New Testament Commentary - Acts 7

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 7 Stephen recounts the history of Israel and names Moses as a prototype of Christ—He testifies of the apostasy in Israel—He sees Jesus on the right hand of God—Stephen's testimony is rejected and he is stoned to death.
1 THEN said the high priest, Are these things so? 2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father ^aAbraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in ^bCharran, 3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy ^acountry, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.
4 Then came he out of the land of the ^aChaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. 5 And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he ^apromised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.
6 And God spake on this wise, That his seed should ^asojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into ^bbondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years. 7 And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place. 8 And he gave him the covenant of ^acircumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve ^bpatriarchs.
9 And the patriarchs, moved with ^aenvy, sold ^bJoseph into Egypt: but God was with him, 10 And ^adelivered him out of all his ^bafflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
11 Now there came a ^adearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was ^acorn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13 And at the second time ^aJoseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto ^bPharaoh.
14 Then sent ^aJoseph, and called his ^bfather ^cJacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. 15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers, 16 And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham ^abought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.
17 But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, 18 Till another ^aking arose, which knew not Joseph. 19 The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.
20 In which time Moses was born, and was ^aexceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house ^bthree months: 21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own ^ason^a. 22 And Moses was ^alearned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. Moses, Prince of Egypt Moses' position in the royal house of Egypt was that of a potential heir to the Egyptian throne. That a Hebrew would be so considered is not at all foriegn at this time as note 21^a points out that the concurrent ruling 'Hyksos' related house of Pharoah was actual connected to the family of Joseph, being a descendant who had married into the Hyksos royal family.	21^a her own son The Lord when speaking his covenant promises unto Joseph of Egypt stated concerning Moses, '... a seer will I raise up to deliver my people out of the land of Egypt; and he shall be called MOses. And by this name he shall know that he is of thy house (Israel/Joseph); for (beacuse) he shall be nursed by the king's daughter, and shall be called her son (JST Genesis 50:29)." Now here is wisdom, when Joseph dwelt in the house of Pharoah and lived amoung the 'Hyksos Egyptians', one of his children must have married with the Hyksos Egyptians royal house and thereby became heir to the throne of Egypt. This 'daughter of the king' was by blood Israelite and of the house of Joseph, thus by Moses' adoption into the house of the king, Moses would be considered of the house of Joseph. It is ironic that the King of Egypt 'who knew not Joseph' was actually of Joseph's house. This means that he chose his 'Hyksos Egyptian' way of life over that of the Hebrew way of life and had completely turned his back not only upon the Hebrews but also his ancestor Joseph's house and way of life. This speaks volumes of that which has generally been purposefully forgotten concerning the royal house of Egypt during this period that it actually had a Hebrew tie which it chose to ignore.	The Hyksos Egyptians Many scholars have concluded that the ruling house of Pharoah during the time of the Egyptian period of Joseph and Israel was that of the Shemite Hyksos family and not of the family of Ham. This speaks volumes as to why Joseph's marriage to the daughter of an Egyptian (Hyksos) priest was acceptable before the Lord and Israel. It also presents a very real likelihood of an inter-marriage relationship between the house of Joseph and the house of the Hyksos Pharoah. Now the exact relationships and details concerning the Josephite connection to the house of Pharaoh during the time of the exodus will not likely be revealed until the coming foreth of the plates of brass, which are a 'biblical' history from the perspective of Joseph and his descendants. It is likely correct to presume that such details of the house of Joseph have been omitted from the 'Record of the Jews' as kept by the Jews. But even so there is much speculation that there was a connection between the house of Pharaoh and that of Joseph which had persisted and that Joseph was a 'grandfather' figure to that house at the time of the exodus. Some point to the rise of monotheisism in the Egyptian perspective as well as other evidences. That evidence which is in the JST had been here cited under not 21^a. Books have been published such as 'The Hebrew Pharaohs of Egypt' and the notion of a 'secret' ancestry of Joseph to the house of Pharaoh is coming to light. Since that Egyptian king did during his back on Israel it is quite likely that his name has been espunged from the annals of Hebrew history especially from the perspective of the Jews.
23 And when he was full ^aforty years old, it came into his heart to visit his ^bbrethren the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was ^aoppressed, and ^bsmote the Egyptian: 25 For he supposed his brethren would have ^aunderstood how that God by his hand ^bwould deliver them: but they understood not.
26 And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye ^awrong one to another? 27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ^aruler and a judge over us? 28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday? 29 Then ^afled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two ^bsons.
30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an ^aangel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he wondered at the ^asight: and as he drew near to behold it, the ^bvoice of the Lord came unto him, 32 Saying, I am the ^aGod of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold.
33 Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground. 34 I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.
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 ^adeliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. 36 He ^abrought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
37 ¶ This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A ^aprophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. 38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively ^aoracles to give unto us: 39 To whom our fathers would not ^aobey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, 40 Saying unto Aaron, Make us ^agods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
41 And they made a ^acalf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. 42 Then God turned, and ^agave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? 43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the ^afashion that he had seen. 45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with ^aJesus [Joshua]^a into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; 46 Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.	45^a Jesus [Joshua] Stephen and his translation specifically uses the Greek word 'Jesus,' it being the same name in the Hebrew as 'Joshua.' And here Stephen is speaking of the Joshua of the Old Testament while using the Greek name Jesus more frequently use specifically to identify Jehovah come down to earth to redeem his poeple. This serves of another evidence that the common people of the 'Jews' of Jesus' day knew that the name of the coming Messiah would be named Joshua, the same name as that Joshua that led Israel into the Promises land and who had succeed Moses at the prophet leader the the House of Israel. This can also be looked to as another association of the names, with Jesus being the priesthood heir of the line of Joseph, Ephraim and Joshua, being legal heir of that linage (1 Chronicals 5:1-2 and Messiah ben Judah ~ Messiah ben Joseph.	44^a 1 Chr. 28:19 (11-19); Heb. 8:5 45^a IE Joshua; Heb. 4:8
47 But Solomon built him an house. 48 Howbeit the most High ^adwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, 49 Heaven is my ^athrone, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? 50 Hath not my hand ^amade all these things?
51 ¶ Ye ^astiffnecked and ^buncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always ^cresist the ^dHoly Ghost: as your ^efathers did, so do ye. 52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers ^apersecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: 53 Who have received the law by the disposition of ^aangels, and have not ^bkept it.
54 ¶ When they heard these things, they were ^acut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the ^aHoly Ghost^a, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the ^bglory of ^cGod, and ^dJesus ^estanding on the ^fright hand of God^b, 56 And said, Behold, I ^asee the heavens ^bopened, and the ^cSon of man standing on the right ^dhand of ^eGod.	55^a being full of the Holy Ghost Like Joseph Smith, Stephen, in order to see God, was filled with the Holy Ghost. This in the only was by which man may see God in the flesh and still live, in, by and through the power of the Holy Ghost having come upon him. 55^b saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God This 'vision' of Stephen is like that of Joseph Smith. He saw God the Father and the Son Jesus Christ standing upon the Father's right hand in glory in the sacred grove. Stephen had testified that the Jews had murdered Jesus and they did grind their teeth upon him in anger, but when Stephen states that he sees Jesus Christ standing in heaven in glory at the right hand of God the Father, they are moved to action against him and then they take him out and stone him to death outside the city proper. This was the cause of them killing Jesus, for he said he was the Son of God. And when Stephen so witnessed also that Jesus Christ and God the Father were two separate beings, Jesus being the literal Son of God, they did kill Stephen as well. And herein, like the vision of Joseph Smith lies the testimony of the Godhead, that they are three separate beings, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and this witness ought to dispell all they inovations of men whereby they pretend that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are but one uncomprehensible being.
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their ^aclothes at a ^byoung man's feet, whose name was Saul.
59 And they ^astoned ^bStephen, ^ccalling upon ^dGod, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my ^espirit. 60 And he kneeled down, and ^acried with a loud voice, ^bLord, lay not this sin to their ^ccharge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.