Глава 7

Speech of Archdeacon Stephen (1–56). His martyrdom (54–60) Acts 7:1. Then the high priest said: Is this so? “Is this so?” , i.e. Did you really say what you are accused of (Acts 6:11, 13, 14). Acts 7:2. But he said: men, brothers and fathers! listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham in Mesopotamia, before he moved to Harran, “But he said” - instead of directly answering the high priest’s question, Stephen made a long speech, which ultimately refutes the accusation and transfers it to the accusers themselves, whose opposition to God brought Stephen to the court of the Sanhedrin. The essence of the speech consists of the actual verses of Acts 7–53, for which or from the point of view of which the entire previous review of Jewish history is made. The content and train of thought of the speech can be expressed as follows: not as a blasphemer of God, the law and the church, I stand here, accused and persecuted, a victim of your resistance to God and His Messiah - the resistance that, according to the testimony of all history, you inherited from your fathers and are showing now. It is not my fault that I am being judged here, but yours - your not respect for God, but your constant opposition to Him, as in the present case, when you judge and accuse His true admirer. All this, Stefan skillfully and in detail makes history itself speak for itself, dwelling especially in detail on the story of Moses, when the opposition of the people earned the denunciation of this greatest legislator and mediator between God and the people. A more or less calm flow of thoughts, after mentioning the construction of the church and confirming his view of it with the saying of the prophet, is interrupted by a direct and bold attack and exposure of unrighteous judges in the gravest sin against the Messiah and God. - Since after this majestic speech Stephen did not return to Christian society, then, obviously, it was reproduced by one of the adherents of Christianity who were present there (like Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea or Gamaliel), from whom it later became known to the entire Christian society and was included in the work of the writer. “Men, brothers and fathers” is a respectful address to those present: the first and second - to all those present, the third - in particular - to the members of the Sanhedrin and the elders. “Listen” is a prelude and a request that the speech will not be short. "The God of Glory Has Appeared". God, to whom glory belongs—is proper. With this sublime beginning of his speech, Stephen directly made it clear how unfair it was to accuse him of being a blasphemer (Acts 6:11). With this he dealt the first heavy blow to the vain ideas of the Jews about the significance of the external church for the glorification of God. “If He is the “God of glory,” then obviously He has no need of glorification from us, or through the church, for He Himself is the source of glory. Therefore, do not think of glorifying him in this way” (Chrysostom). “Appeared” - ώφθη - indicates the external appearance of the God of glory, as the radiant light in which Jehovah revealed himself (cf. v. Acts 7:55; Ex. 24:16; Is. 6: 3; Ps. 24:7). "In Mesopotamia, before his migration to Harran". Harran - Χαρράν - the oldest city in Mesopotamia, on the ancient caravan road. Apparently, there is a contradiction here with the story of Genesis. Further words of God, cited by Stephen, as spoken at this appearance (Acts 7:3), were spoken, according to the narration of Moses (Gen. 12:1), to Abraham when God appeared to him in Harran, and not before his relocation to Harran. According to the book Genesis, Terah, the father of Abraham, with his entire family, including Abraham, left Ur, the city of the Chaldeans, to the land of Canaan and, having reached Haran, stopped here and died (Gen. 11: 29-32); and here there was a revelation to Abraham, in which the words conveyed by Stephen and Moses were spoken, and not in Ur, in the land of the Chaldeans (Acts 7:4), as Stephen says. This is explained by the fact that, according to the testimony of Philo and Josephus, the Jews of that time, especially those of Alexandria, believed, on the basis of tradition, that the first appearance of God to Abraham was not in Harran, but precisely in Ur of the Chaldeans (which Moses does not directly say), that it was as a result of this phenomenon that Abraham’s father Terah went with his entire family from Ur to Canaan, but died on the road to Haran, and that after the death of Terah, God again appeared to Abraham and repeated the command to continue the journey. This tradition that God appeared to Abraham back in Ur of the Chaldeans seems to have confirmation and, perhaps, a basis in the very narrative of Moses. In one of the subsequent appearances, after this appearance in Harran, God speaks to Abraham (Gen. 15:7). “I am Jehovah, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land for an inheritance.” It follows from this that, back in Ur, Abraham must have received a command from God to leave this country and go to Canaan. The same follows from the book of Nehemiah, where the following prayer words are given to Ezra: “You are Jehovah God, You chose Abraham and brought him out of the land of the Chaldeans,” i.e. from Ur of the Chaldeans (Neh.9:7). All this, obviously, quite sufficiently reconciles and clarifies the apparent inaccuracy of Stephen’s expression, in comparison with the Bible, and indicates his complete agreement with the tradition of the Jews, which is confirmed in this case both in the narrative of Moses and in the book of Nehemiah. "Get out of your land." Stephen cites the words of God spoken to Abraham during his appearance in Haran as spoken at Ur, no doubt because the meaning of God’s command was the same then and now, although Moses does not convey the words of God spoken at Ur. St. speaks well about the significance of this mention of Abraham. Chrysostom: “there was not yet a church or sacrifices, but Abraham was granted the Divine vision... Notice how he (Stephen) takes their thoughts away from the sensory, starting with the locality, since they were talking about the place”... Acts 7:4. Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran; and from there, after the death of his father, God moved him to this land in which you now live. “He came out of the land of the Chaldeans,” from the city of Ur, in Mesopotamia, north of Harran. “From there” (i.e. from Harran) “after the death of his father” (i.e. Terah) “removed” . According to the instructions of the book. Genesis, Terah lived 70 years before the birth of Abraham, Nahor and Arran, and all the days of his life were 205 years (Gen. 11:26, 32). Abraham, when he left Haran, where Terah died, was 75 years old (Gen. 12:4). Thus, it turns out that it was still too early for Terah to die (70 + 75 = 145, not 205), and that he still had to live 60 years after Abraham moved from Haran. This apparent discrepancy is explained by the fact that in reality Terah lived 70 years not before the birth of Abraham, but before the birth of his elder brother Arran, who was followed by Nahor, and then by Abraham, who was named first by Moses not by seniority of age, but by superiority of election. Therefore, the actual explanation of Moses' remark is this: Terah lived 70 years before the birth of his children, the first of whom was Arran. How many years after Arran Abraham was born, Moses does not mention. The words of Mrs. Stephen that Abraham left Haran after the death of Terah indicate that Abraham was born in the 130th year of Terah’s life (205–75), which was quite probable at that time. The opinion that Abraham left Haran after the death of Terah is also confirmed by Philo. Obviously, at this point, Stephen is based on tradition, which is not contradicted by the instructions of the book of Genesis, correctly understood. “The land in which you now live,” i.e. in Palestine, called the Land of Canaan, to which Terah went from Ur of the Chaldeans with Abraham and the rest of the family. Acts 7:5. And he did not give him an inheritance on it, not even one foot, but promised to give it as a possession to him and his descendants after him, while he was still childless. “And he did not give him an inheritance on it,” glory. “heritage” - κληρονομίαν, did not make it his heritage, property - in the sense in which it became later for his descendants. And not only in this broad sense, but also in a narrower one - “below the foot” - Abraham did not receive the land promised to his descendants, i.e. and the Lord has not yet given him a small plot of it. This does not contradict the legend of the book. Genesis that Abraham bought a field and a cave for himself from Ephron the Hittite (Gen. 23). On the contrary, this is the fact that Abraham had to buy land from the natives, and shows that God did not give him land property in this country, otherwise he would have nothing to buy for. Moreover, here we are talking about the first time Abraham stayed in this country until the time of his circumcision (Acts 7:8), when Abraham really did not have any land of his own there. “To him and his descendants”, to him in the person of his descendants. “When I was still childless” - it is made clear that both the gift of the promised land as an inheritance to offspring, and the gift of this offspring itself depended entirely and solely on the free will of God, and is actually the gift of God. Here again it is pointed out significantly that “the promise was given before the place, before the circumcision, before the sacrifice, before the church” (Chrysostom). Acts 7:6. And God told him that his descendants would be migrants in a foreign land and would be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. “And God said to him”, ελάλησε δε ούτως ο Θείς, “God said this to God” - God said exactly that, i.e. in His promise, as mentioned above, “he promised to give...”. The words quoted here are taken from Gen. 15:13–14, 18. “In a foreign land”, i.e. in Egypt. “Four hundred years...” - according to the exact instructions of Moses - 430 years; here, as in the indicated promise of God, almost literally repeated by Stephen according to LXX, a round number is indicated. Acts 7:7. But I, God said, will execute judgment on the people to whom they will be enslaved; and after that they will come out and serve Me in this place. “I will bring judgment” (κρινῶ) “on that people” - judgment in the sense of punishment and punishment for the oppression and enslavement of the descendants of Abraham. According to Divine definition, the descendants of Abraham became immigrants in a foreign land - among the Egyptians. But this did not justify the Egyptians, who were subject to punishment for the oppression of the settlers - a matter of their freedom and cruelty. God's judgment for this was expressed in the so-called Egyptian plagues, after which the Jewish people left Egypt. “They will serve Me in this place” - words borrowed by Stephen from the revelation of God to Moses on Mount Horeb (Ex. 3:12) and put into the mouth of God during His revelation to Abraham. In a brief and cursory review of the history of the people, Stephen could, without a doubt, allow himself not to mention that these words were spoken to Moses, and, by association of ideas, to cite these words when mentioning the trial of the Egyptians that took place under Moses, and the exodus of the people under the leadership of this latter, according to God's revelation. Only a literalist, who values ​​the letter more than the meaning of Divine revelations, can level the reproach of inaccuracy against Stephen here. Acts 7:8. And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. Therefore he begat Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob twelve patriarchs. “The Covenant of Circumcision” is a covenant, the external sign (sign) of which was the circumcision established along with it, as an essential part of the covenant itself (Gen. XVII, 10, 11). The expression that this covenant is given by God is meant to make it clear that it is a free and merciful gift of God to Abraham and his descendants, and that in this covenant gift the Lord gives much more to man than he receives from him. “For this reason...”, καί ούτως, glory. “and tacos”, i.e. and so, standing in such a relationship to God, in the relationship of the Covenant concluded with Him, “Abraham begat Isaac...”. "Twelve Patriarchs...". This is the name of the children of Jacob, as the ancestors of the 12 tribes of Israel that descended from them. Acts 7:9. The patriarchs, out of envy, sold Joseph to Egypt; but God was with him, “They sold it out of envy” (Gen. 37). Not without a special intention, Stephen points out this envy, but with the aim of pointing out, obviously, a similar feeling of judges against the Lord Jesus, whose historical prototypes were Joseph and the later-mentioned Moses, the deliverers of the people from troubles and misfortunes. Stephen's story about Joseph is all accurate and consistent with the Bible. Acts 7:10. and delivered him from all his sorrows, and gave him wisdom and the favor of the king of Egypt, Pharaoh, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his house. Acts 7:11. And famine and great tribulation came to all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no food. Acts 7:12. When Jacob heard that there was bread in Egypt, he sent our fathers there for the first time. Acts 7:13. And when they came the second time, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, and the family of Joseph became known to Pharaoh. Acts 7:14. Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five souls. “Seventy-five souls” - according to LXX, although in the original Hebrew text only 70 are counted, which is the count followed by Flavius ​​(Archaeol. II, 7, 4; VI, 5, 6). This number 70 according to the Hebrew text is compiled after Joseph with two sons and Jacob himself joined the 66 souls that came with Jacob to Egypt (Gen.46:26). The LXX translation probably also includes among them the grandchildren and great-grandsons of Joseph, mentioned in XLVI, 20 - numbering 5, thus counting not only the members of the family of Jacob who migrated, but also those who were already in Egypt, i.e. the entire surname of Jacob - “all his kinship”, except for females. Acts 7:15. Jacob went over to Egypt, and he and our fathers died; “And our fathers...”, i.e. the mentioned patriarchs-ancestors of the 12 tribes of Israel. Acts 7:16. and they were carried to Shechem and laid in a tomb, which Abraham bought at the price of silver from the sons of Hamor Shechem. "And they were carried to Shechem." From the book of Joshua it is known that the bones of only Joseph were taken out of Egypt when the Jews left there and buried in Shechem (Joshua 24:32). But ancient Jewish tradition said that the bones and brothers of Joseph were not left in Egypt and, taken together with the bones of Joseph, were also buried in Shechem. This legend was undoubtedly reproduced by St. Stephen. About Jacob book Genesis 50:13; Wed Genesis 23 says that he was buried by Joseph himself and his brothers near Hebron in the cave that Abraham, along with the field, bought there for the burial of Sarah. “In the tomb that Abraham bought at the price of silver from the sons of Hamor Shechem.” There is an inaccuracy here, a connection of two different passages of the Bible. The coffin that Abraham bought was not purchased from the sons of Hamor Shechem, but “from Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre” (Gen. 50, 13; cf. Gen. 23). And back - the coffin, bought from the sons of Hamor Shechem, was bought not by Abraham, but by Jacob, his grandson (Gen. 33:19). Here, therefore, there is either a small error of memory, or simply a figurative expression, assimilating the work of the grandson to his grandfather, as the ancestor of the entire Jewish people. Acts 7:17. And as the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise that God swore to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, “Time” for the “promise” to be fulfilled, i.e. stated above - that the descendants of Abraham will come out of Egypt (Gen. 15:13-14). Acts 7:18. until another king arose who did not know Joseph. “Another king has risen,” i.e. from the new dynasty, “who did not know” Joseph. About 4 centuries have passed since the death of Joseph; the king was from another dynasty, it seems, not even native; and it is not surprising that, given the then meager means of historical knowledge, he had no information at all about Joseph and his merits for Egypt. Acts 7:19. This one, contriving against our family, oppressed our fathers, forcing them to abandon their children so that they would not live. “Forcing to abandon their children”, τοῦ ποιεῖν έλθετα τά βρέφη αυτῶν εις το μή ζωογονεῖσθαι, glor.: “They will kill their babies and not revive them.” Literally - to throw away their babies so that they do not live (Ex. 1:16-22). Acts 7:20. At this time Moses was born and was beautiful before God. For three months he was fed in his father's house. “He was beautiful before God...”, ῆν αστεῖος τῶ Θεῶ, more precisely glorified: “well-pleasing to God.” Of course, the extraordinary beauty of the baby Moses. Acts 7:22. And Moses was taught in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds: “I was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians.” Neither the Pentateuch of Moses nor the other books of the Old Testament mention this. Obviously, this was an ancient legend, also recorded by Philo (in his “Life of Moses”). And there is nothing incredible that, adopted by the king’s daughter, Moses the Jew received the highest education available to the Egyptians at that time. This Egyptian education then consisted mainly of the study of natural sciences - astronomy, medicine - and mathematics, as well as magic. The main representatives of such education were priests. In the work of Moses' great service to the truth of God, external wisdom had to become one of the tools that contributed to his success. “He was strong in words and deeds.” The expression about the strength of Moses in words does not contradict what Moses himself says about himself, that he is speechless and tongue-tied (Ex. 4:10); the latter refers to the shortcomings of his pronunciation, but this did not prevent his speech from being strong with that inner strength that expresses the strong spirit of a person. One can also keep in mind here that the mouth of Moses, who was the mouth of God, was transmitted through the mouth of Aaron, and the power of these mouth of Aaron could well be considered as the power of the mouth of Moses, the spiritual power that he possessed to the highest degree. Acts 7:23. When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers the children of Israel. “When he turned forty years old.” In the book. The Exodus does not exactly indicate the age of Moses at this time, but simply says: “after a long time, when he grew up” (Ex. 2:11). Here again, Stephen uses a tradition that divided the entire 120-year life of Moses (Deut. 34:7) into three periods, 40 years each: the first 40 years he lived at the court of Pharaoh, the second - in the country of Midian (Exodus 7:7), and the last - he led the Jews into the desert (Exodus 16:35; Num. 14, etc. Num. 33:38) until coming to the promised land. Acts 7:24. And, seeing one of them being offended, he stood up and took revenge for the offended one, striking the Egyptian. “Striking the Egyptian”, πατάζας τόν Αιγύπτιον. As Theophylact interprets here: “he did not kill out of frenzy or anger, but out of zeal for God.” Acts 7:25. He thought his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand; but they didn't understand. “He thought they would understand.” Stephen's own remark about the meaning and significance of Moses' defeat of the Egyptian, of which there is no indication or even a hint in the Pentateuch. Stephen presents this act of Moses as an omen of the deliverance of the entire Jewish people from Egyptian slavery by the hand of Moses. The people should have understood this matter; but he did not understand him, and did not understand it not so much because of the inability of the people to understand him, but because of the lack of faith of the people in God and hope in Him, which, it seems, is what St. Stephen wants to point out here. Acts 7:26. The next day, when some of them were fighting, he appeared and persuaded them to peace, saying: you are brothers; Why do you offend each other? “When some of them were fighting, he appeared”, ωφθη αυτοῖς μαχόμενοις, “appearing to them litigants...”. more precisely, he appeared to them (some of them) quarreling. The Greek ώφθη - appeared, usually used to designate the appearances of God, indicates the sudden appearance of Moses, and precisely as a messenger or messenger of God, with special powers this time. Acts 7:27. But the one who offended his neighbor pushed him away, saying: Who made you a leader and a judge over us? “Pushed him away”, απώσατο, glor.: “I will reject him” - rejected his interference, and, perhaps even more, “pushed him away”, although the original (Ex. 2:14) does not mention this. In the latter case, the rude act of the offender of the Jew in relation to the future liberator of the people from the yoke of Egypt emerges more clearly. Acts 7:29. From these words Moses fled and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where two sons were born to him. "From these words". The case is presented more fully in the book. Exodus 2:14–15. The country of Midian is a country of uncertain boundaries in rocky Arabia, from the northern part of the Arabian Gulf. About Moses' stay here, see Ex. 2 and dal. Acts 7:30. When he was forty years old, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in the desert of Mount Sinai in the flames of a burning thorn bush. See note. to Acts 7:23, and about the event Exodus 3. “In the wilderness of Mount Sinai” - in the desert in which Mount Sinai is located. According to the book of Exodus, the location of the event was Mount Horeb itself, and not Sinai; nevertheless, there is no great deviation from the truth here. In the said desert, the rocky and mountainous soil rises above the others, like two peaks of the same mountain range - Sinai on the north side (the highest of the mountains surrounding it) and Horeb on the south; After the name of the first mountain, Sinai, the entire surrounding desert is named here, and, consequently, the entire series of mountains with Horeb among them. “Angel of the Lord” – Angel of Jehovah. Since this Angel further calls Himself God and speaks in the Name of God, it is fair to see in Him “the Angel of the Great Council” (Is. 9:6) - the Word of God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, who, after the fulfillment of times, was incarnated in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and before the Incarnation, appeared at especially important events in the form of an Angel and led to the knowledge of Him as the true God from the true God (Golden and Theophilus). “In the flame of a burning thorn bush”, εν φλογί πυρός βάτου, glor.: “in a fiery flame in a bush”, more precisely - in the flame of fire of a bush. This Epiphany fire did not burn the bushes, signifying the Jewish people who were cruelly oppressed, but not destroyed by oppression (cf. Ex. 3:2). Acts 7:31. When Moses saw it, he marveled at the vision; and when he approached to look, the voice of the Lord came to him: The original does not directly speak of Moses’ surprise, which, however, is completely natural in his position. Acts 7:32. I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Moses, overcome with trepidation, did not dare to look. Acts 7:33. And the Lord said to him, Take off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. The command to take off the shoes from your feet, according to the book of Exodus, (Exodus 3:4-6), preceded the words of Jehovah cited in Stephen that He is the God of the fathers, while in Stephen it is noted about him after the mention of the mentioned words. This difference, however, is not significant. The naming of Jehovah as “God of the fathers” was meant to assure Moses that he was being sent by the same God who so clearly guided the forefathers of the Jewish people. "Take off your shoes." In the east, people still enter churches and other sacred places with bare feet, as a sign of deep humiliation before God, as well as as a warning not to bring dust and impurity on shoes into the sacred place. According to the legend of the rabbis, the priests in the Sanctuary of the Temple of Jerusalem performed their service with bare feet. The purpose of this mention is well explained by Chrysostom: “there is no church and yet this place is holy from the appearance and action of Christ. It is even more wonderful than the place in the Holy of Holies, because here God has never appeared in this way.” Acts 7:34. I see the oppression of My people in Egypt, and I hear their groaning, and I came down to deliver them: therefore go, I will send you to Egypt. "I see", Greek. ιδών εῖδον - seeing saw - a strengthened expression meaning God's attentive and sympathetic view of the suffering of His people, who - according to the wise plans of God - could not be freed from this oppression before a predetermined time (cf. Gen. 15:16). “He came down” from heaven, where the throne of God is (Isa.66:1; Matt.5:34; Gen.11:7, 18:21). “I will send you to Egypt..”. to bring out the suffering people from there (Ex. 3:10). “Look how Stephen shows that God guided them with blessings, punishments, and miracles, but they remained the same... (Chrysostom).” Acts 7:35. This Moses, whom they rejected, saying: Who made you a ruler and a judge? This God, through the Angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush, sent him as a leader and deliverer. Acts 7:36. This one brought them out, performing signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. Ex.7:11, 14. : Acts 7:37. This is the Moses who said to the children of Israel: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers; Listen to him. "This Moses". False witnesses said that Stephen uttered blasphemous words against Moses (Acts 6:11). Having completely eliminated this accusation, Stephen begins to further depict in strong terms the greatness of this Moses, as a deliverer, wonderworker, prophet, legislator and mediator between God and the people, while pointing out the sharp features of the people’s disobedience to Moses and God, despite the greatness of Moses. This strengthening of speech is indicated by the frequent repetition of expressions: this Moses, this Moses... (vv. 35, 36, 37, 38). “Whom they rejected” - namely, as a leader and judge, who was such for the whole people by virtue of subsequent Divine election. Stefan generalizes this fact of one Jew’s rude rejection of Moses who intervened in his case, referring it to an entire people, in the sense that the words of one were, as it were, an expression of the ungrateful and stiff-necked mood of the spirit of an entire people. “Through an Angel”, εν χειρί αγγέλου by the hand of an Angel, i.e. by the power of an Angel who strengthens, protects, helps, by the power of the Son of God, typified by Moses (see Acts 7:30). Acts 7:38. This is the one who was in the meeting in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, and who received living words to convey to us, Moses is represented here “in the assembly” - among the assembly of the people - “in the wilderness”, at the foot of Mount Sinai, in order to receive the Law of God, turning on the one hand “with the Angel” and receiving from him the words of life, on the other hand “with the fathers”, i.e. to all the Jewish people of that time, to whom he conveys those living words. “With the Angel” - the saying of the Law to Moses in the book. The outcome is attributed to Jehovah himself; Stephen, together with LXX, attributes it to an Angel, i.e., that God spoke and gave the Law to Moses through an Angel or Angels (see note to Acts 7:53). The same seems to be the case with Ap. Paul (Gal.3:19; Heb.2:2), and from secular interpreters of antiquity - from Josephus (Arch. XV, 5, 3). It is possible that Stephen here calls God Himself an Angel, as above when calling Moses (Acts 7:30). “Living Words” is a refutation of the slander against Stephen that he does not stop speaking blasphemous words against the Law (Acts 6:13). The expression means the great living force of the Law for the moral order of life, living also in relation to the falsity and timely fulfillment of both promises and threats contained in the sayings of the lawgiver (cf. 1 Pet. 1:23; Heb. 4:12; Deut. 32:47; Rom. 7:10, 12, 13; 1 Cor. 15:56). Acts 7:39. to whom our fathers did not want to be obedient, but rejected him and turned their hearts to Egypt, Rejection of Moses and turning of hearts to Egypt consisted of imitation of Egyptian idolatry and addiction to sensual Egyptian pleasures (Num. 11 et c.; Num. 14; Exod. 32). Acts 7:40. saying to Aaron: Make us gods who will precede us; for we do not know what happened to Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt. “For with Moses, who brought us up”, Greek. and glory the texts here use the contemptuous expression “this one” with the word Moses: o γάρ Μωσῆς οτος, “For this Moses, who brought us out... we do not know what will happen to him...”. Acts 7:41. And in those days they made a calf, and sacrificed to the idol, and rejoiced before the work of their hands. “And in those days they made a calf,” i.e. the image of a calf, undoubtedly - under the influence of Egyptian idolatry - the veneration of Apis. True, the people wanted to see the image of Jehovah God in the calf (Exodus 32:4–8), but this was the expression of the people’s disobedience to Moses and God, who had just commanded the prohibition of all kinds of idols (Exodus 20:4, 23). That is why Stephen calls this image an “idol,” the work of the people, whose joy in front of which could not but be sinful, tantamount to rejecting both God and Moses. Acts 7:42. God turned away and left them to serve the army of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: the house of Israel! Did you bring slaughter and sacrifices to Me for forty years in the wilderness? “And he left” (glorified “betrayed”) “them to serve..”. This is not only God’s permission, but “punishment to the Israelites for honoring an idol” (Golden and Theophilus). For the sin of idolatry, God betrays the people to the gravest idolatry, according to the law of punishment of sin through greater sin (cf. Rom. 1:24). “To serve”, i.e. to render divine worship - to the “heavenly army”, i.e. heavenly luminaries, to idolize them (Gen. 2:1). This deification of the heavenly bodies was a very common form of idolatry in ancient times (Sabeism, astrolatry), especially in Egypt, Chaldea, and Phenicia. As evidence of the spread of this type of idolatry among the Jews, Stephen cites the saying of St. Amos (V, 25–27). “In the book of the prophets” - in ancient times, the collection of prophetic books of all the minor prophets (12) was considered one book. The expression of the prophet from the Person of God that the Jews did not offer sacrifices to God during the entire time of their wanderings in the desert seems to contradict the testimony of the Pentateuch, which speaks more than once about the sacrifices made by the Jews in the desert (Ex. 24, etc.; Num. 7: 9, 1, etc., etc.). Obviously, the prophet allows in this place the intensification of speech, characteristic of strong denunciations, allowing one to forget or keep silent about sacrifices to the true God, which seemed to lose their meaning when serving idols. Acts 7:43. You have taken the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god Remphan, the images that you made to worship them: and I will remove you further than Babylon. “You have accepted”, i.e. They accepted to carry with them the “tabernacle of Moloch”, i.e., probably, a portable tent dedicated to Moloch, in which there was also an image of this imaginary deity and which, like the tabernacle of the true God, was transferred from camp to camp. “Moloch” is a Syrian and Canaanite idol (Vaad-Bel), in which the sun was deified as the source of life on earth. The service of this idol was particularly disgusting in the era of the Kings (2 Kings 16:3, 2; 2 Chronicles 28:3). The idol was made of copper, with a calf's head, crowned with a royal crown. His hands were extended as if ready to receive someone. Children were sacrificed to him, and a fire was lit inside the idol, consuming the victim. To drown out the children's screams, during these disgusting scenes they made a loud scream and noise using a variety of instruments. “Zvezd a Remphana”, i.e. the image of Saturn, in the form of a star, corresponding to the appearance of this deified planet. In the Pentateuch of Moses itself there is no mention of the Jews serving the designated idols in the way the prophet Amos says. One might therefore think that on behalf of God the prophet speaks here in agreement with the most ancient Jewish tradition. It is also noteworthy that the book of Leviticus expresses a prohibition to serve Molech (Lev. 18:21, 20:2), which confirms the existence of service to this imaginary deity. All this prophetic saying is given almost exactly according to the LXX translation, which, however, does not completely agree with the original text in the names of the indicated deities (instead of Moloch - in the original of your king, instead of Remphan - Kiyun) and in the very structure of the speech. LXX did not literally translate this passage, but with an explanation that did not, however, change the very essence of the matter. “I will move you further than Babylon” - in the original and in the LXX translation from Amph, who lived before the captivity of Babylon, it is said - further than Damascus. Stephen replaces Damascus with Babylon, no doubt because the Babylonian captivity was better known to the listeners than the Syrian captivity, and represented God's threat for idolatry stronger and more impressive, without changing the essence of the matter. Acts 7:44. Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, as He who spoke to Moses commanded that it should be made according to the pattern that he had seen. Having sufficiently justified himself in the eyes of the judges regarding the accusation that he spoke blasphemous words against Moses, by confessing the greatness of Moses, and pointing out that it was not he, but, on the contrary, the fathers of his judges who were disobedient to God and Moses, Stephen begins to further smash another accusation that he spoke blasphemous words “against this holy place,” i.e. Temple of Jerusalem (Acts 6:13–14), confirming in both cases its justification by the prophetic word (Acts 7:42–43 and Acts 7:49–50). The external connection of the speech is as follows: the wearing of the tabernacle of Moloch in the time of Moses was allowed at the very time when the Jewish people had a true tabernacle of witness, built in the image shown by God himself to Moses on the mountain. This aggravated the guilt of the Jews and weakened the reproach brought against Stephen because this tabernacle, like the church that replaced it, had only temporary significance - by virtue of historical laws for their existence. “Tabernacle of Testimony” – η σκηνή τοῦ μαρτυρίου – “canopy of Testimony”, i.e. such a tabernacle in which God primarily testified about Himself, revealed Himself as the true God - the tabernacle of the revelations of God (cf. Numbers 7:89; Exodus 25:8, 22). “According to the image they saw” (Exodus 25:9, 40; description of the tabernacle Exodus 25–37). An indication of the predominant holiness of this tabernacle, in contrast to Molochova. Acts 7:45. Our fathers and Jesus, taking it, brought it into the possession of the nations expelled by God from the presence of our fathers. This was the case until the days of David. “Having taken it”, διαδεξάμενοι, “accepted”, i.e. having accepted it as an inheritance from the previous generation of fathers. “They brought it into the possessions of the peoples..”. (pagan) - of course, after their conquest and possession of the Promised Land. “Exiled by God,” and not by the people’s own strength. By this “expulsion” (cf. Ex. 34:24; Deut. 11:23) we mean the general conquest of this land, and its inhabitants were partly exterminated, partly enslaved, and partly evicted to other countries. “Until the days of David”, ἕως τῶν ἡμερῶν Δαυίδ, “even until the days of David..”. The previous words of the Russian translation - “so it was” - are not in either the Greek or Slavic texts, although in meaning they are not superfluous. Acts 7:46. This one found grace before God and prayed to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. “This one found grace before God and prayed to find”, more precisely and better (in the second half) the Slavic text: “ask to find”, i.e.: “David enjoyed the special mercy of God, and this was especially reflected in the fact that, according to his desire, God deigned to build the church, and appointed a place for this in Jerusalem” (Metropolitan Philaret, word on the consecration of the church in the city. Kolomna). The very prayer with which David prayed to God for permission to build the church is contained in Psalm 131 (Ps. 132:2–5). Stephen obviously also has this in mind, using from it the name of the church “the village of God and Jacob.” A special revelation to David through St. Nathan postponed the fulfillment of his intention until the time of Solomon, whom God honored to be the builder of His church (2 Samuel 7ff.). Acts 7:48. But the Almighty does not live in churches made by hands, as the prophet says: Acts 7:49. Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me, says the Lord, or what place for My rest? Acts 7:50. Was it not My hand that created all this? “But the Almighty does not live in churches made by hands.” The expression does not mean that God does not dwell in churches made with hands (as in the temple of Solomon), but only means that He is not limited to any church or churches, and these churches are not His completely appropriate and exclusive dwelling, to which He would be exclusively tied by His presence and revelations. This is further confirmed by citing (almost literally according to the LXX translation) the corresponding words of the prophet Isaiah (Is. 66: 1–2). As the Creator of heaven and earth, the Lord does not need the arrangement of human hands for His peace and habitation. With this prophetic saying, Stephen breaks the delusion of moribund Judaism that the Temple of Jerusalem is the necessary and only place of true worship of God, and like the Savior (John 4:21, 23) he tries to raise his listeners to the true concept of worship of God in spirit and truth. This actually ends the defensive part of Stefan’s speech. Acts 7:51. Fierce-necked! people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! you always resist the Holy Spirit, just like your fathers and you. The tone of this speech suddenly changes dramatically. Hitherto calm, completely consistent with the historical content, it suddenly rises to the tone of the formidable and merciless exposure of modern Judaism in the person of its representatives - members of the Sanhedrin, the current judges of Stephen. With the animation and greatness of a prophet, Stephen also reveals in them the spirit of resistance to God inherent in ancient Jewry, with the immeasurable difference that now this resistance to God no longer has the slightest justification for itself and has surpassed all measure by the murder of the Messiah himself. “Stiff-necked” are people of extreme rebellion, insensitivity and willfulness. This name was adopted by the Jewish people by many ancient prophets, starting with Moses. “Uncircumcised in heart and ears,” which, even with physical circumcision, equated the Jews with the pagans, assimilating to them the concept of insufficient purity and dignity before God - a reproach that was especially sensitive to the pride and vanity of the Jews. “Heart and ears” (τῆ καρδία καί τᾶς ωσίν) – two main organs of spiritual perception – internal and external. This whole expression means people who are paganly rude and underdeveloped, unable to rise to the level of perception and assimilation of all that is holy (cf. Lev. 26:41; Deut. 10:16, 30:6; Jer. 4:4, 6:10, 9:26; Rom. 2, etc.). “You always resist the Holy Spirit” is a designation of the incurable stubbornness and bitterness of the Jews, with a twofold generalization: firstly, resistance to the Holy Spirit is internalized by the entire people as a collective personality, even if there are individual exceptions. This is what both the Lord and the Apostles often did in their accusatory speeches to strengthen their speech. Secondly, resistance to the Holy Spirit is learned not only by the modern generation of the people, but also by all the previous ones: always - “as your fathers, so are you.” Acts 7:52. Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now become traitors and murderers - As proof of the general and constant Resistance of the Jews to God, Stephen recalls the persecution and murder of the prophets who heralded the coming of the Messiah, allowing here, to strengthen the speech, a majestic and beautiful generalization, in conclusion of which he brands his judges with the strong and intolerant brand of “Traitor to her and murderers” of the Righteous Messiah Himself. Acts 7:53. you who accepted the law under the ministry of angels and did not keep it. Stephen further aggravates this already strong denunciation by reminding him of those special God-given means, under the guidance of which they were primarily prepared and called by God to know and accept the Messiah, which they had every right to be proud of before all other peoples and which, however, they knew how to use so poorly: “You who received the law by the dispensation of angels, and did not keep it!” . "You", i.e. first of all, the generation contemporary with Moses, and from them, by succession, you, their descendants. “During the ministry of Angels”, εις διαταγάς αγγέλων, “by the dispensation of Angels”. There is no mention of angels in the description of the Sinai Legislation. Obviously, here we are dealing with a folk or rabbinical tradition, some reflection of which is already noticed in the LXX translation of Deut. 33:2: “at His right hand are the Angels with Him” - instead of the literal expression of the original - “at His right hand is the fire of the Law for them...”. The idea of ​​the participation of angels in Legislation was also included in Psalm 67 (Ps. 67:18), clearly expressed by Josephus (Archaeol. XV, 5, 3), and finally confirmed by the great Apostle Paul (Gal. 3:19; Heb. 2:2). So brilliantly ended Stephen's answer to his judges and accusers. “They, pretending to defend the law, said: “He spoke blasphemous words against Moses” (Acts 6:11); and he shows that they themselves even more blaspheme not only against Moses, but also against God, and that they have been doing this since ancient times; that they themselves violated customs that were no longer needed; that they, accusing and calling him opposed to Moses, themselves resisted the Spirit, and not simply, but by committing murder, and that from ancient times they were at enmity against God...” (Chrysostom). Thus, “here he presents them as disobedient to God, and the angels, and the prophets, and the Spirit, and everyone” (Chrysostom). In all this, one could also hear Stephen’s calm conviction that “if your fathers killed the forerunners (of the Messiah), then it is not surprising that I, preaching this Foreshadowed One, will be killed by you, who are too proud of your ancestors” (Theophilus). Acts 7:55. Stephen, being filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, “I saw the glory of God.” The writer expresses himself this way, obviously due to the difficulty of describing what Stefan saw, invisible and indescribable. He saw, undoubtedly, God the Father, at whose right hand stood Jesus in the glorified Theanthropic flesh. Since God the Father does not have an appearance accessible to human vision, similar to the appearance of Jesus so dear to us, it is said that he saw the “glory of God,” which probably appeared to him in the form of a special heavenly light or cloud. Stefan immediately confesses all this, both as a bold confessor, and simply as one delighted with a wonderful vision and unable to help but immediately express his admiration. Acts 7:56. and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. “The heavens are open” - the plural indicates the opening for the spiritual eye of Stephen of the inner sanctuary of heaven, or the highest heaven (cf. 2 Cor. 12:2). "The Son of Man Standing". It is remarkable here that the Lord Jesus is called the Son of Man. The Lord Himself loved to use this name about Himself, and yet - the apostles nowhere else call Him that - neither in the Gospels, nor in the Acts, nor in the Epistles. The use of this name by Stephen in this place is explained, according to interpreters, by the fact that at that moment his spiritual gaze was presented with a similar vision of the prophet Daniel, who also saw the like of the Son of Man (Dan. 7 et al.). The Son of Man appears to Stephen “standing” at the right hand of God, while in similar sayings of the Lord himself (Matt. 26:64) and the apostles (Mk. 16:19; Eph. 1:20). He appears to be sitting at the right hand of God. St. Gregory the Great explains this feature in this way: “sitting is the position of one who commands and dominates, and standing is the position of one fighting and helping. Stephen saw standing The One Whom he had as his helper (Demon 29 on the day of the Ascension)... It is possible that this standing of the Lord expressed His readiness to accept the soul of His faithful witness (Acts 7:59). Acts 7:57. But they shouted with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and with one accord rushed towards him, “When they shouted with a loud voice, they stopped their ears.” Both in order not to hear imaginary blasphemy. Acts 7:58. and, taking him out of the city, they began to stone him. And the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of the young man named Saul, “They began to stone him.” The right to punish by death was taken away by the Romans from the Jewish Sanhedrin (cf. Matt. 27:2; John 18:31; Flavius ​​archaeol. XX, 9, 1). Obviously, this beating, which was not even formally decreed by the Sanhedrin, was a willful act of explosion of fanaticism, lynching of individual fanatics, who then launched a bloody persecution against other Christians. With the undisguised sympathy and complicity of the embittered Sanhedrin and the lack at first, perhaps, of the Roman garrison to maintain the pogrom and restore order, it easily becomes clear why this persecution reached such significant proportions. The murderers first took the martyr out of the city... for pathetic agreement with the law on blasphemers, which they recognized as this courageous confessor of Christ (Lev. 24:14-16: “bring out the one who slandered from the camp, and... the whole community will stone him”). Witnesses to a crime subject to the death penalty by stoning were, according to the law (Deut. 17:7), the first to throw stones, and then the whole community followed. For convenience, here these witnesses (Acts 6:11–13) take off their outer wide clothes, placing them (cf. Acts 22:20 - for safety) at the feet of Saul, the future great Paul, who then approved the murder of the First Martyr and took an active part in the subsequent pogrom of Christians. Acts 7:59. and they stoned Stephen, who was praying and saying: Lord Jesus! receive my spirit. Acts 7:60. And, kneeling down, he exclaimed in a loud voice: Lord! Do not impute this sin to them. And having said this, he rested. Stoned, having uttered two touching prayers - one for himself, the other for the murderers, the First Martyr “rested,” as the writer puts it, imagining his death as sleep and peace. You might be interested in: