Bible study series: Acts 7:42-43. Stephen is now punching hard. Don’t hold back!
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At the link to the original post, next, I write more commentary and dig a little deeper into the Greek. I also offer a section titled Observations for Discipleship at the end. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided in the commentary section for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Acts 7:42-43
42 So God turned away and handed them over to worship the hosts of heaven, just as it is written in the book of the prophets:
You did not bring me offerings and sacrifices,
for forty years in the desert, did you, house of Israel?
43 You put up the shrine of Molek,
And the star of the god Raiphan,
The images which you made for you to worship;
So I will deport you beyond Babylon” [Amos 5:25-27] (Acts 7:42-43)
Comments:
42-43:
“God turned away and handed them over”: In the Old Covenant, the Chosen People (except a remnant) broke the covenant so flagrantly and so often that God handed them over to their hearts’ desires. It is not the case that he caused their hearts to follow false gods and break the first two of the Ten Commandments. Just the opposite. He sent prophets to warn and turn them back to him. But they persisted, and finally he let them go—handed them over—to pursue their vices and suffer their own self-inflicted consequences: deportation beyond Babylon.
“worship” see v. 7 for a closer look. Often human worship and service can go in the wrong direction. Never be afraid to point this out to yourself and to others (when appropriate). Jesus is the only way.
Molek (or Molech): two options: he was a host of heaven, or he was the bloodthirsty Canaanite deity who demanded that people sacrifice infants to him, and sometimes the Israelite kings did this. Go to biblegateway, and type in either spelling, and see what awful hits your get. Even Solomon built an alter to this god (and another god).
Raiphan: this was a star or sky deity. This term resembles Repa, a name for Seb, the Egyptian god of the planet Saturn (Bruce, p. 204 in the earlier commentary on the Greek text, and p. 145 in his later commentary).
GrowApp for Acts 7:42-43
1. There are all kinds of false gods. Some worship gods of New Age. Others worship the god of materialism. Still others worship promiscuity. These verses teach you not to do this. How can you ensure that you worship only the one true God?
RELATED
The Historical Reliability of the Book of Acts
Book of Acts and Paul’s Epistles: Match Made in Heaven?
SOURCES
For the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the very bottom:
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 