Acts 7:42
¶ 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 an 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?
Note that God gave them up
to worship the host of heaven. Compare that with Paul’s accounting of
mankind’s religious history.
Romans
1:22 Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools, 23 And changed the
glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and
to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.24 Wherefore God also gave them up to
uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own
bodies between themselves:25 Who changed
the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than
the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their
women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:27 And likewise also the men, leaving the
natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men
working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of
their error which was meet.
In this we see that our societal ills are a judgment on us from
God after we worshipped the creature more than the Creator. He prevents us from
doing things and, yet, can withdraw His hand of protection from us and allow
those things to be expressed to our ultimate sorrow.
In verses 43 Moloch would be Moloch
or Molech from the Old Testament and Remphan would be Chiun.
Amos
5:25 Have ye offered unto me sacrifices
and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? 26 But ye have borne the tabernacle of your
Moloch and Chiun your images,
the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. 27 Therefore will I cause you to
go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of
hosts.
Verse 45 makes an interesting declaration. The Joshua from Old Testament Hebrew is Jesus of New Testament Greek. At least
one commentator believes that this shows that Jesus will return in the same
route as Joshua entered the Holy Land. Joshua was a warrior leader as Jesus
will be when He returns.
For verses 49 and 50 see the following;
Isaiah
66:1 ¶ Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me?
and where is the place of my
rest? 2a For all those things hath mine hand made,
Acts 7:51 ¶ 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 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 gives one of the class sermons of all time reliving the
history of the Hebrews, the Jews. In the end he convicts the Jewish leadership
of murdering the Messiah they were promised as they had murdered prophets sent
to them by God through the years. Their response to his condemnation makes them
and their descendants suffer horribly for the next two thousand years. The Jews
had already made two damning statements about themselves that would echo
throughout history.
Matthew
27:25 Then answered all the people, and
said, His blood be on us, and on our children.
John
19:15 But they cried out, Away with him, away with him,
crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
Fortunately for them God is merciful and loves the Jewish people.
Paul said;
Romans
11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye
should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own
conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of
the Gentiles be come in. 26 And so all
Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the
Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but
as touching the election, they are
beloved for the fathers’ sakes. 29 For
the gifts and calling of God are
without repentance. 30 For as ye in
times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their
unbelief: 31 Even so have these also now
not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief,
that he might have mercy upon all.
Acts
7:54 ¶ 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.
Here is the first martyr for the Christian faith, Stephen. Saul,
who we will know later as Paul, took charge of their garments. Stoning is a
brutal way to die and there have been many gruesome descriptions of what it
does to the human body. Mankind, if he has learned nothing else, has learned
very effectively different ways to kill.
Stephen sees Christ standing at the right hand of God. Elsewhere
He is said to be seated. Perhaps this was the Jewish leadership’s last chance
at repentance before the Saviour sat down and the next two thousand years of
suffering for the Jews was to begin. Stephen is stoned with a fury as these men
refuse to accept what he has said. He echoes a sentiment similar to Christ’s
from the Cross in asking for pardon for his murderers.
Not for the first time in the Bible, as we have seen, sleep is
used as a euphemism for death.
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