Acts 7:60

Acts 7:60. And he kneeled down. Some would explain these words as though this kneeling posture was caused by the stones falling thickly around and upon him; so the writer in the well-known Diet, of the Bible (Dr. Smith's): ‘As the first volley of stones burst upon him, he called upon the Master.... Another crash of stones brought him upon his knees.' But it is more natural to assume that, after Stephen was thrown down from the scaffold (as described above), still living and conscious, he raised himself to his knees, that his last act might be a protest alike for his adoration of his Master and his forgiveness of his enemies; and so kneeling, he breathed out his beautiful prayer.

And ... he fell asleep. Heathen writers have used this word sometimes in this sense (as, for instance, Callimachus, Epigram 10), but the derivative, κοιμητήριον , cemetery, that is, a sleeping-place where the bodies were laid only to sleep till the resurrection should awaken them, is peculiarly a Christian term, and its introduction and general use is owing to the new ideas which the teaching of Jesus has persuaded men to associate with the grave (comp. 1 Thessalonians 4:13).

Wordsworth has a singular but beautiful note on the word εκοιμήθη, he fell asleep, with which the narrative, of which Stephen is the hero, is brought to a close: ‘There is something musical in the cadence of this word, and also of the word which closes the Acts, ακωλύτως, unhindered, rendered in the English, “no man forbidding him.” The word commences with a short syllable followed by three long ones, happily adapted to express rest after labour, as may be seen in the lines of Catullus describing his return home:

“Cum mens onus reponit, ac peregrino

Lahore fessi venimus larem ad nostrun

Desideratoque acquiescimus lecto.”

This cadence is expressive... of motion succeeded by rest, of action consummated and settled in repose... an emblem of the Church of Christ, and of the life of every true believer in Him.'

The question has often been raised, How came it that the Roman permission for this execution was not sought and obtained before the deed was done? The stoning of Stephen was hastily carried out, but it does not seem to have been by any means a mere tumultuary proceeding. The Nazarene heretic had been formally tried by the great council of the Sanhedrim, condemned, and then put to death, strictly in accordance with the principles of the Jewish law. On the other hand, it would appear from St. John 18:31, when the Redeemer was being tried, that the Jews had no power legally to put any man to death. The answer to this is supplied by the history of this particular period. The Procurator Pontius Pilate had just been or was on the point of being relieved of his office; his official superior, Lucius Vitellius, the governor (Legatus) of Syria, had resolved upon adopting a more conciliatory policy towards the Jewish nation. Pilate, whose stem rule in Judea had procured him many bitter enemies, was sacrificed to the new policy. The execution of Stephen and the bloody persecution of the followers of Jesus, which immediately followed it, seem to have taken place just when the Roman rule was relaxed in Jerusalem; and such high-handed proceedings on the part of the Jews as are related in this and the early part of the next chapter the death of Stephen and the general persecution which followed were connived at by the legate of Syria and his subordinate officers in Judea (see Renan, Les Apotres, chap. viii.).