The question of the high priest breaks in upon the silence (Holtzmann). St. Chrysostom, _Hom._, xv., thought that the mildness of the inquiry showed that the assembly was overawed by St. Stephen's presence, but the question was probably a usual interrogation on such occasions (Felten, Farrar). On εἰ... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἄνδρες ἀδελφοὶ καὶ πατέρες, _cf._ St. Paul's address, Acts 22:1, and also note on Acts 23:1. On St. Stephen's speech see additional note at the end of chapter. ὁ Θεὸς τῆς δόξης : lit [199], “the God of the glory,” _i.e._, the glory peculiar to Him, not simply ἔνδοξος, a reference to the Shechinah, E... [ Continue Reading ]
μετὰ τὸ ἀποθανεῖν : St. Stephen apparently falls into the same chronological mistake as is made in the Pentateuch and by Philo (_De Migr. Abrah._, i., 463, Mang.). According to Genesis 11:26 Terah lived seventy years and begat Abraham, Nahor, Haran; in Genesis 11:32 it is said that Terah's age was 2... [ Continue Reading ]
κληρονομίαν : the field which Abraham bought, Genesis 23:9-17, could not come under this title the field was Abraham's purchase, not God's gift as κληρονομία (see Meyer-Wendt, and Westcott, Hebrews 6:12, additional note, also Bengel, _in loco_); Acts 7:16 sufficiently shows that Stephen was fully ac... [ Continue Reading ]
δέ : not in contrast to the fact just mentioned that Abraham had no child, but introducing a fuller account of God's promise. The quotation is from LXX, Genesis 15:13, with a few alterations; in LXX and Heb., the second person, not the third, is used; instead of οὐκ ἰδίᾳ in LXX, ἀλλοτρίᾳ, _cf._ Hebr... [ Continue Reading ]
The _oratio recta_ is introduced by the words εἶπεν ὁ Θεός … κρινῶ ἐγώ emphatic, _cf._ Romans 12:19. In this verse the quotation is a free rendering of Genesis 15:14, the words ὧδε μετὰ ἀποσκευῆς πολλῆς being omitted after and the latter part of the verse being apparently introduced from Exodus 3:12... [ Continue Reading ]
διαθήκην, _fœdus_ (Grimm, Blass), the same word is used in LXX, Genesis 17:10, and with two or three exceptions uniformly in LXX for “covenant,” so too in the Apocrypha with apparently two exceptions. The ordinary word for “covenant,” συνθήκη, is very rare in LXX (though used by the later translator... [ Continue Reading ]
ζηλώσαντες, _cf._ Genesis 37:11, and so in Genesis 26:14; Genesis 30:1; Isaiah 11:13, Sir 37:10; used also in a bad sense in Acts 17:5, 1 Corinthians 13:4; James 4:2, and so in classical writers. It may be used here absolutely, as in A.V. (see Grimm, Nösgen), or governing Ἰωσήφ, as in R.V. ἀπέδ. εἰς... [ Continue Reading ]
ἧν ὁ Θεὸς μετʼ αὐτοῦ, _cf._ Genesis 39:2; Genesis 39:21; Genesis 39:23 (_cf._ Luke 1:28; Luke 1:66). ἐξείλετο … ἐκ : the same construction in Genesis 32:11; Exodus 3:8, and in N.T., Acts 12:11; Acts 26:17;... [ Continue Reading ]
λιμὸς, _cf._ Luke 4:25, where ἐπί follows. χορτάσματα : sustenance, R.V., fodder, provender for their cattle, _cf._ Genesis 24:25; Genesis 24:32; Genesis 42:27; Judges 19:19; only here in N.T., _cf._ Polyb., ix., 43. The want of it would be a most pressing need for large owners of flocks. Blass take... [ Continue Reading ]
σῖτα, but σιτία in R.V. (Blass follows T.R.), _cf._ LXX, Proverbs 30:22 = properly food made of corn opposed to χόρτος (σῖτα not elsewhere in N.T., but in LXX τὰ σῖτα, corn, _frumenta_). In Genesis 42:2 we have σῖτος. But as Wendt points out, in the words which follow: πρίασθε ἡμῖν μικρὰ βρώματα we... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀνεγνωρίσθη : the compound verb apparently from LXX, Genesis 45:1. φανερὸν ἐγέν., _cf._ Luke 8:17; Luke 4:36; Luke 1:65; Luke 6:49, etc.; on Luke's fondness for periphrasis with γίνομαι, see Plummer on Luke 4:36. τὸ γένος τοῦ Ἰ.: R.V. “race,” so Acts 7:19, _cf._ Acts 4:36, because wider than συγγένε... [ Continue Reading ]
μετεκαλέσατο : four times in Acts, and nowhere else in N.T., _cf._ Acts 10:32; Acts 20:17; Acts 24:25, only once in LXX, H. and R., _cf._ Hosea 11:2, A; so εἰσκαλέομαι, only once in N.T., _cf._ Acts 10:23; not in LXX or Apocrypha. Both compounds are peculiar to St. Luke in N.T., and are frequent in... [ Continue Reading ]
The frequent mention of Egypt may perhaps indicate that Stephen meant to emphasise the fact that there, far away from the land of promise, God's Presence was with the chosen race (who were now all in a strange land) and His worship was observed. μετετέθησαν : only here in this sense in N.T. Some hav... [ Continue Reading ]
καθὼς : not “when” as in A.V., but “as” R.V., _prout, quemadmodum, cf._ Mark 4:33 : “in the degree that”: Felten thinks that it is temporal, as in 2Ma 1:31. τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, _cf._ Acts 2:33. ἧς : Attic attraction. ὤμοσεν : but if we read with R.V., etc., ὡμολόγησεν “vouchsafed,” so in classical Greek... [ Continue Reading ]
_Cf._ Exodus 1:8, and Jos., _Ant._, ii., 9, 1. After ἕτερος add ἐπʼ Αἰγ., see above. ἕτερος not ἄλλος, probably meaning the native sovereign after the expulsion of the Shepherd Kings, “Joseph,” B.D. 2; “Egypt,” B.D. 2, pp. 886, 887; Hamburger, _Real-Encyclopädie des Judentums_, i., 5, pp. 759, 760;... [ Continue Reading ]
κατασοφισάμενος : in Exodus 1:10 we have the same verb “let us deal wisely with them” here translated “deal subtilly”; Vulgate, “circumveniens,” _cf._ Rhemish version: “circumventing our stock” (γένος, as in Acts 4:36); _cf._ Jdt 5:11; Jdt 10:19, in both passages the same verb is used, translated (R... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν ᾧ καιρῷ, _cf._ Acts 1:7; Acts 3:19, characterising the time, comp. Bengel, _tristi, opportuno_ : on the name Μωυσῆς see Blass, _Grammatik_. p. 10, and Hamburger, _Real-Encyclopâdie des Judentums_, i., 5, p. 768, and critical notes. ἀστεῖος τῷ Θεῷ : if we render the expression as in A. and R.V., “... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐκτεθ.: the regular word for exposure of children in classical Greek; see also Wis 18:5, peculiar to Luke in N.T., and only here in this sense; _cf._ Exodus 2:3, and [203] critical note above. ἀνείλετο same word in Exodus 2:5. The verb, though very frequent in Luke in the sense of _to kill_, is only... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐπαιδεύθη, _cf._ Acts 22:3 here with instrumental dative, or, better, dative of respect or manner; not mentioned in Exodus, but see Philo, _Vita Moys._, ii., 83, Mang., and also Schürer, _Jewish People_, div. ii., vol. i., p. 343, E.T.; _cf._ the knowledge of magic ascribed to Pharaoh's wise men in... [ Continue Reading ]
ὡς, _cf._ Acts 1:10, Lucan. The exact age is not mentioned in O.T., but it was traditional (Weiss refers its mention to the reviser, perhaps introduced as a parallel to Acts 7:30). According to the tradition, which Stephen apparently followed, Moses lived forty years in Pharaoh's palace, but some ac... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀδικούμενον, “wronged,” _i.e._, by blows, Exodus 2:11. ἠμύνατο : only here in N.T. (_sc._, τὸν ἀδικοῦντα); in active the verb means to defend, “debebat scribere ἤμυνε,” says Blass, but in the middle it means defence of oneself, or of a friend, with the collateral notion of requital or retaliation on... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐνόμιζε δὲ : a comment by St. Stephen, but we are not told upon what grounds Moses based his expectation (see however Lumby's note, _in loco_). The verb is found in Luke 2:44; Luke 3:23, and seven times in Acts, but elsewhere in the Gospels only three times in St. Matthew; it is used three times by... [ Continue Reading ]
ὥφθη : Wendt commends Bengel, who sees in the word the thought that he appeared _ultro, ex improviso, cf._ Acts 2:3; Acts 7:2; Hebrews 9:28. συνήλασεν : but if we read συνήλλασσεν, see critical note = imperfect, _de conatu, cf._ Matthew 3:14; Luke 1:59; Luke 15:14; Acts 26:11, see Burton, _N. T. Moo... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀπώσατο for Attic ἀπεώσατο (see also Acts 7:45), not found in the O.T. parallel, but added by Stephen, _cf._ Acts 7:38, compare LXX, Jeremiah 4:30. The word may be introduced to emphasize the contumaciousness of the people, which in Stephen's narrative is the motive of the flight of Moses; in Exodus... [ Continue Reading ]
_Cf._ Exodus 2:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ · Weiss points out that Moses fled on account of this word, because he saw that his people would not protect him against the vengeance of Pharaoh. Jos., _Ant._, ii., 11, 1, makes the cause of the flight of Moses not the words which told him that his deed was known, but the jealousy... [ Continue Reading ]
πληρωθέντων, see Acts 7:23, _cf._ Exodus 7:7, “fulfilled,” R.V. ὤφθη, Acts 7:2, so the second fundamental revelation of God to Israel took place in the wilderness far away from the Promised Land (Weiss), see also Acts 7:33. τεσσαράκοντα, _cf._ Acts 1:3. Σινᾶ : there is no contradiction between this... [ Continue Reading ]
κατανοῆσαι : this careful observation is implied in the narrative of Exodus though the word is not employed. It is a favourite word with St. Luke, and is used by him four times in his Gospel and four times in Acts, elsewhere in Gospels only in Matthew 7:3 (five times in Epistles). On its force see W... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔντρομος γεν. (_cf._ Acts 10:4, ἔμφοβος γεν.), Acts 16:29, _cf._ Exodus 3:6, expression used only in Acts in these two passages (Hebrews 12:21, quotation from LXX). ἔμφοβος is found five times in Luke, Luke 24:5; Luke 24:37, in Acts 10:4; Acts 24:25 (only once elsewhere, in... [ Continue Reading ]
λῦσον, _cf._ Joshua 5:15, λῦσον A., _cf._ Exodus 3:5; in classical Greek, λῦσαι, omitting σου. On the custom of worshipping bare-footed, as the priests when actually engaged in the Temple, or as the Arabs enter their mosques with bare feet, or the Samaritan the holiest place on Gerizim, see instance... [ Continue Reading ]
ἰδὼν εἶδον : Hebraism, so LXX, Exodus 3:7, and so frequently, _e.g._, Psalms 40:1, _cf._ Matthew 13:14; Hebrews 6:14 (Genesis 22:17), the participle with the verb emphasising the assurance. But similar collocations are not wanting in classical Greek, see Page, _in loco_, and Wendt, who compares 1 Co... [ Continue Reading ]
τοῦτον : followed by the triple οὗτος, a significant and oratorical repetition _anaphora_ or repetition of the pronoun, _cf._ Acts 2:23; Acts 5:31 (so Bengel, Blass, Viteau, see also Simcox, _Language of the N. T._, pp. 65, 66). It plainly appears to be one of the purposes, although we cannot positi... [ Continue Reading ]
On οὗτος see Acts 7:35. ἐξήγαγεν, Exodus 3:10, καὶ ἐξάξεις τὸν λαόν μου. Ἐρυθρᾷ θαλάσσῃ in LXX frequent, יָם סוּף sometimes with, sometimes without the article, here as in the Heb. without: _cf._ the parallel in _Assumption of Moses_, iii., 11 (ed. Charles), and see below on Acts 7:38.... [ Continue Reading ]
οὗτός, _cf._ Acts 7:35, _cf._ Deuteronomy 18:15; Deuteronomy 3:22, above. The introduction of the prophecy may mean that St. Stephen wished in this as in the preceding and following verse to emphasise the position and the work of Moses, and to mark more strongly the disobedience of the people. Blass... [ Continue Reading ]
οὗτός : again emphatic use. ἐκκλησίᾳ : “in the congregation,” R.V. margin: held in the wilderness for the giving of the law, although the word does not occur in Exodus 19, but _cf._ Deuteronomy 31:30; Joshua 8:35 (Acts 9:2). By Wycliffe the word was translated “Church” here, but afterwards “congrega... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐστράφησαν, _i.e._, in their desires after the Egyptian gods, _cf._ Acts 7:40, not “turned back again,” but simply “turned” (Rendall, _in loco_). The words cannot be taken literally (as Corn. à Lap. and others), or we should have to render “who may go before us _in our return_ to Egypt,” which not o... [ Continue Reading ]
προπορεύσονται (Exodus 16:3; Numbers 11:4-5), only elsewhere in N.T., in Luke 1:76, with which _cf._ Deuteronomy 31:3. The words in Acts are taken from Exodus 32:1; Exodus 32:23; frequent in LXX, 1Ma 9:11 (but see H. and R.), and also in Xen. and Polyb. οὗτος, _iste, cf._ Acts 6:14, the same anacolu... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐμοσχοποίησαν : not in LXX or in classical Greek; in Exodus 32:2, ἐποίησαν μόσχον. ἀνήγαγον θυσίαν, _cf._ 1 Kings 3:15 (and 2 Samuel 6:17, A.), for similar use of the word, “quia victima in aram tollitur,” Grimm. εὐφραίνοντο, _cf._ Exodus 32:6; Exodus 32:18; the word is very frequent in LXX, and sev... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔστρεψε : properly intransitive. Weiss takes it transitively: God turned them from one idol worship to another; but here probably means that God turned away from them, in the sense that He cared no longer for them as before; so Grimm, _sub v._; or that He actually changed so as to be opposed to them... [ Continue Reading ]
The answer of God to His own question: καί should be explained “ye actually took up” (“yea,” R.V., in Amos 5:26); ἀνελάβετε, “ye took up,” _i.e._, to carry in procession from one halting place to another. τὴν σκηνὴν, properly σκηνή = סִכּוּת, which has sometimes been explained as the tent or taberna... [ Continue Reading ]
Here again we notice that the first sanctuary of the fathers was not the temple, nor was it erected on holy ground, but ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ according to God's direct command. ἡ σκηνὴ τοῦ μαρτ.: it is possible that there was in the speaker's mind a contrast to the σκηνή in Acts 7:43, but the connection is no... [ Continue Reading ]
διαδεξάμενοι : having received in their turn, _i.e._, from Moses, only here in N.T., _cf._ 4Ma 4:15; so also in classical Greek, in Dem. and in Polyb., _cf._ διαδοχῆς, “in their turn,” Herod., viii., 142: (on the technical meaning of διάδοχος, to which in the LXX διαδεχόμενος is akin to the term of... [ Continue Reading ]
ὃς εὗρε χάριν, _cf._ Luke 1:30, Hebraistic, _cf._ Genesis 6:8; it may be tacitly implied that had the temple been so important as the Jew maintained, God would have allowed the man who found favour before him to build it; on the phrase ἐνώπ. Κ. or Θεοῦ see above on Acts 4:10. ἠτήσατο εὗρειν, _i.e._,... [ Continue Reading ]
Σολομῶν, see above on Acts 3:11. δὲ : “But” or “And” δὲ, adversative as in A. and R.V., _cf._ 2 Chronicles 6:7-9, where Solomon is represented as claiming God's promise that he should build the house afavour denied to his father David.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀλλʼ οὐχ : But the presence of the Most High (in contrast to the smallness of any building made by hands) was not so confined the previous words must not be misunderstood by Stephen's hearers. Solomon's οἶκος might have given the idea of greater permanency, but still Isaiah had taught, Isaiah 66:1-2... [ Continue Reading ]
τίς τόπος for ποῖος, and οὐχὶ introducing the conclusion instead of γάρ -Although Solomon had expressed this same truth in the dedicatory prayer of his temple, St. Stephen appeals to the great Messianic prophet. It is not, as some have thought, the worthlessness of the temple, but rather its relativ... [ Continue Reading ]
σκληροτράχηλοι καὶ ἀπερίτμητοι τῇ καρδίᾳ, _cf._ Exodus 33:3; Exodus 33:5; Exodus 34:9; Deuteronomy 9:6, Bar 2:30, etc., Sir 16:11 (_cf._ Cicero, _Verr._, iii., 95, “tantis cervicibus est”). Both adjectives had been used to describe the sins of Israel in former days. On this reading see above and Wen... [ Continue Reading ]
τίνα τῶν προφ. ἀσυνδέτως, to mark the vehemence of the speech, as above, Acts 7:51 : _cf._ 2 Chronicles 36:16 for the general statement, and for individual cases, Jeremiah, Amos, and probably Isaiah, the prophet just quoted. We may compare the words of our Lord, Matthew 5:12; Luke 13:34, and also Lu... [ Continue Reading ]
οἴτινες, _quippe qui_ (“ye who,” R.V.), as often in Acts and Epistles not simply for identification, but when as here the conduct of the persons already mentioned is further enlarged upon (Alford), _cf._ Acts 8:15; Acts 9:35; Acts 10:41; Acts 10:47, and Winer-Schmiedel, p. 235, but see also Blass, _... [ Continue Reading ]
No charge could have been more hateful to such an audience, _cf._ our Lord's words, John 7:19; see Schürer, _Jewish People_, vol ii., div. ii., p. 90 ff., E.T. Schürer twice quotes St. Paul's words, pp. 96, 124, ζῆλον Θεοῦ ἔχουσιν ἀλλʼ οὐ κατʼ ἐπίγνωσιν : no words could better characterise the entir... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀτενίσας, _cf._ Acts 1:10, εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν, _cf._ John 17:1, “ubi enim est oculus, ibi est cor et amor”. In the power of the Holy Ghost, with which Stephen is represented as being full, as in life so in death, he saw δόξαν Θεοῦ, in which He had appeared to Abraham, _cf._ Acts 7:2, πλήρης, “crescente... [ Continue Reading ]
κράξαντες : so as to silence him. συνέσχον τὰ ὦτα αὐτῶν : in order that the words which they regarded as so impious should not be heard, _cf._ Matthew 26:65. Blass compares the phrase LXX, Isaiah 52:15, καὶ συνέξουσι βασιλεῖς τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν. ὥρμησαν … ἐπʼ αὐτόν, _cf._ 2Ma 10:16, and in several place... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔξω τῆς πόλεως : according to the law, Leviticus 24:14, so in Luke 4:29, our Lord is cast out of Nazareth to be stoned. ἐλιθοβόλουν : as guilty of blasphemy. St. Stephen's closing remarks were in the eyes of his judges a justification of the charge; imperf. as in Acts 7:59, see note below. The judic... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ ἐλιθ. τὸν Σ. ἐπικ.: imperf., as in Acts 7:58, “quia res morte demum [60] perficitur,” Blass. ἐπικ., present participle, denoting, it would seem, the continuous appeal of the martyr to his Lord. Zeller, Overbeck and Baur throw doubt upon the historical truth of the narrative on account of the man... [ Continue Reading ]
θεὶς δὲ τὰ γόνατα : a phrase not used in classical writers, but Blass compares Ovid, _Fasti_, ii., 438; five times in St. Luke's writings, Luke 22:41; Acts 9:40; Acts 20:36; Acts 21:5; only once elsewhere in N.T., Mark 15:19. The attitude of kneeling in prayer would no doubt commend itself to the ea... [ Continue Reading ]