Acts 9

Acts 9:1

We have heard him say. This verse shows the tenor of his preaching. He no doubt did preach the end of the Jewish dispensation and the reign of Christ, but he neither blasphemed Moses nor God.

Acts 9:2

Looking steadfastly on him. “Fastening their eyes on him” (Revised Version). To see what effect the charges had on him. One of those who thus looked was Saul of Tarsus. It was probably from him that Luke obtained his account of this trial. As it had been the face of an angel. His face was radiant, either with his own divinely inspired peace and joy, or shining with a supernatural splendor. I incline to the first view, for had the latter been the case it would have awed the Sanhedrin, and probably suspended their proceedings.

Acts 9:4

The Martyrdom of Stephen SUMMARY OF ACTS 7: Stephen Outlines God’s Dealings with Abraham. The Christ Promised. Abraham a Man of Faith Before Circumcision Was Appointed. The Patriarchs Sell Joseph into Bondage, Ignorant of the. Counsels of God. The Israelites in Egypt First Reject Moses Their Deliverer. The Rejected Moses Is Their Savior. He Predicted a Prophet Like Unto Himself. The Tabernacle and Temple Built, Though God Dwells Not in. Temples Made with Hands. The Jews of Stephen’s Time Were Like Their Fathers in Resisting. God. Had Slain the Holy One and Had Not Kept the Law. The Outburst of Rage. Stephen Stoned by the Mob. Are these things so? As president, the high priest asks what reply Stephen has to make to the charges.

Acts 9:5

Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken. In order to make his defense, to unveil the fact that his accusers were fighting God, and to preach Christ, Stephen rapidly outlines Jewish history. Every fact cited has a point. Note (1) that Abraham was called in uncircumcision, and the Christ promised through his seed before he was circumcised; (2) that Joseph, the type of Christ, was rejected by his brethren, and afterwards saves them; (3) that Moses is also rejected and despised, but that God makes choice of him to save Israel; (4) that the Israelites went whoring after false gods and were carried into captivity; (5) that God had the tabernacle and temple built, but was particular to assure Israel that he dwelt not in temples made with human hands; (6) that their Moses, rejected, whom the people refused to obey, predicted a prophet like unto himself, and (7) that in the rejection of Christ they showed just the same spirit as their fathers who had rejected and slain the prophets who predicted Christ’s coming. The speech is pointed, logical, and powerful, not intended to conciliate, but to show the Jews their own sins. The God of glory appeared unto . . . Abraham . . . in Mesopotamia. Abraham’s childhood home was at Ur of the Chaldees in Mesopotamia, the country between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Genesis 12:1 gives a second call at Haran, or Charran (the same), but Stephen declares that the family had gone from Ur to Charran, because of an earlier call (Acts 7:4). Charran was on the route to Canaan, and Abraham made a stop there of five years, until his father died (Genesis 11:31,32).

Acts 9:8

Gave him no inheritance in it. Abraham possessed Canaan only by faith. He looked to the fulfillment of the promise, that it would be the possession of his children when he had neither land nor seed. See Hebrews 11:8-16.

Acts 9:9

His seed should sojourn in a strange land. In Egypt. See Genesis 15:13,16. Four hundred years. In round numbers, counting from the time “the seed”, Isaac, should be born to the Exodus. It is stated in Exodus 12:40 that the sojourning of the children of Israel was 430 years. This includes the period from the call of Abraham to the Exodus. See Galatians 3:16,17. But Isaac was born about thirty years after the call of Abraham, which leaves Stephen’s period of 400 years.

Acts 9:11

And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. After his call and the promise of Christ. See Genesis 17:1-14. The covenant of Christ was for all; circumcision for the Jews.

Acts 9:12

The patriarchs, moved with envy. The sons of Jacob. See Genesis 37:28. As they rejected Joseph, their descendants rejected Jesus. God was with him. With the one rejected, and raised him to royal honors in the house of Pharaoh.

Acts 9:14

There came a dearth over all the land. For the history of Joseph, begin at Genesis 39:1, and read to the close of Genesis. For the account of the famine and the visit to Egypt of the ten brethren, see Genesis 42:1-43:34.

Acts 9:17

Then sent Joseph. The rejected Joseph becomes the prince and savior of all Israel. Threescore and fifteen souls. Genesis 46:27 says that sixty-six persons besides Jacob, Joseph and his two sons, seventy in all, were in Egypt. But the Septuagint Version, quoted almost invariably by Christ and the apostles, as well as by Stephen here, after giving the sixty-six, adds: “And the sons of Joseph born in Egypt were nine souls”. The nine, added to the sixty-six, make the seventy-five that Stephen gives. Why this clause was omitted from the Hebrew text, followed by the Common Version, is unknown. Stephen simply follows the text received by Christ, the apostles, and the Jews generally.

Acts 9:19

And were carried over into Sychem. Jacob was buried at Hebron in the cave of Machpelah (Genesis 50:13), but the “fathers” were buried in Sychem. We are told that Joseph was buried there, and Jewish tradition always affirmed that his brethren were buried there also (Joshua 24:32). Jerome, in the fourth century, said that their tombs were still to be seen. He lived in Palestine. That Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor. For an account of this purchase, see Genesis 33:19 Joshua 24:32. The difficulty arises that it was Jacob that made the purchase instead of Abraham. Some have supposed that Stephen, in the hurry of a rapid speech under exciting circumstances, by an oversight used the name of Abraham for Jacob; others have thought that Abraham did make the purchase first and that it was repeated by Jacob. Neither of these views is probable. Had Stephen made a lapsus, it would have been corrected by Luke, who wrote under Paul’s supervision (see Introduction), so as to give Stephen’s meaning.

It is far more probable that some copyist, by oversight, first wrote “Abraham” for “Jacob”, and that the MSS that have come down to us were made from that copy. There can hardly be a doubt that a man so learned in the Scriptures as Stephen, and making an inspired defense, said “Jacob”.

Acts 9:20

The time of the promise. Of deliverance from Egypt. See Genesis 15:13,14. Which God had sworn. Solemnly promised. There is no account of a formal oath. Maimonides says: ``Every divine assurance is equivalent to an oath.''

Acts 9:21

Till another king arose, etc. For an account of the persecution of Israel and birth of Moses, see Exodus 1:1-22 2:1-10.

Acts 9:25

Moses was learned. He was reared as “the son of Pharaoh’s daughter” (Hebrews 11:24) and would be educated in all the accomplishments of his time. We know from the researches of the Egyptologists (see Rawlinson’s “Egypt”) that at the period of Moses there were great universities for the education of all who were expected to engage in public employments. Eber’s “Uarda” gives a good picture of Egypt when Moses was a child.

Acts 9:26

And when he was full forty years old, etc. For the accounts here given, see Exodus 2:11-15. Compare Hebrews 11:24. Observe the point of Stephen, that Israel rejected Moses as “a ruler and judge over them” (Acts 7:35), as they had rejected Joseph and Jesus. Yet God chose both Joseph and Moses to be their saviors and rulers.

Acts 9:33

And when forty years were expired, etc. For the call of Moses, see Exodus 3:1-10.

Acts 9:38

This Moses whom they refused, but God sent him as their ruler and deliverer. With great force Stephen makes his application. If his hearers failed to see the point, Acts 7:37 makes it clear.

Acts 9:40

This is that Moses, which said. This rejected Moses who was chosen by God to be a prince and a savior hath said. A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up . . . like unto me. Like me, “of your brethren”; like me, rejected and despised by Israel; like me, exalted to be a Prince and a Savior by God. See Deuteronomy 18:15-19.

Acts 9:41

This is he. Moses. That was in the church in the wilderness. The congregation of Israel, the typical church. Moses as its mediator. With the angel. The angel of the Covenant, who communicated the law to Moses in Sinai. See Acts 7:53 Exodus 23:20,23. Lively oracles. The Word of life.

Acts 9:42

To whom our fathers would not obey, etc. These verses summarize the unbelief, disbelief and waywardness of Israel under Moses. The point is to show that the rejection of Christ harmonizes with their past history. See Exodus 16:3 17:4 32:1-14 Deuteronomy 4:19.