Acts 7

Acts 7:15

Stephen proceeds in his discourse before the Sanhu rate several other facts in the Jewish history, purpose of his own vindication, and their c VII. 15—36.

Acts VII. 15.

STEPHEN, while he stood before the council with the radiancy of countenance taken notice of above, proceeded in his discourse, and said, I have observed to you, brethren, and fathers, how Jacob went down into Egypt; and you well know, that having been supported about seventeen years by the filial gratitude and tenderness of Joseph, he died there; and our fathers also, the patriarchs his children, ended their lives in the same country. And yet, by the way, they were solicitous not to be buried there; but as Jacob was immediately brought up, with solemn funeral pomp and procession, to be buried in the cave of Machpelah with Abraham and Isaac, (Gen. xlix. 30) so the patriarchs also, having been embalmed and put into coffins in Egypt, (Gen. l. 26) were, at the return of Israel from thence, carried over to Sychem, and were laid in the sepulchre which was made in that field which Jacob bequeathed to Joseph as a peculiar legacy; he having first, as Abraham had done in a like case, purchased it for a sum of money, that is, for an hundred

*Which Abraham purchased, &c.] It is so evident from Gen. xxxiii. 19; and Josh. xxiv. 32, that the field at Sychem r Shechem, in which the bones of Joseph (and, as it should seem from this passage, and from what is asserted by Jerom. Epitaph. Paulæ, those of the other atriarchs) were buried, was purchased, not by Abraham, but by Jacob, and also that Abraham’s sepulchre was purchased, not of Emmor, or Hamor, the former proprietor of Jacob’s ground, but of Ehron the Hittite, (Gen. xxiii. 10, & seq.) that it seems demonstrable, that this passage has suffered something by the addition or omission of transcribers: for to suppose, that Stephen or Luke desi edly

used the name of Abraham for Jacob, is I think, one of the grossest affronts that can be offered to the character of either. A real slip of memory would be a trifle, when compared with such a designed prevarication. But, without supposing either, I apprehend with Beza in his admirable note on this text, that Luke probably wrote only which he (that is, as the connection fixes it, Jacob) bought, &c. which was the exact truth; and some officious transcriber, who fancied the verb wanted a nominative case, and thought he remembered the purchase of Abraham, (which it is plain he did not exactly distinguish) put in his name. This solution, which is advanced by the learned Bo-

Israelites are cruelly oppressed in Egypt.

pieces of silver, of the sons of Emmor [the father] of Sychem, from whom in particular, the place was named; and the Amorites having afterwards seized it, Jacob had by force recovered it out of their hands. (Compare Josh. xxiv. 32, with Gen. xlviii. 22.) And it was by their own direction the heads of our tribes were kept to be interred here, that they might testify thereby to their posterity, as long as their embalmed bodies continued unburied in Egypt, that they died in the faith of Israel’s being led forth from thence and settled in the land of promise, which accordingly happened.

And to make way for the accomplishment of this event, as the time of the promise drew near, which God had sworn to Abraham (Gen. xxii. 16, 17), the people of Israel, though they had such a small beginning, grew very numerous, and multiplied exceedingly in Egypt; And they continued there for many years in very comfortable circumstances, till another king arose, of a different race and family from the former, who knew not Joseph, and had no regard to his memory. (Exod. i. 8.) He therefore used them in a barbarous way, and forming crafty and treacherous designs against our kindred, lest they in time should grow to be too powerful, treated our fathers most injuriously, and cruelly contrived to cut them off from being a people, by causing all their male infants,

chart (Hierozoc. Part. I. lib. ii. cap. 43), Dr. Benson, and others, is so natural, that I will not trouble the reader with the mention of several others, which may be seen in Dr. Whitby, Sir Norton Knatchbull, and Brennius; but shall only observe, that, if this be not allowed (which has indeed no copy to support it), the easiest sense seems to be that which Mr. L’Enfant has given in his note, that Jacob died he and our fathers, and they [that is, our fathers] were carried over to Sychem, and buried; he, [that is, Jacob,] in the sepulchre which Abraham bought for a sum of money, and they [that is, the other patriarchs,] in that which was bought of the sons of Emmor, the father of Sychem. That Ἐμμὸς τυ Συχμ is very justly rendered Emmor the father of Sychem (as he is declared to be in the Old Testament), though the relation be not here expressed in the ori inal, sufficiently

appears from other passages, in which not only the relation of a son, of which we have frequent instances, but other relations too are left to be supplied. So Μαρία Ἰακώβι is Mary the mother of James (Luke xxiv. 10, compared with Mark xv. 40); and Ἰακώβι Ἰακώβι is Judas the brother of James (Acts i. 13, compared with Jude ver. 1): Nor was this only usual with the Jews, but (as Bochart has shewn in the place cited before), we have many instances of the like way of speaking in the most approved Greek writers. (See Dr. Whitby’s note on Luke xxiv. 1.) The other objections, which Rabbi Isaac has made against this passage (Chiss. Emun. Part. II. cap. 63) are so trifling, that I content myself with referring to Mr. Biscoe’s full account and learned solution of them, Boyle’s Lect. chap. xviii. p. 607—609.

Moses is born, and educated in the court of

in obedience to a most inhuman order that he published, to be exposed or cast into the river Nile, that in a little time their race might perish, and be quite extinct. (Exod. i. 22.)

Such was the miserable state to which our fathers were reduced, in which afflictive persecuting time it was, that the celebrated Moses was born; and he was so exceeding beautiful,b that his parents were struck with a peculiar desire of preserving him; and that they might, if possible, secure him from the execution of the barbarous edicts I have just now mentioned, he was bred up with all the privacy that could be for three months in his father’s house: But as they were unable to conceal him any longer, he was committed by them to the care of Providence, and having put him in an ark of bulrushes, they laid him in the flags upon the brink of the river Nile. (Exod. ii. 2, 3.) And being thus exposed, the providence of God so ordered it, that he was found by the daughter of Pharaoh, who at the sight of him was moved with pity, and took him upc and nourished him, with a purpose of adopting him for her own son. And Moses by this means was educated in all the whole circle of arts and learning, which came within the system of the celebrated wisdom and

b Exceeding beautiful.] This our translators, render in the margin, fair to God, which is the literal sense of the original, &cœœœæ &cœœæ. Grotius and others have observed, it is a common Hebraism, being no more than an emphatical expression to devote his extraordinary beauty which might perhaps be not unfitly rendered divinely beautiful, the name of God being often introduced to express such things as were extraordinary in their kind. So in the Hebrew, what we translate great wrestlings, is wrestlings of God; (Gen. xxx 8;) goodly cedars are cedars of God; (Psal. lxxx. 10;) great mountains are mountains of God; (Psal. xxxvi. 6;) and an exceeding great city is a great city of God; (Jon. iii. 3;) &cœœæ &cœœæ &cœœæ; Septuag. And in like manner, in the New Testament (2 Cor. x. 4), weapons mighty through God, &cœœæ &cœœæ &cœœæ &cœœæ, might not improperly be rendered very strong weapons. This then agrees with what is said of Moses (Exod. ii. 2, that he was

a goodly child; and, in the account Josephus gives of him, he says, “that when he was but three years old, his extraordinary beauty was such, that it struck every one that saw him; and, as they carried him about persons would leave their work to look at him.” (Antiq. lib ii. cap 9, [al 5.] § 6.) The fame of it had also spread among the Heathen; for Justin in his History relates from Trogus (lib. xxxvi. cap 2), that, besides the inheritance of his father’s knowledge (whom he takes to have been Joseph) his beautiful appearance greatly recommended him. See Grotius and Whitby in loc. c The daughter of Pharaoh took him up All these extraordinary circumstances relating to the birth, preservation, education, genius, and character of Moses, serve to aggravate the crime of Israel in rejecting him, when he offered himself to them as a deliverer under so many advantages, and when Providence had so wonderfully interested itself in his favour.

rty years old, he goes to visit his brethren.

philosophy of the Egyptians :ᵈ And such was his remarkable proficiency, that he was mighty in the solidity of his discourses,ᵉ and in the prudence of his actions,ᶠ so that he made a very conspicuous figure, both in the counsels that he gave and the commands he executed, in that polite and justly renowned nation.

But when he was arrived at the full age of forty years, he was conducted to a very different scene of life; for having been instructed in the knowledge of his real descent, and in the principles of the Jewish religion, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel; and his spirit was so impressed with it, that all the pleasure and grandeur at the court of Egypt could not make him easy, without going in person to take a survey of their state. And there beholding one [of them] injured by an oppressive Egyptian taskmaster, who had subdued and got him down, and seemed about to take away his life, his generous spirit was not able to brook it; but he defended [him,] and smiting the Egyptian with a mortal wound, he at once rescued and avenged him that was oppressed. (Exod. ii. 11, 12.) And as he did this action by a special impression from God

ᵈ Educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.] Geography, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, natural history, physic, and hieroglyphics, are all mentioned by ancient writers, as branches of Egyptian literature. As for magic in the bad sense of the word, it is not to be imagined that so good a man would have any thing to do with it. Several ancient testimonies to the extraordinary learning of Moses may be seen in the following passages: Phil. de Vit. Mos. lib. i. p. 470; Justin Mart. Quest. ad Orthod. xxv; Orig. contra Cels. lib. iii. p. 139; Clem. Alex. Strom. lib. i. p. 343. I only add, it must have been a self-denial, which none but a lover of learning, and one who has made some progress in it, can understand, for a person of such a genius and education, in the prime of life, to leave the polite court of Egypt, and live as a retired shepherd in the Arabian desert.

ᵉ Mighty in discourses.] It may seem difficult to reconcile this with what Moses himself says of his own want of eloquence. (Exod. iv. 10.) Some have attempted to do it by ex lainin this ex ression, as im-

porting the wisdom of the laws he gave, as they explain the next clause, mighty in actions, of the miracles he wrought. But Stephen seems rather to refer to what he was in the court of Pharaoh, than to what he afterwards proved. I conclude therefore, that it expresses such a weight and solidity in his counsels and speeches, as may be very consistent with the want of a flowing elocution; and the remarkable calmness of his natural temper would render him more entirely master of himself on great occasions, rather than others of readies speech with warmer passions.

ᶠ And in actions.] Archbishop Tillotson (in his works, Vol. II. p. 23,) and many others think, that this refers to a story mentioned by Josephus, (Antiq. lib. ii. cap. 10, al. 5,) that, when Moses dwelt in Pharaoh’s court, the Ethiopians invaded Egypt, and Moses, being made general in the war against them, gave them a total defeat, and drove back the small remainder of their forces in confusion to their own country.

They slight him, and he flies into the land o

on his mind, intimating the important work for which he was intended, so he supposed that his brethren, observing the remarkable circumstance of the fact, by which he substantially declared his readiness to venture, not only his fortune but his life in their service, would have understood that the action was expressive of what they might hope to obtain by his means, and intimated that God would give them salvation and deliverance by his hand: But they were so exceeding stupid, that they did not understand it. And the next day he shewed himself again to two of them, as they were quarrelling together, and would have interposed between them, and have persuaded them to live in peace and friendship, saying, Men, my friends, consider you are brethren, descended from Jacob our common ancestor, and now too joined in affliction as well as in religion, which ought doubly to cement your affections to each other, why then do ye injure one another? But he that injured his neighbour, unable to bear with his plain and faithful reproof, insolently thrust him away, saying, What hast thou to do with this controversy? Who has made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Wilt thou kill me, as I know thou didst yesterday slay the Egyptian? His blood may cost thee dear enough without adding mine to the account. (Exod. ii. 13, 14.) Then Moses, as he found the matter was discovered, and was apprehensive that in consequence of it the Egyptian power would be soon armed against him, while the Israelites were not inclined to use any efforts for his protection, nor to put themselves under his guidance, presently fled from Egypt at this saying, and became a sojourner

He supposed that his brethren would have understood, &c.] They might have known, that the time drew near which God had prefixed in his promise to Abraham, in a prediction which might probably be delivered down by tradition, and which would be more likely to be remembered under their oppression, as the patriarchs had in dependence upon it directed, that their bones should continue unburied in Egypt: And, when they saw a person of so much dignity, authority, and influence, whom God had so wonderfully preserved, interposing in this generous and heroic manner,

which plainly shewed that he in good earnest intended at all hazards to do his utmost for their deliverance, it would have been highly reasonable for them to have taken occasion, from this action of his, to enter into some treaty with him relating to it. He that injured his neighbour thrust him away.] It is plain the speech of this single person is represented ver. 35, as expressing the sentiments of the whole body of the people, as their slowness afterwards to be lieve the mission of Moses, when attesteby miracle. (Exod. v. 20, 21,) seems evdiently to shew that it was.

after, God appears to him in a burning bush.

in the land of Midian; where nevertheless rovidence furnished him with a comfortable settlement, though in circumstances of great retirement; for he became the chief shepherd, to Jethro, the prince of the country, and marrying Zipporah, his daughter, he begat two sons, Gershom and Eliezer.

And when forty years more were fulfilled, in which Israel had continued under this bondage, and Moses had been trained up in that humble and retired life for the great work for which God had intended him, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in the midst of a bush, while he was feeding the flock of Jethro his father in law in the wilderness of mount Sinai, even of that mount Sinai which (as you know) lay in the confines of the Midianite country, not far from the Red Sea. (Exod. iii. 1, 2.) And Moses, seeing [it,] admired the vision, for the bush burned with fire, and yet was not consumed; and as he drew near to behold and survey [it] more particularly, the voice of the Lord came unto him out of the bush, [Saying,] “I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, who led them safely through all the difficulties of life, and still manifest a friendship to them; in consequence of which, I am not even now ashamed to own that title.” And Moses upon this, perceiving that it was God himself who was there present and spake to him, trembled at this appearance of his Majesty, and did not dare to behold it, as he intended, with a curious regard. And the Lord said unto him, “Loose thy shoes from thy feet; for the place in which thou standest is now holy ground, while I thus visibly appear upon it; and it becomes thee (by that usual token of respect before princes) to express thy reverence for my royal presence.

¹ Loose thy shoes from thy feet] It was formerly in the eastern nations, and is now in the southern, esteemed a ceremony of respect, to put of the shoes when approaching a superior, lest any of the dirt or dust cleaving to the shoes should be brought near him, and that the person approaching barefoot might tread more cautiously. This, which perhaps was introduced at first in court apartments where rich carpets might be used, the King of kings requires to be done in a desert, as a token of the infinitely greater reverence due to him. (Compare Josh. v. 15, and Eccles. v. 1.) On the same principle, it seems, the priests ministered thus in the tabernacle and temple, no direction being given for shoes or sandals as a part of their dress, though all the rest of it was so particularly prescribed.

oses, whom they refused, is sent to be th

I have surely seen the evil and oppressive treatment of my people which are in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning; and moved with pity and compassion at their sufferings, I am come down to deliver them by thine hand: And now therefore come, and lay aside immediately thy cares of a shepherd for others of much greater importance, and I will send thee into Egypt, to demand their dismissal from that proud tyrant who so injuriously detains and oppresses them.” (Exod. iii. 5—10.)

And thus you see, what in present circumstances it will be proper for you to reflect upon, that this Moses, whom they renounced, saying with disdain, Who has constituted thee a ruler and a judge? even this very person did God, by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush, send [to be] a ruler and redeemer. And though he hesitated for a while, he afterwards complied; and at length led them forth in triumph, a willing people listed under his banner, doing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and afterwards in the Red Sea, where Pharaoh and his host were overwhelmed; and working many other miracles in the wilderness for the space of forty years, where indeed they were every day miraculously fed by manna from heaven, and conducted by the pillar of fire and cloud.

IMPROVEMENT.

He is indeed faithful that hath promised; he remembereth his 17 covenant for ever, the word which he commanded even to a thousand generations. (Psal. cv. 8.) He multiplied his people in Egypt, that Canaan might not want inhabitants, when the sinners against their own souls that then held it should be cut off: And when he had determined so to multiply the holy seed, vain were 18, 19 all the attempts of the ungrateful Egyptians to destroy the kindred of him by whom, as they had formerly confessed, their lives had been saved: (Gen. xlvii. 25.) Yet was the rod of the wicked permitted for a while to rest upon their back, that the

This Moses, whom they renounced.] As he terms of high respect, in which Stephen through the whole of this discourse speaks of Moses, tended to shew how improbable it was, that he should have spoken contemptibly of him, as the witnesses pretended; to this circumstance of the Israelites having rejected him, whom God had appointed to be a ruler and redeemer, intimated how possible it was, that Jesus, whom they had lately rejected, might nevertheless be constituted a Saviour by the Divine determination.

Reflections on the account that Stephen gives of Moses.

remembrance of the bondage and the cruelties they had there endured might, throughout all generations, be a source of joyful and grateful obedience to that God who delivered them from the land of Egypt, and from the house of bondage, and an engagement to serve him who had so illustriously triumphed over idolatry, as it were in its headquarters. The church has often had its winter season, yet Providence has overruled the severity of that, to conduce to the verdure and beauty of its spring, and to the fruitfulness of its summer and its autumn.

Moses was born in the midst of this persecuting time, and when exposed, was the care of divine Providence; the compassion which God put into the heart of this Egyptian princess, was to draw after it a train of most important consequences. Moses was fitted for the great part he was to act in the close of life by very different means; the learning, the magnificence, and politeness of the court of Egypt were to do their part, that he might be able to appear with honour in that court as an ambassador, and to conduct himself with becoming dignity as a prince; but they could not do the whole: They were to illustrate his generosity in seeking, in the midst of such various pleasures, and at the expense of such high prospects to vindicate his oppressed brethren, whose sorrow touched his heart, and whose groans pierced (if I may so express it) through all the music of the court, through all the martial noise of the camp, in which he might sometimes reside and command: Glorious triumph of faith, that when he was come to such full age, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and chose rather to meet with affection in the cause of Christ, than to enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin! (Heb. xi. 24, 25.)

But forty years of retirement in the desert of Midian, spent in the meditations and devotions, for which the life of a shepherd gave so great advantage, must ripen him to feed God’s people Israel; while they, in the mean time, justly groaned under the continuance of that bondage from which they were so backward to accept of a proffered deliverer.

At length light breaks in upon them in the midst of their darkness: Let us turn aside and behold with proper affection this great sight, the bush burning but not consumed; and therein an emblem of the preservation of the church, even amidst the fiercest flames. Let us hear with pleasure that voice which proclaims to all that hear it, so compassionate and faithful a God, which opens so glorious and lasting a hope; I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. “Thou art not, O Lord, the God of the dead but of the living; (Mat. xxii. 32;) these pious patriarchs therefore live with thee, and their believing seed shall partake of that life and joy in the city, which because thou hast prepared for them, thou art not ashamed to be called their God.” (Heb. xi. 16.)

VOL. 3.

Moses had pointed out another prophet, even Christ.

How does God manifest the heart of a parent towards these xiv. his oppressed children! I have seen, I have seen the affliction of verse Israel: Thus, O Lord, dost thou see all our afflictions! Let thy 34 church, and each of thy people, trust thee to come down for their deliverance in thine own time and way; let us with pleasure behold this Moses whom they rejected, and from whom a worthless 35, 36 offender could not bear a reproof, made a leader and a redeemer: So is our blessed Jesus, though once rejected and despised, exalted to be a prince and a saviour. It is not in vain that we have trusted, it is he that should redeem Israel. (Luke xxiv. 21.) He has conquered the tyrant of hell, he has broken our chains, he has brought us forth into a wilderness, but a wilderness in which God nourishes and guides us; and he shall ere long have what Moses had not, the honour and delight of leading all his people into the land of promise, and dividing to them a joyful and everlasting inheritance there.

Acts 7:37

Parallels: Acts 8

Stephen proceeds in his discourse, till his audience are so enraged that they rush upon him and stone him. Acts VII. 37, to the end. Acts VIII. 1.—

ACTS VII. 37. SECT. STEPHEN went on, in his discourse before xv. the Sanhedrim, to mention several other Acts circumstances concerning Moses, which he vii. 37 judged important to his present purpose; and having taken notice of the commission he received from God to be a ruler and deliverer, and of the wonders that he wrought in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness, he added, This is that Moses who expressly said to the children of Israel, (Deut. xviii. 15,) “A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you from amongst your brethren like unto me, him shall ye hear:” Thereby pointing out, that Jesus of Nazareth, who is to be regarded as the great prophet and lawgiver of Israel, by whom God has sent you, as he did by Moses, a new system of precepts, and new ample discoveries of his will. Acts VII. 37. THIS is that Moses which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me: him shall ye hear.

• A prophet shall the Lord your God, &c.] xviii. 18; and Mr. Jeffery’s True Grounds, p. As to the justice with which this prophecy 128—135; whom I mentioned before in is applied to Christ, in its original and lit- note on Acts iii. 22, p. 40; to which add eral sense, see Dr. Bullock’s Serm. on Deut. Bishop Sherlock on Prophecy, p. 187, & seq.

After the law was given, Moses was soon rejected.

This Moses is he who was the chief in the assembly convened in the wilderness, who had the honour of conversing with the angel that spake to him there on mount Sinai, and of transacting all things with our fathers, whom he then entered into covenant with God: (Exod. xix. 3, 17; xxiv. 7, 8:) And it was he who received the lively oracles of God, to give them unto us, even those oracles of the living Jehovah, which are so full of divine life and energy, which were delivered in so awakening and impressing a manner, and which instruct us in the way to life and happiness. Yet notwithstanding this, you cannot but remember that this is the illustrious prophet to whom our fathers, even after all the proofs of his miraculous power in Egypt and the Red Sea, would not be obedient; but acted a part yet more stupid and ungrateful than that which I mentioned before, (ver. 27, 35,) when they (as it were) thrust him from them a second time, as in contempt of all these wonderful appearances of God by him, and returned back again to Egypt in their hearts; Saying to Aaron, at the very foot of that mountain upon which God had visibly manifested himself to them, while the sound of his voice was (as it were) yet in their ears, and though they but a few days before had seen their great leader ascending up to him by an intimacy of approach allowed to no other mortal, “Make us gods, who may march before us, and conduct us in the way;

b This is he, who was in the assembly in the wilderness.] When this clause is quoted, as it has been by some very great men, to prove that Christ was the person, who brought Israel out of Egypt, gave them the law, conducted them through the wilderness, &c. the argument from thence is certainly inconclusive; for who were evidently answers to who, ver. 36, and to who was, ver. 37: and the following clause, which expresses his being with the angel, plainly proves the angel to be a different person. But I think the doctrine itself, “that Christ was the God of Israel, or the angel who appeared to Moses,” a great and certain truth, capable of being evinced from many passages of the Old and New Testament, and from this paragraph in particular, though not from this clause; and I

hope in due time to shew, that the arguments which Mr. Pierce has urged against it from Heb. xiii 2, and ii. 2-4, are quite inconclusive. I follow Beza, Heinsius, and the Prussian translators, in rendering like, assembly, as our translators do, Acts xix. ult. because I am persuaded it refers, not in the general to their being incorporated into one church in the appropriate sense of that word, but to their being assembled round the mountain on the solemn day when the law was given; Exod. xix. 17, & seq.

c To whom our fathers would not be obedient.] This is observed by Stephen once and again, and he insists upon it largely, that they might see it was no new thing, for Israel to rebel against God by rejecting deliverers sent from him.

Their fathers were guilty of the grossest

or [as for] this Moses, who indeed brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him, and cannot have patience to wait for him any longer.” And they stupidly made a calf, in imitation of the Egyptian Apis, in those very days while they continued encamped in that remarkable situation, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands, as if, instead of a reproach and abomination, it had been an ornament and defence to them. (Exod. xxxii. 1, 6.) But upon this God was most righteously provoked, so that he turned, as it were, away from them, and, as in many other instances, punished one sin by letting them fall into another; yea, at length he gave them up in succeeding ages to the most abandoned, public, and general idolatry, even to worship all the host of heaven, with as little reserve, and as little shame, as the most stupid of the heathen nations; as it is written in the book of the prophets, and particularly in that part of the volume of which Amos was the penman, (Amos v. 25—27,) “O ye house of Israel, did ye offer victims and sacrifices to me alone, even for forty years in the wilderness? You know, that even then you began to revolt and provoke me to jealousy with your abominations. And you have ever since been renewing and aggravating your rebellions and treasons against me for you have openly taken up the tabernacle of Moloch, instead of confining yourselves to

“You have openly taken up, &c.] The learned De Dieu has a most curious and amusing, but to me very unsatisfactory note, on this verse. He saw, and I wonder so many great commentators should not have seen, the absurdity of imagining, that Moses would have suffered idolatrous processions in the wilderness. Therefore he maintains, that Amos here refers to a mental idolatry, by which, considering the tabernacle as a model of the visible heavens, (a fancy to be sure as old as Philo and Josephus,) they referred it, and the worship there paid, to Moloch, so as to make it in their hearts, in effect, his shrine, and there also to pay homage to Saturn, whom he would prove to be the same with Chinn or Remphan, who (as this critic thinks,)

might be called their star, because some later rabbies, out of their great regard to the Sabbath, which was among the Heathen Saturn’s day, have said many extravagant and ridiculous things in honour of that planet. Lud. Cappellus hints at this interpretation too. But the words of the prophet, and of Stephen, so plainly express the making of images, and the pomp of their superstitious processions, (see Young on Idolatry, Vol. I. p. 128—131.) that I think, if external idolatry is not referred to here, it will be difficult to prove it was ever practised. I conclude therefore, considering what was urged in the beginning of this note, that God here refers to the idolatries, to which in succeeding ages they were graduallyiven u, (after having begun to revol

And therefore were carried into captivity.

ine, and have carried in public procession the star of your god Chiun or Remphan, paying a religious veneration to the emblematical figures and representations which you have made whereby to worship them; and therefore I will pour out, on this generation, the wrath that you and your fathers have been so long treasuring up, and will carry you away into captivity beyond Babylon, into countries more distant than those inhabited by the captives who were carried from Damascus.”

Nor can you be insensible, that their crime was far more aggravated, than the idolatry of the Heathen whom they imitated, considering the exact model of religious and divine worship which God had given them: for the tabernacle of witness, in which the tables of testimony were lodged, as a constant witness of the relation between God and Israel, was with our forefathers in the wilderness; a tabernacle which was made in all respects as he had appointed, who spake unto Moses, commanding him to make it exactly according to the model which he had seen in the mount. (Exod. xxv. 40.) Which also our fathers, who succeeded them in the next generation, receiving from their hands, brought in with Joshua, when he led them over Jordan

in the wilderness by the sin of the golden calf;) which certainly appears (as Grotius has justly observed,) from its being assigned as the cause of their captivity; which it can hardly be conceived, the sin of their fathers in the wilderness, almost seven or eight hundred years before, could possibly be, though in conjunction with their own wickedness in following ages God might (as he threatened, Exod. xxxii. 34) remember that. Compare 2 Kings xvii. 16; xxi. 3; xxiii. 5.

“Moloch, and — Remphan.] Probably the sun was represented by Moloch, and some star (whether Saturn, Venus, or the Moon, I cannot determine,) by Remphan, which plainly is intended to answer to Chiun (if that were the original reading) in the Old Testament; but neither the etymology of the name, nor the particular planet to which it referred, seems to me sufficiently evident. The learned reader will find a curious dissertation on this subject in Vitringa, Observ. Sacr. Vol. I. lib. ii. cap. 1, with which he may compare Wits. Miscell. lib. ii. diss. v. § 2—17. Beza reads

Rephan for Remphan, and interprets it of some gigantic statue of Hercules, called Chiun from its strength; and Lud. Cappellus and Dr. Hammond interpret it of an Egyptian king called Remphis: But I can pronounce nothing certain concerning so obscure a point.

“Beyond Babylon, into countries more distant, &c.] Thus Dr. Prideaux (Connect. Vol. I. p. 15) reconciles Stephen’s quotation with the original in Amos, where it is said, beyond Damascus; and I find no solution more natural. But Beza, observing these words to be quoted in Justin Martyr, according to the Hebrew, thinks the original reading here accidentally changed.

“The tabernacle of witness.] As Stephen had been accused of blaspheming the temple, he with great propriety takes occasion to speak of their sacred places with due reverence, as raised by special direction from God, and yet corrects that extravagant regard for them, and confidence in them which the Jews were read to entertain.

or does not dwell in temples made with

into the land which had been formerly in possession of the heathen, whom God drove out from before the face of our fathers, and divided the land for an inheritance to them. And this tabernacle continued to be the resort of the pious worshippers of Israel, until the days of David; Who found favour before God, and was made remarkably successful in the wars he undertook in defence of that kingdom over which God had placed him; upon which he made it his petition, that he might have the honour to find a more stable and splendid dwelling for the God of Jacob; and with this view he consecrated a considerable part of the spoils which he had taken from the enemy towards erecting it. But as he was a man of war, and had shed blood, the offer that he made was not accepted, (1 Chron. xxviii. 3,) nor was there any temple for the worship of God, for many years after the settlement of our fathers in Canaan, till Solomon at length, by express Divine appointment, built him an house, which till the reign of that prince he never had commanded or permitted to be done.

Yet, after all, we are not to imagine that he permitted it even then for his own sake; for, as it was acknowledged at the same time by Solomon himself, (2 Chron. vi. 18,) the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands, be they ever so rich, splendid, or majestic; as the prophet Isaiah also says, (Isa. lxvi. 1,) where he is speaking in the name of God, “Heaven is my royal throne, and the whole earth is no more than my footstool, and how then shall my presence be confined to any particular place? What suitable house will you build for me? saith the Lord; or, what is the place of my stated rest? Hath not my hand made all these things, and whatever splendor they have, did I not form the materials, and endow the workmen that have fashioned them with all their art and genius? Do not imagine then that you can confer any obligation

b Made it his petition.] So should signifies; and, from the account the Scripture gives of David, it appears how much it lay upon his heart, and how greatly he longed to find out a place for the Lord. (Com. 2 Sam. vii. 2 & sc. and Psal. cxxxii. 1-5.) The gold and silver, and other costly materials he had prepared for it, amount to so vast a sum, that it is not easy to give an account of it. See 1 Chron. xxii. 14; and xxix. 2-5.

persecuted the prophets, and s’ain t e essiah.

upon me by such structures as these, or by any act of homage which you can render in them; nor think that you can charm me to continue my abode there, or to be a constant guard to you, merely because you have such edifices amongst you.”

And Stephen finding, by a confused murmur in the place, that they understood whither his discourse was leading them, and perceiving by the eagerness of their countenance that they would be like soon to interrupt him, applied himself more closely to his persecutors in these remarkable words, which he boldly addressed to them under the influence of the Holy Spirit, by whose immediate direction he spoke: O ye stiffnecked, inflexible, and obstinate sinners, who though ye have received the sign of circumcision, and boast that you belong to God as his peculiar people, yet in reality are alienated from him, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, so that you will not hearken to instruction, or be tenderly and seriously affected with it, nothing can be more plain than that ye always do resist the Holy Spirit, and set yourselves in opposition to all his gracious efforts for your recovery and salvation; even as your fathers [did] in former ages, so do ye now. Which of the prophets, who were actuated by that Spirit, did not your fathers persecute? yea, they slew those who spake before, and published the glad tidings of the coming of that Righteous One, of whom you should have heard with delight, and whom you ought to have received with the most humble reverence and joyful consent; but of whom, instead of protecting and honouring him, you have now become the perfidious betrayers, and the cruel murderers:

¹ Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute.] I see no reason to conclude from hence, that many Scriptures containing the history of these persecutions are destroyed by the Jews, as Mr. Whiston maintains: (Essay for restoring, &c. p. 13) It is natural to understand this in a limited sense, only as intimating, that most of them suffered such unworthy usage; and we know that attempts were sometimes made to cut off all the prophets of Jehovah at once. 1 Kings xix. 10, 14 Compare 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16.

² That Righteous One.] Christ was by

way of eminence called so, as being al perfectly righteous. Compare Isa. liii. 11; Zech. ix. 9; Acts iii. 14.

¹ The betrayers and murderers.] It is fine remark of Grotius, that the Sanke drim was obliged, by virtue of its very constitution, to guard and defend the lives of the prophets with peculiar care, how much more to protect such a divine messenger as Christ was from any injurious assault? instead of which, they had no only basely deserted him, but had themselves become principals in his murder.

The Jews are filled with rage at Stephen’s dit

For by you his death was contrived, by you he was condemned, by you the sentence was extorted against him, and execution urged and obtained. Which is the less to be wondered at, as you have already despised so many advantages, and given such amazing proofs of the obstinacy and hardness of your hearts, who have received the law, which was delivered from mount Sinai with such awful pomp, through ranks of angels, that were marshalled in solemn array on that grand occasion, (compare Deut. xxxiii. 2,) and yet have been so hardened that you have not kept it: and now you go on to add sin to sin, in rejecting the milder and more gracious dispensation of the gospel.

And hearing these things, their hearts were, as it were, sawn asunder; and not permitting him to proceed any farther, in a transport of rage they gnashed their teeth upon him, as if they would have devoured him alive.

But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, was by no means terrified with the evil which seemed to be determined against him, but looking up steadfastly towards heaven, he saw, in a most delightful visionary representation, even while he stood in their court, a bright symbol of the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And being unable to contain his joy, he cried out in a sacred transport, and said, Behold, even now I see the heavens opened, and

Through ranks of angels.] It seems evident from Heb. ii. 2, and Gal. iii. 19, that God made use of angels, as the instruments of forming the voice heard from mount Sinai. And, so far as I can judge of the learned Elsner’s arguments, in his dissertation against Cocceius on this head, from Wolfius’s abstract of them, he seems to have the advantage; but this text is so properly rendered, through ranks of angels, (ις διαίτεσας ἀγλίου,) that I apprehend nothing can be argued from hence, but that they graced the so emnity with their presence. Grotius explains it thus, justly observing, that it is a military work. Heinsius has taken great pains to prove what Vatablus hints, that the word ἀγλίου here, as well as in the places quoted above, signifies messengers, that is, prophets, and that διαία α: is to be traced to a Chaldee

etymology from κακον, a copy or explication, as if it had been said, “The law has been copied out, and expounded to you, by a series of prophets.” But had this learned critic seen, how easily these expressions, as here translated, may be reconciled with the supposition, that Christ, as the great angel of God’s presence, presided, while troops of angels assisted, (as independent on these texts in the New Testament, it is certain they did, see Psalm lxvii. 17,) he would not have had recourse to so forced an interpretation.

I see the heavens opened.] Witsius declares it as his opinion, (Miscell. lib. i. cap. xxi. § 6,) that the heavens were really divided, or rendered transparent, so that the throne of Christ’s glory there became visible. But, not to insist on many other improbable circumstances, attending this

ey rush upon Stephen and stone him.

the Son of Man that glorious sovereign whom you condemned and murdered, standing at the right hand of God, where he shall ever reign, to save his people, and at length to execute full vengeance upon his enemies; as he himself solemnly warned you, when like me he was your prisoner. (Mat. xxvi. 64.)

And this declaration and reference provoked them to such a degree, that crying out with a loud voice, that they might drown that of Stephen, they stopped their own ears, as if they could not bear to hear such blasphemy, as they conceived he had spoken, and furiously rushed upon him with one accord. And casting him out of the city, by a gate which was near the place where the Sanhedrim sat, as soon as they had got without the boundaries of that sacred place, which they judged it a profanation to stain with human blood, they stoned him; and the

hypothesis, it would then have been a miracle, if all that were present had not seen it; for on such a declaration they would naturally look up. It is much more reasonable to suppose, he saw a visionary representation. God miraculously operating on his imagination, as on Ezekiel’s, when he sat in his house at Babylon among the elders of Judah, and saw Jerusalem, and seemed to himself transported thither; (Ezek. viii. 1-4.) I say, miraculously operating; for the imagination is not itself capable of performing any such wonders, whatever some, very ignorant of human nature, or disingenuous enough knowingly to misrepresent it, may fancy. I am very ready to conclude with Mr. Addison, that other martyrs, when called to suffer the last extremities, had extraordinary assistances of some similar kind, or frail mortality could not surely have endured the torments under which they rejoiced, and sometimes preached Christ to the conversion of spectators, and in some instances of their guards and tormentors too. See Addison of Christianity, chap. vii. § 5.

° Standing at the right hand of God.] Mr. N. Taylor, (in his excellent Discourse of Deism, p. 69) observes, that Christ is generally represented sitting, but now as standing at God’s right hand; that is, as risen up from the throne of his glory, to afford help to his distressed servant, and ready to receive him.

° They stoned him.] This seems (like the stoning Paul at Lystra, chap. xiv. 19)

to have been an act of popular fury, and exceeding the power which the Jews regularly had; which, though it might have extended to passing a capital sentence, (which yet we read nothing of here,) was not sufficient (so far as I can find on the most careful renewed examination of all Mr. Biscoe has urged) for carrying it into execution without the consent of the Romans. The Jews were more than once ready to stone Christ, not only when by their own confession they had not power to put any on to death, (John xviii. 31,) but when nothing had passed which had the shadow of legal trial. (Compare John viii. 59; 31; 47 seq.) How far they now might have formed those express notions of what the rabbies call the judgment of zeal, I know not; but it is certain they acted on the principle, and as if they had thought, every private Israelite had, like Phinehas, who is pleaded as an example of it, a right to put another to death on the spot, if he found him in a capital breach of the divine law; a notion by the way, directly contrary to Deut. xvii. 6, which requires at least two witnesses in capital cases, where there is legal process. See Mr. Lardner’s Credit. Part I. Book i. chap. 2, Vol. I edit. 3, p. 112-120. Dr. Benson suggests some probable reasons, which might induce Pilate (who probably still continued procurator of Judea,) to connive at this great irregularity and outrage. Hist. of Christianity, p. 137.

VOL. 3.

At his death he prays for his murderers.

two witnesses, whose hands were first upon witnesses laid down EV. him to put him to death, (Deut. xvii. 7,) laid their clothes at a Acts down their upper garments at the feet of a young young man’s feet, vii.58 man, whose name was Saul, who willingly took the charge of them, to shew how heartily he concurred with them in the execution.

And thus they stoned Stephen, who during this furious assault continued with his eyes fixed on that glorious vision, invoking his great Lord, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit; for important as the trust is, I joyfully commit it to thy powerful and faithful hand.

And having nothing further relating to himself which could give him any solicitude, all his remaining thoughts were taken up in compassion to these inhuman wretches who were arming themselves for his destruction; so that, after having received many violent blows rising as well as he could into a praying posture, and bending his knees, he cried out with a loud though expiring voice, O Lord, charge not this sin to their account with strict severity, proportionable to the weight of the offence; but graciously forgive them, as I do from my very heart. And when he had said this, he calmly resigned his soul into his Saviour’s hand, and with a sacred serenity in the midst of this furious assault he sweetly fell asleep, and left the traces of gentle composure, rather than of horror, upon his breathless corpse.

Acts And Saul, the young man mentioned above, viii. 1 at whose feet the witnesses laid down their clothes, was so far from being shocked at this cruel scene, that, on the contrary, he was well

And they stoned Stephen, calling up on God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Acts VIII. 1. And Saul was consenting unto his death.—

¶ Invoking and saying, &c.] This is the literal version of the words, ἰσικαλαμιογικαὶ λεγονία, the name of God not being in the original. Nevertheless such a solemn prayer to Christ, in which a departing soul is thus solemnly committed into his hands, is such an act of worship, as we cannot believe any good man would have paid to a mere creature. Bp Burnet (on the Articles, p 48) justly observes, that Stephen here worships Christ in the very same manner, in which Christ had but a little while before worshipped the Father on the cross.

¶ Charge not this sin to their account.] The words in the original, μὴ σπρῶς αὐτοῖς

τὴν ἀμαξίαν ταύλιν, seem to have an emphasis, which, though I have hinted in the paraphrase, (as well as I could without multiplying words, to a degree that in this circumstance would have been very improper,) I could not exactly and naturally express in the version. It is literally, Weigh not out to them this sin, that is, a punishment proportionable to it; alluding (as Elsner well observes) to passages of Scripture where God is represented as weighing men’s characters and actions in the dispensations of his justice and providence. Compare 1 Sam. ii. 3; Job xxxi. 6; Prov. xvi. 2; Isai. xxv. 7; Dan. v. 27. See Elsner. Observ. Vol. I. p. 395, 396.

Reflections on the close of Stephen’s speech, and his death.

pleased with his slaughter; being so full of rage and malice against the Christian name, that he thought no severities could be too great for those who thus zealously endeavoured to propagate it.

IMPROVEMENT.

THANKFULLY must we own the Divine goodness in having fulfilled this important promise, of raising up a prophet like Moses, a prophet indeed far superior to him whom God’s Israel is on the highest penalties required to hear. May we be all taught by him, and ever own that divine authority which attends all his doctrines and all his commands! By him God has given us lively oracles indeed, that may well penetrate deep into our souls, as being well contrived to animate them, and to secure their eternal life.

But O, how many of those who have heard of him, and been baptized into his name, in a more express manner than Israel was baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, (1 Cor. x. 2,) refuse to hearken to him, and in their hearts turn back into Egypt; being guilty of practices as notoriously opposite to his precepts, as the idolatry of the golden calf to those of Moses: Long did the patience of God bear with Israel in succeeding ages, while the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of Remphan diverted their regards from the worship of their living Jehovah; but at length he gave them up to captivity. Well have we deserved, by our apostasy from God, to be made proportionable monuments of his wrath; yet still he continues graciously to dwell among us; and while the Jewish tabernacle, formed so exactly after the divine model in the mount is no more, and while the more splendid temple which Solomon raised is long since laid in desolation, the most high God, superior to all temples made with hands, infinitely superior even to heaven itself, continues still to favour us with his presence, and condescends to own us for his people, and to call himself our God. Let us take the most diligent heed that we be not uncircumcised in heart and in ears, and that we do not, after so fatal an example, resist the Holy Spirit, and by rejecting Christ, incur a guilt greater than that of the Jews, who violated the law received through ranks of attendant angels; for that milder and gentler form, in which this divine Lawgiver has appeared to us, will render the ingratitude and guilt of our rebellion far more aggravated than theirs.

The reproofs of the holy martyr Stephen were indeed plain and faithful, and therefore they were so much the more kind; but instead of attending to so just and so wise a remonstrance, those sinners against their own souls stopped their ears, lift up an outrageous cry, and like so many savage beasts rush upon him to

A great persecution is raised against the church in Jerusalem.

destroy him ; overwhelming that head with stones which shone xv. like an angel of God : Fatal instance of prejudice and of rage ! But how were all the terrors of this murderous crew, when armverse ed with the instruments of immediate death, dispelled by the 56 glorious vision of Christ at the right hand of God ! Well might 59 he then remain intrepid, well might he commend his departing spirit into the hands of his divine Saviour, as able to keep what he committed to him until that day. (2 Tim. i. 12.)

Let us with holy pleasure behold this bright image of our Redeemer, this first martyr, who following so closely his recent steps, (as he suffered so near the place that had been the scene of his agonies,) appears to have imbibed so much of the same Spirit : Having thus solemnly consigned his soul to Christ, all that remained was, like Christ, to pray for his murderers ; full of compassion for their souls, while dying by their hands, he only said, 60 Lord, lay not this sin to their charge, and then gently fell asleep ; expired in holy composure and serenity of soul, and slept sweetly in the soft bosom of his Saviour.

O Saul, couldst thou have believed, if one had told thee, while thou wast urging on the cruel multitude, while thou wast glorying over his venerable corpse, that the time should come when thou thyself shouldst be twice stoned in the cause in which he died, and triumph in having committed thy soul likewise to that Jesus whom thou wast now blaspheming ! In this instance his dying prayer was illustriously answered : In this instance the lion lies down with the lamb, and the leopard with the kid, (Isa. xi. 6,) and it is most delightful to think, that the martyr Stephen, and Saul that barbarous persecutor, (afterwards his brother both in faith and in martyrdom,) are now joined in bonds of everlasting friendship, and dwell together in the happy company of those who have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Rev. vii. 14.) May we at length be joined with them, and in the mean time let us glorify God in both !