Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 7:42
Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices [by the space of] forty years in the wilderness?
42. Then God turned ] Read, But. Cp. Jos 24:20, “If ye forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt.”
and gave them up to worship [serve] the host of heaven ] God had previously warned them against this kind of idolatry (Deu 4:19), but we learn from the records of their historians (2Ki 17:16) and their prophets (Jer 19:13; Zep 1:5) that the warning was given in vain.
as it is written in the book of the prophets ] The Hebrews divided their Scriptures into three sections, the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa (called the Psalms, Luk 24:44), and each of these parts is looked upon as a special and separate book. The Law comprised the five books of Moses. The earlier prophets were the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings: the later prophets were Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the twelve which we now call Minor Prophets. The Hagiographa consisted of the following books in the order here given: Psalms (and the expression of Luk 24:44 will be understood because the Psalms stand first in this section), Proverbs, Job, the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther (these five last mentioned were called the five rolls, being written on separate rolls for use at special festival and fast services), Daniel, Ezra (Nehemiah), and Chronicles.
O ye house of Israel, have ye offered, &c.] It is more emphatic to keep the order of the Greek. Read, Did ye offer unto me slain beasts and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? The whole passage to the end of Act 7:43 is a quotation from Amos (Act 5:25-27). The question in this verse is to be answered in the negative, for in their hearts, though they were sacrificing to Jehovah, they had turned back into Egypt, and such service God counts as no service at all.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Then God turned – That is, turned away from them; abandoned them to their own desires.
The host of heaven – The stars, or heavenly bodies. The word host means armies. It is applied to the heavenly bodies because they are very numerous, and appear to be marshalled or arrayed in military order. It is from this that God is called Yahweh of hosts, as being the ruler of these well-arranged heavenly bodies. See the notes on Isa 1:9. The proof that they did this Stephen proceeds to allege by a question from the prophets.
In the book of the prophets – Amo 5:25-26. The twelve minor prophets were commonly written in one volume, and were called the Book of the Prophets; that is, the book containing these several prophecies, Daniel, Hosea, Micah, etc. They were small tracts separately, and were bound up together to preserve them from being lost. This passage is not quoted literally; it is evidently made from memory; and though in its main spirit it coincides with the passage in Amos, yet in some important respects it varies from it.
O ye house of Israel – Ye people of Israel.
Have ye offered … – That is, ye have not offered. The interrogative form is often an emphatic way of saying that the thing had not been done. But it is certain that the Jews did offer sacrifices to God in the wilderness, though it is also certain that they did not do it with a pure and upright heart. They kept up the form of worship generally, but they frequently forsook God, and offered worship to idols. through the continuous space of forty years they did not honor God, but often departed from him, and worshipped idols.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 42. Then God turned, and gave them up, c.] He left them to themselves, and then they deified and worshipped the sun, moon, planets, and principal stars.
In the book of the prophets] As this quotation is found in Amos, Am 5:25, by the book of the prophets is meant the twelve minor prophets, which, in the ancient Jewish division of the sacred writings, formed only one book.
Have ye offered to me slain beasts] It is certain that the Israelites did offer various sacrifices to God, while in the wilderness and it is as certain that they scarcely ever did it with an upright heart. They were idolatrous, either in heart or act, in almost all their religious services; these were therefore so very imperfect that they were counted for nothing in the sight of God; for this seems to be strongly implied in the question here asked, Have ye offered to ME (exclusively and with an upright heart) slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years? On the contrary, these forty years were little else than a tissue of rebellion and idolatry.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Then God turned, from being as a Father to them, to be a Judge over them, to punish them; whereas formerly he had blessed them.
And gave them up; this was indeed to deliver them to Satan; God withholding his grace which they had abused, Rom 1:21,25, and giving them up, (to fall from one sin unto another), though not positively, yet permissively.
The host of heaven; the angels are so called, Luk 2:13; but it is rather here to be understood of the sun, moon, and stars, which are called so, Deu 17:3; Isa 40:26.
In the book of the prophets: the words here referred to are in Amo 5:25. It is said to be
in the book, in the singular number, because the twelve small prophets are by the Jews mentioned but as one book.
Have ye offered to me slain beasts, &c.: this positive question does vemently deny that they had offered any sacrifices unto God whilst they were in the wilderness; but at the same time they had offered sacrifices unto idols; for when they had corrupted Gods worship, their sacrifices were as no sacrifices unto him, Isa 1:11; Isa 43:23.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
42-50. gave them upjudicially.
as . . . written in the bookof the prophetsthe twelve minor prophets, reckoned as one: thepassage is from Am 5:25.
have ye offered to me . . .sacrifices?The answer is, Yes, but as if ye did it not; for”neither did ye offer to Me only, nor always, nor with a perfectand willing heart” [BENGEL].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then God turned,…. Away from them, withdrew his presence, and his favours from them:
and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; not angels, but the sun, moon, and stars; for since they liked not to retain the knowledge and worship of the true God, who made the heavens, and the earth, God in righteous judgment, in a judicial way, gave them up to a reprobate mind, to commit all the idolatry of the Gentiles, as a punishment of their former sin in making and worshipping the calf:
as it is written in the book of the prophets; of the twelve lesser prophets, which were all in one book; and which, as the Jews say e, were put together, that a book of them might not be lost through the smallness of it; among which Amos stands, a passage in whose prophecy is here referred to; namely, in Am 5:25 “O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness”; no; they offered to devils, and not to God, De 32:17 and though there were some few sacrifices offered up; yet since they were not frequently offered, nor freely, and with all the heart, and with faith, and without hypocrisy, they were looked upon by God as if they were not offered at all.
e Kimchi praefat. ad Hoseam.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Stephen’s Address. |
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42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? 43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon. 44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. 45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; 46 Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built him a house. 48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, 49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? 50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
Two things we have in these verses:–
I. Stephen upbraids them with the idolatry of their fathers, which God gave them up to, as a punishment for their early forsaking him in worshipping the golden calf; and this was the saddest punishment of all for that sin, as it was of the idolatry of the Gentile world that God gave them up to a reprobate mind. When Israel was joined to idols, joined to the golden calf, and not long after to Baal-peor, God said, Let them alone; let them go on (v. 42): Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven. He particularly cautioned them not to do it, at their peril, and gave them reasons why they should not; but, when they were bent upon it, he gave them up to their own hearts; lust, withdrew his restraining grace, and then they walked in their own counsels, and were so scandalously mad upon their idols as never any people were. Compare Deu 4:19; Jer 8:2. For this he quotes a passage out of Amos v. 25. For it would be less invidious to tell them their own [character and doom] from an Old-Testament prophet, who upbraids them,
1. For not sacrificing to their own God in the wilderness (v. 42): Have you offered to me slain beasts, and sacrifices, by the space of forty years in the wilderness? No; during all that time sacrifices to God were intermitted; they did not so much as keep the passover after the second year. It was God’s condescension to them that he did not insist upon it during their unsettled state; but then let them consider how ill they requited him in offering sacrifices to idols, when God dispensed with their offering them to him. This is also a check to their zeal for the customs that Moses delivered to them, and their fear of having them changed by this Jesus, that immediately after they were delivered these customs were for forty years together disused as needless things.
2. For sacrificing to other gods after they came to Canaan (v. 43): You took up the tabernacle of Moloch. Moloch was the idol of the children of Ammon, to which they barbarously offered their own children in sacrifice, which they could not do without great terror and grief to themselves and their families; yet this unnatural idolatry they arrived at, when God gave them up to worship the host of heaven. See 2 Chron. xxviii. 3. It was surely the strongest delusion that ever people were given up to, and the greatest instance of the power of Satan in the children of disobedience, and therefore it is here spoken of emphatically: Yea, you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, you submitted even to that, and to the worship of the star of your god Remphan. Some think Remphan signifies the moon, as Moloch does the sun; others take it for Saturn, for that planet is called Remphan in the Syriac and Persian languages. The Septuagint puts it for Chiun, as being a name more commonly known. They had images representing the star, like the silver shrines for Diana, here called the figures which they made to worship. Dr. Lightfoot thinks they had figures representing the whole starry firmament, with all the constellations, and the planets, and these are called Remphan–“the high representation,” like the celestial globe: a poor thing to make an idol of, and yet better than a golden calf! Now for this it is threatened, I will carry you away beyond Babylon. In Amos it is beyond Damascus, meaning to Babylon, the land of the north. But Stephen changes it, with an eye to the captivity of the ten tribes, who were carried away beyond Babylon, by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 2 Kings xvii. 6. Let it not therefore seem strange to them to hear of the destruction of this place, for they had heard of it many a time from the prophets of the Old Testament, who were not therefore accused as blasphemers by any but the wicked rulers. It was observed, in the debate on Jeremiah’s case, that Micah was not called to an account though he prophesied, saying, Zion shall be ploughed as a field,Jer 26:18; Jer 26:19.
II. He gives an answer particularly to the charge exhibited against him relating to the temple, that he spoke blasphemous words against that holy place, v. 44-50. He was accused for saying that Jesus would destroy this holy place: “And what if I did say so?” (saith Stephen) “the glory of the holy God is not bound up in the glory of this holy place, but that may be preserved untouched, though this be laid in the dust;” for, 1. “It was not till our fathers came into the wilderness, in their way to Canaan, that they had any fixed place of worship; and yet the patriarchs, many ages before, worshipped God acceptably at the altars they had adjoining to their own tents in the open air–sub dio; and he that was worshipped without a holy place in the first, and best, and purest ages of the Old-Testament church, may and will be so when this holy place is destroyed, without any diminution to his glory.” 2. The holy place was at first but a tabernacle, mean and movable, showing itself to be short-lived, and not designed to continue always. Why might not this holy place, though built of stones, be decently brought to its end, and give place to its betters, as well as that though framed of curtains? As it was no dishonour, but an honour to God, that the tabernacle gave way to the temple, so it is now that the material temple gives way to the spiritual one, and so it will be when, at last, the spiritual temple shall give way to the eternal one. 3. That tabernacle was a tabernacle of witness, or of testimony, a figure of good things to come, of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not men, Heb. viii. 2. This was the glory both of the tabernacle and temple, that they were erected for a testimony of that temple of God which in the latter days should be opened in heaven (Rev. xi. 19), and of Christ’s tabernacling on earth (as the word is, John i. 14), and of the temple of his body. 4. That tabernacle was framed just as God appointed, and according to the fashion which Moses saw in the mount, which plainly intimates that it had reference to good things to come. Its rise being heavenly, its meaning and tendency were so; and therefore it was no diminution at all to its glory to say that this temple made with hands should be destroyed, in order to the building of another made without hands, which was Christ’s crime (Mark xiv. 58), and Stephen’s. 5. That tabernacle was pitched first in the wilderness; it was not a native of this land of yours (to which you think it must for ever be confined), but was brought in in the next age, by our fathers, who came after those who first erected it, into the possession of the Gentiles, into the land of Canaan, which had long been in the possession of the devoted nations whom God drove out before the face of our fathers. And why may not God set up his spiritual temple, as he had done the material tabernacle, in those countries that were now the possession of the Gentiles? That tabernacle was brought in by those who came with Jesus, that is, Joshua. And I think, for distinction sake, and to prevent mistakes, it ought to be so read, both Act 7:45; Heb 4:8. Yet in naming Joshua here, which in Greek is Jesus, there may be a tacit intimation that as the Old-Testament Joshua brought in that typical tabernacle, so the New-Testament Joshua should bring in the true tabernacle into the possession of the Gentiles. 6. That tabernacle continued for many ages, even to the days of David, above four hundred years, before there was any thought of building a temple, v. 45. David, having found favour before God, did indeed desire this further favour, to have leave to build God a house, to be a constant settled tabernacle, or dwelling-place, for the Shechinah, or the tokens of the presence of the God of Jacob, v. 46. Those who have found favour with God should show themselves forward to advance the interests of his kingdom among men. 7. God had his heart so little upon a temple, or such a holy place as they were so jealous for, that, when David desired to build one, he was forbidden to do it; God was in no haste for one, as he told David (2 Sam. vii. 7), and therefore it was not he, but his son Solomon, some years after, that built him a house. David had all that sweet communion with God in public worship which we read of in his Psalms before there was any temple built. 8. God often declared that temples made with hands were not his delight, nor could add any thing to the perfection of his rest and joy. Solomon, when he dedicated the temple, acknowledged that God dwelleth not in temples made with hands; he has not need of them, is not benefited by them, cannot be confined to them. The whole world is his temple, in which he is every where present, and fills it with his glory; and what occasion has he for a temple then to manifest himself in? Indeed the pretended deities of the heathen needed temples made with hands, for they were gods made with hands (v. 41), and had no other place to manifest themselves in than in their own temples; but the one only true and living God needs no temple, for the heaven is his throne, in which he rests, and the earth is his footstool, over which he rules (Act 7:49; Act 7:50), and therefore, What house will you build me, comparable to this which I have already? Or, what is the place of my rest? What need have I of a house, either to repose myself in or to show myself? Hath not my hand made all these things? And these show his eternal power and Godhead (Rom. i. 20); they so show themselves to all mankind that those who worship other gods are without excuse. And as the world is thus God’s temple, wherein he is manifested, so it is God’s temple in which he will be worshipped. As the earth is full of his glory, and is therefore his temple (Isa. vi. 3), so the earth is, or shall be, full of his praise (Hab. iii. 3), and all the ends of the earth shall fear him (Ps. lxvii. 7), and upon this account it is his temple. It was therefore no reflection at all upon this holy place, however they might take it, to say that Jesus should destroy this temple, and set up another, into which all nations should be admitted, Act 15:16; Act 15:17. And it would not seem strange to those who considered that scripture which Stephen here quotes (Isa. lxvi. 1-3), which, as it expressed God’s comparative contempt of the external part of his service, so it plainly foretold the rejection of the unbelieving Jews, and the welcome of the Gentiles that were of a contrite spirit into the church.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Gave them up (). First aorist active indicative of . This same form occurs three times like clods on a coffin in a grave in Rom 1:24; Rom 1:26; Rom 1:28 where Paul speaks of God giving the heathen up to their lusts.
To serve the host of heaven ( ). The verb is used of the worship of God (Mt 4:10) as well as of idols as here (from , hire, , hireling, then to serve). But the worship of the host of heaven (Deut 17:3; 2Kgs 17:16; 2Kgs 21:3; 2Chr 33:3; 2Chr 33:5; Jer 8:2; Jer 19:13) is Sabaism or worship of the host () of heaven (sun, moon, and stars) instead of the Lord of hosts. This star-worship greatly injured the Jews.
In the book of the prophets ( ). That is the twelve minor prophets which the Jews counted as one book (cf. Ac 13:40). This quotation is from Am 5:25-27. The greater prophets were Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel.
Slain beasts (). Here only in the N.T. (from Am 5:25) , slaughter, , to slay.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
To worship [] . Rev., more correctly, serve. See on Luk 1:74.
The host of heaven. Star – worship, or Sabaeanism, the remnant of the ancient heathenism of Western Asia, which consisted in the worship of the stars, and spread into Syria, though the Chaldaean religion was far from being the simple worship of the host of heaven; the heavenly bodies being regarded as real persons, and not mere metaphorical representations of astronomical phenomena. It is to the Sabaean worship that Job alludes when, in asserting the purity of his life (xxxi. 26, 27), he says : “If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hands : this also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge : for I should have denied the God that is above.” Though not a part of the religion of the Egyptians, Rawlinson thinks it may have been connected with their earlier belief, since prayer is represented in hieroglyphics by a man holding up his hands, accompanied by a star (Herodotus, vol 2 p. 291).
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Then God turned,” (estrepsen de ho theos) “Then God turned,” changed His course of action toward them, Psa 81:12; Eze 20:23-25; Jos 24:20-21.
2) “And gave them up to worship the host of heaven;(kai paredoken autous latreuein te stratia tou ouranou) “And gave them over to pursue a course to worship the host of heaven,” 2Th 2:11, heavenly bodies, stars, planets, sun and moon, a form of worship called Sabaism, Deu 17:2-5; Jdg 2:11-14, which carried the death penalty by stoning.
3) “As it is written in the book of the prophets,” (kathos gegraptai en biblo ton propheton) “Just as it has been written in the roll-book of the prophets,” Amo 5:25-26. The twelve minor prophets were reckoned as one book by the Jews.
4) “0 ye house of Israel,” (oikos Israel) “0 house of Israel,” organized assembly of Israel’s program of worship and service, Heb 3:1-7.
5) “Have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices,” (me sphogia kai thusias prosenegkate mou) “Did you all not offer to me victims and sacrifices,” Exo 24:3-7.
6) “By the space of forty years in the wilderness?” (ete tesserakonta en te eremo) “For a period of forty years in the desert of Sinai,” in the wilderness wandering years? Eze 20:7-24; Amo 5:25-26.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Stephen will here declare that the Jews did never make an end of sinning, but that they wandered farther in their froward errors; so that that first fall of theirs was unto them as it were an entrance into a labyrinth. And this doth he assign unto the just vengeance of God, that after that time their madness grew so, that they gat for one idol infinity. This example teacheth us to be careful to follow the rule which God hath set down; because, so soon as we are turned even but a little aside from the same, we must needs be carried to and fro with divers dotings, we must needs be entangled in many superstitions, and be utterly drowned in the huge sink of errors; which punishment God in justice layeth upon men which refuse to obey his word. Therefore Stephen saith that God was turned away; which word imported as much as if he should say, that he turned his back. For he had fastened his eyes after a sort upon the people, when he showed his singular care which he took in governing them; being offended with their falling away, now he turneth his face another way.
We may also hereby gather that we can no otherwise follow the right way, save only when the Lord watcheth over us to govern us; but so soon as his face is turned away, we run by and by into errors. The Israelites were forsaken of God even then when they made the calf; but Stephen meant to express the greatness of the punishment, as if he should have said, that they were altogether cast off into a reprobate sense then; as Paul also teacheth, that those which gave not glory to God when he had showed himself unto them, were, by the just judgment of God, given up unto blindness and blockishness, and unto shameful lusts, (Rom 1:28.) Hereby it came to pass, that after that religion began to be corrupt, innumerable abominations succeeded a few superstitions, and gross monsters of idolatry came in place of light corruptions. For because men neglected the light which was set before them, they became altogether blockish by the just judgment of God, so that they had no more judgment than brute beasts. Idolatry surely is very fertile, that of one reigned god there should by and by come an hundred, that a thousand superstitions should flow from one. But this so great madness of men springeth hence, because God revengeth himself by delivering them to Satan; because, after he hath once in hand to govern us, there is no change in his part, but he is plucked away (451) from us by our rash lightness.
Have ye offered unto me slain beasts and sacrifices? This place is taken out of the fifth chapter of Amos, (Amo 5:25.) The speech which Stephen useth showeth that all the prophecies were gathered into one body; and Amos addeth, (after that he had inveighed against the idolatry and sundry sins of the people,) that this is no new evil, that the Jews are rebellious against God, because their fathers had fallen away from true godliness even in the wilderness. Furthermore, he denieth that they offered slain beasts to him, not because there were there no sacrifices at all, but because God refused their corrupt worship; like as he reproveth and chideth the people in Isaiah, because they honored him with no sacrifice,
“
Thou,” (saith he,) “O Jacob, hast not called upon me, neither hast thou honored me with thy sacrifices, neither have I made thee serve in offering or incense. Thou hast not bought for me calamus, neither hast thou filled me with fatness. But thou hast been burdenous [burdensome] unto me in thy sins, and hast caused me to serve in thine iniquities,” (Isa 43:22.)
Assuredly the Jews did all these things daily, but God accepteth not the obedience of the wicked, neither doth he approve the same. Again, he abhorreth all that which is polluted with such mingle-mangles as are added. (452) Thus doth Amos speak of the fathers which were revolts. (453) That which is added forthwith may be referred either unto them or unto their posterity.
(451) “ Distrahitur,” torn asunder, withdrawn.
(452) “ Adventitiae mixturae,” adventitious mixtures.
(453) “ De patribus apostatis,” of the apostate fathers.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(42) The host of heaven.The word includes the host or army of the firmament, sun, moon, and stars, as in 2Ch. 33:3; 2Ch. 33:5; Jer. 8:2. The sin of Israel was that it worshipped the created host, instead of Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts.
In the book of the prophets.The term is used in conformity with the Rabbinic usage which treated the Twelve Minor Prophets as making up a single book.
Have ye offered to me . . .?Better, did ye offer . . . ? The words are, with one exception, from the LXX. of Amo. 5:25-26. The narrative of the Pentateuch is inconsistent with the statement that no sacrifices were offered to Jehovah during the forty years wandering; but the question emphasises the thought which Amos desired to press upon the men of his generation, that Jehovah rejected the divided worship offered to them by a people who were all along hankering after, and frequently openly returning to, the worship of Egypt or Chalda. Moloch, and not the true God of Abraham, had been their chosen deity.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
42. God turned Averted himself and gave them up.
The host of heaven Literally, the army of heaven; the body of stars are so styled, being, as it were, a countless host marshalled in the sky. As the Israelites had run after bullock-worship, God abandoned them to run into star-worship also.
In the book of the prophets The book of the minor prophets, which are spoken of as a separate volume. The quotation is from Amo 5:25-26. The question asked, Have ye offered me slain beasts forty years? does not imply necessarily, or perhaps truly, a negative reply. It is not equivalent to an affirmation that during the forty years Israel had not offered sacrifice to God. The import of the question and the retort in the following verse is this: Have you offered thus long sacrifices to me, the true God? Yes, to be sure, but you have worshipped the false gods also.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘But God turned, and gave them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets,
“Did you offer to me slain beasts and sacrifices,
Forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
And did you take up the tabernacle of Moloch?
And the star of the god Rephan?
The figures which you made to worship them?
And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.”
Thus God had turned from them and given them up to serve the host of heaven. Moses himself had warned them against serving the host of heaven (Deu 4:19; Deu 17:3) but in Kings it became a regular feature of Israelite worship (2Ki 17:6; 2Ki 21:3; etc.). The host of heaven were a poor and blasphemous substitute for the God of Heaven. So once they were in the land God turned away from His people, and handed them over to other gods. (So much for the blessing of the land).
The citation is taken from Amo 5:25-27 LXX. The thought is either that they had professed to worship God for forty years in the wilderness and then had turned, once they were in the land, to the worship of Moloch and Rephan (an Assyrian god). That was how much good the land had done them! Or that the wilderness was not such a time of pure worship as present Judaism tried to make out (it was a constant theme of 1st century AD Judaism that the period in the wilderness had been the time of Israel’s purity). For the molten calf demonstrated that it was not a period of pure worship for forty years. Judaism may seek to idealise the forty years in the wilderness, but Stephen is pointing out that it was simply not a true description of that time.
They had turned from the Tabernacle of God to the tabernacle of Moloch. Moloch was the local god of the Ammonites, but was regularly worshipped in Canaan and warned against by Moses (Lev 18:21; Lev 20:2-5). He was a god who required child sacrifice, and was thus the most to be despised. And the star out of Jacob, God’s promised deliverer (Num 24:17) had been replaced by the star of Rephan, the god of Assyria. These were the figures that Israel had made in order to worship them. What was more blasphemous than that? Who was it now who had ‘changed the Law of Moses’ and exchanged it for idolatry?
We should note here that Stephen is quoting the Bible version that he used (the Greek Septuagint), as we might choose to use a particular version (e.g. ASV RSV TEB NIV) as ‘the word of God’. It was his Bible. What matters is that the general sense is the same.
‘And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’ Stephen changes ‘Damascus’ as found in Amos to ‘Babylon’ in order to bring home the lesson that they had returned right back to what Abraham had escaped from (Act 7:2; Act 7:4). He saw such an alteration as justified because Babylon epitomised all such idolatrous cities (just as when we are preaching we may turn ‘woe to you Chorazin’ to ‘woe to you New York’). Israel had turned full circle and had been shown no longer to be God’s people.
The Hebrew text of Amo 5:25-27 reads, “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? Yes, you have borne Sikkuth your king and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus.”
The Hebrew text is not quite as far from LXX as it might seem. ‘Skkth your mlch’ is translated by LXX by interpreting the Hebrew as ‘the tabernacle (skkth) of your Moloch (mlch)’ vocalising sikkuth as sukkoth (booths). Both recognise that a false god is being spoken of. The name of the god Chiun (an Assyrian god) is simply updated or translated to Rephan (possibly an Egyptian equivalent) in LXX. Again both refer to false gods. The translation problem partly arises from the lack of vowels in the ancient Hebrew text, and probably partly in order to make the names intelligible to the readers of LXX.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
God’s rejection of His people:
v. 42. Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, 0 ye house of Israel, have ye offered to Me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?
v. 43. Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them; and I will carry you away beyond Babylon. Stephen here supplements the account of the Pentateuch, of the books of Moses, with a passage from the Prophet Amos, chap. 5:25-26. After this flagrant exhibition of disobedience, God turned from His people. It was a form of His judgment that He permitted them to go on in the way of idolatry; it was a curse upon their hardness of heart that He gave them up, abandoned them; to the worship of the host of heaven, to star-worship as it was practiced in Egypt, Chaldea, and Phoenicia. Of this Amos had written: Did you really offer slain beasts and sacrifices to Me for the forty years in the wilderness? As though He would say: How could they possibly have been real and effectual and acceptable, as long as the people’s affections were far from the Lord, bound up in the worship of idols? And therefore the Lord answers His question Himself. While the Israelites were pretending to be interested in the true worship only, the very Tabernacle of God, as a matter of fact, became to them a tabernacle of Moloch, of the Babylonian deity that was worshiped by many heathen nations, and with Revolting customs, Jer 32:35; Lev 18:21. And thus also the Israelites had carried along with them a figure of their star-god Remphan, which seems to have been the Assyrian name for the planet Saturn. Such figures they served, giving to them the worship which was due to God only. And therefore the punishment of God’s rejection came upon them, who had them carried away, taken into exile, not only beyond Damascus, as the prophet had written, but even beyond Babylon, as Stephen here adds from the evidence of history. It was God’s condemnation upon an idolatrous nation, a lesson for all ages of the world.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Act 7:42-43. Then God turned, See Rom 1:21-24. Psa 81:11-12. There were two sorts of idolatry; namely, the worshipping the true God by idol mediators, and terminating their worship upon false Gods. Israel began with the former; and for a punishment was permitted to fall into the latter. See on Exo 32:1. &c. the notes on Amo 5:25; Amo 5:27.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Act 7:42 . ] but God turned , a figurative representation of the idea: He became unfavourable to them . The active in a neuter sense ( 1Ma 2:63 ; Act 5:22 ; Act 15:16 ; Khner, II. pp. 9, 10); nothing is to be supplied. Incorrectly Vitringa, Morus, and others hold that connected with . denotes, after the Hebrew , rursus tradidit. This usage has not passed over to the N. T., and, moreover, it is not vouched for historically that the Israelites at an earlier period practised star-worship. Heinrichs connects . with : “convertit animos eorum ab una idololatria ad aliam.” But the expression of divine disfavour is to be retained on account of the correlation with Act 7:39 .
. .] and gave them up to serve (an explanatory infinitive). The falling away into star-worship ( . . = , in which, from the worshipper’s point of view, the sun, moon, and stars are conceived as living beings) is apprehended as wrought by an angry God by way of punishment for that bull-worship, according to the idea of sin being punished by sin. The assertion, often repeated since the time of Chrysostom and Theophylact, that only the divine permission or the withdrawal of grace is here denoted, is at variance with the positive expression and the true biblical conception of divine retribution. See on Rom 1:24 . Self-surrender (Eph 4:19 ) is the correlative moral factor on the part of man.
. . .] Amo 5:25-27 , freely after the LXX. Ye have not surely presented unto me sacrifices and offerings (offerings of any kind) for forty years in the wilderness? The question supposes a negative answer; therefore without an interrogation the meaning is: Ye cannot maintain that ye have offered to me. The apparent contradiction with the accounts of offerings, which were actually presented to Jehovah in the desert (Exo 24:4 ff.; Num 7 ; Num 9:1 ff.) disappears, when the prophetic utterance, understood by Stephen as a reproach, [207] is considered as a sternly and sharply significant divine verdict, according to which the ritual offerings in the desert, which were rare and only occurred on special occasions (comp. already Lyra), could not be taken at all into consideration against the idolatrous aberrations which testified the moral worthlessness of those offerings. Usually (as by Morus, Rosenmller, Heinrichs, Olshausen, similarly Kuinoel) is considered as equivalent to mihi soli . But this is incorrect on account of the enclitic pronoun and its position, and on account of the arbitrarily intruded . Fritzsche ( ad Marc. p. 65 f.) puts the note of interrogation only after , Act 7:43 : “Sacrane et victimas per XL annos in deserto mihi obtulistis, et in pompa tulistis aedem Molochi etc.?” In this way God’s displeasure at the unstedfastness of His people would be vividly denoted by the contrast. But this expedient is impossible on account of the presupposing a negation. Moreover, it is as foreign to the design of Stephen, who wishes to give a probative passage for the , to concede the worship of Jehovah, as it is, on the other hand, in the highest degree accordant with that design to recognise in Act 7:42 the negative element of his proof (the denial of the rendering of offering to Jehovah), and in Act 7:43 the positive proof (the direct reproach of star-worship).
[207] According to another view, the period of forty years without offerings appears in the prophet as the “golden age of Israel,” and as a proof how little God cares for such offerings. See Ewald, Proph. in loc.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?
Ver. 42. Of the prophets ] The twelve small prophets were in one volume.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
42. ] neuter, changed, turned , as , ch. Act 15:16 . No word, as , or , or , need be supplied: nor must . . . be rendered ‘ again delivered them ’ (Vitring., De Dieu, al.), a Hebraism which has no place in the N. T. (Mey.): nor must we understand (as C in var. readd.), God turned them ; for, though philologically there is no objection to this, the sense requires that should form an introduction to God, who had hitherto watched over them for good, now provoked by their rebellion, turned , and delivered them up to their own ways.
not ‘ suffered them to fall into :’ all these explainings away of the strong expressions of Scripture belong to the rationalistic school of interpreters (which is not modern merely: even Chrysostom has here ): it was a judicial delivering up , not a mere letting alone, see reff.
. . .] This fact is not mentioned in the Pentateuch, but may refer to the worship of Baal. In aftertimes we have frequent traces of star-worship: see 2Ki 17:16 ; 2Ki 21:3 ; 2Ki 21:5 ; 2Ki 23:4-5 ; Jer 19:13 ; Zep 1:5 . See also Deu 4:19 ; Deu 17:3 ; Job 31:26 .
. . .] The book of the prophets, regarded as a whole. The citation (ref.) is from the LXX.
. . .] A question usually preceding a negative answer, see Mat 7:9 ; Rom 11:1 ; 1Co 9:8 al.: but not always: see Mat 12:23 ( Act 26:22 ); Joh 4:29 ; Joh 8:22 . Winer, edn. 6, 57. 3, b. There is no stress on (‘Is it to Me that ye offered, &c. (i.e. to me only?’) as Rosenm., Heinr., Olsh., Kuin., Stier: the position of in the sentence will not allow of this). I should take the question here according to the usual construction, and understand it as a reproach, implying that God does not receive as offered to Him, sacrifices in which He has been made to share with idols: it is not true that ye offered to Me (but no stress on Me) sacrifices , &c.; ‘I regard it as never having happened.’
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 7:42 . : properly intransitive. Weiss takes it transitively: God turned them from one idol worship to another; but here probably means that God turned away from them, in the sense that He cared no longer for them as before; so Grimm, sub v. ; or that He actually changed so as to be opposed to them; cf. Jos 24:20 , Heb., so Wetstein “Deus se ab iis avertit,” and cf. LXX, Isa 63:10 . , cf. Rom 1:24 , and in Act 14:16 ; Eph 4:19 , “gave themselves up”. , from the side of man. ., cf. Deu 17:3 , 2Ki 17:16 ; 2Ki 21:3 , 2Ch 33:3 ; 2Ch 33:5 , Jer 8:2 ; Jer 19:13 , a still grosser idolatry: “antiquissima idolatria, ceteris speciosior” Bengel. The created host was worshipped in place of Jehovah Sabaoth, “the Lord of Hosts”. The word, though used always in the N.T. of religious service, is sometimes applied to the worship of idols, as well as of the One God; cf. Rom 1:25 (LXX, Exo 20:5 ; Exo 23:24 , Eze 20:32 ), so is used of the worship of idols in 1Ma 1:43 ; see Trench, Synonyms , i., p. 142 ff. .: here part of the Hebrew Scriptures which the Jews summed up under the title of “the Prophets,” as a separate part, the other two parts being the Law and the Hagiographa (the Psalms, Luk 24:44 ); or Twelve Minor Prophets which probably formed one book. . . .: a quotation from Amo 5:25-27 , with little variation the quotation in Act 7:42 is really answered by the following verse. The question does not mean literally that no sacrifices were ever offered in the wilderness, which would be directly contrary to such passages as Exo 24:4 , Num 7:9 . The sacrifices no doubt were offered, but how could they have been real and effectual and acceptable to God while in their hearts the people’s affections were far from Him, and were given to idol deities? , expecting a negative answer = num (see Zckler’s note, in loco ). : nominative for vocative, as often, as if in apposition to the contained in (Blass). Some emphasise = mihi soli , or suppose with Nsgen that the question is ironical.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
worship. Same word as “serve” in Act 7:7.
host = army. Greek. stratia. Only here and Luk 2:13.
heaven = the heaven. See note on Mat 6:9, Mat 6:10.
as = even as.
is = has been.
the = a.
ye. Omit.
have ye offered = did ye offer. This question is introduced by me, as in Act 7:28.
slain beasts. Greek. sphagion. Only here. Compare sphage, Act 8:32.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
42. ] neuter, changed,-turned, as , ch. Act 15:16. No word, as , or , or , need be supplied: nor must . . . be rendered again delivered them (Vitring., De Dieu, al.), a Hebraism which has no place in the N. T. (Mey.): nor must we understand (as C in var. readd.),-God turned them; for, though philologically there is no objection to this, the sense requires that should form an introduction to -God, who had hitherto watched over them for good, now provoked by their rebellion, turned, and delivered them up to their own ways.
-not suffered them to fall into: all these explainings away of the strong expressions of Scripture belong to the rationalistic school of interpreters (which is not modern merely: even Chrysostom has here ): it was a judicial delivering up, not a mere letting alone, see reff.
. . .] This fact is not mentioned in the Pentateuch, but may refer to the worship of Baal. In aftertimes we have frequent traces of star-worship: see 2Ki 17:16; 2Ki 21:3; 2Ki 21:5; 2Ki 23:4-5; Jer 19:13; Zep 1:5. See also Deu 4:19; Deu 17:3; Job 31:26.
. . .] The book of the prophets, regarded as a whole. The citation (ref.) is from the LXX.
. . .] A question usually preceding a negative answer, see Mat 7:9; Rom 11:1; 1Co 9:8 al.: but not always: see Mat 12:23 (Act 26:22); Joh 4:29; Joh 8:22. Winer, edn. 6, 57. 3, b. There is no stress on (Is it to Me that ye offered, &c. (i.e. to me only?) as Rosenm., Heinr., Olsh., Kuin., Stier: the position of in the sentence will not allow of this). I should take the question here according to the usual construction, and understand it as a reproach, implying that God does not receive as offered to Him, sacrifices in which He has been made to share with idols:-it is not true that ye offered to Me (but no stress on Me) sacrifices, &c.; I regard it as never having happened.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 7:42. , turned) because our fathers , turned back (from Him towards Egypt): Act 7:39.-, gave them up) often, from the time of their making the calf down to the times of Amos, and subsequently, as the perversity of the people continually increased.- , the host of heaven) for example, Mars and Saturn. See the foll. ver. The oldest form of idolatry, which looked more plausible than the others.[49] It is called a host or army, on account of its multitude, order, and power.- , of the prophets) the twelve.– -, ;– – ) Amo 5:25-26, LXX., – -; (instead of )- – (instead of ). The prophecy of Amos has two parts: the former of which confirms Act 7:41, as to the guilt of the people; the latter confirms the beginning of Act 7:42, as to the judgment of GOD, there being subjoined the mention of their being carried away to Babylon.-, slain victims) They had offered these to the Lord; but they had not done so either to Him alone, or at all times, or with a perfect and willing heart.
[49] Called Sabeanism, from Saba, Sabaoth, the heavenly hosts. See Job 31:26-27.-E. and T.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
and gave: Psa 81:11, Psa 81:12, Isa 66:4, Eze 14:7-10, Eze 20:25, Eze 20:39, Hos 4:17, Rom 1:24-28, 2Th 2:10-12
the host: Deu 4:19, Deu 17:3, 2Ki 17:16, 2Ki 21:3, Job 31:26-28, Jer 19:13, Eze 8:16
O ye: Amo 5:25, Amo 5:26
have ye: Isa 43:23
of forty: Psa 95:10, Heb 3:9, Heb 3:15-17
Reciprocal: Gen 2:1 – host Exo 32:6 – sat down Deu 4:28 – ye shall Deu 12:8 – every man Jos 24:20 – he will turn 2Ch 33:3 – the host Jer 8:2 – and all Amo 2:10 – and led Luk 4:17 – the book
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2
Act 7:42. Gave them up denotes that if a man is determined to do wrong God will not use force to prevent it. Host of heaven means the sun and other heavenly bodies. As it is written refers to Amo 5:25. The statement is in question form, but the thought is an admission from God that his people went through that form for forty years.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 7:42. Then God turned. That is, changed towards them, withdrew from them His favour, laid no check upon their passions and follies (see Act 14:16); and they, abandoned by their God and left to themselves, sunk into a more degraded form of idolatry still.
The host of heaven. The stars and the sun and moon. This form of idol-worship is called Sabaeism, from (tsava), a host (the host of heaven). This idolatry prevailed especially in Chaldea, and also in Phoenicia, as well as in Egypt. The worship of Baal, so often referred to in the history of Israel, probably is what Stephen alludes toBaal-Shemesh. The sun-god was one of the most popular of the Phoenician deities in Tyre, and also in the great Phoenician colony of Carthage.
Book of the prophets. The twelve so-called minor prophets are here referred to. These short prophecies were reckoned by the Jews as one book. The passage quoted here is from Amo 5:25-27.
O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? This is a quotation, with very trivial alterations, from the LXX. of Amo 5:25-27. The question, , requires a negative answer. Through the prophet, God is understood to be asking the terrible question: Have ye offered to Me slain beasts and sacrifices during the forty years spent in the desert? Surely you do not pretend to say that you have? You have even taken up the Tabernacle of Moloch, etc. Nor is this accusation of Amos quoted by Stephen any contradiction of the story of the Pentateuch, which speaks of the ordinary daily sacrifice to the Lord during the desert wanderings prescribed by the Mosaic ritual; for what counted in Gods eyes the bare, cold, official rites and sacrifices performed by priests and officials under the immediate influence of Moses, compared to the free, spontaneous offerings made, and to the service done by the people to the golden calves or the host of heaven?
The punishment inflicted by Jehovah upon the whole raceall being delivered out of Egypt, none, with two solitary exceptions, being permitted to set foot in the Land of Promisetells its own story, and shows that the words of Amos quoted here were no exaggerated rhetorical statement, but that even during those long wanderings in the desert, when the power and the love of the Eternal was being daily shown to every child of Israelwhile the manna was falling round their tents to feed that great host in those scorched, arid valleys, while the pillar of fire and cloud above their heads was guiding their uncertain stepseven then they deserted His worship for that of Moloch and Baal.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Act 7:42-43. Then God turned Upon this, God, being most righteously provoked, turned away from them in anger, and, as in many other instances, punished one sin by letting them fall into another; and at length gave them up, in succeeding ages, to the most abandoned, public, and general idolatry, even to worship all the host of heaven The stars and other heavenly bodies, and that with as little reserve, and as little shame, as the most stupid of the heathen nations. As it is written in the book of the prophets Namely, of the twelve minor prophets, which the Jews always connected together in one book. What is here quoted is taken from the Prophet Amo 5:25; where see the note. The passage consists of two parts; of which the former confirms Act 7:41, concerning the sin of the people; the latter, the beginning of Act 7:42, respecting their punishment: O house of Israel, have ye offered to me To me alone; slain beasts, &c., forty years in the wilderness? You know that even then you began to revolt, and provoke me to jealousy with your abominations. They had offered many sacrifices, but did not offer them to God alone, but sacrificed to idols also; and God did not accept even those that they offered to him, because they did not offer them with an upright heart. And in succeeding ages you were continually renewing and aggravating your rebellions and treasons against me. Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch Instead of confining yourselves to my tabernacle; and the star of your god Remphan Or Chium, as it is called in Amos. Moloch probably meant the sun, and Remphan, or Chium, the moon; or some other star. Aben Ezra thinks Saturn; figures which ye made Images, or emblematical representations, of these supposed deities; to worship them Both the images, and the supposed deities which they were intended to represent. See note on Amo 5:26. I will carry you away beyond Babylon Into countries more distant. So Dr. Prideaux reconciles Stephens quotation with the original passages in Amos, where we read, beyond Damascus. This was fulfilled by the king of Assyria, 2Ki 17:6.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
See notes on verse 41
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
42. And God turned away and gave them up to worshipping the host of heaven, i. e., the sun, moon, and stars. I do not wonder that they worshipped the unparalleled splendor of an Egyptian sky, where clouds are never seen, rain never falls, and the sun in his glory accumulates a splendor and grandeur inconceivable in these occidental lands of cloudy skies. Four thousand years ago Heliopolis, a compound word which means City of the Sun, stood on the banks of the Nile, literally constituted of palaces so gorgeous and monuments so splendid as to reflect the sunbeams in all directions from every conceivable point of the compass, so as to exhibit a splendor and glory as if a thousand meridian suns had evacuated Apollos chariot and come down to show the world their unearthly glory. The most of those gorgeous monuments and splendid statuary have been carried away. I saw a number of them in Rome. However, one majestic red granite monolith [I. e., all one piece], too ponderous for manipulation and unsusceptible of disintegration, still stands in its majesty, a vivid reminder of their wonderful Heliopolis, and monarch of all he surveys. In Coptic language the sun is Osiris, and the moon is His, under which names they were extravagantly worshipped by the Egyptians in the days of Israel.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
7:42 Then God turned, and {o} gave them up to worship the {p} host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices [by the space of] forty years in the wilderness?
(o) Being destitute and void of his Spirit, he gave them up to Satan, and wicked lusts, to worship stars.
(p) By “the host of heaven” here he does not mean the angels, but the moon, and sun, and other stars.