Commentary on Acts 7:41-50

By Bob Myhan

⁴¹"And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

Within forty days of God telling the Israelites not to make and/or worship idols, they did that very thing. They had not only rejected Moses but now they had rejected God, as well.

⁴²"Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: 'Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? ⁴³You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch, And the star of your god Remphan, Images which you made to worship; And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.'

The “book of the Prophets” was the collected Minor Prophets. Stephen quotes Amos 5:24-25. The question asked by God is rhetorical. That is, He asked the question simply to emphasize the obvious negative answer. The Israelites did worship God while in the wilderness but not acceptably. They worshiped Him with their hands but not with their hearts. This continued to characterize them for hundreds of years until the time God did “carry” them “away beyond Babylon.” Even though Amos actually wrote, “I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus,” Stephen did not contradict him because Babylon was “beyond Damascus.”

Stephen is dealing with the charges laid against him. Some had falsely claimed to “have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God." Others claimed that he did “not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law.” (6:11, 13)

Thus far, Stephen has refuted the first two charges by speaking respectfully of Moses and God. He has also demonstrated that Israel as a whole had rejected both Moses and God, and that God had rejected them, also. And in the next section, he refutes the second set of charges and indicts his audience for those very crimes.

⁴⁴"Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, ⁴⁵which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David, ⁴⁶who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. ⁴⁷But Solomon built Him a house.

Stephen passes over the period of Judges and the reign of Saul, moving quickly through the period of conquest and mentioning David only insofar as to remind his audience that the first Judaic king wanted but was not allowed to construct a temple to replace the tabernacle. His son was given that privilege. Although it was constructed according to a God-given pattern, the tabernacle was temporary.

⁴⁸However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: ⁴⁹'Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the LORD, Or what is the place of My rest? ⁵⁰Has My hand not made all these things?'

Stephen here quotes Isaiah 66:1-2 in order to show that, although it was more permanent than the tabernacle, not even the temple was intended to be a literal dwelling place for God. He could also have quoted the following from Solomon’s dedicatory prayer.

"But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!” (2 Chron. 6:18)

God did not need either the tabernacle or the temple as a dwelling place.

(To be continued)

The Aaronic Priesthood and the Sacrificial System

By Bob Myhan

When God made a covenant with the nation of Israel He gave them an elaborate system of worship that foreshadowed simple New Testament worship.

For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. (Heb. 10:1-4)

Let us consider, in brief, some of the more noteworthy shadows of the Aaronic Priesthood and the sacrificial system.

God had told Israel that they would be “a kingdom of priests” (Ex. 19:6). Since He had spared their firstborn ones during the tenth and final plague in Egypt, He demanded the tribe of Levi in their stead and gave them the responsibility of caring for the tabernacle and its furnishings (Ex. 32:25-29; Num. 1:49-54; 3:45). To Aaron and his sons God gave the specific office of priesthood (Lev. 8:1-36; 9:1-24; 21:1-24; 22:1-33; Num. 3:1-3).

In the outer court of the tabernacle stood the brazen altar for burnt sacrifices and the laver for the priests to ceremoniously wash before donning their priestly garments and entering the tabernacle proper (Ex. 26; 27; 30:17-21). The holy place contained the table of showbread, the lampstand and the altar of incense (Ex. 25:23-40; 30:1-6; 40:22-27). The most holy place (or the Holy of holies) held the Ark of the Covenant, wherein were the stone tablets, the pot of manna and Aaron’s rod (Ex. 16:32-34; 25:10-22; Num. 17:1-11; Dt. 10:1-5).

As with the Law of Moses, this system was intended by God to be temporary not permanent. It could not, and was not intended to bring about the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose. God always intended to establish a covenant with all men but it was necessary to prepare mankind for such a covenant.

Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain." But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-- not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. (Heb. 8:1-13)

Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary; and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people's sins committed in ignorance; the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience-- concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation. (Heb. 9:1-10)

In a later article, we will deal with the sacrificial system of the New Testament. &