Acts 7

1. THEN said the high priest, Are these things so? And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, 2 hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, and said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and 4 from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. Then came he out of the land of the Chaldæans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was 5 dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give 6 it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they 7 should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years. And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come 8 forth, and serve me in this place. And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and 9 Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs. And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into 10 Egypt: but God was with him, and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

11. Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: 12 and our fathers found no sustenance. But when Jacob heard that there was corn in 13 Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. And at the second time Joseph was made known to 14 his brethren; and Joseph’s kindred was made known unto Pharaoh. Then sent Joseph, 15 and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. So 16 Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers, and were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of 17 Emmor the father of Sychem. But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God 18 had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, till another king arose, 19 which knew not Joseph. The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated 20 our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live. In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father’s house 21 three months: and when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.

22. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words 23 and in deeds. And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his 24 brethren the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, 25 and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian: for he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not. And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another? 27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a 28 judge over us? Wilt thou kill me, as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday? Then fled Moses 29 at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons. And 30 when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an 31 angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he wondered at the 32 sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 33 Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold. Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy 34 shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground. I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and 35 am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt. This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to 36 be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

37. This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A Prophet shall the Lord your 38 God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, 39 and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: to whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. 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? 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. Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built him an house. Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, 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? Hath not my hand made all these things? Ye stiffnecked and uneircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. 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: who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.

God gave the covenant to Abraham for all believers in Jehovah Jesus! This is the original, ever vital charter of restored sonship to God and heirship with Christ. It is one and the same covenant of grace, unchanged amid all changes of outward dispensation and ordinance of worship. Upon this covenant, ratified and sealed in the blood of Christ, rest the hope of the generations living and to come, and the blessed life of all the dead in Christ.

No histories so naturally and thoroughly impress us with the fact of God’s providential supervision and control, as these of the prominent men in Israel’s earliest period, including the three great progenitors of God’s chosen people. Yet of all that are prominent until Moses, Joseph occupies a unique pre-eminence. Honesty in truthful speaking and pure, faithful action—an honesty avowedly the product of an exalting fear of God—formed a characteristic which shone in scarce another Old Testament leader, and which was conspicuously absent in many at some period of their career. This beautiful lesson, of so true and pure, so generous, forgiving, and beneficent a youth and man, may well be emphasized afresh, whenever brought to view. B.

LIKE John the Baptist, Stephen had a brief but effective career; his words were bold and trenchant, and his death was that of the martyr. The source of his courage and endurance for Christ is disclosed in the expressions by which he is characterized: Full of faith and the Holy Ghost—full of faith and power. He believed, and therefore spoke and acted. The power of the Holy Ghost wrought in and by him.

As the Jewish leaders could not gainsay his Christian teachings, nor deny the miracles done by him among the people, they resorted, as in the Master’s case, to false witnesses. First, before the people, these charged him with blaspheming Moses and God. Then, when the people had been stirred up to arrest Stephen, and when the crowd stood with him before the Sanhedrim, the charge was that he had spoken blasphemous words against the Temple and the Law. For, they said, we have heard him say

that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs (ceremonial rites) which Moses delivered us.

For the understanding of Stephen’s answer, note carefully that Stephen had taught that Christ was about to abrogate the Temple and its ceremonial service, and to introduce a new and more spiritual form of worship. The charge of blasphemy was false; but the statement upon which they based the charge was true. Stephen had so taught, and he proceeds directly to justify this teaching. Of himself he says nothing; attempts no personal defense, but in this, his last discourse, preaches the gospel as taught in God’s dealings with his ancient people.

The Jews had come to believe that the Temple, with its ritual worship, was a permanent divine institution. Therefore when Christ, and after him Stephen, intimated its abrogation of God, they were charged with blasphemy. One of Stephen’s two objects was to answer and refute this charge. This he did by showing from the history, that from period to period, God had different places and methods of manifesting himself, and variable ordinances of worship. Many localities in alien and heathen countries he had made sacred by his presence. Differing forms of outward worship he had prescribed and accepted. His entire dealings with the Jewish nation were characterized all along by changes of dispensation and method, and by progress through change. Therefore it was not blasphemy to believe in another change. It was rather in accordance with his plans in the past to look for a further and even greater change. It was in harmony with the progress thus far manifest to expect a dispensation wherein God would make a fuller personal revelation of himself in connection with a more direct and spiritual worship.

While Stephen’s whole address implies that their Scriptures actually taught the advent of this new dispensation and its inauguration by the “Spirit of God,” yet he refers to the Son of God as the authority for all that he has preached. But this Christ of God they had rejected and now denied. Therefore, as his second object, Stephen suggests successive points in the history bearing upon the claim of Christ, and upon their rejection of that claim. The persons referred to—Abraham, whose noted faith centered upon this Messiah; Joseph and Moses, David and Solomon, the signal types of Christ in office-work and in life experience—these persons suggested and enforced the claim of Christ. And the treatment of Joseph and Moses, here discoursed upon at large, as sharply impressed their treatment of Christ. As their fathers had disbelieved and rebelled against God, so they, his accusers and judges, were guilty of similar unbelief and rebellion: Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye! Of the Just One ye have been now the betrayers and murderers!

In the outline of the history he chooses details which bear upon this double object, justifying what he had taught about the displacing of the Jewish by the Christian economy, and dealing faithfully with their souls, in the spirit of prophet and apostle. So, plainly and effectually, he transfers the charge of blasphemy from himself to them.

1,2. The Question of the High Priest, and the Formal Opening of Stephen’s Reply.—“You are permitted to answer this accusation,” was the meaning of the presiding high priest’s words. And Stephen’s personal address was respectful to the Council and friendly to the people. Like Peter, he claimed a common interest in their nationality and history, as God’s chosen people. His argument and appeal, too, rested on the facts of their history. Both argument and appeal were honestly addressed to candid hearers. The argument was designed to instruct misguided Jews concerning their great error, their reliance upon the Temple glory and ritual as the source and hope of national continuance. And the appeal was intended to convince them of their sin in rejecting and crucifying Christ. One of his hearers, the only one that is mentioned by name, then a conscientious persecutor, but afterward a Christian leader, sums up Stephen’s meaning in Heb. 1:1, 2.

3-8. Points of Abraham’s History.—The brief clause, The God of glory, forms both a fine introduction to this discourse and a striking contradiction of the charge of blasphemy. His reference, as they well knew, was to the Shechinah or former visible glory above the mercy-seat. It was their God and his God, of whose dealings he was about to speak. And this glory of God Stephen saw at his death hour (v. 55).

The first departure of Abram from Ur, Stephen said, was at the call of God. This we may infer from Gen. 11:31. The call was repeated at Haran, here called Charran (the Greek form). The summons to separate utterly from his idolatrous kindred and people was imperative, while the direction of his journey and place of his sojourn were indefinite. Yet with implicit faith he obeyed. And this absolute faith and heroic obedience justly stands commended in the Old Testament by God himself, by Christ and his teachers in the New. A chief lesson suggested is this: “There is no grace which God delights more to exercise and try than the faith of his people; as faith puts honor upon God, so doth God put honor upon faith; and faith never honors God more, nor is more highly honored by him, than when it is put upon the greatest exercise and trial.” (Burkitt.)

Not only does Stephen recall the forgotten faith of their father Abraham, but he reminds them that neither Abraham nor the twelve patriarchs, nor the nation which sprang from them, had for long centuries any temple or ritual, any city or even country that they could call their own. Thus he rebukes, indirectly but forcibly, their extravagant and idolatrous reverence for their Temple and its ceremonial, their capital and nationality. Further to emphasize this rebuke, he quotes the divine prediction to Abraham, that his seed should be enslaved and degraded for four centuries. Yet in all this homeless and oppressed period, Abraham and the patriarchs and their descendants practiced some kind of worship. So, Stephen intimates, as worship existed before Jerusalem and the Temple, it may exist when these are no more. And more, as God once called Abram from idolatry and neathenism, so he may call idolatrous Jew and barbarous Gentile to the exercise of Abraham’s faith, and to the blessings of his covenant with Abraham.

Mention of this covenant is made to show that God’s promise of grace preceded by many centuries the law and customs given to Moses. The promise or covenant was simple and unalterable, while the ceremonials were many, various, and changeable. Take away the covenant, and there was left no ground or hope for worship. But take away the ceremonials, and the heart could worship just as well and truly. This, also, was a part of Stephen’s answer. In predicting change or abrogation of the Mosaic customs, he surely had not blasphemed the God or the worship of Israel.

9-16. Outline of Joseph’s Story.—Prominence is next given to Joseph’s history to show how God’s plan of his people’s progress is developed by changes. Here, as at almost every step, the purposed advance is made by his interposing deliverance in peculiar crises of individuals or of the people. When some of his brethren would have killed Joseph, God led Reuben and Judah to save his life. When he was sold, God directed the event, and brought him to Egypt. And God rescued him from an unjust imprisonment and led him, by successive steps, to become a ruler and deliverer of Egypt and a savior to his brethren. Thus God was with Joseph to rescue and exalt him, and through him to bring the sons of Israel into Egypt for present safety and future increase into a nation. Seventy-five souls (cited from the Greek translation of the Old Testament) thus multiplied into two millions in four hundred years; their isolated compacted condition, even with servitude, kept them from the dispersion which must have ensued from the nomadic life of Canaan. All these facts Stephen glances at in support of his point, that at every age, in all change of circumstance, God was with his people, and was producing progress by changes, either small or great.

Another reason for the fullness of Joseph’s story may have been his singular resemblance to Christ, in his rejection by his brethren, his exaltation to power, and his deliverance of those who rejected him.

17-34. The Earlier Years of Moses.—At the expiration of the four hundred years of bondage (v. 6) occurred the time of the promise (v. 7). It would seem that the oppression had been comparatively light during nearly this whole period. At length, toward the end, arose a king of a new dynasty who beheld the wonderful increase of Israel’s descendants with alarm. Various devices (Ex. 1) were carried into effect to destroy the young children among the Hebrews. And the burdens were made heavy and galling so as to induce Hebrew parents to consent willingly to the destruction of their male children. But all these events, also, God overruled to accomplish his purpose and promise.

Two facts in this part of the narrative concerning Moses are to be briefly noted. One suggests Stephen’s charge against them; the other forms part of his answer to their charge. The first is the rejection of Moses by his brethren when he would have delivered them. Indirectly the connection of Moses with Christ is here intimated. For like Moses, Christ was rejected as a deliverer by his brethren. The sequel of Stephen’s words shows this to have been his meaning. And verses 26, 27 disclose this other point of analogy: that as Moses was “thrust away” because he urged right doing, so Christ was rejected because of his demand of righteousness in heart and life.

The other fact, helping to answer their charge, is the manifestation of God to Moses in the burning bush. Five centuries before the Temple was built and its inclosure made holy ground, in an alien and afterward hostile country, God had sanctified by his presence a portion of the ground. So—Stephen suggests to their quick apprehension—when the Temple is removed, he may reveal himself elsewhere, nay, everywhere. Afterward, as before, he may be worshiped without a ritual. Afterward, as before, he may deal directly, spiritually, with the individual soul, without intervention of altar, priest, or sacrifice.

35-38. Moses, sent of God, Israel’s Deliverer from Egypt, Leader in the Wilderness, Lawgiver, Prophet, and Mediator.—This Moses whom they refused is the emphatic thought in these four verses. He whom God sent as their savior from bondage, through whom he wrought stupendous miracles for their deliverance and preservation, through whom he transmitted living precepts and truths, and whose mediation he appointed and ofttimes graciously accepted, this Moses was refused by the people for whom he so faithfully wrought and interceded.

And in the very midst of these weighty particulars respecting Moses occurs his signal prophecy of Christ. One, like unto himself, should deliver, teach, intercede for, lead, and provide for his people. Such a one, whose offices of redemption, whose coming, life, death, and resurrection, were further set forth by David and the prophets, Stephen here asserts that this Moses, their Moses, had promised in the future. And until Christ, no being answering in person and work to the promise had appeared. But this CHRIST had fulfilled to the letter every statement of prophecy, every particular of promise. This was the culminating intimation conveyed in the address of Stephen. With all that had occurred in the events of Christ’s history and of the apostle’s subsequent teaching and miracles, these keen-witted priests could not mistake his meaning. And if Christ were the prophet predicted by Moses, they could not but feel the charge as proven against them which they had brought against Stephen. For they were dishonoring Moses in rejecting Him whom Moses had foretold.

39-43. How Israel refused Moses and rejected God by turning to Idolatry.—Stephen refers only to their prominent sin as a conclusive illustration. The making and worshiping the calf of gold was an open defiance to God. And it was prefaced with scornful contempt of this Moses. Reminding his hearers of this to deepen previous impressions, he also tells them plainly what God did to the rebellious people: how when they turned from him he abandoned them to their own desires and left them to idolatrous worship. In verse 43 he refers to the unnatural and murderous sacrifices offered to Moloch and to the star-god Remphan (in Amos 5 : 26, Chiun), or Saturn worshiped under the image of a star. And he cites the threatening of God, afterward sorely fulfilled to their fathers, to drive them out into distant captivity. Thus plainly Stephen reminds them of their father’s guilt and its punishment to point his own severe charge that follows.

44, 45. Their Possession of the Tabernacle an Aggravation of their Guilt.—In this structure, built and furnished under God’s direction, the law of God was kept and the symbol of God’s presence was visible. And God had shown his presence and power by driving out idolatrous nations from their promised inheritance. So that the generation in the wilderness and the after generations to David were without excuse for their disobedience and idol worship. B.

46,47. There is really a tacit contrast between David and Solomon, in favor of the former. Solomon, notwithstanding his wisdom and the splendor of his reign, holds a very inferior place to David in the Scriptures. This being well known to the priests and scribes whom Stephen was addressing, he employs it to enforce his argument, but tacitly and indirectly, lest he should appear to speak indecorously of so great and wise a king as Solomon. What is thus suggested or implied may be brought out more distinctly by a paraphrase. “So far is a permanent and solid temple from being essential to acceptable worship, that even David, the favorite of Jehovah, the man after God’s own heart, whose darling wish it was to find a shelter and a home for his divine protector, was not suffered to erect the house which he had planned, and for which he had collected the materials, but it was Solomon who built it!” J. A. A.

46-50. Even the Temple shown by Solomon and the Prophet Isaiah to be an Insufficient Dwelling for the Lord of Hosts.—Their superstitious and idolatrous veneration for their temple, in which God had never visibly entered, Stephen rebukes, while he still more effectually refutes their charge of blasphemy “against this place.” He reminds them that even Solomon, who built the first temple by express command of God, who had seen the symbol of lighted flame descend from heaven, God himself, enter and abide within the completed structure—even Solomon at that very time publicly declared that the Most High dwelleth not in, is not confined to, any hand-made temples. Nay, more than this, Stephen’s mind, under its divine inspiration, expands to the wider, grander thought of Isaiah (66 : 1, 2), where his prophecies culminate in the sublime prediction of God’s universal spiritual indwelling in human hearts. Then shall be no longer temple, ritual, nor priest. Then the framer of the heavens and the earth, he who formed and lighted every world, whose power holds or energizes all natural things, will be worshiped in spirit and truth! How grand the climax and how complete the proof, in the martyr’s argument! How clear the prophetic prediction of the very change of dispensation announced by Christ and by Stephen, a change which these sharp-minded, convinced Jewish priests and rulers saw already taking place in the marvels of the infant Christian Church of Jerusalem! B.

51,52. One of Stephen’s lines of argument was now completed. He had shown, by a simple but masterly historical deduction, the temporary nature of the ceremonial law, and of the Temple as a part of it, concluding by a reference to Solomon himself, and to Isaiah, who had foretold the same changes now foretold by Stephen. What link could have been added to this chain of proof? All that was left then was to take up and complete his other line of argument, designed to show, by means of the same history which he had been expounding, that the Jews had always been unfaithful to their trust, and that the abrogation of the present system was not only necessary to the execution of God’s purpose as revealed from the beginning, but a righteous retribution of the sins of those by whom the system was administered. Having prepared the way for this conclusion by referring to the sins of Joseph’s brethren, and of the Israelites in Egypt and the wilderness, he now suggests the conclusion itself, not by a formal inference, but by a terrible invective, summing up all that he had said on this point in a brief description of the men whom he addressed, and of the nation which they represented. As the ancient Israel had been rebellious and unfaithful, so the present generation had exactly the same character, and therefore might expect the evils threatened to their fathers. To them the prophets had applied the same reproachful epithets which Stephen here applies to his accusers and his judges. The compound terms, uncircumcised in heart and

53. Who have received the law, and have not kept it.** The Jews, as a nation, had betrayed the highest trust, and proved themselves unworthy of the greatest honor ever granted to a people. They, the recipients and depositaries of an exclusive revelation, had themselves endeavored to defeat the very end for which it was vouchsafed to them. Beyond this, accusation or invective could not well be carried. In point both of rhetoric and logic, Stephen could not have concluded more effectively. J. A. A.—They could deny nothing, for Stephen had stated only facts. The inferences they perfectly understood. The points he had made, in his own justification and in the plainly implied charge against them, Stephen knew that these sharp-witted leaders both apprehended and felt. They were prepared for a direct accusation, and Stephen’s conscience as well as his argument pressed him to make it. So, as first the Master and afterward Peter, in the identical tribunal and before the very same priests and rulers, Stephen now reverses the position of the parties. Guided and girded by the indwelling Spirit of Christ, he fearlessly arraigns his judges for a far higher crime before a more august tribunal.

Up to this point, he had only implied this charge and laid a broad foundation for it. But now, concentrating in one view the crimes of many generations of their fathers against God, he boldly affirms that of all these they have been guilty. As their fathers resisted the Holy Spirit of God in his partially exerted force, they have openly defied the same Spirit now manifest in his mightiest energy of blessing and life. As their fathers persecuted the prophets who announced the coming and the redemption of Messiah, the Just One, they have pursued to the death the Just One, the Christ himself. And as their fathers, so they have despised the holy Law of Jehovah. This Law they professed to honor as sent through their great leader Moses. He reminds them of an even greater dignity, upon which also they prided themselves, in its transmission to Moses through the instrumentality of angels. Yet this Law, in itself of divine origin and ordination, transmitted through agents so august and revered—this Law, which they had falsely charged him with blasphemy, they themselves had utterly disobeyed and dishonored. And in truth, as Stephen charged, they were not the true, the spiritual Israel. With all their proud boasting, they were only aliens and heathen. B.

54. WHEN they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with 55 their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and 56 saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see 57 the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they 58 cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a 59 young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and 60 saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 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.

1,2. And Saul was consenting unto his death. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout 3 the regions of Judæa and Samaria, except the apostles. As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women, committed them to prison. 4 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.

THE death of Stephen is the New Testament translation, and he is to be set as the third with Enoch and Elijah, only higher, inasmuch as each manifestation of God rises while time moves on. It is a greater thing to overcome death than to be carried past it, and here it is no fire-chariot which lifts to heaven, but the outstretched hand of Christ, according to his own word, “I will come and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also.” In the death of Stephen it is intended that we should see how thin the veil is between the two worlds—how the Lord stands on the very confine, sending across his look and arm and voice, so that ere his servant left the earth he saw his heavenly master, heard his words, and returned his smile. And, in our own time, God lets us see how he can lighten the dark valley with his presence, and make his most beautiful gems sparkle in the coronet of death. He reveals to us in our Christian friends oftentimes such a beauty and tenderness of soul in the hour of parting, that we can see they were directing their look clear into the heavenly world, and we walking with angels unaware. The calmness and tender sweetness of the dying hour, the faith and patience and hope, are most evident tokens of the presence of Christ’s Spirit; but may not the smile of more than human joy, the glow which sometimes suffuses the countenance till it is seen like the face of an angel, be the reflection of the look of Christ himself, and the first faint ripple of the waves of unutterable glory that are beginning to touch the feet and sparkle in the eyes of the awakening soul? Most sure, to those who have witnessed it, is the conviction that there must be light beyond, that this gleam is not from death’s darkness but God’s own day, and may well be encouragement to us “to hope in his word, and to wait for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning; yea, more than they that watch for the morning.” Ker.

54. Deeply stung by the Direct, Incisive Charge of Stephen, the Leaders and People are maddened with Rage against him.—As he intended, his words are truthful home-thrusts that can neither be avoided nor turned aside. And where conviction does not melt into penitence, it hardens into a stronger hate, and flames into a fiercer wrath. So here, the hate and the wrath seek God’s sent reprover. They would rend to pieces the Christlike man who now stands calmly before them, with eyes upcast, and with the “sheen of heaven” still upon his brow.

55, 56. His Vision of the Opened Heavens, the Glory of God, and the Man Christ Jesus standing at the Right Hand of God.—The very first words of Stephen were, The God of glory. These words comprised his theme. In the ways and working of this God, traced to his incarnation in Christ, he finds his justification and defense. And now this God confirms the martyr’s truth by a palpable vision of his glory in vital association with the person of Jesus, the Son of man. Instantly the self-forgetting Stephen avails himself of the vision for his enemies’ advantage. Virtually continuing his address, he fervently preaches Him whom he now beholds. With a testimony so clear and marvelous that demanded belief, he proclaims the risen and glorified Christ to these hardened men, if he may move them.

Concerning this marvelous experience of Stephen, it was certainly true that a supernatural spiritual illumination was vouchsafed, which had all the effect of actual vision. The latter may have been added. But the purpose of this opened heaven and visible Christ seems to be clear and manifold. As it related to the martyr himself, it was designed to lend in this crisis hour special strength to his faith, and so give a tone of triumph to his final testimony.

But there seems to be a more significant purpose and use intimated by the form of Stephen’s declaration. To these very men, only three or four years before, Christ had said, Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God! Now Stephen affirms in their presence that this assertion of Christ is fulfilled: Behold, I see the Son of man standing on the right hand of God! Thus another most powerful testimony to the truth and Godhood of Christ is added to deepen the impression upon their minds. That Stephen’s words are designed to be thus responsive to Christ’s, we find strong confirmation in his use of the expression Son of man. Nowhere but here, in the Gospels, Acts, or Epistles, is this title applied to Christ except by himself. If here used by Stephen in responsive quotation or parallel, we have a reasonable explanation of his use of a title so solemnly appropriated by our Lord himself.

A minor difference between the two utterances of the Master and disciple carries with it a touching suggestion. In Christ’s words, and elsewhere, he is described as sitting on the right hand of God. Stephen beholds him arisen as if ready and waiting to welcome his first martyred disciple!

57, 58. Stephen is borne, with Outcry and Violence, out of the City and stoned.—The enraged leaders and people understand his meaning, but they scorn the Christ he declares to be God. To their blinded minds and envenomed hearts, Stephen’s words only aggravate his guilt. Their cry of blasphemy now rings loudly out on the air. Then, without further form of trial, without a moment’s respite or a thought of pity, the maddened throng seize this unbefriended man, drag him with insult and stroke through the Temple gate outside the city, and there maim and crush his body with stones to the death. B.

Somewhere about the rocky edges of the ravine of Jehoshaphat, where the Mount of Olives looks down upon Gethsemane and Siloam, or on the open ground to the north, which travelers cross when they go toward Samaria or Damascus—with stones that lay without the walls of the Holy City—this heavenly-minded martyr was murdered. H.

The witnesses, according to the law (Deut. 17:7), were required to cast the first stones and afterward to lead the rest, in the execution of sentence. They laid aside, therefore, the outer garment, or mantle, that their action might be freer. The garments were put in charge of Saul, who, in God’s purpose, will ere long take this stoned man’s place as witness to Christ. Saul’s only human teacher was Stephen. He was instructed if not convinced by Stephen’s address. He could not but have been impressed by the martyr’s bold fidelity and utter self-consecration. He must have felt that sublime trust which expelled all fear and power of death. And deeply must he have been touched by the beautiful spirit that added to forgiveness of his murderers fervent intercession with God in their behalf. For Saul certainly, probably for many besides, Stephen’s intercession availed as a means of ultimate conversion. B.

It is deeply interesting to think of Saul as listening to the martyr’s voice, as he antedated those very arguments which he himself was destined to reiterate in synagogues and before kings. There is no reason to doubt that he was present. And it is evident, from the thoughts which occurred to him in his subsequent vision within the precincts of the Temple (Acts 22:20), how deep an impression Stephen’s death had left on his memory. We can not dissociate the martyrdom of Stephen from the conversion of Paul. The spectacle of so much constancy, so much faith, so much love, could not be lost. It is hardly too much to say with Augustine, that “the Church owes Paul to the prayer of Stephen.” H.

59,60. The Dying Prayers and the Death-Sleep of the Proto-Martyr.—For himself and for his murderers, he prays; as before, in like experience, the Master had prayed. Only this difference in the petition for himself: Christ had commended his spirit to the Father. But He had taught his disciples that they belonged immediately to Him; and that He would receive them again unto himself at death. So understanding and believing, Stephen simply responds, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! B.—Plainly in this prayer Stephen honored the Son even as the Son honored the Father when he prayed, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” As plainly neither the Master, nor this first martyr among his followers, questioned the separate existence of the spirit after death. O. E. D.

And the prayer for his murderers is identical in spirit with Christ’s upon the cross. Specially touching are the circumstances of this prayer. While crushing blows were overwhelming him and his life-blood was freely flowing, mindful only of their guilt and God’s mercy, he gathers his last strength, kneels down—that they may see his attitude of prayer—and prays with full voice—that they may hear—for their forgiveness. Thus, in Christlike love, under circumstances never humanly matched, he deliberately leaves this last impression of his spirit and purpose. And this completes and crowns his ministry that day to them. He had “magnified Christ in his life” by Christlike fidelity and boldness. And now he “magnifies Christ in his death” by his tranquil and triumphant faith, and by his fervent intercession for his slayers. As he stands or kneels, the target of their murderous rage, their tumultuous, passionate outcry is met by his calm, patient endurance, his steadfast heavenward, gaze, his fervent prayer, his trustful self-commitment—and then his falling asleep!

And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Sleep is Christ’s word for death, which Luke and his teacher Paul have thoroughly learned. But how striking its use just here! Amid such tumult, while raging passions are actually venting themselves in violent outcry and murderous deed, how does this figure of perfect calmness in a soul departing from its crushed body add wonderful testimony to the truth and power of the Christ here appealed to!

Now that they have silenced this faithful voice, and stilled this fervid heart in death, the Jewish priests and leaders seem to have prevailed. But they were the conquered, not the conquering, party. From that one sacrifice sprang many new-created souls, as gracious trophies of the power that from the planted seed brings life out of death. B.—The revelation of such a character at the moment of death was the strongest of all evidences, and the highest of all encouragements. Nothing could more confidently assert the divine power of the new religion; nothing could prophesy more surely the certainty of its final victory. H.

At the martyrdom of Stephen, the malice of the Jews became, under the power of Christ, the means of proving that He, whom they had crucified, the divine proto-martyr, Jesus Christ, now reigning in heaven, is the source of all the courage of martyrs in the dying hour, and of all the hope which gives them a foretaste of bliss, and of all the charity which makes them love and bless their persecutors. W.

The reader is not likely to die for his allegiance to Christ under a shower of stones, but how does he bear it when a single stone is thrown at him? He may be assailed by injurious words, which often wound more sharply, leave uglier scars, and are harder to be borne; and does he hold fast his serenity and good will? Trivial trials may be as decisive of character as martyrdoms. Many a disciple to-day in some obscure lot of suffering or want

treads as closely in the footsteps of the Master as his first martyr Stephen. O. E. D.