translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: ACT

label: NET study note

text: A quotation from Gen 12:1 .


text: An allusion to Gen 12:7; 13:15; 15:2, 18; 17:8; 24:7; 48:4 . On the theological importance of the promise and to his descendants after him , see and .


text: A quotation from Gen 15:13 . Exod 12:40 specifies the sojourn as 430 years.


text: An allusion to Exod 3:12 .


text: God gave…the covenant. Note how the covenant of promise came before Abraham’s entry into the land and before the building of the temple.


text: The twelve patriarchs refers to the twelve sons of Jacob, the famous ancestors of the Jewish race (see Gen 35:23-26 ).


text: Our. Stephen spoke of “ our ” ancestors ( Grk “fathers”) in an inclusive sense throughout the speech until his rebuke in v. 51 , where the nation does what “your” ancestors did, at which point an exclusive pronoun is used. This serves to emphasize the rebuke.


text: See Gen 49:29-32 .


text: A quotation from Exod 1:8 .


text: They did not understand. Here is the theme of the speech. The people did not understand what God was doing through those he chose. They made the same mistake with Joseph at first. See Acts 3:17; 13:27 . There is good precedent for this kind of challenging review of history in the ancient scriptures: Ps 106:6-46 ; ; and Neh 9:6-38 .


text: An allusion to Exod 3:2 .


text: A quotation from Exod 3:6 . The phrase suggests the God of promise, the God of the nation.


text: A quotation from Exod 3:5 . The phrase holy ground points to the fact that God is not limited to a particular locale. The place where he is active in revealing himself is a holy place.


text: A quotation from Exod 3:7-8, 10 .


text: This same. The reference to “this one” occurs five times in this speech. It is the way the other speeches in Acts refer to Jesus (e.g., Acts 2:23 ).


text: A quotation from Exod 2:14 (see Acts 7:27 ). God saw Moses very differently than the people of the nation did. The reference to a ruler and a judge suggests that Stephen set up a comparison between Moses and Jesus, but he never finished his speech to make the point. The reader of Acts, however, knowing the other sermons in the book, recognizes that the rejection of Jesus is the counterpoint.


text: A quotation from Deut 18:15 . This quotation sets up Jesus as the “leader-prophet” like Moses ( Acts 3:22 ; Luke 9:35 ).


text: To obey. Again the theme of the speech is noted. The nation disobeyed the way of God and opted for Egypt over the promised land.


text: Pushed him aside. This is the second time Moses is “pushed aside” in Stephen’s account (see v. 27 ).


text: A quotation from Exod 32:1, 23 . Doubt ( we do not know what has happened to him ) expresses itself in unfaithful action. The act is in contrast to God’s promise in Exod 23:20 .


text: The expression and gave them over suggests similarities to the judgment on the nations described by Paul in Rom 1:18-32 .


text: Moloch was a Canaanite deity who was believed to be the god of the sky and the sun.


text: Rephan ( ῾Ραιφάν , RJaifan ) was a pagan deity. The term was a name for Saturn. It was variously spelled in the mss (BDAG 903 s.v. has Rompha as an alternate spelling). The references cover a range of deities and a history of unfaithfulness.


text: A quotation from Amos 5:25-27 . This constituted a prediction of the exile.


text: See 1 Kgs 8:1-21 .


text: The title the Most High points to God’s majesty ( Heb 7:1 ; Luke 1:32, 35 ; Acts 16:7 ).


text: The phrase made by human hands is negative in the NT: Mark 14:58 ; Acts 17:24 ; Eph 2:11 ; Heb 9:11, 24 . It suggests “man-made” or “impermanent.” The rebuke is like parts of the Hebrew scripture where the rebuke is not of the temple, but for making too much of it ( 1 Kgs 8:27 ; Isa 57:15 ; 1 Chr 6:8 ; Jer 7:1-34 ).


text: What kind…resting place? The rhetorical questions suggest mere human beings cannot build a house to contain God.


text: Traditionally, “stiff-necked people.” Now the critique begins in earnest.


text: Which…persecute. The rhetorical question suggests they persecuted them all.


text: The Righteous One is a reference to Jesus Christ.


text: Whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. The harsh critique has OT precedent ( 1 Kgs 19:10-14 ; Neh 9:26 ; 2 Chr 36:16 ).


text: The picture of Jesus standing (rather than seated) probably indicates his rising to receive his child. By announcing his vision, Stephen thoroughly offended his audience, who believed no one could share God’s place in heaven. The phrase is a variation on Ps 110:1 .


text: They covered their ears to avoid hearing what they considered to be blasphemy.


text: They began to stone him. The irony of the scene is that the people do exactly what the speech complains about in v. 52 .


text: The remarks Lord Jesus, receive my spirit and Lord, do not hold this sin against them recall statements Jesus made on the cross ( Luke 23:34, 46 ).