Acts 7:42

Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? THEN GOD TURNED - changing His method with them: as they had turned from Him, so now He turned from them, AND GAVE THEM UP - judicially abandoned them (see the note at ) TO WORSHIP THE HOST OF HEAVEN - to star-worship, a fact which, though not expressly mentioned in the Pentateuch, is implied in those forms of idolatry to which we know that they were addicted, such as the worship of Moloch, presently to be mentioned. AS IT IS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE PROPHETS - the twelve minor prophets, regarded as one book (the words are from...

Stephen will here declare that the Jews did never make an end of sinning, but that they wandered farther in their froward errors; so that that first fall of theirs was unto them as it were an entrance into a labyrinth. And this doth he assign unto the just vengeance of God, that after that time their madness grew so, that they gat for one idol infinity. This example teacheth us to be careful to follow the rule which God hath set down; because, so soon as we are turned even but a little aside from the same, we must needs be carried to and fro with divers dotings, we must needs be entangled in many superstitions, and be utterly drowned in the huge sink of errors; which punishment God in justice layeth upon men which refuse to obey his word. Therefore Stephen saith that God was turned away; which word imported as much as if he should say, that he turned his back. For he had fastened his eye...

42-50 Stephen upbraids the Jews with the idolatry of their fathers, to which God gave them up as a punishment for their early forsaking him. It was no dishonour, but an honour to God, that the tabernacle gave way to the temple; so it is now, that the earthly temple gives way to the spiritual one; and so it will be when, at last, the spiritual shall give way to the eternal one. The whole world is God's temple, in which he is every where present, and fills it with his glory; what occasion has he then for a temple to manifest himself in? And these things show his eternal power and Godhead. But as heaven is his throne, and the earth his footstool, so none of our services can profit Him who made all things. Next to the human nature of Christ, the broken and spiritual heart is his most valued temple....

Verse 42. _THEN GOD TURNED, AND GAVE THEM UP_, c.] He left them to themselves, and then they deified and worshipped the sun, moon, planets, and principal stars. _IN THE BOOK OF THE PROPHETS_] As this quotation is found in Amos, Amos 5:25, by the _book of the prophets_ is meant the _twelve minor prophets_, which, in the ancient Jewish division of the sacred writings, formed only _one book_. _HAVE YE OFFERED TO ME SLAIN BEASTS_] It is certain that the Israelites did offer various sacrifices to God, while in the wilderness and it is as certain that they scarcely ever did it with an upright heart. They were idolatrous, either in _heart_ or _act_, in almost all their religious services; these were therefore so very imperfect that they were counted for _nothing_ in the sight of God; for this seems to be strongly

THEN GOD TURNED - That is, turned away from them; abandoned them to their own desires. THE HOST OF HEAVEN - The stars, or heavenly bodies. The word “host” means “armies.” It is applied to the heavenly bodies because they are very numerous, and appear to be “marshalled” or arrayed in military order. It is from this that God is called Yahweh “of hosts,” as being the ruler of these well-arranged heavenly bodies. See the notes on Isaiah 1:9. The proof that they did this Stephen proceeds to allege by a question from the prophets. IN THE BOOK OF THE PROPHETS - Amos 5:25. The twelve minor prophets were commonly written in one volume, and were called the Book of the Prophets; that is, the book containing thes

EXPOSITION ACTS 7:1 _And the high priest said _for then _said the high priest, _A.V. The high priest spoke as president of the Sanhedrim (see Acts 9:1. Acts 9:1 and Matthew 26:62). Theophilus the son of Annas or his brother Jonathan is probably meant. ACTS 7:2 _Brethren and fathers _for _men, brethren, and fathers, _A.V. _Haran _for _Charran, _A.V. BRETHREN AND FATHERS. The Greek is ἄνδρες ἀδελφοὶ (_i.e. _"men who are also my brethren") καὶ πατέρες. H

THEN GOD TURNED,.... Away from them, withdrew his presence, and his favours from them: AND GAVE THEM UP TO WORSHIP THE HOST OF HEAVEN; not angels, but the sun, moon, and stars; for since they liked not to retain the knowledge and worship of the true God, who made the heavens, and the earth, God in righteous judgment, in a judicial way, gave them up to a reprobate mind, to commit all the idolatry of the Gentiles, as a punishment of their former sin in making and worshipping the calf: AS IT IS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE PROPHETS; of the twelve lesser prophets, which were all in one book; and which, as the Jews say e, were put together, that a book of them might not be lost through the smallness of it; among which Amos stands, a passage in whose prophecy is here referred to; namely, in Amos 5:25 "O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacri

Acts 7:14. _Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers, and were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulcher that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem. But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,_ Note those words, «the time of the promise,» and remember that every promise has its due time of fulfillment, and that there is a time of promise, to all the Lord's chosen people, when he will surely bring them out of bondage into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Acts 7:18. Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph. The same dealt subtly w

ACTS 7:3-51 In addition to several direct quotations from the Septuagint, Stephen’s speech consists of a series of allusions to and summaries of Israelitish history. In these phrases drawn from the Old Testament about thirty variants between B and D occur in which one agrees with the Septuagint against the other. In most of the cases it is codex Bezae that has been conformed to the text of the Septuagint; according to Ropes’s judgment, 156 in only one instance (h;|dei in ver. Acts 7:18) is there reason to suspect that the B-text has been conformed to the Septuagint. ------------------------- 156 The Text of Acts,...

CHAPTER 7 _ 1. The Address of Stephen (Acts 7:1)._ 2. The Martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 7:54). This is the largest chapter in this book and concludes the first section. Stephen is the chosen instrument to deliver the final testimony to the nation. He was not permitted to finish it. We notice at once a marked difference between the previous preaching by the Apostle Peter and the address of Stephen. The testimony of Peter was marked on the day of Pentecost and at the other occasions by great brevity. Stephen's address is the longest discourse reported in the New Testament. The name of Jesus is prominent in all the addresses of Peter. The fact that He was rejected by the people, crucified and that He rose from the dead, and the call to repentance, were the leading features of Peter's preaching.