Bible Study Lesson for Acts 7:9-43: Stephen's Speech to the Sanhedrin Continues

Read Acts 7:9-10. Stephen starts to build his case about Jesus being rejected by the Jews by reminding the Sanhedrin how Joseph was rejected and hated by his brothers; so much so that they sold him into slavery. But Joseph was one of God's favored people and worked mightily in his life, in spite of what his brothers had done. I think Stephen mentions that Joseph's brothers were jealous of him because this was the true reason why Jesus (and himself and the apostles) were arrested and tried: the Jewish leaders were jealous of their popularity with the crowds.

Read Acts 7:11-12. Stephen uses the term "our fathers," I believe, to remind his accusers that he, too, is a Jew, and he includes himself as coming from this same line of rebellion and hatred as they. (ie. they are descended from Joseph's 11 brothers)

Read Acts 7:13-14. From these 75 people will come the entire Jewish nation.

Read Acts 7:15-16. My commentary points out that Stephen greatly compresses OT accounts of two land purchases (by Abraham and Jacob) and two burial places (at Hebron and Shechem). According to the OT, Abraham purchased land at Hebron, where he, Isaac and Jacob were buried. Jacob bought land at Shechem, where Joseph was later buried. Josephus preserves a tradition that Joseph's brothers were buried at Hebron. Stephen's rhetorical device (by which he recalls that Jacob and the 12 patriarchs were not buried in Egypt but in Canaan) is strange to modern ears but would have been well understood by his hearers.

It is extremely important that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were buried in Canaan, as opposed to Egypt. This shows that they all acknowledged and believed God's promise that the Promised Land would one day belong to their descendants. Joseph died and was embalmed in Egypt, but, just like his father, he wanted to make sure that he, too, was buried in the Promised Land. Read Genesis 50:24-26, Joshua 24:32. Joseph is included in the "roll call of faith" in Hebrews because of this request. Read Hebrews 11:22. It was 400+ years from Joseph's death to when his bones are buried at Shechem! I find it amazing that a culture that had been oppressed by slavery for 400 years would 1) remember where one of their heroes had been buried and 2) remember that their ancestors had promised to have him buried in Canaan. That had to be a "God thing."

Read Acts 7:17-19. This is a summation of what is described in greater detail in Exodus 1. Let's read just a part of this chapter. Read Exodus 1:6-14. This "new king", scholars believe, was probably Pharaoh Ahmose, the founder of the 18th dynasty. He expelled the Hyksos rulers; the Hyksos were Semitic, foreign rulers of Egypt. The Israelites were Semitic, as well, hence why Ahmose might have seen them as a threat to his rule and why they were enslaved.

Read Acts 7:20-22. One of the accusations brought against Stephen was that he blasphemed against Moses. It makes sense, therefore, that he makes Moses' history a major part of his speech in his defense. The Old Testament does not explicitly state that Moses was well educated in the wisdom of the Egyptians, but it makes sense that he was, since he was raised in the household of the Pharaoh's daughter. Josephus, the Jewish historian, also speaks of Moses' great learning. God was preparing Moses to be a great leader of his people; in order to be such a leader, he would need to be more than just intelligent, he would need to be well educated.

Read Acts 7:23. Jewish tradition states that Moses was 40 years old when he left Egypt, though this is not explicitly stated in Exodus. We do know that he was 80 years old when he faced Pharaoh, from Exodus 7:7 and that he was 120 years old when he died, from Deuteronomy 34:7.

Read Acts 7:24-25. Once again Stephen adds to his case of how in the past Jews have rejected, even hated, fellow Jews sent by God to save them. Even the mighty Moses was rejected.

Read Acts 7:26-28. Notice what made the fighting Israelites so angry, that Moses would dare to judge them! Who was he to rule over them? It is the old sin of rebellion and pride. And the Jewish leaders of Stephen's day were guilty of the same sin: here were men (the apostles and Stephen) coming into their court and telling them you are guilty of Jesus' blood, you killed the Messiah, repent! And they are furious - not, I believe because of the accusation, but because the believers dared to presume to judge them and call them sinners.

Read Acts 7:29-30. Again Stephen repeats Jewish tradition that Moses lived in Midian for 40 years. This, added to that tradition that Moses fled Egypt at age 40, adds to the 80 years recorded in Exodus.

Read Acts 7:31-32. This is the first time, that we know of, that God spoke directly to Moses. He knew that he was a Hebrew, but we don't know for certain if he knew much about his own culture. I would expect that if he had any intellectual curiosity at all, he would have researched his people's history and so known something about the patriarchs. Since none of the Egyptian gods would have ever spoken to him, I'm sure he would have known then that this was the One True (and Only) God.

Read Acts 7:33-36. Stephen reemphasizes that Moses, the one rejected by his people, had been chosen and sent by God to save his people. In spite of their rejection, he lead them out of Egypt and did many great signs and wonders. This last should have made his audience think: weren't there men doing signs and wonders today, in their midst? Couldn't that be a sign of God's blessing? Could these men, too, be sent by God? They revered and honored Moses, so... Stephen is presenting a very eloquent and logical case, but his audience's hearts are too hard and cold to hear.

Read Acts 7:37. Peter, in his speech at Pentecost, also brought up this point. Read Acts 3:22-23. As we mentioned when we studied chapter 3, Moses meant a series of prophets (all Jews like Moses) would arise as need throughout the generations. It is also the basis of the expectation of a Messiah and has a unique fulfillment in Jesus. Read John 1:45, 5:45-47.

Read Acts 7:38. According to Jewish interpretation of that time, Moses was given the law through angel mediation - that is that God gave the law to an angel and the angel gave it to Moses. This is based on Moses' original call by God as described in Exodus 3:2-4. Whether this was God Himself or a special angel who could speak for God is uncertain. There is no doubt that the law ultimately came from God. Read Galatians 3:19. Here the mediator is Moses, who stands between God and man. He was one the who "received living words to pass on to us."

Read Acts 7:39. Yet again Stephen reminds his audience that their ancestors rejected God's representative and ignored his commands. This is the stock they have come from. Why can't they see they have the same tendencies toward sin and rebellion as their forefathers?

Read Acts 7:40-41. While Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the law, he was gone for forty days and the people panicked. In response, the people turned back to what they knew and understood, the gods of Egypt and had a gold calf idol made. God was testing them to see if they would follow Him, when their charismatic leader was out of the picture. They failed, miserably. They demonstrated that their covenant with God was only superficial.

Read Acts 7:42-43. Stephen now deviates from his chronological summary of Jewish history slightly by quoting from the prophet Amos. Amos, however, refers back to the 40 years the Jews wandered in the desert because they had refused to enter the Promised Land after the spies report; God saw this refusal as an act of rejection and unfaithfulness. Read Numbers 14:26-35. Amos points out that during those forty years in the desert it was not sacrifices and offerings that created a right relationship with the Lord, it was obedience. And as in Amos' day, the Jews, too, offered sacrifices and offerings, but they did not have a right relationship with God; rather they also practiced idolatry, worshipping other gods. Stephen changes one word in Amos' quote: Amos says the exiles will be sent beyond Damascus; Stephen changes this to Babylon, which was the final exile from the Promised Land. Amos was speaking of the Assyrian exile of the northern kingdom, which happened first.

So with these two verses Stephen reminds his audience of two more acts of rebellion on Israel's part: they rejected God's command to enter the Promised Land and were exiled to the desert for 40 years, and two, because of her idolatry she was carried into exile by the Assyrians and Babylonians. The Jewish nation, he was demonstrating, did not have a spotless, honorable history when it came to their dealings with God and His representatives.

To be continued...

Source
Philip Yancey and Tim Stafford (notes). The Student Bible. NIV Version