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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, I. His defence of himself before the council, in answer to the matters and things he stood charged with, the scope of which is to show that it was no blasphemy against God, nor any injury at all to the glory of his name, to say that the temple should be destroyed and the customs of the ceremonial law changed. And, 1. He shows this by going over the history of the Old Testament, and observing that God never intended to confine his favours to that place, or that ceremonial law; and that they had no reason to expect he should, for the people of the Jews had always been a provoking people, and had forfeited the privileges of their peculiarity: nay, that that holy place and that law were but figures of good things to come, and it was no disparagement at all to them to say that they must give place to better things (v. 1-50). And then, 2. He applies this to those that prosecuted him, and sat in judgment upon him, sharply reproving them for their wickedness, by which they had brought upon themselves the ruin of their place and nation, and then could not bear to hear of it (Act 7:51-53). II. The putting of him to death by stoning him, and his patient, cheerful, pious submission to it (Act 7:54-60).

Then said the high priest,.... The Ethiopic version adds, "to him"; that is, to Stephen; for to him he addressed himself: or he "asked him", as the Syriac version renders it; he put the following question to him: are these things so? is it true what they say, that thou hast spoken blasphemous words against the temple, and the law, and hast said that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the one, and change the other? what hast thou to say for thyself, and in thine own defence? this high priest was either Annas, or rather Caiaphas; See Gill on Act 4:6.

And delivered him out of all his afflictions,.... From the evil designs of his mistress, and from all the miseries of a prison: and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; so Justin in the place above cited says, that Joseph was very dear to the king; but not through his knowledge of magic arts, as he suggests, but on account of the wisdom which God gave him; for when he is said to have favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, the meaning is, that he was highly esteemed of by him, because of the wisdom he saw in him; and both the favour he had with him, and the wisdom he had in himself, were from the Lord; and in a very humble and modest manner does he speak of himself, in Gen 41:16 which Onkelos the Targumist paraphrases thus: ""not from my wisdom", but from the Lord, shall the peace of Pharaoh be answered;'' the name of this Pharaoh was Misphragmuthosis; by the Jews he is called Rian ben Walid (o): and he made him governor over Egypt: a deputy governor under him; for Pharaoh kept the throne, and in it was greater than Joseph, and had the other ensigns of royalty, and Joseph rode in the second chariot to him: and all his house; see Gen 41:40 as he had the affairs of the kingdom committed to him, so likewise the domestic affairs of Pharaoh, he was steward of his household. (o) Juchasin, fol. 135. 2.

"And gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, Gave him favor," in the eyes of a barbarian, to him, the slave, the captive: his brethren sold him, this barbarian honored him. "And gave him favor and wisdom," etc. This was not only by way of honor, but that he should have confidence in his own power. "And he made him governor over Egypt and all his house."

"And God was with him"--this also is for them--"and delivered him out of all his afflictions." He shows that unknowingly they helped to fulfill the prophecy, and that they were themselves the cause, and that the evils recoiled on their own selves. And he shows, that the saints were not exempt from tribulation, but that in their very tribulations they obtained help. And that these persons did themselves help to bring about the results, who wished to cut short these same afflictions: just as these made Joseph the more glorious: just as the king did Moses, by ordering the children to be killed: since had he not ordered, this would not have been: just as also that Hebrew drives Moses into exile, that there he may have the Vision, having become worthy. Thus also him who was sold for a slave, makes He to reign as king there, where he was thought to be a slave. Thus also does Christ in His death give proof of His power: thus also does He there reign as king where they sold Him.

In many ways, through the present discourse the blessed Stephen refutes both his own gentleness toward the Jews and their ferocity toward him. For when he addresses them as brothers and fathers, what else is shown by these names than the proper relation of kinship? to behave toward them accordingly? And the Jews, enduring this little while, were somewhat disposed to regard with wicked suspicion the signs performed through him; therefore Stephen, encountering their wickedness arising from racial spite, speaks with greater boldness. And he shows the promise to the fathers, in which they placed great confidence, made before the land existed, before circumcision, before sacrifice, before the temple. And that these men did not receive circumcision nor the law according to merit, but that the reward of obedience alone was the land. And that the promise is not fulfilled by the giving of circumcision, and that these were types. Consider, however, that if Terah was not a companion of the pilgrimage with his son Abraham because he was unworthy, much more so his sons, even if they have performed a great part of the journey. Abraham therefore was so obedient that, moved only by the oracle, he abandoned both kinship and homeland. If he behaved so, how shall those who are found disobedient in all things be reckoned among the sons of Abraham? For it is not the nativity of life but the imitation of manners that confers ancestry: for therefore even to monsters born of ill fortune what is legitimate and natural could be attributed. In this way, although he does not proceed in the order of discourse, yet advancing by a great abbreviation of speech and by the progress of understanding, and reproving their boldness even unto the passion of Christ, he suffered what was plausible for him to endure, who had been accusing the wicked. And he promised that he would give to him. Hereafter the story of Abraham proceeds, which altogether recounts the patriarch's patience up to the fulfillment of the promises. For he shows Abraham and his descendants, who were long-suffering concerning the divine promises, to be exceedingly famous, while resembling in negligence the present hearers then, who themselves will immediately share in their calamities together with them, their goods which they hoped for having been taken away from their hands.

All these things, however, are small, if measured to the ultimate heroism directed toward Christ. Therefore they are hard-hearted and uncircumcised in heart, and their ears are clogged. For which reason they were murderers of the prophets, bringing destruction upon themselves, and even of Christ, who will repay to them both destruction and their final scattering. So great, then, are the things that it is possible to see in this brief sermon of the most wise preacher Stephen, endowed with divine wisdom, of which, according to our limitation, we have yet settled the understood meaning, taken according to the quality of the discourse given to us, contracting the end together with the beginning: in that very sermon, from which this divine outflow, flowing forth here, issued, delighting us. Now it will be useful to interpret in parts also those things which require a longer delay, according to our ability. For the history assumed of Abraham and thereafter of his descendants is not taken up to strengthen the preacher for no reason: but that it may be shown both the ready obedience of the ancestors concerning what is divine, and the disobedience of the descendants on account of wicked manners.

The first example is taken from Abraham, showing that one ought not to hasten what is delayed by divine promises, for Abraham indeed sought to hasten the departure of his descendants from Egypt: although it was revealed to him that their imprisonment was to be prolonged for four hundred years, and that with much affliction and subjection into slavery, and not merely some subjection, but intolerable, since they were treated not as servants but as enemies. And certainly, Abraham offers no petition for shortening the time, but only a little encouragement by way of comfort, namely by promising vengeance against those who afflicted them, from him who had promised to judge those who had viciously killed them, who had themselves brought no injury. Moreover, he is encouraged to await the promises to be fulfilled from Persia into Palestine, and not to pervert the promise into impossibility on account of the long delay and the greatness of the matters, since everything rests in the power of the one who promises, how great then is the confidence of him who desires God about it? Furthermore, the envy of the brothers against Joseph is placed before us, and the forgetting of injuries, in that, when he could have done so, he did not take vengeance on those who had wronged him, but rather returned benefits. After these things is added their rebuke, who were openly and furiously moved against Christ and his disciples.

Stephen, being permitted to answer for himself relative to the charge of blasphemy brought against him by his accusers, gives a circumstantial relation of the call of Abraham, when he dwelt in Mesopotamia, in Charran, etc., Act 7:1-8. The history of Jacob and Joseph, Act 7:9-17. The persecution of their fathers in Egypt, Act 7:18, Act 7:19. The history of Moses and his acts till the exodus from Egypt, vv. 20-37. The rebellion and idolatry of the Israelites in the wilderness, Act 7:38-43 The erection of the tabernacle of witness, which continued till the time of David, Act 7:44-46. Of the temple built by Solomon for that God who cannot be confined to temples built by hands, Act 7:47-50. Being probably interrupted in the prosecution of his discourse, he urges home the charge of rebellion against God, persecution of his prophets, the murder of Christ, and neglect of their own law against them, Act 7:51-53. They are filled with indignation, and proceed to violence, Act 7:54. He sees the glory of God, and Christ at the right hand of the Father; and declares the glorious vision, Act 7:55, Act 7:56. They rush upon him, drag him out of the city, and stone him, Act 7:57, Act 7:58. He involves the Lord Jesus, prays for his murderers, and expires, Act 7:59, Act 7:60.

Gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh - God gave him much wisdom, in consequence of which he had favor with the king of Egypt. See the whole of this remarkable history explained at large, Genesis 41:1-45:28 (note).

DEFENSE AND MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN. (Acts 7:1-60) The God of glory--A magnificent appellation, fitted at the very outset to rivet the devout attention of his audience; denoting not that visible glory which attended many of the divine manifestations, but the glory of those manifestations themselves, of which this was regarded by every Jew as the fundamental one. It is the glory of absolutely free grace. appeared unto our father Abraham before he dwelt in Charran, and said, &c.--Though this first call is not expressly recorded in Genesis, it is clearly implied in Gen 15:7 and Neh 9:7; and the Jewish writers speak the same language.