, but the logical fulfillment of God's plan for His people.

3. He was going to show that the law was a preparation for the coming of Jesus.

A. “And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land...”

1. Exodus gives the time as 430 years from the call of Abraham to the exodus, while Stephen gives it as 400. Is resolved if it is dated from the birth of Isaac to the exodus, which is approximately 400 years.

B. “And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge...”

1. God did judge Egypt, sending a number of plagues upon them.

A. “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.”

1. Circumcision was a covenant between the Jewish people and God. It was intended to denote the special relationship between God and His people. It has been taken away today and is no longer given any spiritual significance by God. See 1 Corinthians 7:19; Galatians 5:6.

2. The twelve sons of Jacob were the foundation of the twelve tribes of Israel.

B. “And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him...”

1. Stephen now recounts the story of Joseph, who was sold into slavery and eventually became the second most powerful man in Egypt.

C. “Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls....”

1. This passage is the source of many accusations concerning an alleged contradiction between Stephen and the other inspired writers.

2. Stephen says that 75 Israelites went down into Egypt while several other Old Testament passages give the number as 70. See Genesis 46:26-27; Deuteronomy 10:22; Exodus 1:5.

3. Several plausible explanations have been given.

a. One possible explanation is that Stephen’s number includes the wives of Jacob’s sons.

b. It is interesting that the Septuagint in Genesis 46:26-27 uses the number 75.

A. “But when the time of the promise drew nigh...”

1. Moses and Joseph are given as a logical progression, leading to Jesus Christ.

B. “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, ans was mighty in words and in deeds.”

1. This passage points out three facts concerning Moses.

a. He was providentially provided by God to be a savior of Israel.

b. He possessed great ability, having been given the finest training of his day.

c. He was physically attractive, “exceeding fair.”

C. Another important thread in the narrative.

1. Israel rejected Joseph, whom God prepared as savior.

2. Israel rejected Moses, whom God prepared as savior.

3. Israel did the same things with Jesus.

A. "And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel....”

1. From verses 23-25 we learn that Moses has an understanding that he was a Hebrew, that they were suffering great persecution, and that he believed that God had chosen him to deliver them.

2. Stephen recounts Moses slaying an Egyptian taskmaster who was beating a fellow Hebrew.

B. “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?”

1. Then next day Moses happened upon two Hebrews who were arguing.

2. He tried to intervene as a peacemaker, only to have the one who was doing wrong accuse him of trying to make himself a ruler over them.

3. It must have been horrifying to Moses, who had thought that no one had see him (Exodus 2:12), find out that his killing of the Egyptian was common knowledge.

4. Moses then fled for his life to the land of Midian.

A. "Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.”

1. Moses began a new life at the age of 40, marrying Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, and having two sons.

B. “This Moses whom they refused...”

1. The guilty Jew with whom Moses had tried to interfere had accused Moses of trying to be a ruler and judge over them. This is also what the entire nation, to a lesser or greater extent, did throughout the life of Moses.

2. “The angel” that appeared to Moses in the burning bush was almost certainly the Lord Jesus Christ.

a. “The angel of the Lord” appeared to Moses in Exodus 3:2. He identified himself as Jehovah by using the phrase “I am that I am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”

b. Jesus used the same phraseology in John 8:58 uses the “I am” to describe his existence before Abraham was born.

A. “This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel...”

1. Stephen next refers to the farewell sermon made by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15.

2. This is done to show the link between Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Jesus.

3. Jesus is the logical progression and fulfillment of all that God has tried to do with His people.

4. “Church in the wilderness” simply refers to God’s people as they wandered throughout the wilderness for 40 years. The word church literally refers to the “called out assembly.”

5. “Lively oracles” - Living oracles, or living word. Also found in Romans 3:2; Hebrews 3:12; and 1 Peter 4:11.

B. The reaction of the people of God to Moses. Their spirit of rebellion.

1. “To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,” - a reference to Amos 5:25ff. Amos recounts Israelite history, how that their hearts were not faithful to God, but that they followed after foreign gods.

2. Moloch was an ancient god of the Ammonites. Featured the sacrifice of children in the fire. Solomon built a high place of worship in Jerusalem to him (1 Kings 11:7). Ahaz burned his children (2 Chronicles 28:3), as did Manasseh (2 Kings 21:6). The star of Remphan was a god associated with Moloch and connected with the planet Saturn. Moloch was commonly associated with the Sun.

3. As a result of this wickedness God promised that he would carry them away beyond Babylon.

A. “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.”

1. They had God and His presence with them in the form of the tabernacle.

2. The Jesus referred to here was not the Lord Jesus, but Joshua, who led them into the promised land.

B. “Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.”

1. This refers to David, whom earnestly desired to build the temple, but was not allow to because he was a man of war.

C. This task fell to Solomon, to whom Stephen makes reference.

1. The purpose of this section is to show what Stephen, and the church believed concerning the temple. He was showing, by quoting from the Old Testament itself, that his views were in harmony with the truth.

2. Stephen quotes Isaiah 66:1-2.

Verses 51-53 "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."

A. "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears”

1. Stiffnecked comes from an animal who resists being yoked or bridled. God’s people had always been that way in that they refused to submit to His control. A description of God’s people at the time of the Exodus (Exodus 33:3,5).

2. To be uncircumcised was about as serious a charge against a Jew as could be brought. It mean that he was not part of God’s covenant. God’s people had been physically circumcised but had not become God’s people spiritually, thus being uncircumcised in heart.

3. These statements were not statements of vindictiveness or anger, but was the divine judgment of God on his rebellious people.

B. “ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye....”

1. Just as the Jews of the past rejected God’s truth, delivered by the Holy Ghost, the Jews of Stephen’s day were doing the same.

C. “Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?”

1. Just as God’s people persecuted the prophets of old, whose primary message was the coming of the messiah, the Jews killed Jesus.

2. They had betrayed, and aided in the murder of the very one whom was the fulfillment of the Old Testament.

D. “Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it."

1. The very law which the Sanhedrin accused Stephen of not keeping, was not kept by the Sanhedrin itself.

2. “Disposition of angels” - three possible meanings.

a. Angels were present when God gave the Law to Moses.

b. God used angels to deliver the message.

c. The angels mentioned here were the human angel (messengers) used by God; Moses, Aaron, and Joshua.

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

A. “They were cut to the heart”

1. Same reaction as Acts 5:33.

2. Their consciences were affected, but in a different way than those in Acts chapter 2. Their hearts hated instead of repented.

B. “they gnashed on him with their teeth.”

1. We do not have to suppose that they literally bite him. Like an angry dog they bared their teeth in rage at Stephen.

A. “But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven...”

1. Stephen remained close to the Lord, even though all around him were angry and acted like their father the Devil.

2. God granted him a final vision, likely to encourage him for the ordeal that was soon to engulf him.

3. The “glory of God” is likely the shekinah that the Old Testament speaks of as the glowing, visible manifestation of Jehovah God.

B. “And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.”

1. This is Jesus in his glorified position at the right hand of God.

2. The New Testament speaks of Jesus seated at the right hand of God.

a. Acts 2:34; Matthew 26:64; Mark 16:19; Effusions 1:20.

3. Many believe that Jesus is standing, showing his readiness in welcoming Stephen to glory.

A. "Then they cried out with a loud voice..."

1. It is likely that the ones who cried out with a loud voice was the Sanhedrin which had sat in judicial session to hear Stephen's case.

2. He had so infuriated them that they did not wait for any legal proceedings, but rushed him like a wild animal rushing an unprotected prey.

a. There doesn't seem to be a single objection raised by anyone at this illegal mob action. Robertson speculates that it was possible between the recall of Pontius Pilate and the coming of his successor. That would certainly be logical, since the Sanhedrin needed the permission of the Roman governor to carry out a death sentence.

3. They had no desire to hear any more or the "blasphemous" words which Stephen was speaking.

4. No doubt the wild action of the elders of the nation simply ignited the common people into a frenzy against Stephen.

B. "And cast him out of the city, and stoned him..."

1. The Law of Moses instructed that the one to be stoned should be taken outside the camp. See Leviticus 24:14.

2. "Stoned him" literally means that they began to stone him..

C. "and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul."

1. The witnesses, those useless men who lied and bore false witness, were granted the "privilege" of being the first to cast a stone. Under the law, the accusers were to be the first to cast the stones. See Deuteronomy 17:7.

2. With this verse we are introduced to the dominate character in the remainder of the New Testament, Saul who was later to be names Paul. He was like under 30, which the Jews considered the age of manhood. But it is also likely that he was not much younger than 30, since we see he taking a leading part in the persecution of the church in chapter 8. While he did not likely cast a stone, he must assuredly supported the stoning of Stephen.

A. "And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."

1. Literally, "they continued to stone Stephen"

2. In this passage Stephen acknowledges the divinity of Jesus. Only he who gave the spirit could receive it back again.

3. This passage is used to justify prayer to Jesus but is not a proper example because-

a. Stephen was caught up in a heavenly vision where Jesus was physically visible to him.

b. He had miraculous spiritual gifts.

4. Prayer addressed to Jesus is not according to the pattern given in the New Testament.

a. Prayer is to be addressed to the Father (Matthew 6:6, 9)

b. Jesus is the mediator between God and man, not the recipient of prayer. (1 Timothy 2:5; Effusions 5:20)

c. In the book of Acts, the early disciples prayed to the Father (12:5; 16:25; 27:35)

B. "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."

1. Notice that Stephen was not thinking of hatred and bitterness when he was about to die, but about the souls of those that hated him. The same as Jesus (Luke 23:34).