_STEPHEN, PERMITTED TO ANSWER TO THE ACCUSATION OF BLASPHEMY, SHEWETH THAT ABRAHAM WORSHIPPED GOD RIGHTLY, AND HOW GOD CHOSE THE FATHERS, BEFORE MOSES WAS BORN, AND BEFORE THE TABERNACLE AND TEMPLE WERE BUILT: THAT MOSES HIMSELF WITNESSED OF CHRIST: AND THAT ALL OUTWARD CEREMONIES WERE ORDAINED ACCO... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID, MEN, BRETHREN, AND FATHERS,— Dr. Benson has illustrated this speech of St. Stephen in a large and very judicious manner, to whom we shall be frequently obliged; and the following introductory remarks from Dr. Ward's 39th Dissertation will serve to shew its general propriety. The charge... [ Continue Reading ]
AND FROM THENCE; WHEN HIS FATHER WAS DEAD, &C.— See Genesis 26:32. Abraham was not Terah's eldest, but his youngest son; though, by way of honour and distinction, Moses has mentioned him the first of the three, as being the great patriarch of the Jewish nation. For Haran was Terah's eldest son, who... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE GAVE HIM NONE INHERITANCE IN IT, &C.— Probably Canaan was not at that time so universally given to idolatry as Chaldea; for there Abraham met with Melchisedech, who was a worshipper of the true God; and as he was a king, very likely his subjects were not idolaters; but in Chaldea idolatry mus... [ Continue Reading ]
SOJOURN IN A STRANGE LAND;— Some think that this is said in opposition to their sojourning as strangers in the land of Canaan, Hebrews 11:9 which was not _a strange land,_ but theirs by divine promise. But God himself teaches us otherwise, Exodus 6:4 where he calls Canaan _the land of their pilgrima... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE GAVE HIM THE COVENANT OF CIRCUMCISION:— St. Stephen, the reader may observe, draws no inferences. If he had denied the charge laid against him, as there were two witnesses who swore against him, he had been condemned immediately. If he had owned the charge, he would likewise thereupon have fa... [ Continue Reading ]
MOVED WITH ENVY, SOLD JOSEPH— The plain inference to be drawn from hence was, that they might learn from this example, to abate their hard thoughts of Jesus of Nazareth, whom they, in like manner, through envy, delivered into the hands of strangers, who dealt cruelly with him. Further, from the trea... [ Continue Reading ]
THREESCORE AND FIFTEEN SOULS.— See the notes on Genesis 20:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WERE CARRIED OVER, &C.— It is not improbable, that the bones of the other eleven patriarchs might be carried along with the bones of Joseph, when the children of Israel went out of Egypt, Exodus 13:19 and be afterwards buried along with his bones, when Israel came into Canaan. There was the same... [ Continue Reading ]
ANOTHER KING— Probably of another family.... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THAT THEY CAST OUT THEIR YOUNG CHILDREN,— _By causing their infants to be exposed._ Heylin and Doddridge.... [ Continue Reading ]
WAS EXCEEDING FAIR— 'Αστειος τω Θεω, _fair to God;_ or _divinely fair:_ for we have had occasion frequently to observe, that the word _God_ is often made use of in the Hebrew as expressive of the superlative degree. Concerning the beauty of Moses, see the note on Exodus 2:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND—PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER TOOK HIM UP,— All these extraordinary circumstances relating to the birth, preservation, education, genius and character of Moses, serve to aggravate the crime of Israel in rejecting him when he offered himself to them as a deliverer under so many advantages, and when the prov... [ Continue Reading ]
MOSES WAS LEARNED IN ALL THE WISDOM OF THE EGYPTIANS,— Where the wisdom of a man is spoken of, that which is characteristic of it must needs be meant; where the wisdom of a particular man, that which is peculiar to his quality and profession. St. Stephen in this place speaks of both: in both, theref... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SEEING ONE OF THEM SUFFER, &C.— See Exodus 2:11 where the word is מכה _meche,_ which sometimes signifies to _smite_ so as to kill; and the Israelite is here represented as καταπονουμενω, _subdued in a struggle,_ and in immediate danger of his life: so that Moses had no occasion for a divine impu... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SUPPOSED HIS BRETHREN WOULD HAVE UNDERSTOOD— It appears from this passage, that Moses had received some immediate revelation from God, that he was the person who should deliver Israel: besides, knowing that there was a divine promise of deliverance made to, and retained in the house of Israel; th... [ Continue Reading ]
SET THEM AT ONE AGAIN,— _And would have persuaded them at peace. Acts 7:27. Thrust him away,_ &c.] It is plain, that the speech of this single person is represented, Acts 7:35 as expressing the sentiments of the whole body of the people; as their slowness afterwards to believe the mission of Moses,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN FORTY YEARS WERE EXPIRED,— This circumstance might have been handed down by tradition, or received by immediate inspiration, as the express time of Moses's continuance in voluntary exile isnot mentioned in the Old Testament; and no doubt many other circumstances respecting that great legisl... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS MOSES, WHOM THEY REFUSED,— As the terms of high respect, in which St. Stephen, through the whole of his discourse, speaks of Moses, tended to shew how improbable it was, that he should have spoken contemptibly of him, as the witnesses pretended; so this circumstance of the Israelites having rej... [ Continue Reading ]
A PROPHET SHALL THE LORD YOUR GOD, &C.— Concerning this prophesy, see the note on Deuteronomy 18:15; Deuteronomy 18:22.... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS IS HE, THAT WAS IN THE CHURCH— When this clause is quoted, as it has been by some great men, to prove that Christ was the person who brought Israel out of Egypt, gave them the law, conducted them through the wilderness, &c. (which is undoubtedlymost true)the argument drawn from this passage is... [ Continue Reading ]
TO WHOM OUR FATHERS WOULD NOT OBEY,— This is observed by Stephen more than once, and he insists upon it largely, that they might see it was no new thing for Israel to rebel against God, by rejecting deliverers sent from him. See on Acts 7:35.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR AS FOR THIS MOSES—WE WOT NOT, &C.— _We know not._ This is the phraseology both of the LXX and of the Hebrew; (Exodus 32:1.) and has been called putting the nominative case absolute; accordingly Daniel 12:2 may be thus explained: _As to the multitude who sleep in the dust of the earth, they shall... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN GOD TURNED,— See Romans 1:21. Psalms 81:11. There were two sorts of idolatry; namely, the worshipping the true God by idol mediators, and terminating their worship upon false Gods. Israel began with the former; and for a punishment was permitted to fall into the latter. See on Exodus 32:1. &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
OUR FATHERS HAD THE TABERNACLE OF WITNESS— As St. Stephen had been accused of blaspheming the temple, he now proceeds to speak with peculiar propriety, and with due reverence, of their sacred places, as raised by special direction from God; and yet corrects that extravagant regardfor them, and confi... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH JESUS— _With Joshua._ The word εθνων, rendered _Gentiles,_ would more properly be rendered _heathens_ in this place.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DESIRED TO FIND A TABERNACLE, &C.— 'Ητησατο, _made it his petition._ From the account which the Scripture gives of David, it appears how greatly he longed to find out a place for the Lord,—_an habitation_,—which is a properer word than _tabernacle_ in this place. Comp. 2 Samuel 7:2. &c. and Psal... [ Continue Reading ]
YE STIFF-NECKED, &C.— "Thus have I given you a brief account of the various periods of revelation, or the several dispensations of God to man, from the time in which Abraham, our renowned ancestor, was called out of idolatry to the knowledge of the true God, unto this very day when the _kingdom of t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JESUS STANDING ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD.— See the next note. It has been well observed, that Christ is generally represented _sitting,_ but now as standing at God's right hand; that is, as risen up from the throne of his glory, to afford help to his distressed servant, and ready to receive him.... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, I SEE THE HEAVENS OPENED,— The reality of Stephen's seeing this vision, as he described it, appears from the improbability of his being guilty of any design to deceive, as well as from the authenticity and certainty of divine revelation. He was a man of great note and eminence in the church,... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THEY CRIED OUT, &C.— "This declaration and reference provoked them to such a degree, that crying out with a loud voice that they might drown that of Stephen, they stopped their own ears, as if they could not bear to hear such blasphemy as they conceivedhe had spoken, and furiously rushed upon h... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY STONED STEPHEN,— _While they stoned Stephen, he prayed, and said,_ &c. Literally, _They stoned Stephen, invoking and saying,_ &c. There is nothing for the word _God_ in the original. A solemn prayer, like this to Christ, in which a departing soul is thus committed into his hands, is such an... [ Continue Reading ]
LORD, LAY NOT THIS SIN TO THEIR CHARGE.— The original is emphatical; literally, _Weigh not out to them this sin,_ that is, "The punishment due to it;" alluding to passages of Scripture where God is represented as weighing men's characters and actions in the dispensations of his justice and providenc... [ Continue Reading ]