Acts 7:41

And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

With the progress of his speech of defense, the impassioned fervor of Stephen's arguments increases. He is preaching the Law, and he does not intend to soften its sledge-hammer blows by any alleviating circumstances until he has brought out his point properly. It was Moses, he once more reminds his judges, that referred to, prophesied, concerning another prophet, like unto himself, chap. 3:22, demanding that they should yield obedience to Him, Moses thus being a supporter of the claims of Christ. It was Moses, again, who, in the midst of the congregation or assembly of the children of Israel in the wilderness, alone enjoyed the personal acquaintance and intimacy of the great Angel of the Lord that had spoken with him at Mount Sinai before, and who now, as the almighty God, spoke to the entire assembled nation. It was Moses, once more, that received the living words, the lively oracles or sayings from the mouth of God to give to the people. The laws of the Jews were not intended to be a dead letter, like the communications which the heathen priests claim to receive from their gods, but they possess vital power and efficacy. But in spite of all these express manifestations and witnesses of God to confirm the call of Moses and establish his position among the people, the Israelites, the fathers of the present race, as Stephen remarks, did not want to be obedient to Moses, but repelled, rejected him, and turned their hearts toward Egypt. They demanded of Aaron that he make them some sort of gods who might hereafter be considered their rulers and leaders through the wilderness, for Moses tarried so long on the mountain that they did not know what fate might have overtaken him, as they flippantly remark. And so they, through the hands of Aaron, who proved their willing tool, in those days made the figure of a calf, and brought burnt offerings before their idol and rejoiced, found their great pleasure and happiness, in the works of their own hands. The irony of Stephen is intentional, since one of his charges is that the Jews of his day also placed their trust in externals and expected to be saved by an outward observance of customs and ceremonies, many of which they had invented themselves. There is always danger, especially in a church that has been established for some time, of a dead orthodoxy, of a clinging to external forms although life has departed.