And he said — St. Stephen had been accused of blasphemy against Moses, and even against God; and of speaking against the temple and the law, threatening that Jesus would destroy the one, and change the other. In answer to this accusation, rehearsing as it were the articles of his historical creed, h... [ Continue Reading ]
Which I will show thee — Abraham knew not where he went.... [ Continue Reading ]
After his father was dead — While Terah lived, Abraham lived partly with him, partly in Canaan: but after he died, altogether in Canaan.... [ Continue Reading ]
No, not to set his foot on — For the field mentioned, Acts 7:16, he did not receive by a Divine donation, but bought it; even thereby showing that he was a stranger in the land.... [ Continue Reading ]
Genesis 15:13.... [ Continue Reading ]
They shall serve me — Not the Egyptians.... [ Continue Reading ]
And so he begat Isaac — After the covenant was given, of which circumcision was the seal. Genesis 17:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
But God was with him — Though he was not in this land. Genesis 37:28.... [ Continue Reading ]
Sent our fathers first — Without Benjamin.... [ Continue Reading ]
Seventy — five souls — So the seventy interpreters, (whom St. Stephen follows,) one son and a grandson of Manasseh, and three children of Ephraim, being added to the seventy persons mentioned Genesis 46:27.... [ Continue Reading ]
And were carried over to Shechem — It seems that St. Stephen, rapidly running over so many circumstances of history, has not leisure (nor was it needful where they were so well known) to recite them all distinctly. Therefore he here contracts into one, two different sepulchres, places, and purchases... [ Continue Reading ]
Exodus 1:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
Another king — Probably of another family.... [ Continue Reading ]
Exposed — Cast out to perish by hunger or wild beasts.... [ Continue Reading ]
In which time — A sad but a seasonable time. Exodus 2:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
Pharaoh's daughter took him up — By which means, being designed for a kingdom, he had all those advantages of education, which he could not have had, if he had not been exposed.... [ Continue Reading ]
In all the wisdom of the Egyptians — Which was then celebrated in all the world, and for many ages after. And mighty in words — Deep, solid, weighty, though not of a ready utterance.... [ Continue Reading ]
It came into his heart — Probably by an impulse from God.... [ Continue Reading ]
Seeing one wronged — Probably by one of the task masters.... [ Continue Reading ]
They understood it not — Such was their stupidity and sloth; which made him afterward unwilling to go to them.... [ Continue Reading ]
He showed himself — Of his own accord, unexpectedly.... [ Continue Reading ]
Who appointed thee — "Under the presence of the want of a call by man, the instruments of God are often rejected.... [ Continue Reading ]
The angel — The Son of God; as appears from his styling himself Jehovah. In a flame of fire — Signifying the majesty of God then present. Exodus 3:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
Then said the Lord, Loose thy shoes — An ancient token of reverence; for the place is holy ground — The holiness of places depends on the peculiar presence of God there.... [ Continue Reading ]
This Moses whom they refused — Namely, forty years before. Probably, not they, but their fathers did it, and God imputes it to them. So God frequently imputes the sins of the fathers to those of their children who are of the same spirit. Him did God send to be a deliverer — Which is much more than a... [ Continue Reading ]
The Lord will raise you up a prophet — St. Stephen here shows that there is no opposition between Moses and Christ. Deuteronomy 18:15... [ Continue Reading ]
This is he — Moses. With the angel, and with our fathers — As a mediator between them. Who received the living oracles — Every period beginning with, And the Lord said unto Moses, is properly an oracle. But the oracles here intended are chiefly the ten commandments. These are termed living, because... [ Continue Reading ]
Make us gods to go before us — Back into Egypt. Exodus 32:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
And they made a calf — In imitation of Apis, the Egyptian god: and rejoiced in the works of their hands — In the god they had made.... [ Continue Reading ]
God turned — From them in anger; and gave them up — Frequently from the time of the golden calf, to the time of Amos, and afterward. The host of heaven — The stars are called an army or host, because of their number, order, and powerful influence. In the book of the prophets — Of the twelve prophets... [ Continue Reading ]
Ye took up — Probably not long after the golden calf: but secretly; else Moses would have mentioned it. The shrine — A small, portable chapel, in which was the image of their god. Moloch was the planet Mars, which they worshipped under a human shape. Remphan, that is, Saturn, they represented by a s... [ Continue Reading ]
Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony — The testimony was properly the two tables of stone, on which the ten commandments were written. Hence the ark which contained them is frequently called the ark of the testimony; and the whole tabernacle in this place. The tabernacle of the testimony... [ Continue Reading ]
Which our fathers having received — From their ancestors; brought into the possession of the Gentiles — Into the land which the Gentiles possessed before. So that God's favour is not a necessary consequence of inhabiting this land. All along St. Stephen intimates two things: 1. That God always loved... [ Continue Reading ]
Who petitioned to find a habitation for the God of Jacob — But he did not obtain his petition: for God remained without any temple till Solomon built him a house. Observe how wisely the word is chosen with respect to what follows.... [ Continue Reading ]
Yet the Most High inhabiteth not temples made with hands — As Solomon declared at the very dedication of the temple, 1 Kings 8:27. The Most High — Whom as such no building can contain. Isaiah 66:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
What is the place of my rest? — Have I need to rest?... [ Continue Reading ]
Ye stiff necked — Not bowing the neck to God's yoke; and uncircumcised in heart — So they showed themselves, Acts 7:54; and ears — As they showed, Acts 7:57. So far were they from receiving the word of God into their hearts, that they would not hear it even with their ears. Ye — And your fathers, al... [ Continue Reading ]
Who have received the law by the administration of angels — God, when he gave the law on Mount Sinai, was attended with thousands of his angels, Galatians 3:19; Psalms 68:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
But he looking steadfastly up to heaven, saw the glory of God — Doubtless he saw such a glorious representation, God miraculously operating on his imagination, as on Ezekiel's, when he sat in his house at Babylon, and saw Jerusalem, and seemed to himself transported thither, Ezekiel 8:1. And probabl... [ Continue Reading ]
I see the Son of man standing — As if it were just ready to receive him. Otherwise he is said to sit at the right hand of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
They rushed upon him — Before any sentence passed.... [ Continue Reading ]
The witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man, whose name was Saul — O Saul, couldst thou have believed, if one had told thee, that thou thyself shouldst be stoned in the same cause? and shouldst triumph in committing thy soul likewise to that Jesus whom thou art now blaspheming?... [ Continue Reading ]
And they stoned Stephen, invoking and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit — This is the literal translation of the words, the name of God not being in the original. Nevertheless such a solemn prayer to Christ, in which a departing soul is thus committed into his hands, is such an act of worship, a... [ Continue Reading ]