Acts 7:37

This is that Moses, which said - A prophet, etc. - This very Moses, so highly esteemed and honored by God, announced that very prophet whom ye have lately put to death. See the observations at Deuteronomy 18:22 (note).

Which said ... - Deuteronomy 18:15, Deuteronomy 18:18. See this explained, Acts 3:22. Stephen introduced this to remind them of the promise of a Messiah; to show his faith in that promise; and "particularly" to remind them of their obligation to hear and obey him.

7:37 The Lord will raise you up a prophet - St. Stephen here shows that there is no opposition between Moses and Christ. 18:15 7:38This is he - Moses. With the angel, and with our fathers - As a mediator between them. Who received the living oracles - Every period beginning with, And the Lord said unto Moses, is properly an oracle. But the oracles here intended are chiefly the ten commandments. These are termed living, because all the word of God, applied by his Spirit, is living and powerful, Hebrews 4:12 , enlightening the eyes, rejoicing the heart, converting the soul, raising the dead. Exodus 19:3 .7:40Make us gods to go before us - Back into Egypt. Exodus 32:1 .7:41And they made a calf - In imitation of Apis, the Egyptian god: and rejoiced in the works of their hands - In the god they had made.7:42God turned - From them in anger; and gave them up - Frequently from the time of the golden calf, to the time of Amos, and afterward. The host of heaven - The stars are called an army or host, because of their number, order, and powerful influence.In the book of the prophets - Of the twelve prophets, which the Jews always wrote together in one book. Have ye offered - The passage of Amos referred to, chap. v, 25, &c, 5:25 consists of two parts; of which the former confirms ver. 41, Acts 7:41 ,42of the sin of the people; the latter the beginning of ver. 42, concerning their punishment. Have ye offered to me - They had offered many sacrifices; but God did not accept them as offered to him, because they sacrificed to idols also; and did not sacrifice to him with an upright heart. 5:25 .7:43Ye took up - Probably not long after the golden calf: but secretly; else Moses would have mentioned it. The shrine - A small, portable chapel, in which was the image of their god.Moloch was the planet Mars, which they worshipped under a human shape. Remphan, that is, Saturn, they represented by a star.And I will carry you beyond Babylon - That is, beyond Damascus (which is the word in Amos) and Babylon. This was fulfilledby the king of Assyria, 17:6 .7:44Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony - The testimony was properly the two tables of stone, on which the ten commandments were written. Hence the ark which contained them is frequently called the ark of the testimony; and the whole tabernacle in this place. The tabernacle of the testimony - according to the model which he had seen - When he was caughtup in the visions of God on the mount.7:45Which our fathers having received - From their ancestors; brought into the possession of the Gentiles - Into the land which the Gentiles possessed before. So that God's favour is not a necessary consequence of inhabiting this land. All along St.Stephen intimates two things: 1. That God always loved good men in every land: 2. That he never loved bad men even in this. 3:14 .7:46Who petitioned to find a habitation for the God of Jacob - But he did not obtain his petition: for God remained without any temple till Solomon built him a house. Observe how wisely the word is chosen with respect to what follows.7:48Yet the Most High inhabiteth not temples made with hands - As Solomon declared at the very dedication of the temple, 1 Kings 8:27 .The Most High - Whom as such no building can contain. 66:1 .7:49What is the place of my rest? - Have I need to rest?7:51Ye stiff necked - Not bowing the neck to God's yoke; and uncircumcised in heart - So they showed themselves, ver. 54; >Act 7:54 and ears - As they showed, ver. 57. >Act 7:57 So far were they from receiving the word of God into theirhearts, that they would not hear it even with their ears.Ye - And your fathers, always - As often as ever ye are called, resist the Holy Ghost - Testifying by the prophets of Jesus, and the whole truth. This is the sum of what he had shown at large.7:53Who have received the law by the administration of angels - God, when he gave the law on Mount Sinai, was attended withthousands of his angels, Galatians 3:19 ; Psalms 68:17 .7:55But he looking steadfastly up to heaven, saw the glory of God - Doubtless he saw such a glorious representation, God miraculously operating on his imagination, as on Ezekiel's, when he sat in his house at Babylon, and saw Jerusalem, and seemed to himself transported thither, Ezekiel 8:1 - 4.And probably other martyrs, when called to suffer the last extremity, have had extraordinary assistance of some similar kind.7:56I see the Son of man standing - As if it were just ready to receive him. Otherwise he is said to sit at the right hand of God.7:57They rushed upon him - Before any sentence passed.7:58The witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man, whose name was Saul - O Saul, couldst thou have believed, if one had told thee, that thou thyself shouldst be stoned in the same cause? and shouldst triumph in committing thy soul likewise to that Jesus whom thou art now blaspheming? His dying prayer reached thee, as well as many others. And the martyr Stephen, and Saul the persecutor, (afterward his brother both in faith and martyrdom,) are now joined in everlasting friendship, and dwell together in the happy company of those who have made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.7:59And they stoned Stephen, invoking and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit - This is the literal translation of the words, the name of God not being in the original. Nevertheless such a solemn prayer to Christ, in which a departing soul is thus committed into his hands, is such an act of worship, as no good man could have paid to a mere creature; Stephen here worshipping Christ in the very same manner in which Christ worshipped the Father on the cross.