A Study of Acts: Stephen Continues His Sermon About Moses
Acts 7:30-43; Amos 5:25-57 - On what type of ground are you carrying your tabernacle of the Holy Spirit?
““After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush. When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, there came the voice of the Lord: ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look. But the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. I have certainly seen the oppression of My people in Egypt and have heard their groans, and I have come down to rescue them; come now, and I will send you to Egypt.’
“This Moses whom they disowned, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush. This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren.’ This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living oracles to pass on to you.
Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but repudiated him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt, saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.’ At that time they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘It was not to Me that you offered victims and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel? You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god Rompha, the images which you made to worship. I also will remove you beyond Babylon.’”
Acts 7:30-43 NASB1995
Stephen continues to speak about Moses to the council. It is now 40 years later in his tale of Moses; God appears to Moses in the burning bush in the wilderness. Stephen’s point (again) is that God does not need the stones or the rituals or the sanctuary or the sanctimony of an earthly temple to come to His believers and servants.
God tells Moses that he is standing on holy ground and to remove his sandals; it is thought that the Sanhedrin members would also remove their shoes in the innermost sanctums of the temple, as Muslims do in their mosques. While researching commentary for this passage, I found a short item in Precept Austin that gave me great pause! If you believe and have accepted Jesus, you are filled with the Holy Spirit, so you become a “traveling tabernacle” of God Himself! Do you bring this vessel to places that are not fit for Him on what is truly unholy ground?
I also liked this commentary on Precept Austin from the Life Application Bible Commentary:
Stephen's words about the tabernacle and later the temple were aimed at a people who had developed an unhealthy view of their place of worship. Through the years the Israelites had come to revere the actual structure and its contents more than God himself. Rather than being a place to meet with God, the temple had become for them a source of religious snobbery. Stephen's words convey the truth that God cannot be confined to a building and suggest that, despite the prideful presuppositions, the temple was not the holiest place on earth and had become a mere gathering place for infidels! Be careful not to become so caught up in human religious systems that you forget the God who lives now. Those who replace God or try to confine him are guilty of idolatry. (Life Application Bible Commentary – Acts)
God sends Moses to Egypt to rescue His people. They have already rejected Moses once, but he is still their deliverer and leader. He leads them out, performing signs and wonders for 40 years in the wilderness. He says to them that “God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren.” Stephen is pointing directly at Jesus as the prophet who has been raised up.
But the people were unwilling to be obedient to Moses and repudiated him (and God) as he was with God on Mt. Sinai. They turned their hearts to Egypt (over and over and over again, with all of the kvetching and whining that goes on during these 40 years) and ask Aaron to create a golden idol as their “god”. Enduring Word has some good commentary on this passage:
This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel: Moses promised that there would come after him another Prophet and warned that Israel should take special care to listen to this coming Prophet. But just like Israel rejected Moses, so they were rejecting Jesus, who is the Prophet Moses spoke of.
Each individual should consider for themselves how they should accept Jesus, and not reject Him. They should receive Him as their Deliverer, the One who can rescue.
This is he who was in the congregation… who received the living oracles: Moses, like Jesus, led the congregation of God’s people, enjoyed special intimacy with God and brought forth the revelation of God.
They made a calf in those days… and rejoiced in the works of their own hands: When ancient Israel rejected Moses and God’s work through him, they replaced him with their own man-made religion. Stephen applied the same idea to the council he spoke to.
The phrase and rejoiced in the works of their own hands is especially meaningful. One of the accusations against Stephen was that he blasphemed the temple. It wasn’t that Stephen spoke against the temple, but against the way Israel worshipped the temple of God instead of the God of the temple. Just as Israel worshipped the calf in the wilderness, so now they were worshipping the works of their own hands.
I can imagine the red faces, gritted teeth and clenched fists that are now surrounding Stephen as he continues his sermon. He is showing that the blasphemy is theirs, not his, in how they rejected and killed the prophet that Moses spoke about. They are just like the stubborn people of Israel who were liberated from centuries of slavery, but longed for the comfort of bondage in a foreign land.
The last part of this passage is paraphrased from the prophet Amos:
““Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel? You also carried along Sikkuth your king and Kiyyun, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves. Therefore, I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.”
Amos 5:25-27 NASB1995
Stephen replaces Damascus with Babylon as he addresses the council. This commentary from Enduring Word explains this and has a question that non-believers must face:
Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven: In their rejection of Moses and the God who sent him, Israel turned instead to corrupt idols, bringing upon themselves the judgment described in the passage quoted from Amos 5:25-27.
Stephen took the passage from Amos and changed it slightly to bring the point to his listeners. Amos said, “beyond Damascus” (Amos 5:27), but Stephen changed it to “beyond Babylon.”
[James Montgomery] Boice explains: “Stephen, who quotes the text, alters it, because he is not talking to the people of the northern kingdom but to the leaders of Israel in the south. It is their history that he has in mind.”
God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven: The idea here is both important and awesome. Paul later built on the thought of God giving man over to his sinful desires in Romans 1:24-32.
It makes each of us consider the question: If we reject Jesus, what will we be given up to?
If you reject Jesus, what is it that you are given up to? As the linked passage from Romans 1 says, are you professing to be wise but are giving in to foolishness? Eternal separation from God? Our God is a God of many chances, but foolishness is so much more attractive than being on holy ground.
My next devotional examines Acts 7:49-53 - Stephen applies the message of his sermon to his enraged audience.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - I will pray the words of the 17th century hymn “Set Your Affections on Above” by J. Hart
1 Come, raise your thankful voice,
Ye souls redeemed with blood;
Leave earth and all its toys,
And mix no more with mud.
Dearly we’re bought, highly esteemed;
Redeemed, with Jesus’ blood redeemed.
2 Christians are priests and kings,
All born of heavenly birth;
Then think on nobler things,
And grovel not on earth.
Dearly we’re bought, highly esteemed;
Redeemed, with Jesus’ blood redeemed.
3 With heart, and soul, and mind,
Exalt redeeming love;
Leave worldly cares behind,
And set your minds above.
Dearly we’re bought, highly esteemed;
Redeemed, with Jesus’ blood redeemed.
4 Lift up your ravished eyes,
And view the glory given;
All lower things despise,
Ye citizens of heaven.
Dearly we’re bought, highly esteemed;
Redeemed, with Jesus’ blood redeemed.
5 Be to this world as dead,
Alive to that to come;
Our life in Christ is hid,
Who soon shall call us home.
Dearly we’re bought, highly esteemed;
Redeemed, with Jesus’ blood redeemed.
Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #102
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Precept Austin was accessed on 9/15/2024 to review commentary for Acts 7:30-43.
Commentary from Enduring Word by David Guzik is used with written permission.