Acts 9
KingCommentsActs 9:1
Arresting of Stephen
It is unacceptable to the opponents of Stephen that they cannot overpower him with words. That is why they resort to false accusations. They do not express these accusations themselves yet, but they incite men to claim that they have heard Stephen speak slanderous words against Moses and God.
Remarkably enough they place Moses before God. In their traditionalism and formalism their conception of Moses’ law is the filter through which they judge God and thus how people speak about God. When people say things that do not correspond with their view of Moses, they are reprehensible, no matter how much they reflect God’s thoughts.
They treat Stephen as they treated the Lord Jesus. The people who first held the apostles in high esteem are stirred up against Stephen here, under the influence of slander. This is how fickle the people’s favor is. In the elders and scribes these slanderers find grateful supporters.
The whole group comes up to Stephen. They drag him away and bring him before the Council. The Council will know how to deal with him, they think. They bring forward false, criminal witnesses (Psalms 35:11). They accuse him of slander because he would have spoken against the temple and the law.
Stephen, like the Lord, has spoken the truth to their conscience. Because they do not want to bow to the truth, they bend the truth and turn it into a lie. They want to hold on to their own truth about the temple and the law, which gives them prestige among men. Therefore he must be accused of speaking against the temple and the law.
Their accusation indicates that Stephen has confronted them with the consequences of their unbelief. In his preaching he has referred to the Lord Jesus as the One Who has prophesied that the temple will be destroyed (Luke 21:6; 20). He will have pointed out the hollowness of the temple service because of the rejection of Christ. He will also have pointed out that the law is not sufficient as a means to be justified. But they did not want to listen. With undisguised contempt they speak about “this Nazarene, Jesus”.
After these accusations, they do not see the face of Stephen as the face of a demon, but as that of an angel. They see in the shine of his face the reflection of the glory of heaven. Perhaps some have thought of the face of Moses that shone (Exodus 34:30). It is as if God says: ‘This man is not against Moses, but he is like Moses, a faithful servant of Mine.’
In the next chapter we hear the impressive speech of Stephen. There we see that the roles are reversed. There it is not the Council that is the court before which Stephen is summoned, but Stephen is the court before which the Council is summoned.
Acts 9:2
Arresting of Stephen
It is unacceptable to the opponents of Stephen that they cannot overpower him with words. That is why they resort to false accusations. They do not express these accusations themselves yet, but they incite men to claim that they have heard Stephen speak slanderous words against Moses and God.
Remarkably enough they place Moses before God. In their traditionalism and formalism their conception of Moses’ law is the filter through which they judge God and thus how people speak about God. When people say things that do not correspond with their view of Moses, they are reprehensible, no matter how much they reflect God’s thoughts.
They treat Stephen as they treated the Lord Jesus. The people who first held the apostles in high esteem are stirred up against Stephen here, under the influence of slander. This is how fickle the people’s favor is. In the elders and scribes these slanderers find grateful supporters.
The whole group comes up to Stephen. They drag him away and bring him before the Council. The Council will know how to deal with him, they think. They bring forward false, criminal witnesses (Psalms 35:11). They accuse him of slander because he would have spoken against the temple and the law.
Stephen, like the Lord, has spoken the truth to their conscience. Because they do not want to bow to the truth, they bend the truth and turn it into a lie. They want to hold on to their own truth about the temple and the law, which gives them prestige among men. Therefore he must be accused of speaking against the temple and the law.
Their accusation indicates that Stephen has confronted them with the consequences of their unbelief. In his preaching he has referred to the Lord Jesus as the One Who has prophesied that the temple will be destroyed (Luke 21:6; 20). He will have pointed out the hollowness of the temple service because of the rejection of Christ. He will also have pointed out that the law is not sufficient as a means to be justified. But they did not want to listen. With undisguised contempt they speak about “this Nazarene, Jesus”.
After these accusations, they do not see the face of Stephen as the face of a demon, but as that of an angel. They see in the shine of his face the reflection of the glory of heaven. Perhaps some have thought of the face of Moses that shone (Exodus 34:30). It is as if God says: ‘This man is not against Moses, but he is like Moses, a faithful servant of Mine.’
In the next chapter we hear the impressive speech of Stephen. There we see that the roles are reversed. There it is not the Council that is the court before which Stephen is summoned, but Stephen is the court before which the Council is summoned.
Acts 9:4
Introduction to Stephen’s Speech
The High Priest has listened to the accusations and gives Stephen the opportunity to account for himself. Stephen’s speech is not a defense, but an accusation. He tells the Jews their own history, which they know well. However, knowing history and applying the lessons from it are two different things. Stephen makes it clear that they are entirely condemned by their own history. They do exactly like their fathers.
Stephen does not try to defend himself here. Here he is the judge who pronounces the verdict. He is the memory of the people through which they are placed in God’s presence. In connection with the goodness of God toward Israel, Joseph and Moses are placed in the foreground. Israel has rejected them both. They handed over Joseph to the nations and rejected Moses as a ruler and a judge. This is exactly what they have done with the Lord Jesus, what he then shows to them in the clearest terms.
Stephen gives an overview of two thousand years of history of God’s people, from Abraham till now. From his survey it becomes clear that the history of salvation is a continual changing of events and places. History is not static. Everything has not remained as it was. That is how it will be with the temple, which they believe will always exist.
Through his survey of their history, he wants to make it clear to them that with the coming and rejection of Christ, a new change in their history has taken place. But they have no ears for that change. The end is that they cover their ears and stone Stephen.
Acts 9:5
God’s Way With Abraham
With the expression “brethren and fathers”, Stephen speaks to them as one who still belongs to the same people. He begins his speech with “the God of glory” and ends it with seeing “the glory of God” (Acts 7:55). The whole time he gives his speech, his face shines with that same glory (Acts 6:15).
He begins with Abraham, the ancestor on whom they boast so much that they are his offspring. Their pride is completely misplaced, for they must remember that Abraham was originally an idolater in Mesopotamia (Joshua 24:2). It was in that country, and not in the land they now live in, that the God of glory appeared to him.
There God also spoke to him and commanded him to leave his country and his family and invited him to come to the land that He would point out to him (Genesis 12:1). He had to go out of his country, to a new land that God had chosen for him. He had to leave his family to form a new family. He even had to leave his father’s house, of which he was still a part, to become a father to many nations. God’s calling is always personal. God’s way is always with the individual. God has called Abraham when he was but one (Isaiah 51:2).
At first Abraham obeyed, but his obedience was not total. The reason was that not he, but his father Terah took the initiative to leave (Genesis 11:31). Because of this, at first he did not get any further than Haran, where he settled. Only after his father died, he moved on to “this country”.
Here it already becomes clear what Stephen will focus on in his speech. This part of history shows that every change has always evoked resistance. It already started with Abraham. He didn’t go all the way that God had told him to go. He went as far as Haran and stayed there until his father died who shouldn’t have been with him at all. The resistance with Abraham was rooted in his family connections. They outweighed God’s command. Only when God has put an end to that connection by the death of his father, he is free to move on.
But that too seems to be more a matter of God than of Abraham. Stephen says that God had Abraham move to this country in which they now live. So it is pure grace that they live there and everything is God’s work. God had Abraham move into that country, but He didn’t give him an inheritance in it, not even the smallest piece of which he could say was his property. Instead, he was promised that one day, in the future, he would own it as well as his offspring after him. God gave him that promise even when he did not even have a child.
However, that did not change anything about his faith. It did change his stay in the country. It made the land of promise for him a foreign land and it made him a stranger in that land (Hebrews 11:9). So he did not claim for himself what God had determined for the future. His descendants possessed it now, but he himself is still waiting for the fulfillment of the promise. Stephen wants to make it clear that they have nothing to claim.
And it was not only Abraham who did not immediately get hold of the promise. Also his offspring would have to wait and even experience the necessary things before they could enter the promised land. God announced to Abraham that his offspring would be enslaved instead of being blessed. They would live in a foreign land and be enslaved and mistreated. This would continue for four hundred years (Genesis 15:13-14). At the same time God also speaks words of hope. He promises that He will judge the people who hold them in bondage. Then they will be able to go out to serve God “in this place” (Acts 7:7; Exodus 3:12), by which Stephen means the land of Canaan.
Everything Stephen said about Abraham is meant to highlight the low and even humiliating origins of the people because his audience so boasts about their origins (cf. Deuteronomy 7:7). Incidentally, he mentions the circumcision of Abraham as a sign of the covenant God made with him and with his offspring (Genesis 17:10-14). This too is a matter on which the Israelites are very proud. They, and they alone, are the people of the covenant (Romans 9:4). They boast of that status.
He also mentions that Abraham was circumcised when he became the father of Isaac who he also circumcised on the eighth day. From Isaac Jacob was born and from Jacob the twelve patriarchs, from whom the covenant people would be further built. But how did that covenant people behave at the beginning of their existence?
Acts 9:6
God’s Way With Abraham
With the expression “brethren and fathers”, Stephen speaks to them as one who still belongs to the same people. He begins his speech with “the God of glory” and ends it with seeing “the glory of God” (Acts 7:55). The whole time he gives his speech, his face shines with that same glory (Acts 6:15).
He begins with Abraham, the ancestor on whom they boast so much that they are his offspring. Their pride is completely misplaced, for they must remember that Abraham was originally an idolater in Mesopotamia (Joshua 24:2). It was in that country, and not in the land they now live in, that the God of glory appeared to him.
There God also spoke to him and commanded him to leave his country and his family and invited him to come to the land that He would point out to him (Genesis 12:1). He had to go out of his country, to a new land that God had chosen for him. He had to leave his family to form a new family. He even had to leave his father’s house, of which he was still a part, to become a father to many nations. God’s calling is always personal. God’s way is always with the individual. God has called Abraham when he was but one (Isaiah 51:2).
At first Abraham obeyed, but his obedience was not total. The reason was that not he, but his father Terah took the initiative to leave (Genesis 11:31). Because of this, at first he did not get any further than Haran, where he settled. Only after his father died, he moved on to “this country”.
Here it already becomes clear what Stephen will focus on in his speech. This part of history shows that every change has always evoked resistance. It already started with Abraham. He didn’t go all the way that God had told him to go. He went as far as Haran and stayed there until his father died who shouldn’t have been with him at all. The resistance with Abraham was rooted in his family connections. They outweighed God’s command. Only when God has put an end to that connection by the death of his father, he is free to move on.
But that too seems to be more a matter of God than of Abraham. Stephen says that God had Abraham move to this country in which they now live. So it is pure grace that they live there and everything is God’s work. God had Abraham move into that country, but He didn’t give him an inheritance in it, not even the smallest piece of which he could say was his property. Instead, he was promised that one day, in the future, he would own it as well as his offspring after him. God gave him that promise even when he did not even have a child.
However, that did not change anything about his faith. It did change his stay in the country. It made the land of promise for him a foreign land and it made him a stranger in that land (Hebrews 11:9). So he did not claim for himself what God had determined for the future. His descendants possessed it now, but he himself is still waiting for the fulfillment of the promise. Stephen wants to make it clear that they have nothing to claim.
And it was not only Abraham who did not immediately get hold of the promise. Also his offspring would have to wait and even experience the necessary things before they could enter the promised land. God announced to Abraham that his offspring would be enslaved instead of being blessed. They would live in a foreign land and be enslaved and mistreated. This would continue for four hundred years (Genesis 15:13-14). At the same time God also speaks words of hope. He promises that He will judge the people who hold them in bondage. Then they will be able to go out to serve God “in this place” (Acts 7:7; Exodus 3:12), by which Stephen means the land of Canaan.
Everything Stephen said about Abraham is meant to highlight the low and even humiliating origins of the people because his audience so boasts about their origins (cf. Deuteronomy 7:7). Incidentally, he mentions the circumcision of Abraham as a sign of the covenant God made with him and with his offspring (Genesis 17:10-14). This too is a matter on which the Israelites are very proud. They, and they alone, are the people of the covenant (Romans 9:4). They boast of that status.
He also mentions that Abraham was circumcised when he became the father of Isaac who he also circumcised on the eighth day. From Isaac Jacob was born and from Jacob the twelve patriarchs, from whom the covenant people would be further built. But how did that covenant people behave at the beginning of their existence?
Acts 9:7
God’s Way With Abraham
With the expression “brethren and fathers”, Stephen speaks to them as one who still belongs to the same people. He begins his speech with “the God of glory” and ends it with seeing “the glory of God” (Acts 7:55). The whole time he gives his speech, his face shines with that same glory (Acts 6:15).
He begins with Abraham, the ancestor on whom they boast so much that they are his offspring. Their pride is completely misplaced, for they must remember that Abraham was originally an idolater in Mesopotamia (Joshua 24:2). It was in that country, and not in the land they now live in, that the God of glory appeared to him.
There God also spoke to him and commanded him to leave his country and his family and invited him to come to the land that He would point out to him (Genesis 12:1). He had to go out of his country, to a new land that God had chosen for him. He had to leave his family to form a new family. He even had to leave his father’s house, of which he was still a part, to become a father to many nations. God’s calling is always personal. God’s way is always with the individual. God has called Abraham when he was but one (Isaiah 51:2).
At first Abraham obeyed, but his obedience was not total. The reason was that not he, but his father Terah took the initiative to leave (Genesis 11:31). Because of this, at first he did not get any further than Haran, where he settled. Only after his father died, he moved on to “this country”.
Here it already becomes clear what Stephen will focus on in his speech. This part of history shows that every change has always evoked resistance. It already started with Abraham. He didn’t go all the way that God had told him to go. He went as far as Haran and stayed there until his father died who shouldn’t have been with him at all. The resistance with Abraham was rooted in his family connections. They outweighed God’s command. Only when God has put an end to that connection by the death of his father, he is free to move on.
But that too seems to be more a matter of God than of Abraham. Stephen says that God had Abraham move to this country in which they now live. So it is pure grace that they live there and everything is God’s work. God had Abraham move into that country, but He didn’t give him an inheritance in it, not even the smallest piece of which he could say was his property. Instead, he was promised that one day, in the future, he would own it as well as his offspring after him. God gave him that promise even when he did not even have a child.
However, that did not change anything about his faith. It did change his stay in the country. It made the land of promise for him a foreign land and it made him a stranger in that land (Hebrews 11:9). So he did not claim for himself what God had determined for the future. His descendants possessed it now, but he himself is still waiting for the fulfillment of the promise. Stephen wants to make it clear that they have nothing to claim.
And it was not only Abraham who did not immediately get hold of the promise. Also his offspring would have to wait and even experience the necessary things before they could enter the promised land. God announced to Abraham that his offspring would be enslaved instead of being blessed. They would live in a foreign land and be enslaved and mistreated. This would continue for four hundred years (Genesis 15:13-14). At the same time God also speaks words of hope. He promises that He will judge the people who hold them in bondage. Then they will be able to go out to serve God “in this place” (Acts 7:7; Exodus 3:12), by which Stephen means the land of Canaan.
Everything Stephen said about Abraham is meant to highlight the low and even humiliating origins of the people because his audience so boasts about their origins (cf. Deuteronomy 7:7). Incidentally, he mentions the circumcision of Abraham as a sign of the covenant God made with him and with his offspring (Genesis 17:10-14). This too is a matter on which the Israelites are very proud. They, and they alone, are the people of the covenant (Romans 9:4). They boast of that status.
He also mentions that Abraham was circumcised when he became the father of Isaac who he also circumcised on the eighth day. From Isaac Jacob was born and from Jacob the twelve patriarchs, from whom the covenant people would be further built. But how did that covenant people behave at the beginning of their existence?
Acts 9:8
God’s Way With Abraham
With the expression “brethren and fathers”, Stephen speaks to them as one who still belongs to the same people. He begins his speech with “the God of glory” and ends it with seeing “the glory of God” (Acts 7:55). The whole time he gives his speech, his face shines with that same glory (Acts 6:15).
He begins with Abraham, the ancestor on whom they boast so much that they are his offspring. Their pride is completely misplaced, for they must remember that Abraham was originally an idolater in Mesopotamia (Joshua 24:2). It was in that country, and not in the land they now live in, that the God of glory appeared to him.
There God also spoke to him and commanded him to leave his country and his family and invited him to come to the land that He would point out to him (Genesis 12:1). He had to go out of his country, to a new land that God had chosen for him. He had to leave his family to form a new family. He even had to leave his father’s house, of which he was still a part, to become a father to many nations. God’s calling is always personal. God’s way is always with the individual. God has called Abraham when he was but one (Isaiah 51:2).
At first Abraham obeyed, but his obedience was not total. The reason was that not he, but his father Terah took the initiative to leave (Genesis 11:31). Because of this, at first he did not get any further than Haran, where he settled. Only after his father died, he moved on to “this country”.
Here it already becomes clear what Stephen will focus on in his speech. This part of history shows that every change has always evoked resistance. It already started with Abraham. He didn’t go all the way that God had told him to go. He went as far as Haran and stayed there until his father died who shouldn’t have been with him at all. The resistance with Abraham was rooted in his family connections. They outweighed God’s command. Only when God has put an end to that connection by the death of his father, he is free to move on.
But that too seems to be more a matter of God than of Abraham. Stephen says that God had Abraham move to this country in which they now live. So it is pure grace that they live there and everything is God’s work. God had Abraham move into that country, but He didn’t give him an inheritance in it, not even the smallest piece of which he could say was his property. Instead, he was promised that one day, in the future, he would own it as well as his offspring after him. God gave him that promise even when he did not even have a child.
However, that did not change anything about his faith. It did change his stay in the country. It made the land of promise for him a foreign land and it made him a stranger in that land (Hebrews 11:9). So he did not claim for himself what God had determined for the future. His descendants possessed it now, but he himself is still waiting for the fulfillment of the promise. Stephen wants to make it clear that they have nothing to claim.
And it was not only Abraham who did not immediately get hold of the promise. Also his offspring would have to wait and even experience the necessary things before they could enter the promised land. God announced to Abraham that his offspring would be enslaved instead of being blessed. They would live in a foreign land and be enslaved and mistreated. This would continue for four hundred years (Genesis 15:13-14). At the same time God also speaks words of hope. He promises that He will judge the people who hold them in bondage. Then they will be able to go out to serve God “in this place” (Acts 7:7; Exodus 3:12), by which Stephen means the land of Canaan.
Everything Stephen said about Abraham is meant to highlight the low and even humiliating origins of the people because his audience so boasts about their origins (cf. Deuteronomy 7:7). Incidentally, he mentions the circumcision of Abraham as a sign of the covenant God made with him and with his offspring (Genesis 17:10-14). This too is a matter on which the Israelites are very proud. They, and they alone, are the people of the covenant (Romans 9:4). They boast of that status.
He also mentions that Abraham was circumcised when he became the father of Isaac who he also circumcised on the eighth day. From Isaac Jacob was born and from Jacob the twelve patriarchs, from whom the covenant people would be further built. But how did that covenant people behave at the beginning of their existence?
Acts 9:9
God’s Way With Abraham
With the expression “brethren and fathers”, Stephen speaks to them as one who still belongs to the same people. He begins his speech with “the God of glory” and ends it with seeing “the glory of God” (Acts 7:55). The whole time he gives his speech, his face shines with that same glory (Acts 6:15).
He begins with Abraham, the ancestor on whom they boast so much that they are his offspring. Their pride is completely misplaced, for they must remember that Abraham was originally an idolater in Mesopotamia (Joshua 24:2). It was in that country, and not in the land they now live in, that the God of glory appeared to him.
There God also spoke to him and commanded him to leave his country and his family and invited him to come to the land that He would point out to him (Genesis 12:1). He had to go out of his country, to a new land that God had chosen for him. He had to leave his family to form a new family. He even had to leave his father’s house, of which he was still a part, to become a father to many nations. God’s calling is always personal. God’s way is always with the individual. God has called Abraham when he was but one (Isaiah 51:2).
At first Abraham obeyed, but his obedience was not total. The reason was that not he, but his father Terah took the initiative to leave (Genesis 11:31). Because of this, at first he did not get any further than Haran, where he settled. Only after his father died, he moved on to “this country”.
Here it already becomes clear what Stephen will focus on in his speech. This part of history shows that every change has always evoked resistance. It already started with Abraham. He didn’t go all the way that God had told him to go. He went as far as Haran and stayed there until his father died who shouldn’t have been with him at all. The resistance with Abraham was rooted in his family connections. They outweighed God’s command. Only when God has put an end to that connection by the death of his father, he is free to move on.
But that too seems to be more a matter of God than of Abraham. Stephen says that God had Abraham move to this country in which they now live. So it is pure grace that they live there and everything is God’s work. God had Abraham move into that country, but He didn’t give him an inheritance in it, not even the smallest piece of which he could say was his property. Instead, he was promised that one day, in the future, he would own it as well as his offspring after him. God gave him that promise even when he did not even have a child.
However, that did not change anything about his faith. It did change his stay in the country. It made the land of promise for him a foreign land and it made him a stranger in that land (Hebrews 11:9). So he did not claim for himself what God had determined for the future. His descendants possessed it now, but he himself is still waiting for the fulfillment of the promise. Stephen wants to make it clear that they have nothing to claim.
And it was not only Abraham who did not immediately get hold of the promise. Also his offspring would have to wait and even experience the necessary things before they could enter the promised land. God announced to Abraham that his offspring would be enslaved instead of being blessed. They would live in a foreign land and be enslaved and mistreated. This would continue for four hundred years (Genesis 15:13-14). At the same time God also speaks words of hope. He promises that He will judge the people who hold them in bondage. Then they will be able to go out to serve God “in this place” (Acts 7:7; Exodus 3:12), by which Stephen means the land of Canaan.
Everything Stephen said about Abraham is meant to highlight the low and even humiliating origins of the people because his audience so boasts about their origins (cf. Deuteronomy 7:7). Incidentally, he mentions the circumcision of Abraham as a sign of the covenant God made with him and with his offspring (Genesis 17:10-14). This too is a matter on which the Israelites are very proud. They, and they alone, are the people of the covenant (Romans 9:4). They boast of that status.
He also mentions that Abraham was circumcised when he became the father of Isaac who he also circumcised on the eighth day. From Isaac Jacob was born and from Jacob the twelve patriarchs, from whom the covenant people would be further built. But how did that covenant people behave at the beginning of their existence?
Acts 9:10
God’s Way With Abraham
With the expression “brethren and fathers”, Stephen speaks to them as one who still belongs to the same people. He begins his speech with “the God of glory” and ends it with seeing “the glory of God” (Acts 7:55). The whole time he gives his speech, his face shines with that same glory (Acts 6:15).
He begins with Abraham, the ancestor on whom they boast so much that they are his offspring. Their pride is completely misplaced, for they must remember that Abraham was originally an idolater in Mesopotamia (Joshua 24:2). It was in that country, and not in the land they now live in, that the God of glory appeared to him.
There God also spoke to him and commanded him to leave his country and his family and invited him to come to the land that He would point out to him (Genesis 12:1). He had to go out of his country, to a new land that God had chosen for him. He had to leave his family to form a new family. He even had to leave his father’s house, of which he was still a part, to become a father to many nations. God’s calling is always personal. God’s way is always with the individual. God has called Abraham when he was but one (Isaiah 51:2).
At first Abraham obeyed, but his obedience was not total. The reason was that not he, but his father Terah took the initiative to leave (Genesis 11:31). Because of this, at first he did not get any further than Haran, where he settled. Only after his father died, he moved on to “this country”.
Here it already becomes clear what Stephen will focus on in his speech. This part of history shows that every change has always evoked resistance. It already started with Abraham. He didn’t go all the way that God had told him to go. He went as far as Haran and stayed there until his father died who shouldn’t have been with him at all. The resistance with Abraham was rooted in his family connections. They outweighed God’s command. Only when God has put an end to that connection by the death of his father, he is free to move on.
But that too seems to be more a matter of God than of Abraham. Stephen says that God had Abraham move to this country in which they now live. So it is pure grace that they live there and everything is God’s work. God had Abraham move into that country, but He didn’t give him an inheritance in it, not even the smallest piece of which he could say was his property. Instead, he was promised that one day, in the future, he would own it as well as his offspring after him. God gave him that promise even when he did not even have a child.
However, that did not change anything about his faith. It did change his stay in the country. It made the land of promise for him a foreign land and it made him a stranger in that land (Hebrews 11:9). So he did not claim for himself what God had determined for the future. His descendants possessed it now, but he himself is still waiting for the fulfillment of the promise. Stephen wants to make it clear that they have nothing to claim.
And it was not only Abraham who did not immediately get hold of the promise. Also his offspring would have to wait and even experience the necessary things before they could enter the promised land. God announced to Abraham that his offspring would be enslaved instead of being blessed. They would live in a foreign land and be enslaved and mistreated. This would continue for four hundred years (Genesis 15:13-14). At the same time God also speaks words of hope. He promises that He will judge the people who hold them in bondage. Then they will be able to go out to serve God “in this place” (Acts 7:7; Exodus 3:12), by which Stephen means the land of Canaan.
Everything Stephen said about Abraham is meant to highlight the low and even humiliating origins of the people because his audience so boasts about their origins (cf. Deuteronomy 7:7). Incidentally, he mentions the circumcision of Abraham as a sign of the covenant God made with him and with his offspring (Genesis 17:10-14). This too is a matter on which the Israelites are very proud. They, and they alone, are the people of the covenant (Romans 9:4). They boast of that status.
He also mentions that Abraham was circumcised when he became the father of Isaac who he also circumcised on the eighth day. From Isaac Jacob was born and from Jacob the twelve patriarchs, from whom the covenant people would be further built. But how did that covenant people behave at the beginning of their existence?
Acts 9:11
God’s Way With Abraham
With the expression “brethren and fathers”, Stephen speaks to them as one who still belongs to the same people. He begins his speech with “the God of glory” and ends it with seeing “the glory of God” (Acts 7:55). The whole time he gives his speech, his face shines with that same glory (Acts 6:15).
He begins with Abraham, the ancestor on whom they boast so much that they are his offspring. Their pride is completely misplaced, for they must remember that Abraham was originally an idolater in Mesopotamia (Joshua 24:2). It was in that country, and not in the land they now live in, that the God of glory appeared to him.
There God also spoke to him and commanded him to leave his country and his family and invited him to come to the land that He would point out to him (Genesis 12:1). He had to go out of his country, to a new land that God had chosen for him. He had to leave his family to form a new family. He even had to leave his father’s house, of which he was still a part, to become a father to many nations. God’s calling is always personal. God’s way is always with the individual. God has called Abraham when he was but one (Isaiah 51:2).
At first Abraham obeyed, but his obedience was not total. The reason was that not he, but his father Terah took the initiative to leave (Genesis 11:31). Because of this, at first he did not get any further than Haran, where he settled. Only after his father died, he moved on to “this country”.
Here it already becomes clear what Stephen will focus on in his speech. This part of history shows that every change has always evoked resistance. It already started with Abraham. He didn’t go all the way that God had told him to go. He went as far as Haran and stayed there until his father died who shouldn’t have been with him at all. The resistance with Abraham was rooted in his family connections. They outweighed God’s command. Only when God has put an end to that connection by the death of his father, he is free to move on.
But that too seems to be more a matter of God than of Abraham. Stephen says that God had Abraham move to this country in which they now live. So it is pure grace that they live there and everything is God’s work. God had Abraham move into that country, but He didn’t give him an inheritance in it, not even the smallest piece of which he could say was his property. Instead, he was promised that one day, in the future, he would own it as well as his offspring after him. God gave him that promise even when he did not even have a child.
However, that did not change anything about his faith. It did change his stay in the country. It made the land of promise for him a foreign land and it made him a stranger in that land (Hebrews 11:9). So he did not claim for himself what God had determined for the future. His descendants possessed it now, but he himself is still waiting for the fulfillment of the promise. Stephen wants to make it clear that they have nothing to claim.
And it was not only Abraham who did not immediately get hold of the promise. Also his offspring would have to wait and even experience the necessary things before they could enter the promised land. God announced to Abraham that his offspring would be enslaved instead of being blessed. They would live in a foreign land and be enslaved and mistreated. This would continue for four hundred years (Genesis 15:13-14). At the same time God also speaks words of hope. He promises that He will judge the people who hold them in bondage. Then they will be able to go out to serve God “in this place” (Acts 7:7; Exodus 3:12), by which Stephen means the land of Canaan.
Everything Stephen said about Abraham is meant to highlight the low and even humiliating origins of the people because his audience so boasts about their origins (cf. Deuteronomy 7:7). Incidentally, he mentions the circumcision of Abraham as a sign of the covenant God made with him and with his offspring (Genesis 17:10-14). This too is a matter on which the Israelites are very proud. They, and they alone, are the people of the covenant (Romans 9:4). They boast of that status.
He also mentions that Abraham was circumcised when he became the father of Isaac who he also circumcised on the eighth day. From Isaac Jacob was born and from Jacob the twelve patriarchs, from whom the covenant people would be further built. But how did that covenant people behave at the beginning of their existence?
Acts 9:12
Rejection and Reign of Joseph
The patriarchs soon showed their true nature. Driven by jealousy, they rejected Joseph. Their jealousy came from the revelation that Joseph had received in dreams and that he had told them. Those dreams were about his future glorification, in which they would bow down before him (Genesis 37:5-11). But they would never do that! Therefore, they made sure that nothing of his dreams could come to pass and sold him to Egypt. The parallels between Joseph and the Lord Jesus are obvious.
Everything Stephen brings up about Joseph in his history had to remind his hearers of what they did to Christ. Did they perhaps remember their thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15-16)? However much the brothers despised Joseph and rejected him, God was with him. After he was rejected, God delivered him from all his afflictions and made sure he came into favor with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Joseph revealed God’s wisdom by making proposals to Pharaoh that would save the country. As a result, Joseph was made the most powerful man in Egypt by Pharaoh and was even assigned the rule of the house of Pharaoh (Genesis 41:40-44; Psalms 105:21).
The brothers had no knowledge of God’s dealings with Joseph. But God made sure that they came face to face with Joseph as the mighty ruler of Egypt. For this He used a famine that He caused over all Egypt and Canaan (Genesis 41:54; Genesis 42:5). Stephen calls it a “great affliction”, which is reminiscent of the period of time of which the Lord Jesus speaks and for which He uses the name “great tribulation” (Matthew 24:21; cf. Jeremiah 30:7). The Lord thus points forward to the time when the people will be severely chastened and from which a remnant will be saved after this remnant has acknowledged Him as Messiah. God’s goal with the famine was the same. He wanted to bring the brothers to Joseph and to the acknowledgment that he is their savior. For this a long way had to be gone.
Stephen speaks about “our fathers” who could not find food. He still connects with his audience. He takes them further into the history of the brothers and tells them how they are led to Joseph. When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent “our fathers [there] the first time” (Genesis 42:1-2). Stephen ignores what happened that first time, but proceeds immediately with the second time they go. At this second time, Joseph makes himself known to his brothers (Genesis 45:3-4).
Here in Stephen’s speech we find a glimpse of hope for Israel. The Lord Jesus will also come a second time to His people and then make Himself known to them. Then they will see Him Whom they have pierced (Zechariah 12:10) and He will bless the repentant remnant. Joseph did the same with his brothers after he revealed himself to them. Then, as it were, He will also make known to God His descent as a true Man through which He was able to connect people with Himself and say: “Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me” (Hebrews 2:13).
After making himself known, Joseph sends his brothers away to pick up his father Jacob and all his relatives. They are allowed to live with him in Egypt. In this way God has turned for good everything the brothers had meant evil (Genesis 50:20).
But that situation came to an end. Jacob and “our fathers” died. Their bodies were brought back to the land of Canaan and buried in the tomb that Abraham had bought. They had not yet received the promised land, but they were buried in the tomb where Abraham was also buried in view of the fulfillment of the promise (Genesis 49:29-30; Genesis 50:13; Joshua 24:32).
Acts 9:13
Rejection and Reign of Joseph
The patriarchs soon showed their true nature. Driven by jealousy, they rejected Joseph. Their jealousy came from the revelation that Joseph had received in dreams and that he had told them. Those dreams were about his future glorification, in which they would bow down before him (Genesis 37:5-11). But they would never do that! Therefore, they made sure that nothing of his dreams could come to pass and sold him to Egypt. The parallels between Joseph and the Lord Jesus are obvious.
Everything Stephen brings up about Joseph in his history had to remind his hearers of what they did to Christ. Did they perhaps remember their thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15-16)? However much the brothers despised Joseph and rejected him, God was with him. After he was rejected, God delivered him from all his afflictions and made sure he came into favor with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Joseph revealed God’s wisdom by making proposals to Pharaoh that would save the country. As a result, Joseph was made the most powerful man in Egypt by Pharaoh and was even assigned the rule of the house of Pharaoh (Genesis 41:40-44; Psalms 105:21).
The brothers had no knowledge of God’s dealings with Joseph. But God made sure that they came face to face with Joseph as the mighty ruler of Egypt. For this He used a famine that He caused over all Egypt and Canaan (Genesis 41:54; Genesis 42:5). Stephen calls it a “great affliction”, which is reminiscent of the period of time of which the Lord Jesus speaks and for which He uses the name “great tribulation” (Matthew 24:21; cf. Jeremiah 30:7). The Lord thus points forward to the time when the people will be severely chastened and from which a remnant will be saved after this remnant has acknowledged Him as Messiah. God’s goal with the famine was the same. He wanted to bring the brothers to Joseph and to the acknowledgment that he is their savior. For this a long way had to be gone.
Stephen speaks about “our fathers” who could not find food. He still connects with his audience. He takes them further into the history of the brothers and tells them how they are led to Joseph. When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent “our fathers [there] the first time” (Genesis 42:1-2). Stephen ignores what happened that first time, but proceeds immediately with the second time they go. At this second time, Joseph makes himself known to his brothers (Genesis 45:3-4).
Here in Stephen’s speech we find a glimpse of hope for Israel. The Lord Jesus will also come a second time to His people and then make Himself known to them. Then they will see Him Whom they have pierced (Zechariah 12:10) and He will bless the repentant remnant. Joseph did the same with his brothers after he revealed himself to them. Then, as it were, He will also make known to God His descent as a true Man through which He was able to connect people with Himself and say: “Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me” (Hebrews 2:13).
After making himself known, Joseph sends his brothers away to pick up his father Jacob and all his relatives. They are allowed to live with him in Egypt. In this way God has turned for good everything the brothers had meant evil (Genesis 50:20).
But that situation came to an end. Jacob and “our fathers” died. Their bodies were brought back to the land of Canaan and buried in the tomb that Abraham had bought. They had not yet received the promised land, but they were buried in the tomb where Abraham was also buried in view of the fulfillment of the promise (Genesis 49:29-30; Genesis 50:13; Joshua 24:32).
Acts 9:14
Rejection and Reign of Joseph
The patriarchs soon showed their true nature. Driven by jealousy, they rejected Joseph. Their jealousy came from the revelation that Joseph had received in dreams and that he had told them. Those dreams were about his future glorification, in which they would bow down before him (Genesis 37:5-11). But they would never do that! Therefore, they made sure that nothing of his dreams could come to pass and sold him to Egypt. The parallels between Joseph and the Lord Jesus are obvious.
Everything Stephen brings up about Joseph in his history had to remind his hearers of what they did to Christ. Did they perhaps remember their thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15-16)? However much the brothers despised Joseph and rejected him, God was with him. After he was rejected, God delivered him from all his afflictions and made sure he came into favor with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Joseph revealed God’s wisdom by making proposals to Pharaoh that would save the country. As a result, Joseph was made the most powerful man in Egypt by Pharaoh and was even assigned the rule of the house of Pharaoh (Genesis 41:40-44; Psalms 105:21).
The brothers had no knowledge of God’s dealings with Joseph. But God made sure that they came face to face with Joseph as the mighty ruler of Egypt. For this He used a famine that He caused over all Egypt and Canaan (Genesis 41:54; Genesis 42:5). Stephen calls it a “great affliction”, which is reminiscent of the period of time of which the Lord Jesus speaks and for which He uses the name “great tribulation” (Matthew 24:21; cf. Jeremiah 30:7). The Lord thus points forward to the time when the people will be severely chastened and from which a remnant will be saved after this remnant has acknowledged Him as Messiah. God’s goal with the famine was the same. He wanted to bring the brothers to Joseph and to the acknowledgment that he is their savior. For this a long way had to be gone.
Stephen speaks about “our fathers” who could not find food. He still connects with his audience. He takes them further into the history of the brothers and tells them how they are led to Joseph. When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent “our fathers [there] the first time” (Genesis 42:1-2). Stephen ignores what happened that first time, but proceeds immediately with the second time they go. At this second time, Joseph makes himself known to his brothers (Genesis 45:3-4).
Here in Stephen’s speech we find a glimpse of hope for Israel. The Lord Jesus will also come a second time to His people and then make Himself known to them. Then they will see Him Whom they have pierced (Zechariah 12:10) and He will bless the repentant remnant. Joseph did the same with his brothers after he revealed himself to them. Then, as it were, He will also make known to God His descent as a true Man through which He was able to connect people with Himself and say: “Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me” (Hebrews 2:13).
After making himself known, Joseph sends his brothers away to pick up his father Jacob and all his relatives. They are allowed to live with him in Egypt. In this way God has turned for good everything the brothers had meant evil (Genesis 50:20).
But that situation came to an end. Jacob and “our fathers” died. Their bodies were brought back to the land of Canaan and buried in the tomb that Abraham had bought. They had not yet received the promised land, but they were buried in the tomb where Abraham was also buried in view of the fulfillment of the promise (Genesis 49:29-30; Genesis 50:13; Joshua 24:32).
Acts 9:15
Rejection and Reign of Joseph
The patriarchs soon showed their true nature. Driven by jealousy, they rejected Joseph. Their jealousy came from the revelation that Joseph had received in dreams and that he had told them. Those dreams were about his future glorification, in which they would bow down before him (Genesis 37:5-11). But they would never do that! Therefore, they made sure that nothing of his dreams could come to pass and sold him to Egypt. The parallels between Joseph and the Lord Jesus are obvious.
Everything Stephen brings up about Joseph in his history had to remind his hearers of what they did to Christ. Did they perhaps remember their thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15-16)? However much the brothers despised Joseph and rejected him, God was with him. After he was rejected, God delivered him from all his afflictions and made sure he came into favor with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Joseph revealed God’s wisdom by making proposals to Pharaoh that would save the country. As a result, Joseph was made the most powerful man in Egypt by Pharaoh and was even assigned the rule of the house of Pharaoh (Genesis 41:40-44; Psalms 105:21).
The brothers had no knowledge of God’s dealings with Joseph. But God made sure that they came face to face with Joseph as the mighty ruler of Egypt. For this He used a famine that He caused over all Egypt and Canaan (Genesis 41:54; Genesis 42:5). Stephen calls it a “great affliction”, which is reminiscent of the period of time of which the Lord Jesus speaks and for which He uses the name “great tribulation” (Matthew 24:21; cf. Jeremiah 30:7). The Lord thus points forward to the time when the people will be severely chastened and from which a remnant will be saved after this remnant has acknowledged Him as Messiah. God’s goal with the famine was the same. He wanted to bring the brothers to Joseph and to the acknowledgment that he is their savior. For this a long way had to be gone.
Stephen speaks about “our fathers” who could not find food. He still connects with his audience. He takes them further into the history of the brothers and tells them how they are led to Joseph. When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent “our fathers [there] the first time” (Genesis 42:1-2). Stephen ignores what happened that first time, but proceeds immediately with the second time they go. At this second time, Joseph makes himself known to his brothers (Genesis 45:3-4).
Here in Stephen’s speech we find a glimpse of hope for Israel. The Lord Jesus will also come a second time to His people and then make Himself known to them. Then they will see Him Whom they have pierced (Zechariah 12:10) and He will bless the repentant remnant. Joseph did the same with his brothers after he revealed himself to them. Then, as it were, He will also make known to God His descent as a true Man through which He was able to connect people with Himself and say: “Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me” (Hebrews 2:13).
After making himself known, Joseph sends his brothers away to pick up his father Jacob and all his relatives. They are allowed to live with him in Egypt. In this way God has turned for good everything the brothers had meant evil (Genesis 50:20).
But that situation came to an end. Jacob and “our fathers” died. Their bodies were brought back to the land of Canaan and buried in the tomb that Abraham had bought. They had not yet received the promised land, but they were buried in the tomb where Abraham was also buried in view of the fulfillment of the promise (Genesis 49:29-30; Genesis 50:13; Joshua 24:32).
Acts 9:16
Rejection and Reign of Joseph
The patriarchs soon showed their true nature. Driven by jealousy, they rejected Joseph. Their jealousy came from the revelation that Joseph had received in dreams and that he had told them. Those dreams were about his future glorification, in which they would bow down before him (Genesis 37:5-11). But they would never do that! Therefore, they made sure that nothing of his dreams could come to pass and sold him to Egypt. The parallels between Joseph and the Lord Jesus are obvious.
Everything Stephen brings up about Joseph in his history had to remind his hearers of what they did to Christ. Did they perhaps remember their thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15-16)? However much the brothers despised Joseph and rejected him, God was with him. After he was rejected, God delivered him from all his afflictions and made sure he came into favor with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Joseph revealed God’s wisdom by making proposals to Pharaoh that would save the country. As a result, Joseph was made the most powerful man in Egypt by Pharaoh and was even assigned the rule of the house of Pharaoh (Genesis 41:40-44; Psalms 105:21).
The brothers had no knowledge of God’s dealings with Joseph. But God made sure that they came face to face with Joseph as the mighty ruler of Egypt. For this He used a famine that He caused over all Egypt and Canaan (Genesis 41:54; Genesis 42:5). Stephen calls it a “great affliction”, which is reminiscent of the period of time of which the Lord Jesus speaks and for which He uses the name “great tribulation” (Matthew 24:21; cf. Jeremiah 30:7). The Lord thus points forward to the time when the people will be severely chastened and from which a remnant will be saved after this remnant has acknowledged Him as Messiah. God’s goal with the famine was the same. He wanted to bring the brothers to Joseph and to the acknowledgment that he is their savior. For this a long way had to be gone.
Stephen speaks about “our fathers” who could not find food. He still connects with his audience. He takes them further into the history of the brothers and tells them how they are led to Joseph. When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent “our fathers [there] the first time” (Genesis 42:1-2). Stephen ignores what happened that first time, but proceeds immediately with the second time they go. At this second time, Joseph makes himself known to his brothers (Genesis 45:3-4).
Here in Stephen’s speech we find a glimpse of hope for Israel. The Lord Jesus will also come a second time to His people and then make Himself known to them. Then they will see Him Whom they have pierced (Zechariah 12:10) and He will bless the repentant remnant. Joseph did the same with his brothers after he revealed himself to them. Then, as it were, He will also make known to God His descent as a true Man through which He was able to connect people with Himself and say: “Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me” (Hebrews 2:13).
After making himself known, Joseph sends his brothers away to pick up his father Jacob and all his relatives. They are allowed to live with him in Egypt. In this way God has turned for good everything the brothers had meant evil (Genesis 50:20).
But that situation came to an end. Jacob and “our fathers” died. Their bodies were brought back to the land of Canaan and buried in the tomb that Abraham had bought. They had not yet received the promised land, but they were buried in the tomb where Abraham was also buried in view of the fulfillment of the promise (Genesis 49:29-30; Genesis 50:13; Joshua 24:32).
Acts 9:17
Rejection and Reign of Joseph
The patriarchs soon showed their true nature. Driven by jealousy, they rejected Joseph. Their jealousy came from the revelation that Joseph had received in dreams and that he had told them. Those dreams were about his future glorification, in which they would bow down before him (Genesis 37:5-11). But they would never do that! Therefore, they made sure that nothing of his dreams could come to pass and sold him to Egypt. The parallels between Joseph and the Lord Jesus are obvious.
Everything Stephen brings up about Joseph in his history had to remind his hearers of what they did to Christ. Did they perhaps remember their thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15-16)? However much the brothers despised Joseph and rejected him, God was with him. After he was rejected, God delivered him from all his afflictions and made sure he came into favor with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Joseph revealed God’s wisdom by making proposals to Pharaoh that would save the country. As a result, Joseph was made the most powerful man in Egypt by Pharaoh and was even assigned the rule of the house of Pharaoh (Genesis 41:40-44; Psalms 105:21).
The brothers had no knowledge of God’s dealings with Joseph. But God made sure that they came face to face with Joseph as the mighty ruler of Egypt. For this He used a famine that He caused over all Egypt and Canaan (Genesis 41:54; Genesis 42:5). Stephen calls it a “great affliction”, which is reminiscent of the period of time of which the Lord Jesus speaks and for which He uses the name “great tribulation” (Matthew 24:21; cf. Jeremiah 30:7). The Lord thus points forward to the time when the people will be severely chastened and from which a remnant will be saved after this remnant has acknowledged Him as Messiah. God’s goal with the famine was the same. He wanted to bring the brothers to Joseph and to the acknowledgment that he is their savior. For this a long way had to be gone.
Stephen speaks about “our fathers” who could not find food. He still connects with his audience. He takes them further into the history of the brothers and tells them how they are led to Joseph. When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent “our fathers [there] the first time” (Genesis 42:1-2). Stephen ignores what happened that first time, but proceeds immediately with the second time they go. At this second time, Joseph makes himself known to his brothers (Genesis 45:3-4).
Here in Stephen’s speech we find a glimpse of hope for Israel. The Lord Jesus will also come a second time to His people and then make Himself known to them. Then they will see Him Whom they have pierced (Zechariah 12:10) and He will bless the repentant remnant. Joseph did the same with his brothers after he revealed himself to them. Then, as it were, He will also make known to God His descent as a true Man through which He was able to connect people with Himself and say: “Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me” (Hebrews 2:13).
After making himself known, Joseph sends his brothers away to pick up his father Jacob and all his relatives. They are allowed to live with him in Egypt. In this way God has turned for good everything the brothers had meant evil (Genesis 50:20).
But that situation came to an end. Jacob and “our fathers” died. Their bodies were brought back to the land of Canaan and buried in the tomb that Abraham had bought. They had not yet received the promised land, but they were buried in the tomb where Abraham was also buried in view of the fulfillment of the promise (Genesis 49:29-30; Genesis 50:13; Joshua 24:32).
Acts 9:18
Rejection and Reign of Joseph
The patriarchs soon showed their true nature. Driven by jealousy, they rejected Joseph. Their jealousy came from the revelation that Joseph had received in dreams and that he had told them. Those dreams were about his future glorification, in which they would bow down before him (Genesis 37:5-11). But they would never do that! Therefore, they made sure that nothing of his dreams could come to pass and sold him to Egypt. The parallels between Joseph and the Lord Jesus are obvious.
Everything Stephen brings up about Joseph in his history had to remind his hearers of what they did to Christ. Did they perhaps remember their thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15-16)? However much the brothers despised Joseph and rejected him, God was with him. After he was rejected, God delivered him from all his afflictions and made sure he came into favor with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Joseph revealed God’s wisdom by making proposals to Pharaoh that would save the country. As a result, Joseph was made the most powerful man in Egypt by Pharaoh and was even assigned the rule of the house of Pharaoh (Genesis 41:40-44; Psalms 105:21).
The brothers had no knowledge of God’s dealings with Joseph. But God made sure that they came face to face with Joseph as the mighty ruler of Egypt. For this He used a famine that He caused over all Egypt and Canaan (Genesis 41:54; Genesis 42:5). Stephen calls it a “great affliction”, which is reminiscent of the period of time of which the Lord Jesus speaks and for which He uses the name “great tribulation” (Matthew 24:21; cf. Jeremiah 30:7). The Lord thus points forward to the time when the people will be severely chastened and from which a remnant will be saved after this remnant has acknowledged Him as Messiah. God’s goal with the famine was the same. He wanted to bring the brothers to Joseph and to the acknowledgment that he is their savior. For this a long way had to be gone.
Stephen speaks about “our fathers” who could not find food. He still connects with his audience. He takes them further into the history of the brothers and tells them how they are led to Joseph. When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent “our fathers [there] the first time” (Genesis 42:1-2). Stephen ignores what happened that first time, but proceeds immediately with the second time they go. At this second time, Joseph makes himself known to his brothers (Genesis 45:3-4).
Here in Stephen’s speech we find a glimpse of hope for Israel. The Lord Jesus will also come a second time to His people and then make Himself known to them. Then they will see Him Whom they have pierced (Zechariah 12:10) and He will bless the repentant remnant. Joseph did the same with his brothers after he revealed himself to them. Then, as it were, He will also make known to God His descent as a true Man through which He was able to connect people with Himself and say: “Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me” (Hebrews 2:13).
After making himself known, Joseph sends his brothers away to pick up his father Jacob and all his relatives. They are allowed to live with him in Egypt. In this way God has turned for good everything the brothers had meant evil (Genesis 50:20).
But that situation came to an end. Jacob and “our fathers” died. Their bodies were brought back to the land of Canaan and buried in the tomb that Abraham had bought. They had not yet received the promised land, but they were buried in the tomb where Abraham was also buried in view of the fulfillment of the promise (Genesis 49:29-30; Genesis 50:13; Joshua 24:32).
Acts 9:19
Rejection and Reign of Joseph
The patriarchs soon showed their true nature. Driven by jealousy, they rejected Joseph. Their jealousy came from the revelation that Joseph had received in dreams and that he had told them. Those dreams were about his future glorification, in which they would bow down before him (Genesis 37:5-11). But they would never do that! Therefore, they made sure that nothing of his dreams could come to pass and sold him to Egypt. The parallels between Joseph and the Lord Jesus are obvious.
Everything Stephen brings up about Joseph in his history had to remind his hearers of what they did to Christ. Did they perhaps remember their thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15-16)? However much the brothers despised Joseph and rejected him, God was with him. After he was rejected, God delivered him from all his afflictions and made sure he came into favor with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Joseph revealed God’s wisdom by making proposals to Pharaoh that would save the country. As a result, Joseph was made the most powerful man in Egypt by Pharaoh and was even assigned the rule of the house of Pharaoh (Genesis 41:40-44; Psalms 105:21).
The brothers had no knowledge of God’s dealings with Joseph. But God made sure that they came face to face with Joseph as the mighty ruler of Egypt. For this He used a famine that He caused over all Egypt and Canaan (Genesis 41:54; Genesis 42:5). Stephen calls it a “great affliction”, which is reminiscent of the period of time of which the Lord Jesus speaks and for which He uses the name “great tribulation” (Matthew 24:21; cf. Jeremiah 30:7). The Lord thus points forward to the time when the people will be severely chastened and from which a remnant will be saved after this remnant has acknowledged Him as Messiah. God’s goal with the famine was the same. He wanted to bring the brothers to Joseph and to the acknowledgment that he is their savior. For this a long way had to be gone.
Stephen speaks about “our fathers” who could not find food. He still connects with his audience. He takes them further into the history of the brothers and tells them how they are led to Joseph. When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent “our fathers [there] the first time” (Genesis 42:1-2). Stephen ignores what happened that first time, but proceeds immediately with the second time they go. At this second time, Joseph makes himself known to his brothers (Genesis 45:3-4).
Here in Stephen’s speech we find a glimpse of hope for Israel. The Lord Jesus will also come a second time to His people and then make Himself known to them. Then they will see Him Whom they have pierced (Zechariah 12:10) and He will bless the repentant remnant. Joseph did the same with his brothers after he revealed himself to them. Then, as it were, He will also make known to God His descent as a true Man through which He was able to connect people with Himself and say: “Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me” (Hebrews 2:13).
After making himself known, Joseph sends his brothers away to pick up his father Jacob and all his relatives. They are allowed to live with him in Egypt. In this way God has turned for good everything the brothers had meant evil (Genesis 50:20).
But that situation came to an end. Jacob and “our fathers” died. Their bodies were brought back to the land of Canaan and buried in the tomb that Abraham had bought. They had not yet received the promised land, but they were buried in the tomb where Abraham was also buried in view of the fulfillment of the promise (Genesis 49:29-30; Genesis 50:13; Joshua 24:32).
Acts 9:20
Moses’ Birth and Nurturing
Stephen comes to the third and longest part of his speech. Moses as picture of the Lord Jesus is central in this. Stephen was accused of speaking slanderous words against Moses (Acts 6:11). From what he says of Moses it is clear how false this accusation is.
In mentioning the history of God’s people, Stephen is now going to speak about the fulfillment of God’s promises. Based on that history, he presents to his audience that a new change was occurring. The situation in which the people found themselves in Egypt did not remain the same. The time of the promise was approaching, that is, the time to fulfill the promise that God would bring them to Canaan. For this He had to lead His people out of Egypt. The circumstances He used for this are again humbling for his audience.
In the early days of their stay in Egypt it seemed that the people were greatly blessed. The people grew and multiplied in Egypt (Exodus 1:7). None of this posed a problem, as long as the country was ruled by kings who had known Joseph. They remembered that they owed the existence of their country to him. As a token of appreciation, the people were allowed to stay in Egypt. Then there was a king who had not known Joseph (Exodus 1:8). This king had no connection whatsoever with Joseph and there was no gratitude whatsoever toward him.
This king saw in the ever-growing people a threat to his own position. To prevent expansion of “our race”, he resorted to cunning (Exodus 1:16) and began to mistreat “our fathers” and to afflict them (Exodus 1:10-11). When this did not help to inhibit the growth of the people, he ordered that every son who is born should not stay with their parents, but that they would expose their infants, i.e. that they would be thrown into the Nile (Exodus 1:22).
While the people sighed under the cruel domination, God went to work to fulfill His promise by letting Moses be born. Stephen says of him that he was “lovely “, that is, lovely “in the sight of God” (Exodus 2:2; Hebrews 11:23). His parents did not take him immediately to the Nile, as Pharaoh had commanded, but nurtured him “in his father’s home” for three months. After that he had to share the fate of every little boy. He was taken to the Nile and put there as a foundling. There he was found by the daughter of Pharaoh who nurtured him as her own son. Later, Moses refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter (Hebrews 11:24).
The nurturing by his God-fearing parents did not miss its goal. God used the criminal order of Pharaoh to bring Moses to his court. By doing so through the daughter of Pharaoh, God mocked with all the power of Pharaoh. That is God’s wisdom. God’s plan with His people was not only fulfilled despite Pharaoh, but even with the cooperation of Pharaoh, of course without him wanting or even realizing it.
At court Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians. Moses became learned or wise, but he was powerful in his words and deeds. Learning he acquired through education, power he received from God as a special gift. Both qualities he revealed in Egypt. To God he spoke about the opposite (Exodus 4:10) and felt his incompetence.
Acts 9:21
Moses’ Birth and Nurturing
Stephen comes to the third and longest part of his speech. Moses as picture of the Lord Jesus is central in this. Stephen was accused of speaking slanderous words against Moses (Acts 6:11). From what he says of Moses it is clear how false this accusation is.
In mentioning the history of God’s people, Stephen is now going to speak about the fulfillment of God’s promises. Based on that history, he presents to his audience that a new change was occurring. The situation in which the people found themselves in Egypt did not remain the same. The time of the promise was approaching, that is, the time to fulfill the promise that God would bring them to Canaan. For this He had to lead His people out of Egypt. The circumstances He used for this are again humbling for his audience.
In the early days of their stay in Egypt it seemed that the people were greatly blessed. The people grew and multiplied in Egypt (Exodus 1:7). None of this posed a problem, as long as the country was ruled by kings who had known Joseph. They remembered that they owed the existence of their country to him. As a token of appreciation, the people were allowed to stay in Egypt. Then there was a king who had not known Joseph (Exodus 1:8). This king had no connection whatsoever with Joseph and there was no gratitude whatsoever toward him.
This king saw in the ever-growing people a threat to his own position. To prevent expansion of “our race”, he resorted to cunning (Exodus 1:16) and began to mistreat “our fathers” and to afflict them (Exodus 1:10-11). When this did not help to inhibit the growth of the people, he ordered that every son who is born should not stay with their parents, but that they would expose their infants, i.e. that they would be thrown into the Nile (Exodus 1:22).
While the people sighed under the cruel domination, God went to work to fulfill His promise by letting Moses be born. Stephen says of him that he was “lovely “, that is, lovely “in the sight of God” (Exodus 2:2; Hebrews 11:23). His parents did not take him immediately to the Nile, as Pharaoh had commanded, but nurtured him “in his father’s home” for three months. After that he had to share the fate of every little boy. He was taken to the Nile and put there as a foundling. There he was found by the daughter of Pharaoh who nurtured him as her own son. Later, Moses refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter (Hebrews 11:24).
The nurturing by his God-fearing parents did not miss its goal. God used the criminal order of Pharaoh to bring Moses to his court. By doing so through the daughter of Pharaoh, God mocked with all the power of Pharaoh. That is God’s wisdom. God’s plan with His people was not only fulfilled despite Pharaoh, but even with the cooperation of Pharaoh, of course without him wanting or even realizing it.
At court Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians. Moses became learned or wise, but he was powerful in his words and deeds. Learning he acquired through education, power he received from God as a special gift. Both qualities he revealed in Egypt. To God he spoke about the opposite (Exodus 4:10) and felt his incompetence.
Acts 9:22
Moses’ Birth and Nurturing
Stephen comes to the third and longest part of his speech. Moses as picture of the Lord Jesus is central in this. Stephen was accused of speaking slanderous words against Moses (Acts 6:11). From what he says of Moses it is clear how false this accusation is.
In mentioning the history of God’s people, Stephen is now going to speak about the fulfillment of God’s promises. Based on that history, he presents to his audience that a new change was occurring. The situation in which the people found themselves in Egypt did not remain the same. The time of the promise was approaching, that is, the time to fulfill the promise that God would bring them to Canaan. For this He had to lead His people out of Egypt. The circumstances He used for this are again humbling for his audience.
In the early days of their stay in Egypt it seemed that the people were greatly blessed. The people grew and multiplied in Egypt (Exodus 1:7). None of this posed a problem, as long as the country was ruled by kings who had known Joseph. They remembered that they owed the existence of their country to him. As a token of appreciation, the people were allowed to stay in Egypt. Then there was a king who had not known Joseph (Exodus 1:8). This king had no connection whatsoever with Joseph and there was no gratitude whatsoever toward him.
This king saw in the ever-growing people a threat to his own position. To prevent expansion of “our race”, he resorted to cunning (Exodus 1:16) and began to mistreat “our fathers” and to afflict them (Exodus 1:10-11). When this did not help to inhibit the growth of the people, he ordered that every son who is born should not stay with their parents, but that they would expose their infants, i.e. that they would be thrown into the Nile (Exodus 1:22).
While the people sighed under the cruel domination, God went to work to fulfill His promise by letting Moses be born. Stephen says of him that he was “lovely “, that is, lovely “in the sight of God” (Exodus 2:2; Hebrews 11:23). His parents did not take him immediately to the Nile, as Pharaoh had commanded, but nurtured him “in his father’s home” for three months. After that he had to share the fate of every little boy. He was taken to the Nile and put there as a foundling. There he was found by the daughter of Pharaoh who nurtured him as her own son. Later, Moses refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter (Hebrews 11:24).
The nurturing by his God-fearing parents did not miss its goal. God used the criminal order of Pharaoh to bring Moses to his court. By doing so through the daughter of Pharaoh, God mocked with all the power of Pharaoh. That is God’s wisdom. God’s plan with His people was not only fulfilled despite Pharaoh, but even with the cooperation of Pharaoh, of course without him wanting or even realizing it.
At court Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians. Moses became learned or wise, but he was powerful in his words and deeds. Learning he acquired through education, power he received from God as a special gift. Both qualities he revealed in Egypt. To God he spoke about the opposite (Exodus 4:10) and felt his incompetence.
Acts 9:23
Moses’ Birth and Nurturing
Stephen comes to the third and longest part of his speech. Moses as picture of the Lord Jesus is central in this. Stephen was accused of speaking slanderous words against Moses (Acts 6:11). From what he says of Moses it is clear how false this accusation is.
In mentioning the history of God’s people, Stephen is now going to speak about the fulfillment of God’s promises. Based on that history, he presents to his audience that a new change was occurring. The situation in which the people found themselves in Egypt did not remain the same. The time of the promise was approaching, that is, the time to fulfill the promise that God would bring them to Canaan. For this He had to lead His people out of Egypt. The circumstances He used for this are again humbling for his audience.
In the early days of their stay in Egypt it seemed that the people were greatly blessed. The people grew and multiplied in Egypt (Exodus 1:7). None of this posed a problem, as long as the country was ruled by kings who had known Joseph. They remembered that they owed the existence of their country to him. As a token of appreciation, the people were allowed to stay in Egypt. Then there was a king who had not known Joseph (Exodus 1:8). This king had no connection whatsoever with Joseph and there was no gratitude whatsoever toward him.
This king saw in the ever-growing people a threat to his own position. To prevent expansion of “our race”, he resorted to cunning (Exodus 1:16) and began to mistreat “our fathers” and to afflict them (Exodus 1:10-11). When this did not help to inhibit the growth of the people, he ordered that every son who is born should not stay with their parents, but that they would expose their infants, i.e. that they would be thrown into the Nile (Exodus 1:22).
While the people sighed under the cruel domination, God went to work to fulfill His promise by letting Moses be born. Stephen says of him that he was “lovely “, that is, lovely “in the sight of God” (Exodus 2:2; Hebrews 11:23). His parents did not take him immediately to the Nile, as Pharaoh had commanded, but nurtured him “in his father’s home” for three months. After that he had to share the fate of every little boy. He was taken to the Nile and put there as a foundling. There he was found by the daughter of Pharaoh who nurtured him as her own son. Later, Moses refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter (Hebrews 11:24).
The nurturing by his God-fearing parents did not miss its goal. God used the criminal order of Pharaoh to bring Moses to his court. By doing so through the daughter of Pharaoh, God mocked with all the power of Pharaoh. That is God’s wisdom. God’s plan with His people was not only fulfilled despite Pharaoh, but even with the cooperation of Pharaoh, of course without him wanting or even realizing it.
At court Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians. Moses became learned or wise, but he was powerful in his words and deeds. Learning he acquired through education, power he received from God as a special gift. Both qualities he revealed in Egypt. To God he spoke about the opposite (Exodus 4:10) and felt his incompetence.
Acts 9:24
Moses’ Birth and Nurturing
Stephen comes to the third and longest part of his speech. Moses as picture of the Lord Jesus is central in this. Stephen was accused of speaking slanderous words against Moses (Acts 6:11). From what he says of Moses it is clear how false this accusation is.
In mentioning the history of God’s people, Stephen is now going to speak about the fulfillment of God’s promises. Based on that history, he presents to his audience that a new change was occurring. The situation in which the people found themselves in Egypt did not remain the same. The time of the promise was approaching, that is, the time to fulfill the promise that God would bring them to Canaan. For this He had to lead His people out of Egypt. The circumstances He used for this are again humbling for his audience.
In the early days of their stay in Egypt it seemed that the people were greatly blessed. The people grew and multiplied in Egypt (Exodus 1:7). None of this posed a problem, as long as the country was ruled by kings who had known Joseph. They remembered that they owed the existence of their country to him. As a token of appreciation, the people were allowed to stay in Egypt. Then there was a king who had not known Joseph (Exodus 1:8). This king had no connection whatsoever with Joseph and there was no gratitude whatsoever toward him.
This king saw in the ever-growing people a threat to his own position. To prevent expansion of “our race”, he resorted to cunning (Exodus 1:16) and began to mistreat “our fathers” and to afflict them (Exodus 1:10-11). When this did not help to inhibit the growth of the people, he ordered that every son who is born should not stay with their parents, but that they would expose their infants, i.e. that they would be thrown into the Nile (Exodus 1:22).
While the people sighed under the cruel domination, God went to work to fulfill His promise by letting Moses be born. Stephen says of him that he was “lovely “, that is, lovely “in the sight of God” (Exodus 2:2; Hebrews 11:23). His parents did not take him immediately to the Nile, as Pharaoh had commanded, but nurtured him “in his father’s home” for three months. After that he had to share the fate of every little boy. He was taken to the Nile and put there as a foundling. There he was found by the daughter of Pharaoh who nurtured him as her own son. Later, Moses refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter (Hebrews 11:24).
The nurturing by his God-fearing parents did not miss its goal. God used the criminal order of Pharaoh to bring Moses to his court. By doing so through the daughter of Pharaoh, God mocked with all the power of Pharaoh. That is God’s wisdom. God’s plan with His people was not only fulfilled despite Pharaoh, but even with the cooperation of Pharaoh, of course without him wanting or even realizing it.
At court Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians. Moses became learned or wise, but he was powerful in his words and deeds. Learning he acquired through education, power he received from God as a special gift. Both qualities he revealed in Egypt. To God he spoke about the opposite (Exodus 4:10) and felt his incompetence.
Acts 9:25
Moses’ Birth and Nurturing
Stephen comes to the third and longest part of his speech. Moses as picture of the Lord Jesus is central in this. Stephen was accused of speaking slanderous words against Moses (Acts 6:11). From what he says of Moses it is clear how false this accusation is.
In mentioning the history of God’s people, Stephen is now going to speak about the fulfillment of God’s promises. Based on that history, he presents to his audience that a new change was occurring. The situation in which the people found themselves in Egypt did not remain the same. The time of the promise was approaching, that is, the time to fulfill the promise that God would bring them to Canaan. For this He had to lead His people out of Egypt. The circumstances He used for this are again humbling for his audience.
In the early days of their stay in Egypt it seemed that the people were greatly blessed. The people grew and multiplied in Egypt (Exodus 1:7). None of this posed a problem, as long as the country was ruled by kings who had known Joseph. They remembered that they owed the existence of their country to him. As a token of appreciation, the people were allowed to stay in Egypt. Then there was a king who had not known Joseph (Exodus 1:8). This king had no connection whatsoever with Joseph and there was no gratitude whatsoever toward him.
This king saw in the ever-growing people a threat to his own position. To prevent expansion of “our race”, he resorted to cunning (Exodus 1:16) and began to mistreat “our fathers” and to afflict them (Exodus 1:10-11). When this did not help to inhibit the growth of the people, he ordered that every son who is born should not stay with their parents, but that they would expose their infants, i.e. that they would be thrown into the Nile (Exodus 1:22).
While the people sighed under the cruel domination, God went to work to fulfill His promise by letting Moses be born. Stephen says of him that he was “lovely “, that is, lovely “in the sight of God” (Exodus 2:2; Hebrews 11:23). His parents did not take him immediately to the Nile, as Pharaoh had commanded, but nurtured him “in his father’s home” for three months. After that he had to share the fate of every little boy. He was taken to the Nile and put there as a foundling. There he was found by the daughter of Pharaoh who nurtured him as her own son. Later, Moses refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter (Hebrews 11:24).
The nurturing by his God-fearing parents did not miss its goal. God used the criminal order of Pharaoh to bring Moses to his court. By doing so through the daughter of Pharaoh, God mocked with all the power of Pharaoh. That is God’s wisdom. God’s plan with His people was not only fulfilled despite Pharaoh, but even with the cooperation of Pharaoh, of course without him wanting or even realizing it.
At court Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians. Moses became learned or wise, but he was powerful in his words and deeds. Learning he acquired through education, power he received from God as a special gift. Both qualities he revealed in Egypt. To God he spoke about the opposite (Exodus 4:10) and felt his incompetence.
Acts 9:26
Moses Visits His Brethren and Flees
The first period of Moses’ life at the court of Pharaoh lasted for forty years. But all the splendor of the court of Pharaoh could not prevent that his heart was with his brothers in oppression. One day he visited them. His love for his people burned in all its fierceness. He did not come to tell them what they had done wrong, but to see their “hard labors” (Exodus 2:11). The Lord Jesus did not come to judge either, but to save (John 3:17).
When Moses saw one of his brethren being treated unjustly, he defended him. He took him in protection, also taking vengeance for him who was mistreated by striking down the Egyptian. He was then still at the court of Pharaoh. By standing up so clearly for the people, he thought that his brethren would see in him their deliverer through whose hand God would give them salvation. But that thought did not occur to them. On the contrary. The next day, when he appeared to his brothers again, it appeared that they were not at all interested in his intervention.
Again Moses observed that injustice was being done. However, this time it was not an Egyptian who wronged an Israelite, but two Israelites who wronged each other. When he tried to reconcile them for peace with the question why they wronged each other, he who wronged his neighbor turned against him. Moses was blamed for the fact that he should not claim to be “a ruler and judge”.
Here we see that from his first action in favor of his people, his authority was rejected, as was the case with Joseph. Moses was dealt with in the same way as Joseph was dealt with before, when he investigated the welfare of his brothers: he was rejected by his own (Genesis 37:14; 18). Like Joseph, Moses is in this respect a type of Christ Who was not accepted by His own either (John 1:11). Christ was hated, rejected, denied and even killed by His people. So it was prophetically the reproach of Christ that Moses took upon himself when he looked after his brethren and wanted to share their fate (Hebrews 11:26).
The rejection of Moses was clearly expressed in the words of the Israelite who wronged his neighbor: “Who made you a ruler and judge over us?” (Acts 7:27; Exodus 2:14). The man added that he saw in him not a deliverer, but a threat to his life. This shows how much the people would rather remain in slavery than acknowledge a deliverer. The people did not want to accept a ruler and judge. The accusation that Moses put himself up to this is quoted twice by Stephen (Acts 7:27; 35), through which he accentuates its seriousness. When it had become so clear that his people did not want him, Moses fled.
What Stephen, following the history in Exodus, presents as a flee is presented in Hebrews 11 as an act of faith (Hebrews 11:27). Thus, on the one hand, the Lord Jesus was rejected by His people, while on the other He went away, back to heaven, waiting for the time when His people will accept Him as their Savior.
During the time that Moses was in Midian, he had a heathen wife as his bride and got two sons (Exodus 2:21-22; Exodus 18:3-4). This can be compared to the Lord Jesus Who receives the church as a bride in this time. The names Moses gave his sons show that he had not forgotten his people in the foreign land either, just as the Lord Jesus, now that He is in heaven, does not forget His earthly people.
Acts 9:27
Moses Visits His Brethren and Flees
The first period of Moses’ life at the court of Pharaoh lasted for forty years. But all the splendor of the court of Pharaoh could not prevent that his heart was with his brothers in oppression. One day he visited them. His love for his people burned in all its fierceness. He did not come to tell them what they had done wrong, but to see their “hard labors” (Exodus 2:11). The Lord Jesus did not come to judge either, but to save (John 3:17).
When Moses saw one of his brethren being treated unjustly, he defended him. He took him in protection, also taking vengeance for him who was mistreated by striking down the Egyptian. He was then still at the court of Pharaoh. By standing up so clearly for the people, he thought that his brethren would see in him their deliverer through whose hand God would give them salvation. But that thought did not occur to them. On the contrary. The next day, when he appeared to his brothers again, it appeared that they were not at all interested in his intervention.
Again Moses observed that injustice was being done. However, this time it was not an Egyptian who wronged an Israelite, but two Israelites who wronged each other. When he tried to reconcile them for peace with the question why they wronged each other, he who wronged his neighbor turned against him. Moses was blamed for the fact that he should not claim to be “a ruler and judge”.
Here we see that from his first action in favor of his people, his authority was rejected, as was the case with Joseph. Moses was dealt with in the same way as Joseph was dealt with before, when he investigated the welfare of his brothers: he was rejected by his own (Genesis 37:14; 18). Like Joseph, Moses is in this respect a type of Christ Who was not accepted by His own either (John 1:11). Christ was hated, rejected, denied and even killed by His people. So it was prophetically the reproach of Christ that Moses took upon himself when he looked after his brethren and wanted to share their fate (Hebrews 11:26).
The rejection of Moses was clearly expressed in the words of the Israelite who wronged his neighbor: “Who made you a ruler and judge over us?” (Acts 7:27; Exodus 2:14). The man added that he saw in him not a deliverer, but a threat to his life. This shows how much the people would rather remain in slavery than acknowledge a deliverer. The people did not want to accept a ruler and judge. The accusation that Moses put himself up to this is quoted twice by Stephen (Acts 7:27; 35), through which he accentuates its seriousness. When it had become so clear that his people did not want him, Moses fled.
What Stephen, following the history in Exodus, presents as a flee is presented in Hebrews 11 as an act of faith (Hebrews 11:27). Thus, on the one hand, the Lord Jesus was rejected by His people, while on the other He went away, back to heaven, waiting for the time when His people will accept Him as their Savior.
During the time that Moses was in Midian, he had a heathen wife as his bride and got two sons (Exodus 2:21-22; Exodus 18:3-4). This can be compared to the Lord Jesus Who receives the church as a bride in this time. The names Moses gave his sons show that he had not forgotten his people in the foreign land either, just as the Lord Jesus, now that He is in heaven, does not forget His earthly people.
Acts 9:28
Moses Visits His Brethren and Flees
The first period of Moses’ life at the court of Pharaoh lasted for forty years. But all the splendor of the court of Pharaoh could not prevent that his heart was with his brothers in oppression. One day he visited them. His love for his people burned in all its fierceness. He did not come to tell them what they had done wrong, but to see their “hard labors” (Exodus 2:11). The Lord Jesus did not come to judge either, but to save (John 3:17).
When Moses saw one of his brethren being treated unjustly, he defended him. He took him in protection, also taking vengeance for him who was mistreated by striking down the Egyptian. He was then still at the court of Pharaoh. By standing up so clearly for the people, he thought that his brethren would see in him their deliverer through whose hand God would give them salvation. But that thought did not occur to them. On the contrary. The next day, when he appeared to his brothers again, it appeared that they were not at all interested in his intervention.
Again Moses observed that injustice was being done. However, this time it was not an Egyptian who wronged an Israelite, but two Israelites who wronged each other. When he tried to reconcile them for peace with the question why they wronged each other, he who wronged his neighbor turned against him. Moses was blamed for the fact that he should not claim to be “a ruler and judge”.
Here we see that from his first action in favor of his people, his authority was rejected, as was the case with Joseph. Moses was dealt with in the same way as Joseph was dealt with before, when he investigated the welfare of his brothers: he was rejected by his own (Genesis 37:14; 18). Like Joseph, Moses is in this respect a type of Christ Who was not accepted by His own either (John 1:11). Christ was hated, rejected, denied and even killed by His people. So it was prophetically the reproach of Christ that Moses took upon himself when he looked after his brethren and wanted to share their fate (Hebrews 11:26).
The rejection of Moses was clearly expressed in the words of the Israelite who wronged his neighbor: “Who made you a ruler and judge over us?” (Acts 7:27; Exodus 2:14). The man added that he saw in him not a deliverer, but a threat to his life. This shows how much the people would rather remain in slavery than acknowledge a deliverer. The people did not want to accept a ruler and judge. The accusation that Moses put himself up to this is quoted twice by Stephen (Acts 7:27; 35), through which he accentuates its seriousness. When it had become so clear that his people did not want him, Moses fled.
What Stephen, following the history in Exodus, presents as a flee is presented in Hebrews 11 as an act of faith (Hebrews 11:27). Thus, on the one hand, the Lord Jesus was rejected by His people, while on the other He went away, back to heaven, waiting for the time when His people will accept Him as their Savior.
During the time that Moses was in Midian, he had a heathen wife as his bride and got two sons (Exodus 2:21-22; Exodus 18:3-4). This can be compared to the Lord Jesus Who receives the church as a bride in this time. The names Moses gave his sons show that he had not forgotten his people in the foreign land either, just as the Lord Jesus, now that He is in heaven, does not forget His earthly people.
Acts 9:29
Moses Visits His Brethren and Flees
The first period of Moses’ life at the court of Pharaoh lasted for forty years. But all the splendor of the court of Pharaoh could not prevent that his heart was with his brothers in oppression. One day he visited them. His love for his people burned in all its fierceness. He did not come to tell them what they had done wrong, but to see their “hard labors” (Exodus 2:11). The Lord Jesus did not come to judge either, but to save (John 3:17).
When Moses saw one of his brethren being treated unjustly, he defended him. He took him in protection, also taking vengeance for him who was mistreated by striking down the Egyptian. He was then still at the court of Pharaoh. By standing up so clearly for the people, he thought that his brethren would see in him their deliverer through whose hand God would give them salvation. But that thought did not occur to them. On the contrary. The next day, when he appeared to his brothers again, it appeared that they were not at all interested in his intervention.
Again Moses observed that injustice was being done. However, this time it was not an Egyptian who wronged an Israelite, but two Israelites who wronged each other. When he tried to reconcile them for peace with the question why they wronged each other, he who wronged his neighbor turned against him. Moses was blamed for the fact that he should not claim to be “a ruler and judge”.
Here we see that from his first action in favor of his people, his authority was rejected, as was the case with Joseph. Moses was dealt with in the same way as Joseph was dealt with before, when he investigated the welfare of his brothers: he was rejected by his own (Genesis 37:14; 18). Like Joseph, Moses is in this respect a type of Christ Who was not accepted by His own either (John 1:11). Christ was hated, rejected, denied and even killed by His people. So it was prophetically the reproach of Christ that Moses took upon himself when he looked after his brethren and wanted to share their fate (Hebrews 11:26).
The rejection of Moses was clearly expressed in the words of the Israelite who wronged his neighbor: “Who made you a ruler and judge over us?” (Acts 7:27; Exodus 2:14). The man added that he saw in him not a deliverer, but a threat to his life. This shows how much the people would rather remain in slavery than acknowledge a deliverer. The people did not want to accept a ruler and judge. The accusation that Moses put himself up to this is quoted twice by Stephen (Acts 7:27; 35), through which he accentuates its seriousness. When it had become so clear that his people did not want him, Moses fled.
What Stephen, following the history in Exodus, presents as a flee is presented in Hebrews 11 as an act of faith (Hebrews 11:27). Thus, on the one hand, the Lord Jesus was rejected by His people, while on the other He went away, back to heaven, waiting for the time when His people will accept Him as their Savior.
During the time that Moses was in Midian, he had a heathen wife as his bride and got two sons (Exodus 2:21-22; Exodus 18:3-4). This can be compared to the Lord Jesus Who receives the church as a bride in this time. The names Moses gave his sons show that he had not forgotten his people in the foreign land either, just as the Lord Jesus, now that He is in heaven, does not forget His earthly people.
Acts 9:30
Moses Visits His Brethren and Flees
The first period of Moses’ life at the court of Pharaoh lasted for forty years. But all the splendor of the court of Pharaoh could not prevent that his heart was with his brothers in oppression. One day he visited them. His love for his people burned in all its fierceness. He did not come to tell them what they had done wrong, but to see their “hard labors” (Exodus 2:11). The Lord Jesus did not come to judge either, but to save (John 3:17).
When Moses saw one of his brethren being treated unjustly, he defended him. He took him in protection, also taking vengeance for him who was mistreated by striking down the Egyptian. He was then still at the court of Pharaoh. By standing up so clearly for the people, he thought that his brethren would see in him their deliverer through whose hand God would give them salvation. But that thought did not occur to them. On the contrary. The next day, when he appeared to his brothers again, it appeared that they were not at all interested in his intervention.
Again Moses observed that injustice was being done. However, this time it was not an Egyptian who wronged an Israelite, but two Israelites who wronged each other. When he tried to reconcile them for peace with the question why they wronged each other, he who wronged his neighbor turned against him. Moses was blamed for the fact that he should not claim to be “a ruler and judge”.
Here we see that from his first action in favor of his people, his authority was rejected, as was the case with Joseph. Moses was dealt with in the same way as Joseph was dealt with before, when he investigated the welfare of his brothers: he was rejected by his own (Genesis 37:14; 18). Like Joseph, Moses is in this respect a type of Christ Who was not accepted by His own either (John 1:11). Christ was hated, rejected, denied and even killed by His people. So it was prophetically the reproach of Christ that Moses took upon himself when he looked after his brethren and wanted to share their fate (Hebrews 11:26).
The rejection of Moses was clearly expressed in the words of the Israelite who wronged his neighbor: “Who made you a ruler and judge over us?” (Acts 7:27; Exodus 2:14). The man added that he saw in him not a deliverer, but a threat to his life. This shows how much the people would rather remain in slavery than acknowledge a deliverer. The people did not want to accept a ruler and judge. The accusation that Moses put himself up to this is quoted twice by Stephen (Acts 7:27; 35), through which he accentuates its seriousness. When it had become so clear that his people did not want him, Moses fled.
What Stephen, following the history in Exodus, presents as a flee is presented in Hebrews 11 as an act of faith (Hebrews 11:27). Thus, on the one hand, the Lord Jesus was rejected by His people, while on the other He went away, back to heaven, waiting for the time when His people will accept Him as their Savior.
During the time that Moses was in Midian, he had a heathen wife as his bride and got two sons (Exodus 2:21-22; Exodus 18:3-4). This can be compared to the Lord Jesus Who receives the church as a bride in this time. The names Moses gave his sons show that he had not forgotten his people in the foreign land either, just as the Lord Jesus, now that He is in heaven, does not forget His earthly people.
Acts 9:31
Moses Visits His Brethren and Flees
The first period of Moses’ life at the court of Pharaoh lasted for forty years. But all the splendor of the court of Pharaoh could not prevent that his heart was with his brothers in oppression. One day he visited them. His love for his people burned in all its fierceness. He did not come to tell them what they had done wrong, but to see their “hard labors” (Exodus 2:11). The Lord Jesus did not come to judge either, but to save (John 3:17).
When Moses saw one of his brethren being treated unjustly, he defended him. He took him in protection, also taking vengeance for him who was mistreated by striking down the Egyptian. He was then still at the court of Pharaoh. By standing up so clearly for the people, he thought that his brethren would see in him their deliverer through whose hand God would give them salvation. But that thought did not occur to them. On the contrary. The next day, when he appeared to his brothers again, it appeared that they were not at all interested in his intervention.
Again Moses observed that injustice was being done. However, this time it was not an Egyptian who wronged an Israelite, but two Israelites who wronged each other. When he tried to reconcile them for peace with the question why they wronged each other, he who wronged his neighbor turned against him. Moses was blamed for the fact that he should not claim to be “a ruler and judge”.
Here we see that from his first action in favor of his people, his authority was rejected, as was the case with Joseph. Moses was dealt with in the same way as Joseph was dealt with before, when he investigated the welfare of his brothers: he was rejected by his own (Genesis 37:14; 18). Like Joseph, Moses is in this respect a type of Christ Who was not accepted by His own either (John 1:11). Christ was hated, rejected, denied and even killed by His people. So it was prophetically the reproach of Christ that Moses took upon himself when he looked after his brethren and wanted to share their fate (Hebrews 11:26).
The rejection of Moses was clearly expressed in the words of the Israelite who wronged his neighbor: “Who made you a ruler and judge over us?” (Acts 7:27; Exodus 2:14). The man added that he saw in him not a deliverer, but a threat to his life. This shows how much the people would rather remain in slavery than acknowledge a deliverer. The people did not want to accept a ruler and judge. The accusation that Moses put himself up to this is quoted twice by Stephen (Acts 7:27; 35), through which he accentuates its seriousness. When it had become so clear that his people did not want him, Moses fled.
What Stephen, following the history in Exodus, presents as a flee is presented in Hebrews 11 as an act of faith (Hebrews 11:27). Thus, on the one hand, the Lord Jesus was rejected by His people, while on the other He went away, back to heaven, waiting for the time when His people will accept Him as their Savior.
During the time that Moses was in Midian, he had a heathen wife as his bride and got two sons (Exodus 2:21-22; Exodus 18:3-4). This can be compared to the Lord Jesus Who receives the church as a bride in this time. The names Moses gave his sons show that he had not forgotten his people in the foreign land either, just as the Lord Jesus, now that He is in heaven, does not forget His earthly people.
Acts 9:32
Moses Visits His Brethren and Flees
The first period of Moses’ life at the court of Pharaoh lasted for forty years. But all the splendor of the court of Pharaoh could not prevent that his heart was with his brothers in oppression. One day he visited them. His love for his people burned in all its fierceness. He did not come to tell them what they had done wrong, but to see their “hard labors” (Exodus 2:11). The Lord Jesus did not come to judge either, but to save (John 3:17).
When Moses saw one of his brethren being treated unjustly, he defended him. He took him in protection, also taking vengeance for him who was mistreated by striking down the Egyptian. He was then still at the court of Pharaoh. By standing up so clearly for the people, he thought that his brethren would see in him their deliverer through whose hand God would give them salvation. But that thought did not occur to them. On the contrary. The next day, when he appeared to his brothers again, it appeared that they were not at all interested in his intervention.
Again Moses observed that injustice was being done. However, this time it was not an Egyptian who wronged an Israelite, but two Israelites who wronged each other. When he tried to reconcile them for peace with the question why they wronged each other, he who wronged his neighbor turned against him. Moses was blamed for the fact that he should not claim to be “a ruler and judge”.
Here we see that from his first action in favor of his people, his authority was rejected, as was the case with Joseph. Moses was dealt with in the same way as Joseph was dealt with before, when he investigated the welfare of his brothers: he was rejected by his own (Genesis 37:14; 18). Like Joseph, Moses is in this respect a type of Christ Who was not accepted by His own either (John 1:11). Christ was hated, rejected, denied and even killed by His people. So it was prophetically the reproach of Christ that Moses took upon himself when he looked after his brethren and wanted to share their fate (Hebrews 11:26).
The rejection of Moses was clearly expressed in the words of the Israelite who wronged his neighbor: “Who made you a ruler and judge over us?” (Acts 7:27; Exodus 2:14). The man added that he saw in him not a deliverer, but a threat to his life. This shows how much the people would rather remain in slavery than acknowledge a deliverer. The people did not want to accept a ruler and judge. The accusation that Moses put himself up to this is quoted twice by Stephen (Acts 7:27; 35), through which he accentuates its seriousness. When it had become so clear that his people did not want him, Moses fled.
What Stephen, following the history in Exodus, presents as a flee is presented in Hebrews 11 as an act of faith (Hebrews 11:27). Thus, on the one hand, the Lord Jesus was rejected by His people, while on the other He went away, back to heaven, waiting for the time when His people will accept Him as their Savior.
During the time that Moses was in Midian, he had a heathen wife as his bride and got two sons (Exodus 2:21-22; Exodus 18:3-4). This can be compared to the Lord Jesus Who receives the church as a bride in this time. The names Moses gave his sons show that he had not forgotten his people in the foreign land either, just as the Lord Jesus, now that He is in heaven, does not forget His earthly people.
Acts 9:33
God Appears to Moses
Moses was forty when he fled. In the wilderness forty years “had passed”. Forty is the number of trial. In the power of his life God formed him in the wilderness. Who would choose such an education, in the loneliness of the wilderness, when all the challenges of life lie before you? But God taught him lessons there that he could not have learned in any other way.
Moses is called by the Lord when he is eighty years old. That is at the end of his natural life, as he himself says in Psalms 90 (Psalms 90:10). Before the Lord can use someone, a person has to learn to renounce his natural capacities. Moses learned that. Yet it is not enough not to rely on one’s own abilities. Now he must learn to trust in God’s power.
Moses is now ready for God to appear to him. He does that as an Angel in a flame of a burning thorn bush. Moses’ attention is drawn to the fact that the thorn bush burns but does not burn up (Exodus 3:3). The thorn bush represents man by nature, sinful man. We also see the whole people of Israel in it, which is in Egypt in the furnace of fire. We also see that God is in the fire. That is why the thorn bush is not consumed.
God uses the fire of trial to purify His people, and us. What is not in agreement with Him is removed by the fire. As a result, we are answering more and more to His purpose with us which is that we are becoming like the Lord Jesus. He is with us in the trial (Daniel 3:23-25; Isaiah 63:9).
God sees that Moses is approaching the bush to see that wondrous phenomenon. He makes Himself known to Moses as the God of the covenant with the patriarchs, with Abraham (Genesis 15:13-14), Isaac (Genesis 26:3) and Jacob (Genesis 46:1-3). That is the ground on which He is going to act. He appreciates that Moses shows interest in His revelation, but at the same time He maintains His holiness.
Moses is deeply impressed by God’s appearance and His words. He begins to shake with fear and does not dare to investigate further. He knows himself in the presence of the holy God. Where God is, there is holiness. God makes it clear to him that he stands on holy ground. That is why he has to take off his shoes (cf. Joshua 5:15). The awareness of standing on holy ground was completely missing from the Council that Stephen stood before, while they claimed to live in the holy land.
After Moses has taken the right place before God, God tells him what He has seen and what He has purposed. God tells him that He has seen what is being done to His people and that He has heard their groans. He is familiar with their sorrows. That brings Him to act. He has descended to rescue them and bring them to a land that He has chosen for them. And Moses is the man He wants to use to carry out that purpose.
The Lord Jesus has descended to earth to redeem people who sigh under the yoke of sin. As with Israel, He did not speak from heaven, but came from heaven to earth. It is wonderful to read that God calls this wretched slave people in Egypt “My people”! It is like the father falling around the neck of his prodigal son while this son is still wearing his dirty clothes (Luke 15:20).
When Stephen has impressively presented the appearance of God to Moses and His command to him to go to Egypt to deliver His people, he repeats the rejection of Moses as a ruler and a judge (Acts 7:35; Acts 7:27). By speaking in plural, “they”, he thereby turns the sin of one man into a collective sin, that is, the sin of the whole people.
To further underline its seriousness, Stephen speaks of disowning Moses. And that while God had appeared to Moses and Moses had been sent by Him to them to be both a ruler and a deliverer. This is an impressive illustration of the rejection of Christ, the Prince of life, by the Jewish people (cf. Acts 3:14-15; Acts 4:10-12).
Acts 9:34
God Appears to Moses
Moses was forty when he fled. In the wilderness forty years “had passed”. Forty is the number of trial. In the power of his life God formed him in the wilderness. Who would choose such an education, in the loneliness of the wilderness, when all the challenges of life lie before you? But God taught him lessons there that he could not have learned in any other way.
Moses is called by the Lord when he is eighty years old. That is at the end of his natural life, as he himself says in Psalms 90 (Psalms 90:10). Before the Lord can use someone, a person has to learn to renounce his natural capacities. Moses learned that. Yet it is not enough not to rely on one’s own abilities. Now he must learn to trust in God’s power.
Moses is now ready for God to appear to him. He does that as an Angel in a flame of a burning thorn bush. Moses’ attention is drawn to the fact that the thorn bush burns but does not burn up (Exodus 3:3). The thorn bush represents man by nature, sinful man. We also see the whole people of Israel in it, which is in Egypt in the furnace of fire. We also see that God is in the fire. That is why the thorn bush is not consumed.
God uses the fire of trial to purify His people, and us. What is not in agreement with Him is removed by the fire. As a result, we are answering more and more to His purpose with us which is that we are becoming like the Lord Jesus. He is with us in the trial (Daniel 3:23-25; Isaiah 63:9).
God sees that Moses is approaching the bush to see that wondrous phenomenon. He makes Himself known to Moses as the God of the covenant with the patriarchs, with Abraham (Genesis 15:13-14), Isaac (Genesis 26:3) and Jacob (Genesis 46:1-3). That is the ground on which He is going to act. He appreciates that Moses shows interest in His revelation, but at the same time He maintains His holiness.
Moses is deeply impressed by God’s appearance and His words. He begins to shake with fear and does not dare to investigate further. He knows himself in the presence of the holy God. Where God is, there is holiness. God makes it clear to him that he stands on holy ground. That is why he has to take off his shoes (cf. Joshua 5:15). The awareness of standing on holy ground was completely missing from the Council that Stephen stood before, while they claimed to live in the holy land.
After Moses has taken the right place before God, God tells him what He has seen and what He has purposed. God tells him that He has seen what is being done to His people and that He has heard their groans. He is familiar with their sorrows. That brings Him to act. He has descended to rescue them and bring them to a land that He has chosen for them. And Moses is the man He wants to use to carry out that purpose.
The Lord Jesus has descended to earth to redeem people who sigh under the yoke of sin. As with Israel, He did not speak from heaven, but came from heaven to earth. It is wonderful to read that God calls this wretched slave people in Egypt “My people”! It is like the father falling around the neck of his prodigal son while this son is still wearing his dirty clothes (Luke 15:20).
When Stephen has impressively presented the appearance of God to Moses and His command to him to go to Egypt to deliver His people, he repeats the rejection of Moses as a ruler and a judge (Acts 7:35; Acts 7:27). By speaking in plural, “they”, he thereby turns the sin of one man into a collective sin, that is, the sin of the whole people.
To further underline its seriousness, Stephen speaks of disowning Moses. And that while God had appeared to Moses and Moses had been sent by Him to them to be both a ruler and a deliverer. This is an impressive illustration of the rejection of Christ, the Prince of life, by the Jewish people (cf. Acts 3:14-15; Acts 4:10-12).
Acts 9:35
God Appears to Moses
Moses was forty when he fled. In the wilderness forty years “had passed”. Forty is the number of trial. In the power of his life God formed him in the wilderness. Who would choose such an education, in the loneliness of the wilderness, when all the challenges of life lie before you? But God taught him lessons there that he could not have learned in any other way.
Moses is called by the Lord when he is eighty years old. That is at the end of his natural life, as he himself says in Psalms 90 (Psalms 90:10). Before the Lord can use someone, a person has to learn to renounce his natural capacities. Moses learned that. Yet it is not enough not to rely on one’s own abilities. Now he must learn to trust in God’s power.
Moses is now ready for God to appear to him. He does that as an Angel in a flame of a burning thorn bush. Moses’ attention is drawn to the fact that the thorn bush burns but does not burn up (Exodus 3:3). The thorn bush represents man by nature, sinful man. We also see the whole people of Israel in it, which is in Egypt in the furnace of fire. We also see that God is in the fire. That is why the thorn bush is not consumed.
God uses the fire of trial to purify His people, and us. What is not in agreement with Him is removed by the fire. As a result, we are answering more and more to His purpose with us which is that we are becoming like the Lord Jesus. He is with us in the trial (Daniel 3:23-25; Isaiah 63:9).
God sees that Moses is approaching the bush to see that wondrous phenomenon. He makes Himself known to Moses as the God of the covenant with the patriarchs, with Abraham (Genesis 15:13-14), Isaac (Genesis 26:3) and Jacob (Genesis 46:1-3). That is the ground on which He is going to act. He appreciates that Moses shows interest in His revelation, but at the same time He maintains His holiness.
Moses is deeply impressed by God’s appearance and His words. He begins to shake with fear and does not dare to investigate further. He knows himself in the presence of the holy God. Where God is, there is holiness. God makes it clear to him that he stands on holy ground. That is why he has to take off his shoes (cf. Joshua 5:15). The awareness of standing on holy ground was completely missing from the Council that Stephen stood before, while they claimed to live in the holy land.
After Moses has taken the right place before God, God tells him what He has seen and what He has purposed. God tells him that He has seen what is being done to His people and that He has heard their groans. He is familiar with their sorrows. That brings Him to act. He has descended to rescue them and bring them to a land that He has chosen for them. And Moses is the man He wants to use to carry out that purpose.
The Lord Jesus has descended to earth to redeem people who sigh under the yoke of sin. As with Israel, He did not speak from heaven, but came from heaven to earth. It is wonderful to read that God calls this wretched slave people in Egypt “My people”! It is like the father falling around the neck of his prodigal son while this son is still wearing his dirty clothes (Luke 15:20).
When Stephen has impressively presented the appearance of God to Moses and His command to him to go to Egypt to deliver His people, he repeats the rejection of Moses as a ruler and a judge (Acts 7:35; Acts 7:27). By speaking in plural, “they”, he thereby turns the sin of one man into a collective sin, that is, the sin of the whole people.
To further underline its seriousness, Stephen speaks of disowning Moses. And that while God had appeared to Moses and Moses had been sent by Him to them to be both a ruler and a deliverer. This is an impressive illustration of the rejection of Christ, the Prince of life, by the Jewish people (cf. Acts 3:14-15; Acts 4:10-12).
Acts 9:36
God Appears to Moses
Moses was forty when he fled. In the wilderness forty years “had passed”. Forty is the number of trial. In the power of his life God formed him in the wilderness. Who would choose such an education, in the loneliness of the wilderness, when all the challenges of life lie before you? But God taught him lessons there that he could not have learned in any other way.
Moses is called by the Lord when he is eighty years old. That is at the end of his natural life, as he himself says in Psalms 90 (Psalms 90:10). Before the Lord can use someone, a person has to learn to renounce his natural capacities. Moses learned that. Yet it is not enough not to rely on one’s own abilities. Now he must learn to trust in God’s power.
Moses is now ready for God to appear to him. He does that as an Angel in a flame of a burning thorn bush. Moses’ attention is drawn to the fact that the thorn bush burns but does not burn up (Exodus 3:3). The thorn bush represents man by nature, sinful man. We also see the whole people of Israel in it, which is in Egypt in the furnace of fire. We also see that God is in the fire. That is why the thorn bush is not consumed.
God uses the fire of trial to purify His people, and us. What is not in agreement with Him is removed by the fire. As a result, we are answering more and more to His purpose with us which is that we are becoming like the Lord Jesus. He is with us in the trial (Daniel 3:23-25; Isaiah 63:9).
God sees that Moses is approaching the bush to see that wondrous phenomenon. He makes Himself known to Moses as the God of the covenant with the patriarchs, with Abraham (Genesis 15:13-14), Isaac (Genesis 26:3) and Jacob (Genesis 46:1-3). That is the ground on which He is going to act. He appreciates that Moses shows interest in His revelation, but at the same time He maintains His holiness.
Moses is deeply impressed by God’s appearance and His words. He begins to shake with fear and does not dare to investigate further. He knows himself in the presence of the holy God. Where God is, there is holiness. God makes it clear to him that he stands on holy ground. That is why he has to take off his shoes (cf. Joshua 5:15). The awareness of standing on holy ground was completely missing from the Council that Stephen stood before, while they claimed to live in the holy land.
After Moses has taken the right place before God, God tells him what He has seen and what He has purposed. God tells him that He has seen what is being done to His people and that He has heard their groans. He is familiar with their sorrows. That brings Him to act. He has descended to rescue them and bring them to a land that He has chosen for them. And Moses is the man He wants to use to carry out that purpose.
The Lord Jesus has descended to earth to redeem people who sigh under the yoke of sin. As with Israel, He did not speak from heaven, but came from heaven to earth. It is wonderful to read that God calls this wretched slave people in Egypt “My people”! It is like the father falling around the neck of his prodigal son while this son is still wearing his dirty clothes (Luke 15:20).
When Stephen has impressively presented the appearance of God to Moses and His command to him to go to Egypt to deliver His people, he repeats the rejection of Moses as a ruler and a judge (Acts 7:35; Acts 7:27). By speaking in plural, “they”, he thereby turns the sin of one man into a collective sin, that is, the sin of the whole people.
To further underline its seriousness, Stephen speaks of disowning Moses. And that while God had appeared to Moses and Moses had been sent by Him to them to be both a ruler and a deliverer. This is an impressive illustration of the rejection of Christ, the Prince of life, by the Jewish people (cf. Acts 3:14-15; Acts 4:10-12).
Acts 9:37
God Appears to Moses
Moses was forty when he fled. In the wilderness forty years “had passed”. Forty is the number of trial. In the power of his life God formed him in the wilderness. Who would choose such an education, in the loneliness of the wilderness, when all the challenges of life lie before you? But God taught him lessons there that he could not have learned in any other way.
Moses is called by the Lord when he is eighty years old. That is at the end of his natural life, as he himself says in Psalms 90 (Psalms 90:10). Before the Lord can use someone, a person has to learn to renounce his natural capacities. Moses learned that. Yet it is not enough not to rely on one’s own abilities. Now he must learn to trust in God’s power.
Moses is now ready for God to appear to him. He does that as an Angel in a flame of a burning thorn bush. Moses’ attention is drawn to the fact that the thorn bush burns but does not burn up (Exodus 3:3). The thorn bush represents man by nature, sinful man. We also see the whole people of Israel in it, which is in Egypt in the furnace of fire. We also see that God is in the fire. That is why the thorn bush is not consumed.
God uses the fire of trial to purify His people, and us. What is not in agreement with Him is removed by the fire. As a result, we are answering more and more to His purpose with us which is that we are becoming like the Lord Jesus. He is with us in the trial (Daniel 3:23-25; Isaiah 63:9).
God sees that Moses is approaching the bush to see that wondrous phenomenon. He makes Himself known to Moses as the God of the covenant with the patriarchs, with Abraham (Genesis 15:13-14), Isaac (Genesis 26:3) and Jacob (Genesis 46:1-3). That is the ground on which He is going to act. He appreciates that Moses shows interest in His revelation, but at the same time He maintains His holiness.
Moses is deeply impressed by God’s appearance and His words. He begins to shake with fear and does not dare to investigate further. He knows himself in the presence of the holy God. Where God is, there is holiness. God makes it clear to him that he stands on holy ground. That is why he has to take off his shoes (cf. Joshua 5:15). The awareness of standing on holy ground was completely missing from the Council that Stephen stood before, while they claimed to live in the holy land.
After Moses has taken the right place before God, God tells him what He has seen and what He has purposed. God tells him that He has seen what is being done to His people and that He has heard their groans. He is familiar with their sorrows. That brings Him to act. He has descended to rescue them and bring them to a land that He has chosen for them. And Moses is the man He wants to use to carry out that purpose.
The Lord Jesus has descended to earth to redeem people who sigh under the yoke of sin. As with Israel, He did not speak from heaven, but came from heaven to earth. It is wonderful to read that God calls this wretched slave people in Egypt “My people”! It is like the father falling around the neck of his prodigal son while this son is still wearing his dirty clothes (Luke 15:20).
When Stephen has impressively presented the appearance of God to Moses and His command to him to go to Egypt to deliver His people, he repeats the rejection of Moses as a ruler and a judge (Acts 7:35; Acts 7:27). By speaking in plural, “they”, he thereby turns the sin of one man into a collective sin, that is, the sin of the whole people.
To further underline its seriousness, Stephen speaks of disowning Moses. And that while God had appeared to Moses and Moses had been sent by Him to them to be both a ruler and a deliverer. This is an impressive illustration of the rejection of Christ, the Prince of life, by the Jewish people (cf. Acts 3:14-15; Acts 4:10-12).
Acts 9:38
God Appears to Moses
Moses was forty when he fled. In the wilderness forty years “had passed”. Forty is the number of trial. In the power of his life God formed him in the wilderness. Who would choose such an education, in the loneliness of the wilderness, when all the challenges of life lie before you? But God taught him lessons there that he could not have learned in any other way.
Moses is called by the Lord when he is eighty years old. That is at the end of his natural life, as he himself says in Psalms 90 (Psalms 90:10). Before the Lord can use someone, a person has to learn to renounce his natural capacities. Moses learned that. Yet it is not enough not to rely on one’s own abilities. Now he must learn to trust in God’s power.
Moses is now ready for God to appear to him. He does that as an Angel in a flame of a burning thorn bush. Moses’ attention is drawn to the fact that the thorn bush burns but does not burn up (Exodus 3:3). The thorn bush represents man by nature, sinful man. We also see the whole people of Israel in it, which is in Egypt in the furnace of fire. We also see that God is in the fire. That is why the thorn bush is not consumed.
God uses the fire of trial to purify His people, and us. What is not in agreement with Him is removed by the fire. As a result, we are answering more and more to His purpose with us which is that we are becoming like the Lord Jesus. He is with us in the trial (Daniel 3:23-25; Isaiah 63:9).
God sees that Moses is approaching the bush to see that wondrous phenomenon. He makes Himself known to Moses as the God of the covenant with the patriarchs, with Abraham (Genesis 15:13-14), Isaac (Genesis 26:3) and Jacob (Genesis 46:1-3). That is the ground on which He is going to act. He appreciates that Moses shows interest in His revelation, but at the same time He maintains His holiness.
Moses is deeply impressed by God’s appearance and His words. He begins to shake with fear and does not dare to investigate further. He knows himself in the presence of the holy God. Where God is, there is holiness. God makes it clear to him that he stands on holy ground. That is why he has to take off his shoes (cf. Joshua 5:15). The awareness of standing on holy ground was completely missing from the Council that Stephen stood before, while they claimed to live in the holy land.
After Moses has taken the right place before God, God tells him what He has seen and what He has purposed. God tells him that He has seen what is being done to His people and that He has heard their groans. He is familiar with their sorrows. That brings Him to act. He has descended to rescue them and bring them to a land that He has chosen for them. And Moses is the man He wants to use to carry out that purpose.
The Lord Jesus has descended to earth to redeem people who sigh under the yoke of sin. As with Israel, He did not speak from heaven, but came from heaven to earth. It is wonderful to read that God calls this wretched slave people in Egypt “My people”! It is like the father falling around the neck of his prodigal son while this son is still wearing his dirty clothes (Luke 15:20).
When Stephen has impressively presented the appearance of God to Moses and His command to him to go to Egypt to deliver His people, he repeats the rejection of Moses as a ruler and a judge (Acts 7:35; Acts 7:27). By speaking in plural, “they”, he thereby turns the sin of one man into a collective sin, that is, the sin of the whole people.
To further underline its seriousness, Stephen speaks of disowning Moses. And that while God had appeared to Moses and Moses had been sent by Him to them to be both a ruler and a deliverer. This is an impressive illustration of the rejection of Christ, the Prince of life, by the Jewish people (cf. Acts 3:14-15; Acts 4:10-12).
Acts 9:39
Moses Rejected; Idols; Judgment
After Stephen has emphatically presented the special nurturing, education and calling of Moses to his audience, he continues just as emphatically with the delivering service of Moses. Again and again he points out what Moses has done or said. This, and no one else, led them out of Egypt. And how: performing wonders and signs. Did not the Lord Jesus reveal Himself in the midst of His people in the same way? Did not the apostles also operate in this way among the people and did not Stephen operate in this way?
And Moses not only delivered them out of Egypt, but also led them through the Red Sea into the wilderness, where he also showed them the way for forty years. It is this Moses who was among the sons of Israel – those who form the Council boasted of being that too, didn’t they? – who said that God would raise up for them a Prophet like him. To the Council it is clear that by this the Messiah is meant, Who, just like Moses, would act as Deliverer and Judge.
Stephen gives even more homage to Moses. He points at Moses and says that he is the one, and no other, who has received the law in the wilderness through the mediation of angels. The law contains the words of God and are therefore living words. They were given by God to Moses on the mountain of God. Moses was the mediator, because he was with the angel in the wilderness and on the mountain and he was with “our fathers”.
He passes on the living oracles or words to “you”, that is Israel then and now. But what did “our fathers” do with all that God gave to them through Moses and with what He said to them through Moses? They deliberately disobeyed him. They refused to obey him. They repelled him. They did not want him to talk about obedience to God.
In their hearts they returned to Egypt. There they could at least do what they wanted. That they lived in slavery and oppression, they didn’t think about that anymore. After all, everything was better than that oppressive obedience to God. And where was Moses anyway? He had been gone for so long that he would never come back.
That’s why they told Aaron to make gods they could see and follow. So in those days, the days of Moses’ absence, they made a calf. To that idol they offered sacrifice, rejoicing in the works of their hands. No more thought was given to God’s honor and work. That is why God turned away. He withdrew from them and as judgment He delivered them up to idolatry (cf. Romans 1:23-26; 28).
Stephen tells the Council how throughout history the people have done nothing but serve the idols. Abraham served them before God called him (Joshua 24:2), the people served them in Egypt (Joshua 24:14) and in the wilderness (Amos 5:25-27).
In his quote from the prophet Amos, Stephen also quotes the judgment on the people that the Babylonians would bring by making the people go into exile. So there is a double judgment: the judgment of God by delivering them to idolatry and the judgment of God by making them go into exile, away from the land.
Again and again in Stephen’s speech it sounds that God approaches His people differently every time, because His people always turn away from Him and become unfaithful to Him. Everything He gives, they have always rejected and chosen the idols instead.
Acts 9:40
Moses Rejected; Idols; Judgment
After Stephen has emphatically presented the special nurturing, education and calling of Moses to his audience, he continues just as emphatically with the delivering service of Moses. Again and again he points out what Moses has done or said. This, and no one else, led them out of Egypt. And how: performing wonders and signs. Did not the Lord Jesus reveal Himself in the midst of His people in the same way? Did not the apostles also operate in this way among the people and did not Stephen operate in this way?
And Moses not only delivered them out of Egypt, but also led them through the Red Sea into the wilderness, where he also showed them the way for forty years. It is this Moses who was among the sons of Israel – those who form the Council boasted of being that too, didn’t they? – who said that God would raise up for them a Prophet like him. To the Council it is clear that by this the Messiah is meant, Who, just like Moses, would act as Deliverer and Judge.
Stephen gives even more homage to Moses. He points at Moses and says that he is the one, and no other, who has received the law in the wilderness through the mediation of angels. The law contains the words of God and are therefore living words. They were given by God to Moses on the mountain of God. Moses was the mediator, because he was with the angel in the wilderness and on the mountain and he was with “our fathers”.
He passes on the living oracles or words to “you”, that is Israel then and now. But what did “our fathers” do with all that God gave to them through Moses and with what He said to them through Moses? They deliberately disobeyed him. They refused to obey him. They repelled him. They did not want him to talk about obedience to God.
In their hearts they returned to Egypt. There they could at least do what they wanted. That they lived in slavery and oppression, they didn’t think about that anymore. After all, everything was better than that oppressive obedience to God. And where was Moses anyway? He had been gone for so long that he would never come back.
That’s why they told Aaron to make gods they could see and follow. So in those days, the days of Moses’ absence, they made a calf. To that idol they offered sacrifice, rejoicing in the works of their hands. No more thought was given to God’s honor and work. That is why God turned away. He withdrew from them and as judgment He delivered them up to idolatry (cf. Romans 1:23-26; 28).
Stephen tells the Council how throughout history the people have done nothing but serve the idols. Abraham served them before God called him (Joshua 24:2), the people served them in Egypt (Joshua 24:14) and in the wilderness (Amos 5:25-27).
In his quote from the prophet Amos, Stephen also quotes the judgment on the people that the Babylonians would bring by making the people go into exile. So there is a double judgment: the judgment of God by delivering them to idolatry and the judgment of God by making them go into exile, away from the land.
Again and again in Stephen’s speech it sounds that God approaches His people differently every time, because His people always turn away from Him and become unfaithful to Him. Everything He gives, they have always rejected and chosen the idols instead.
Acts 9:41
Moses Rejected; Idols; Judgment
After Stephen has emphatically presented the special nurturing, education and calling of Moses to his audience, he continues just as emphatically with the delivering service of Moses. Again and again he points out what Moses has done or said. This, and no one else, led them out of Egypt. And how: performing wonders and signs. Did not the Lord Jesus reveal Himself in the midst of His people in the same way? Did not the apostles also operate in this way among the people and did not Stephen operate in this way?
And Moses not only delivered them out of Egypt, but also led them through the Red Sea into the wilderness, where he also showed them the way for forty years. It is this Moses who was among the sons of Israel – those who form the Council boasted of being that too, didn’t they? – who said that God would raise up for them a Prophet like him. To the Council it is clear that by this the Messiah is meant, Who, just like Moses, would act as Deliverer and Judge.
Stephen gives even more homage to Moses. He points at Moses and says that he is the one, and no other, who has received the law in the wilderness through the mediation of angels. The law contains the words of God and are therefore living words. They were given by God to Moses on the mountain of God. Moses was the mediator, because he was with the angel in the wilderness and on the mountain and he was with “our fathers”.
He passes on the living oracles or words to “you”, that is Israel then and now. But what did “our fathers” do with all that God gave to them through Moses and with what He said to them through Moses? They deliberately disobeyed him. They refused to obey him. They repelled him. They did not want him to talk about obedience to God.
In their hearts they returned to Egypt. There they could at least do what they wanted. That they lived in slavery and oppression, they didn’t think about that anymore. After all, everything was better than that oppressive obedience to God. And where was Moses anyway? He had been gone for so long that he would never come back.
That’s why they told Aaron to make gods they could see and follow. So in those days, the days of Moses’ absence, they made a calf. To that idol they offered sacrifice, rejoicing in the works of their hands. No more thought was given to God’s honor and work. That is why God turned away. He withdrew from them and as judgment He delivered them up to idolatry (cf. Romans 1:23-26; 28).
Stephen tells the Council how throughout history the people have done nothing but serve the idols. Abraham served them before God called him (Joshua 24:2), the people served them in Egypt (Joshua 24:14) and in the wilderness (Amos 5:25-27).
In his quote from the prophet Amos, Stephen also quotes the judgment on the people that the Babylonians would bring by making the people go into exile. So there is a double judgment: the judgment of God by delivering them to idolatry and the judgment of God by making them go into exile, away from the land.
Again and again in Stephen’s speech it sounds that God approaches His people differently every time, because His people always turn away from Him and become unfaithful to Him. Everything He gives, they have always rejected and chosen the idols instead.
Acts 9:42
Moses Rejected; Idols; Judgment
After Stephen has emphatically presented the special nurturing, education and calling of Moses to his audience, he continues just as emphatically with the delivering service of Moses. Again and again he points out what Moses has done or said. This, and no one else, led them out of Egypt. And how: performing wonders and signs. Did not the Lord Jesus reveal Himself in the midst of His people in the same way? Did not the apostles also operate in this way among the people and did not Stephen operate in this way?
And Moses not only delivered them out of Egypt, but also led them through the Red Sea into the wilderness, where he also showed them the way for forty years. It is this Moses who was among the sons of Israel – those who form the Council boasted of being that too, didn’t they? – who said that God would raise up for them a Prophet like him. To the Council it is clear that by this the Messiah is meant, Who, just like Moses, would act as Deliverer and Judge.
Stephen gives even more homage to Moses. He points at Moses and says that he is the one, and no other, who has received the law in the wilderness through the mediation of angels. The law contains the words of God and are therefore living words. They were given by God to Moses on the mountain of God. Moses was the mediator, because he was with the angel in the wilderness and on the mountain and he was with “our fathers”.
He passes on the living oracles or words to “you”, that is Israel then and now. But what did “our fathers” do with all that God gave to them through Moses and with what He said to them through Moses? They deliberately disobeyed him. They refused to obey him. They repelled him. They did not want him to talk about obedience to God.
In their hearts they returned to Egypt. There they could at least do what they wanted. That they lived in slavery and oppression, they didn’t think about that anymore. After all, everything was better than that oppressive obedience to God. And where was Moses anyway? He had been gone for so long that he would never come back.
That’s why they told Aaron to make gods they could see and follow. So in those days, the days of Moses’ absence, they made a calf. To that idol they offered sacrifice, rejoicing in the works of their hands. No more thought was given to God’s honor and work. That is why God turned away. He withdrew from them and as judgment He delivered them up to idolatry (cf. Romans 1:23-26; 28).
Stephen tells the Council how throughout history the people have done nothing but serve the idols. Abraham served them before God called him (Joshua 24:2), the people served them in Egypt (Joshua 24:14) and in the wilderness (Amos 5:25-27).
In his quote from the prophet Amos, Stephen also quotes the judgment on the people that the Babylonians would bring by making the people go into exile. So there is a double judgment: the judgment of God by delivering them to idolatry and the judgment of God by making them go into exile, away from the land.
Again and again in Stephen’s speech it sounds that God approaches His people differently every time, because His people always turn away from Him and become unfaithful to Him. Everything He gives, they have always rejected and chosen the idols instead.
Acts 9:43
Moses Rejected; Idols; Judgment
After Stephen has emphatically presented the special nurturing, education and calling of Moses to his audience, he continues just as emphatically with the delivering service of Moses. Again and again he points out what Moses has done or said. This, and no one else, led them out of Egypt. And how: performing wonders and signs. Did not the Lord Jesus reveal Himself in the midst of His people in the same way? Did not the apostles also operate in this way among the people and did not Stephen operate in this way?
And Moses not only delivered them out of Egypt, but also led them through the Red Sea into the wilderness, where he also showed them the way for forty years. It is this Moses who was among the sons of Israel – those who form the Council boasted of being that too, didn’t they? – who said that God would raise up for them a Prophet like him. To the Council it is clear that by this the Messiah is meant, Who, just like Moses, would act as Deliverer and Judge.
Stephen gives even more homage to Moses. He points at Moses and says that he is the one, and no other, who has received the law in the wilderness through the mediation of angels. The law contains the words of God and are therefore living words. They were given by God to Moses on the mountain of God. Moses was the mediator, because he was with the angel in the wilderness and on the mountain and he was with “our fathers”.
He passes on the living oracles or words to “you”, that is Israel then and now. But what did “our fathers” do with all that God gave to them through Moses and with what He said to them through Moses? They deliberately disobeyed him. They refused to obey him. They repelled him. They did not want him to talk about obedience to God.
In their hearts they returned to Egypt. There they could at least do what they wanted. That they lived in slavery and oppression, they didn’t think about that anymore. After all, everything was better than that oppressive obedience to God. And where was Moses anyway? He had been gone for so long that he would never come back.
That’s why they told Aaron to make gods they could see and follow. So in those days, the days of Moses’ absence, they made a calf. To that idol they offered sacrifice, rejoicing in the works of their hands. No more thought was given to God’s honor and work. That is why God turned away. He withdrew from them and as judgment He delivered them up to idolatry (cf. Romans 1:23-26; 28).
Stephen tells the Council how throughout history the people have done nothing but serve the idols. Abraham served them before God called him (Joshua 24:2), the people served them in Egypt (Joshua 24:14) and in the wilderness (Amos 5:25-27).
In his quote from the prophet Amos, Stephen also quotes the judgment on the people that the Babylonians would bring by making the people go into exile. So there is a double judgment: the judgment of God by delivering them to idolatry and the judgment of God by making them go into exile, away from the land.
Again and again in Stephen’s speech it sounds that God approaches His people differently every time, because His people always turn away from Him and become unfaithful to Him. Everything He gives, they have always rejected and chosen the idols instead.