Acts 7:19 - Printer Friendly

ESV: He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive.

NIV: He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.

NASB: It was he who shrewdly took advantage of our nation and mistreated our fathers in order that they would abandon their infants in the Nile, so that they would not survive.

CSB: He dealt deceitfully with our race and oppressed our ancestors by making them abandon their infants outside so that they wouldn’t survive.

NLT: This king exploited our people and oppressed them, forcing parents to abandon their newborn babies so they would die.

KJV: The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.

NKJV: This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose their babies, so that they might not live.

In the time of the early church, Jews claimed absolute loyalty to Moses, his Law, and the temple. They still remembered how hundreds of years before, their ancestors' neglect of the law led to exile to Babylon and the destruction of the temple. Even under Roman rule, the Jews tried hard to follow the Law Moses gave them as well as extra manmade traditions meant to give more weight to the Law. Despite this deep devotion, most of the Jews completely missed that God's promised Messiah has come: Jesus. In fact, they claimed that Jesus' followers disrespect Moses, the Law, and the temple. Stephen is showing how just as the traditional Jews are short-sighted in their understanding of Jesus, they also misunderstand God's work in their own history and the meanings of these three pillars of Jewish faith.

God didn't need the land, the Law, or the temple to develop the clan of Abraham into a nation. He used four hundred years of slavery in Egypt to build up the population of His people. Even when Pharaoh demanded all the baby Israelite boys be either killed by their midwives or "exposed"—thrown into the Nile River (Exodus 1:15–22)—God rescued His chosen leader, Moses (Exodus 2:1–10).

In the hundreds of years since that time, God often used foreign nations to discipline the rebellious Israelites. In Stephen's time, the scattered Jews—even his accusers from Africa and modern-day Asian Minor—cling to Moses, the Law, and the temple to define them during their subjugation to the Roman Empire. They miss the truth that they have placed their faith in the tools God gave them to encourage their faith in Him.

Acts 7:17–22 continues Stephen's defense against charges that he speaks against Moses, the Mosaic law, and the temple (Acts 6:11–14). In this part, he subtly shows that God's work is not confined to a building, city, or even nation. God used a hostile foreign government to prepare the greatest prophet of the Old Testament and the bringer of the Law that made the Israelites a nation. Solomon admitted during the dedication of the temple that even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain God, much less a building made by human hands (2 Chronicles 6:18). The truth is, neither can a single nation, or even the world.

Stephen is a Greek-speaking Jewish Christian and one of the first deacons in the church in Jerusalem (Acts 6:1–7). He's also a skilled apologist and has been debating Jews from outside Judea about the proper place of the Mosaic law and the temple (Acts 6:8–15). His opponents cannot counter his arguments so they resort to lies. They tell the Sanhedrin that Stephen wants to destroy the temple and repeal the Mosaic law. Stephen counters that his accusers don't respect Moses or the Law, and the temple isn't necessary to worship God. This enrages the mob, and Stephen is stoned, becoming the first Christian martyr.

Chapter 7 is one of the pivot points of the book of Acts. Until recently, the early church has seen favor from the people and indifference from the Sanhedrin. Now, the Sanhedrin has beaten the apostles and ordered them not to preach about Jesus (Acts 5:40), and the people are starting to realize how different Christianity is. In Jerusalem, a Hellenist Jewish Jesus-follower named Stephen has been in a debate with other foreign Jews who finally accuse him of wishing to destroy the temple, like Jesus (Acts 6:8–15). This is Stephen's defense, which leads to his death and the introduction of Paul.

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.