THE BOOK OF ACTS
Lesson 18, Chapter 7 continued
We are well into Stephen’s speech of Acts chapter 7, which will end in his death by stoning.
His speech is essentially a recounting of Israel’s record of unfaithfulness towards God, and
being stubbornly resentful towards God’s prophets, beginning with the Patriarchs. His words
are not meant to defend himself (something the accusers were expecting); they were meant to
turn the tables to accuse his accusers. The discourse is also meant to remind the members of
the Sanhedrin, as well as the angry men of the Synagogue of the Freedmen who were the
ones who dragged Stephen to the Jewish High Court and claimed that he had blasphemed
both God and Moses, that the history of the Hebrews is all about their rejection of God’s
prophets who bring messages of warning and chastisement from the Lord, and then their
bewilderment when they are oppressed by foreigners and exiled from the Promised Land.
During his speech Stephen draws intentional parallels between Joseph, Moses, David and
Yeshua. This infuriates all who were present even more. But in reality Stephen was doomed
nearly from the beginning of his acceptance of Christ because of his background and his
nature. Stephen was an outspoken, bold and fearless man who today we would probably label
as a fanatic. He was also a Hellenist Jew, which meant that his first language was Greek.
While this was the norm outside of Judea, in Jerusalem it was frowned upon by the Holy Land
Jews, even though Greek was heard everywhere throughout the holy city. It seems all but
certain that he was also a Samaritan; a people group that were despised and rejected by the
mainstream Jewish community. Now as a Believer in Yeshua as Messiah, he was part of a
small minority faction within Judaism; one whose reason for existing (worshipping the
deceased carpenter’s son from Nazareth as the Jewish Messiah) was not accepted as
legitimate by most of the rest of Judaism. Stephen was a pariah to Jews, to Judaism, to the
Temple and to the Synagogue, and he seemed to have gone out of his way to speak his mind
to anyone that would listen. He was about to pay the ultimate price for his uncompromising
stance on Yeshua.
Let’s re-read the last half of Acts chapter 7.
RE-READ ACTS CHAPTER 7:35 – end
Remembering that the reason for Stephen’s trial is that he supposedly blasphemed Moses,
Stephen reminds his accusers that their forefathers as captives in Egypt did not want to obey
Moses even after all the miracles and signs he performed there. In fact, a few weeks after their
escape from Egypt (and their tyrannical Pharaoh) many of the Hebrews began turning their
hearts back towards Egypt. Stephen refutes the charge against him of being opposed to
Moses by declaring that Moses was ruler and ransomer of Israel. Of course, unless Stephen
was naïve, he full well knew that the charge against him was not that he was actually against
Moses the man; it was that Stephen questioned the Traditions of the Elders (Oral Torah) that
the Synagogue insisted is what Moses taught. In Christian terms, Stephen challenged the
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doctrines of the local church.
Stephen makes a comment in verse 37 that quotes Deuteronomy 18:15, obviously making the
point that Stephen’s Master Yeshua is the one being referenced. Let’s read the entire
passage in Deuteronomy to understand Stephen’s point.
Deuteronomy 18:15-19 CJB
15
"ADONAI will raise up for you a prophet like me from among yourselves, from your
own kinsmen. You are to pay attention to him,
16
just as when you were assembled at Horev and requested ADONAI your God, 'Don't
let me hear the voice of ADONAI my God any more, or let me see this great fire ever
again; if I do, I will die!'
17
On that occasion ADONAI said to me, 'They are right in what they are saying.
18
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kinsmen. I will put my
words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I order him.
19
Whoever doesn't listen to my words, which he will speak in my name, will have to
account for himself to me.
First, Stephen is saying that this is a Messianic prophecy of Moses. Yeshua once said this
about Moses in John chapter 5:
45
"But don't think that it is I who will be your accuser before the Father. Do you know
who will accuse you? Moshe, the very one you have counted on!
46
For if you really believed Moshe, you would believe me; because it was about me that
he wrote.
47
But if you don't believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"
Yeshua is referring to what Stephen just quoted.
Second, Stephen is saying that Israel should be expecting this new prophet and understand
that he is going to be in the mold of Moses more than in the mold of King David (and in the
mold of King David is what Judaism generally expected, and continues to expect, the Messiah
to be). Third is that this prophet Moses speaks of will be one of their kinsmen, meaning he will
be a Hebrew. And finally, since God will raise up this prophet like Moses, and God will put His
own words into this prophet’s mouth as with Moses, then those who refuse to heed him are
directly disobeying God and will be held personally liable to God for their sin.
So Stephen says that the people rejected their deliverer, Moses; and even more when Moses
went up to Mt. Sinai to receive God’s Word they grew impatient for his return and so during his
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absence began devising other ways to satisfy their longings and desires. The Israelites began
worshipping other gods, specifically making a calf god, offering a sacrifice to it, and holding a
celebration over what they had made with their own hands. The result? God turned away from
them.
Let’s pause for a second and face something that no one in the modern institutional Church
wants to hear, but sadly, it is so: this description of what the Israelites did while waiting for
Moses to return is precisely what is happening to many Christians as we wait for Yeshua’s
return. Moses came because God sent him, and Moses redeemed God’s people. Christ came
because God sent Him, and Christ redeemed God’s people. Moses ascended to the top of Mt.
Sinai, and there to be with God to receive God’s Word directly from God. Christ ascended to
the true dwelling place of God, Heaven, to receive God’s Word directly from God His Father.
Moses and Messiah Yeshua both promised they would return after a time of being with the
Father.
But the people of Israel grew restless and tired of waiting, and decided that Moses was
perhaps not going to return, or had been indefinitely delayed. They wanted answers and
solutions now. They began to doubt Moses so they slipped back into their old ways, and
determined that their intellect and their ability to craft their own solutions with their own hands
was the right way to go. They found a willing religious leader to go along with them in Moses’
brother, Aaron. The result was that they worshipped a god who was not their god (it wasn’t
even real), even though they were confident that they were worshipping their god. Christianity
during the 2000 years Christ has been gone has grown impatient. God’s Word has grown old
and tired among many followers, and so Christians by the millions have slipped back into their
old ways, no longer trusting God’s Mediator, Yeshua, and by association also not His Word,
the Bible. Instead some of our religious leaders have used their own intellects and agendas to
fashion new doctrines and ways made with their own hands and minds that are pleasing to
their followers.
Slowly these new doctrines have caused the Bible to be whittled down from its original. Early
on the Old Testament was severed away by the Roman Church as irrelevant to Christians;
today many denominational leaders warn that merely reading the Old Testament is dangerous
to our faith. Thus it is common practice in our time that a Bible contains no Old Testament
(especially for new Believers) only the New. Inevitably the New Testament has also been
whittled down with the argument that really all that matters is our salvation in Christ; anything
and everything beyond that is secondary or optional. How we live our lives after our salvation
is not that important; only that our ticket to Heaven has been validated. On this earth our only
real duty is to “love”, in whatever way we choose to define love. So mostly only the Gospels
matter along with perhaps a few select passages from Paul’s writings. Thus a “Bible” that
consists only of the Gospels is now common and is often what is handed out to new prospects
by evangelists. Imagine the message that sends to those who are seeking God.
The result is that too many Christians now worship a god and a savior that bears little
resemblance to the God and Savior of the Scriptures. Long ago I taught you that there are only
2 ways for us to know God: His name and His characteristics. When Believers no longer know,
or care to know, God’s characteristics beyond love and mercy, and don’t think that we have
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any obligation to learn His Word or to obey His commandments, we are worshiping a god that
is a product of our intellects and that is just as false as the calf god that was fashioned by
human hands out in the Wilderness. That a substantial group of the Israelites bought in to the
manmade calf god was a proof to themselves that it must be right and true. That many,
perhaps a majority of Christians have bought into the newer manmade definitions of God, of
Messiah, and of His Word means to Believers that it must be right and true.
God used the smallest and least prominent of the tribes of Israel, the Levites, to rid Israel of the
calf worshipper leaders and to restore truth. God is in process today of raising up the smallest
group of Believers who long to learn His Word, to rediscover God’s written truth, to reinstitute
God-ordained appointed times and worship practices, and to obey His commandments. The
history of the Israelites perfectly parallels the history of Christianity.
If you think this is not the case then consider the next Scriptural quote by Stephen, which is
taken from the Book of Amos chapter 5:25 - 27. And by the way, if you were to compare this
quote by Stephen as it is presented in Acts to what is found in Amos in the CJB, you will find
distinct differences because the CJB is based on the Masoretic Hebrew Bible. The quote we
find coming from Stephen’s mouth in this passage in Acts is taken from the Greek Septuagint.
This once again points up how the Synagogue differed from the Temple, as the vast majority of
the Synagogues were Hellenist.
So that we can all follow along, I’ll re-quote exactly what Stephen is recorded to have said
in Acts 7:42 and 43:
42
So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the stars- as has been
written in the book of the prophets, 'People of Isra'el, it was not to me that you offered
slaughtered animals and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness!
43
No, you carried the tent of Molekh and the star of your god Reifan, the idols you made
so that you could worship them. Therefore, I will send you into exile beyond Bavel.'
This is what the prophet Amos told the Israelites was their history and their condition; to say
that Amos’s listeners didn’t much like what they heard is a monumental understatement. Thus
few believed what God’s prophet Amos said about Israel and to Israel. Why didn’t they accept
it? Their answer would have been: “When did we gather to together in the worship place of
Molekh ?” When did we worship the god Reifan ?” That is, Israel didn’t feel that they were
worshipping other gods; they sincerely believed they were worshipping their god Yehoveh; but
in fact the god they worshipped was the god that they imagined. Therefore Yehoveh sent them
away from Him. The same thing is happening today in Christian places of worship around the
globe (thankfully not all, of course). So the question for Believers is: will you react as the crowd
did when Peter stood before them and indicted them for believing false doctrines of men and
rejecting the true Word of God, whereby they repented and wanted to know how to change? Or
will you react as do the Sanhedrin and the Synagogue members when Stephen indicted them,
and they hardened their hearts and minds and demanded that yet another of God’s prophets,
Stephen, who brought them this Word from God be killed?
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Starting in verse 44 Stephen’s address shifts a bit to the matter of the Temple. This was yet
another accusation from the Synagogue; that is that Stephen was supposedly speaking
against the Temple claiming that Yeshua would destroy it. The narrative of the Temple moves
us into the time of King David, yet another Messianic figure well recognized by all Jews. The
saga begins with the Wilderness Tabernacle, a tent. God ordered Moses to have this tent
made exactly after a pattern that Moses was shown. After Moses was replaced by Joshua,
Joshua had the tent brought into the land and placed at Shiloh. It remained there until King
David (not for the entire time, as it was moved to Nob leading up to David). And Stephen says
that David sought God’s permission to build a Temple, a dwelling place for the Lord, but that
his son Solomon was the one who actually built it.
Stephen again points up something that the Jews did not want to hear: God did NOT ask for a
Temple, did not SEEK a Temple for Himself, and only essentially showed mercy to David by
allowing David’s son to build a Temple because David so badly wanted to. In verse 48
Stephen once again brings up the issue of manmade things being used to worship God.
Stephen says that God does not live in places made by human hands. Oh my; that is NOT
what the Sadducees and Temple authorities believed and neither did those from the
Synagogue. Never mind that Stephen goes on to quote the truth of Holy Scripture from Isaiah
66:1 and 2:
CJB
Isaiah 66:1 "Heaven is my throne," says ADONAI, "and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house could you build for me? What sort of place could you devise for my
rest?
2
Didn't I myself make all these things?
God well knows the way humans are wired. If you erect a Temple or a Shrine, it will often
become more important than the one in whose honor it was built. We love to build grand
religious edifices because they make US proud! We seriously think we are doing something for
God when we construct monumental showplaces and call them holy sanctuaries. How often
I’ve heard Pastors and Elders at church building meetings speak about the need to spend big
and make things especially beautiful because we want to give to God our best. But the “best”
that God wants from his worshippers is the best of the fruits of the spiritual gifts He has given
to us to use to benefit others and God’s Kingdom; not the best most lavish buildings that
money can buy.
So often we unconsciously think that God is more present in a Church or synagogue building
than anywhere else; and the more grand a building is the more present He is. But as is pointed
out again and again in Holy Scripture, nothing made with human hands is perfect enough for
God to entice Him to dwell there, and neither can humans ever build a structure that contains
God. Even when it comes to sacrificial altars God doesn’t want anything fancy, because
humans not only cannot perfect that which God has already created, all we can do is to defile
what He has already made when we try to modify it and make it better according to our
standards. Very early on in God’s Torah commandments He speaks of this principle.
Exodus 20:21-22 CJB
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21
For me you need make only an altar of earth; on it you will sacrifice your burnt
offerings, peace offerings, sheep, goats and cattle. In every place where I cause my
name to be mentioned, I will come to you and bless you.
22
If you do make me an altar of stone, you are not to build it of cut stones; for if you use
a tool on it, you profane it.
The stones as found lying around on the ground are more preferable to the Lord than cutting,
polishing, ornamenting and fitting them together to make a beautiful altar. Why? Because
God’s creation is perfect just the way it is. Our attempts to enhance these things, and then use
them to honor God, are in vain. So Stephen’s point is that the Temple building is held in much
too high of regard. It is not something that God wanted in the first place; it is merely something
that He allowed for the sake of King David and Solomon and for Israel. But His allowing it
came with cautionary warnings as we just read in Exodus. Nonetheless, Solomon built a
Temple so grand and so lavish and expensive that foreigners traveled to Jerusalem just to
view it. And who do you suppose got the praise for that Temple? Solomon! Which is exactly
what he hoped for.
So the Temple had taken up a life all its own. The building was what mattered to the
Priesthood, the Sadducees, and to most Jews. It was a national symbol and a point of pride.
What went on in that building was secondary. In fact, we need to remember that the only place
in the Temple that God’s presence ever showed up was above the Ark of the Covenant. Well,
ever since the destruction of the Temple and the exile to Babylon the Ark had gone missing.
When Nehemiah and Ezra built the new Temple, there was no Ark of the Covenant in the Holy
of Holies; and it remained empty right up through the time of Christ and until the Temple’s
prophesied destruction by the Romans in 70 A.D. That’s right: the Temple had not held the
Ark of the Covenant, and presumably God’s presence had not been there, since the
Babylonian exile and subsequent return.
So Stephen is telling them that the magnificent Temple wasn’t God’s idea, it was a human
idea. But King David didn’t care; he wanted a Temple for his God just like the other kings had
Temples for their gods. And then as Stephen’s speech builds to its crescendo, he let’s them
have it with both barrels. ‘You stiff necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You
oppose the Holy Spirit. You do the same things your wicked fathers did.’
But as bold and offensive as all that was, Stephen then goes all in; ‘your fathers killed those
who told in advance about the coming of the Righteous One (the Tzaddik, meaning the
Messiah), but YOU were the ones who actually murdered the prophesied Righteous One when
he arrived! Yet you claim to be the ones who receive the Torah but you don’t keep it’.
Stephen’s life was over. He had bashed the Synagogue and the Temple authorities and they
weren’t about to take this humiliation lying down.
Most of what Stephen said doesn’t need any explanation; however notice he says that “you
claim to be the ones who received the Torah”. Obviously it was Moses who received the Torah
1300 years earlier and not these people he was talking to. No; as we have discussed Stephen
was using standard Synagogue language and thought processes when he uses the word
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“Torah”. The religious leaders (Rabbis) of the Synagogue were said to be “receiving the
Torah”, but what they and Stephen were referring to was Oral Torah, Traditions of the Elders,
which they saw as divine and on par with the original Torah of Moses as given on Mt. Sinai.
Stephen’s words demonstrate the lack of distinction in the minds of the Jews in that day
between manmade doctrines versus the God-made Torah of Moses: Genesis through
Deuteronomy. We have precisely the same condition among so many Believers today in
Christianity, and much of Messianic Judaism. It can be difficult to untangle long held and
cherished doctrines, customs and traditions from the actual Word of God. And attempting to do
so, and speaking about it, often brings great anger and dissention. That is why there weren’t
very many prophets of God that we hear of in the Bible, and it’s also why their lives were
rarely pleasant. Humans of all ages and eras want to hear what we want to hear; and want to
believe what makes us comfortable. Only sometimes are God’s Believers on an actual search
for the truth; most of the time we search to find a leader or congregation that will validate what
we have predetermined that we prefer to believe.
Starting at verse 54, we see Stephen’s demise. Grinding or gnashing of teeth is a Biblical
idiom that speaks of deep upset, anxiety or frustration and we are told that this is the emotional
condition of those who heard Stephen’s speech; they couldn’t stand to hear one more word.
With Stephen now knowing for certain that he had but minutes to live, the Lord gives Stephen
a peace that passes understanding. And God does this by filling Stephen with His Spirit such
that Stephen’s face radiates and he is given a glimpse into Heaven whereby He sees Christ
standing at the right hand of God. While Stephen’s statement is reminiscent of Psalm 110:1
and Daniel 7:13, it doesn’t precisely mirror either one. Yet, it is clear to me that Stephen’s
purpose is not to necessarily directly quote Scripture but rather to describe what he saw as a
fulfillment of those 2 Scripture passages. And since Son of Man was a well-known epithet that
Yeshua liked to call Himself, there was no further room for doubt among those present:
Stephen was claiming that Yeshua was in Heaven with God. No segment of Judaism at this
time, other than for Yeshua’s followers, believed that a human being (including Jews), even in
spirit, could ascend to Heaven and be in God’s presence. This went against all Jewish
doctrines.
This was the final straw; all restraint vanished. Verses 57 and 58 briefly describe the stoning of
Stephen. Since stoning has proved to be the standard form of execution used among the
Hebrews all during the Biblical period, let’s explore it a bit to understand it better. The Old
Testament gives us 18 cases in which capital punishment is called for; among these are for
immoral sexual behaviors, blasphemy, incest, profaning the Shabbat, murder and idolatry.
When we read that Stephen was rushed outside the city to be stoned, it reflects the laws about
stoning and executions in general. In the Mishna, section Sanhedrin part 6, is the detailed
information about stoning. Now while the Mishna was admittedly not created until around 170
years after Stephen’s stoning, there is ample evidence to suggest that these same rules we’re
about to hear applied during the New Testament era. I’ll quote just a few parts of this Mishnah
so that we learn how this procedure took place.
“When sentence of stoning has been passed they take him forth to stone him. The place
of stoning was outside, far away from the court, as it is written bring forth him that hath
cursed without the camp (Lev. 24:14). One man stands at the court (the Sanhedrin) with
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a towel in his hand, and another is mounted on a horse…….near enough to see him. If one
in the court said, ‘I have somewhat to argue in favor of his acquittal’, that man waves
the towel and the horse runs and stops him from being stoned……………… The place of
stoning was twice the height of a man. One of the witnesses knocked him down…..if he
died that sufficed……if not a second witness took a stone and dropped it on his heart …..if
he died that sufficed. If not, he was stoned by all Israel, for it is written the hand of the
witness shall be first upon him to put him to death and afterward the hand of all the
people (Deut. 17:7).”
So the idea is that first the condemned is to stand at an elevated place, and then is pushed off
that place by one witness such that hopefully he lands on his head and dies. If he is only
injured and not dead, then a second witness must take a large heavy stone and throw it down
on his chest with the idea that it would break some ribs and make him unable to breathe. If that
doesn’t do the trick, then everyone else in attendance of the stoning must cast stones at him
until he dies. Pretty brutal. Witnesses are those who make the accusations at the trial, and give
testimony against the accused. In our case, we are directly told that the witnesses were false;
they were liars. Thus by causing the unjust death of an innocent person, the Law was that false
witnesses were now murderers and themselves subject to capital punishment, which included
permanent separation from God.
Our verse says that the crowd rushed Stephen outside the city; this complied with Torah Law
that neither execution nor burial could occur “inside the camp” (in this case the city limits of
Jerusalem) because death causes ritual impurity. So we have here an authentic account of
stoning accomplished according to the Law.
But here we are also first introduced to Sha’ul, Paul, with but a slight mention. Most Bible
versions say that the witnesses (the executioners) laid down their coats at Paul’s feet. It is
hard to be certain, but it appears that Paul is playing some kind of official role at the execution
(possibly as an officer for the Sanhedrin), and he was not merely a random or convenient
person to hold and guard the outer garments of those doing the stoning. In Acts 22:19 and 20
Paul admits his participation in this event.
Let’s be clear; some Bible commentators try to make this an illegal execution. That is not true.
We are specifically told in Acts 6:15 that everyone in the Sanhedrin was present as they saw
the glow in Stephen’s face as he made his case. So while perhaps not every i was dotted or t
crossed from a technical legal standpoint, this execution was legal and fully sanctioned by the
Jewish High Court with the High Priest Caiaphas officiating. It was by no means a citizens’
lynching.
Chapter 7 concludes with Stephen shouting almost the same words as Christ did as he was
nearing death: “Lord forgive them for they know not what they do”. But before that he
commends his spirit to Yeshua as the rocks pelted him knocking him into unconsciousness.
We are told not that he died, but that he fell asleep. While saying “fell asleep” to describe
one’s death is not unusual in the Bible, it is always used in the death of a righteous person. It
is my personal conviction that the reason “fell asleep” is used instead of “died” is a view to
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the possibility of resurrection.
Let’s close with this wonderful hope that is available for all who trust in Messiah Yeshua, taken
from 1
st
Corinthians.
1Corinthians 15:51-58
51
Look, I will tell you a secret- not all of us will sleep! But we will all be changed!
52
It will take but a moment, the blink of an eye, at the final shofar. For the shofar will
sound, and the dead will be raised to live forever, and we too will be changed.
53
For this material which can decay must be clothed with imperishability, this which is
mortal must be clothed with immortality.
54
When what decays puts on imperishability and what is mortal puts on immortality,
then this passage in the Tanakh will be fulfilled: "Death is swallowed up in victory.
55
"Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?"
56
The sting of death is sin; and sin draws its power from the Torah;
57
but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah!
58
So, my dear brothers, stand firm and immovable, always doing the Lord's work as
vigorously as you can, knowing that united with the Lord your efforts are not in vain.
Death is final for the unsaved; but death more resembles a peaceful “sleeping” for the
redeemed in Messiah. Death is its own end for the non-Believer; sleeping is temporary with an
awaking when it is over. Stephen, indeed, merely went to sleep.
We’ll begin Acts chapter 8 next time.
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