Acts 7 - Summary

Historical setting

Stephen is a Greek-speaking Jewish believer in Jerusalem, brought before the council of Jewish elders and priests (the Sanhedrin) on charges of blasphemy against Moses and God. He is accused of speaking against the temple and the law. This is some years after Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, during a period when the young church in Jerusalem faced increasing pressure from the Jewish authorities. Jerusalem remains under Roman occupation, and the temple still stands as the center of Jewish religious life.

Life and customs

The Sanhedrin was the supreme council of Jewish law and religious practice; being brought before it was a serious matter. Circumcision was the covenant sign marking membership in God's people, and the law of Moses, enshrined in the Torah, was the foundation of Jewish identity and practice. The tabernacle and later the temple were understood as the dwelling place of God; no other building was permitted to serve this function. Stoning was the prescribed execution method for blasphemy under Jewish law. A young man like Saul holding the clothes of those executing a sentence suggests his approval and participation in a formal, community-authorized act, not a mob lynching.

What the text says

Stephen begins his defense (verse 2) by addressing the assembly as "Men, brethren, and fathers" and recounts Israel's history. He describes Abraham's call in Mesopotamia (verses 2-3), his journey to Canaan (verse 4), and God's promise of the land despite Abraham having no inheritance in it yet and no child (verse 5). God foretold that Abraham's descendants would be enslaved in a foreign land for four hundred years, after which God would judge that nation and they would serve Him in the promised place (verses 6-7). God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, and Abraham begat Isaac, who begat Jacob, who became father of the twelve patriarchs (verse 8).

Stephen next addresses Joseph (verses 9-10): the patriarchs sold Joseph into Egypt out of envy, but God was with him, delivered him from affliction, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, making him governor. When famine came over Egypt and Canaan (verse 11), Jacob heard grain was in Egypt and sent their fathers (verse 12). At a second meeting, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers and made himself known to Pharaoh (verse 13). Joseph called his father Jacob and seventy-five relatives to Egypt (verses 14-15). Jacob died there with the fathers, and they were carried to Shechem and buried in a tomb Abraham had bought (verse 16).

As the promise's time drew near, the people grew and multiplied (verse 17) until a new king arose who did not know Joseph (verse 18). This king treated the kindred subtly and forced the fathers to cast out their newborn children so they would not live (verse 19). Moses was born at this time, was exceptionally fair, and was raised in his father's house for three months (verse 20). When cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him and raised him as her son (verse 21). Moses was educated in Egyptian wisdom and was mighty in word and deed (verse 22).

At age forty, Moses visited his Hebrew brethren (verse 23). Seeing one wronged, he defended him and killed the Egyptian (verses 24-25). Stephen notes that Moses "supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not" (verse 25). The next day, Moses tried to reconcile two Hebrews fighting, calling them brothers (verse 26). One asked who made Moses ruler and judge, asking if he meant to kill him as he killed the Egyptian (verses 27-28). Moses fled to Midian and begat two sons there (verse 29).

After forty years, an angel appeared to Moses in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in a flame of fire in a bush (verse 30). When Moses drew near to look, the Lord's voice came to him (verses 31-32), identifying Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Lord commanded Moses to remove his shoes because the ground was holy (verse 33). God said He had seen the affliction of His people in Egypt and their groaning, and had come to deliver them, sending Moses to Egypt (verse 34).

Stephen then declares (verse 35): "This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush." He brought them out, showing wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years (verse 36). Moses told the children of Israel that God would raise up a prophet like him, whom they must hear (verse 37).

Takeaways

• Stephen constructs a pattern across Israel's history of God sending deliverers and the people resisting them, suggesting Jesus fits this same pattern.
• The accusation of being "stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears" means internal rebellion against God despite outward observance of the law.
• Stephen's vision of Jesus standing at God's right hand, and his forgiving prayer for his killers, presents him as witnessing to Christ at the cost of his life.