37 “This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.’ 38 “This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us, 39 whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41 And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. 42 Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: ‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43 You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch, And the star of your god Remphan, Images which you made to worship; And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’
Commentary
From their inception then as a delivered nation from Egypt, Israel has always been very rebellious against the Lord God of their fathers. For though they claim to believe and to have obeyed Moses, yet they never really have believed and obeyed the Will of the Lord for themselves through him. For as Stephen now shows them in verse thirty-seven it was this Moses whom God appointed to lead and instruct them who told the children of Israel, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.’ Deut. 18:15 And yet just as they did not believe Moses when he went up on Mount Sinai to receive the living oracles of God from the Angel, but rather their fathers rejected Moses “...And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ (vs. 39-40). Neither then did they believe the Lord Jesus Christ when God sent Him to them who is the Prophet Moses foretold is the One they are to hear!’ And yet did not receive Him and the living oracles of God from Him, but instead they also rejected Him and His Word, and thus the salvation and the grace of God offered to them through Him. Instead, they only turned back to Moses who long ago told them to turn to Him! Therefore, neither they, nor their fathers have historically obeyed God, (as they like to think of themselves and their fathers as being faithful to God through him). For as Stephen notes of their fathers, after they rejected Moses, they only went on to make a calve idol for themselves, declaring it as their deliver, and so they offered sacrifices to it, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands (vs. 41). Therefore, in verses forty-two and three Stephen goes on to reveal how God gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: ‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43 You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch, And the star of your god Remphan, Images which you made to worship; And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’ Thus, Stephen in a scathing rebuke of them is pointing out to them their and their father’s homogeneous rebellion against the Lord, and not their supposed ongoing faithfulness to Him, as they always like to think of themselves and their forefathers as being towards Him. Now this is not unique to them, for there is no one who can claim faithfulness to the Lord. Therefore, we must all examine our own hearts and ways lest we also deceive ourselves about our faithfulness to our Lord God and Savior.
Scripture Quotations
New King James (1982):Thomas Nelson.
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