7 And I will be the judge, said God, of that nation which made them servants: and after that, they will come out and give me worship in this place.
And he said, Truly I will be with you; and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: when you have taken the children of Israel out of Egypt, you will give worship to God on this mountain.
But I will be the judge of that nation whose servants they are, and they will come out from among them with great wealth. As for you, you will go to your fathers in peace; at the end of a long life you will be put in your last resting-place. And in the fourth generation they will come back here; for at present the sin of the Amorite is not full.
And the Lord said to Moses, See I have made you a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. Say whatever I give you orders to say: and Aaron your brother will give word to Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go out of his land. And I will make Pharaoh's heart hard, and my signs and wonders will be increased in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not give ear to you, and I will put my hand on Egypt, and take my armies, my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt, after great punishments. And the Egyptians will see that I am the Lord, when my hand is stretched out over Egypt, and I take the children of Israel out from among them. And Moses and Aaron did so: as the Lord gave them orders, so they did. And Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they gave the Lord's word to Pharaoh. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, If Pharaoh says to you, Let me see a wonder: then say to Aaron, Take your rod and put it down on the earth before Pharaoh so that it may become a snake. Then Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and they did as the Lord had said: and Aaron put his rod down on the earth before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a snake. Then Pharaoh sent for the wise men and the wonder-workers, and they, the wonder-workers of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts. For every one of them put down his rod on the earth, and they became snakes: but Aaron's rod made a meal of their rods. But Pharaoh's heart was made hard, and he did not give ear to them, as the Lord had said. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Pharaoh's heart is unchanged; he will not let the people go.
And you saw the trouble of our fathers in Egypt, and their cry came to your ears by the Red Sea; And you did signs and wonders on Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land; for you saw how cruel they were to them. So you got yourself a name as it is today. By you the sea was parted before them, so that they went through the sea on dry land; and those who went after them went down into the deep, like a stone into great waters.
For from the past God is my King, working salvation in the earth. The sea was parted in two by your strength; the heads of the great sea-beasts were broken. The heads of the great snake were crushed by you; you gave them as food to the fishes of the sea.
How he had done his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan; So that their rivers were turned to blood, and they were not able to get drink from their streams. He sent different sorts of flies among them, poisoning their flesh; and frogs for their destruction. He gave the increase of their fields to worms, the fruits of their industry to the locusts. He sent ice for the destruction of their vines; their trees were damaged by the bitter cold. Ice was rained down on their cattle; thunderstorms sent destruction among the flocks. He sent on them the heat of his wrath, his bitter disgust, letting loose evil angels among them. He let his wrath have its way; he did not keep back their soul from death, but gave their life to disease. He gave to destruction all the first sons of Egypt; the first-fruits of their strength in the tents of Ham;
He let his signs be seen among the people, and his wonders in the land of Ham. He sent black night and made it dark; and they did not go against his word. At his word their waters were turned to blood, and he sent death on all their fish. Their land was full of frogs, even in the rooms of the king. He gave the word, and there came the dog-fly, and insects over all the land. He gave them ice for rain, and flaming fire in their land. He gave their vines and their fig-trees to destruction, and the trees of their land were broken down. At his word the locusts came, and young locusts more than might be numbered, And put an end to all the plants of their land, taking all the fruit of the earth for food. He put to death the first child of every family in the land, the first-fruits of their strength.
He put to death the first-fruits of Egypt, of man and of beast. He sent signs and wonders among you, O Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his servants.
To him who put to death the first-fruits of Egypt: for his mercy is unchanging for ever: And took out Israel from among them: for his mercy is unchanging for ever: With a strong hand and an outstretched arm: for his mercy is unchanging for ever. To him who made a way through the Red Sea: for his mercy is unchanging for ever: And let Israel go through it: for his mercy is unchanging for ever: By him Pharaoh and his army were overturned in the Red Sea: for his mercy is unchanging for ever.
Awake! awake! put on strength, O arm of the Lord, awake! as in the old days, in the generations long past. Was it not by you that Rahab was cut in two, and the dragon Wounded? Did you not make the sea dry, the waters of the great deep? did you not make the deep waters of the sea a way for the Lord's people to go through?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Acts 7
Commentary on Acts 7 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 7
When our Lord Jesus called his apostles out to be employed in services and sufferings for him, he told them that yet the last should be first, and the first last, which was remarkably fulfilled in St. Stephen and St. Paul, who were both of them late converts, in comparison of the apostles, and yet got the start of them both in services and sufferings; for God, in conferring honours and favours, often crosses hands. In this chapter we have the martyrdom of Stephen, the first martyr of the Christian church, who led the van in the noble army. And therefore his sufferings and death are more largely related than those of any other, for direction and encouragement to all those who are called out to resist unto blood, as he did. Here is,
Act 7:1-16
Stephen is now at the bar before the great council of the nation, indicted for blasphemy: what the witnesses swore against him we had an account of in the foregoing chapter, that he spoke blasphemous words against Moses and God; for he spoke against this holy place and the law. Now here,
But let us see how this serves Stephen's purpose.
Let us now see what this is to Stephen's purpose.
Act 7:17-29
Stephen here goes on to relate,
Now let us see how this serves Stephen's purpose.
Act 7:30-41
Stephen here proceeds in his story of Moses; and let any one judge whether these are the words of one that was a blasphemer of Moses or no; nothing could be spoken more honourably of him. Here is,
Act 7:42-50
Two things we have in these verses:-
Act 7:51-53
Stephen was going on in his discourse (as it should seem by the thread of it) to show that, as the temple, so the temple-service must come to an end, and it would be the glory of both to give way to that worship of the Father in spirit and in truth which was to be established in the kingdom of the Messiah, stripped of the pompous ceremonies of the old law, and so he was going to apply all this which he had said more closely to his present purpose; but he perceived they could not bear it. They could patiently hear the history of the Old Testament told (it was a piece of learning which they themselves dealt much in); but if Stephen go about to tell them that their power and tyranny must come down, and that the church must be governed by a spirit of holiness and love, and heavenly-mindedness, they will not so much as give him the hearing. It is probable that he perceived this, and that they were going to silence him; and therefore he breaks off abruptly in the midst of his discourse, and by that spirit of wisdom, courage, and power, wherewith he was filled, he sharply rebuked his persecutors, and exposed their true character; for, if they will not admit the testimony of the gospel to them, it shall become a testimony against them.
We have reason to think Stephen had a great deal more to say, and would have said it if they would have suffered him; but they were wicked and unreasonable men with whom he had to do, that could no more hear reason than they could speak it.
Act 7:54-60
We have here the death of the first martyr of the Christian church, and there is in this story a lively instance of the outrage and fury of the persecutors (such as we may expect to meet with if we are called out to suffer for Christ), and of the courage and comfort of the persecuted, that are thus called out. Here is hell in its fire and darkness, and heaven in its light and brightness; and these serve as foils to set off each other. It is not here said that the votes of the council were taken upon his case, and that by the majority he was found guilty, and then condemned and ordered to be stoned to death, according to the law, as a blasphemer; but, it is likely, so it was, and that it was not by the violence of the people, without order of the council, that he was put to death; for here is the usual ceremony of regular executions-he was cast out of the city, and the hands of the witnesses were first upon him.
Let us observe here the wonderful discomposure of the spirits of his enemies and persecutors, and the wonderful composure of his spirit.