The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (148 page)

6:7 many of the priests:
Converts came from the priestly ranks of the Sadducees, who formed the Temple establishment, and possibly, too, from an Essene group of priests who lived in the southwestern quarter of Jerusalem. 
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6:8-7:60
The ministry and martyrdom of Stephen, one of the Seven (6:5). His death was the end result of tensions that escalated from debate (6:8-10) to false accusations (6:11-14) to an eruption of mob violence (7:57-58). Luke deliberately portrays these events in terms that recall the trial and death of Jesus. Parallels include testimony from false witnesses (6:13; Mt 26:60), reports that Jesus would destroy the Temple (6:14; Mt 26:61), visions of the Son of man in heaven (7:56; Lk 22:69), prayers of surrender to God (7:59; Lk 23:46), and petitions of forgiveness for the executioners (7:60; Lk 23:34). 
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6:9 the Freedmen:
A synagogue assembly of Hellenistic Jews. Its founding members were probably emancipated slaves who had returned to Jerusalem from Italy. By this time it also included Jewish settlers from significant cities in North Africa (Cyrene, Alexandria) and from two Roman provinces in Asia Minor (Cilicia, Asia). 
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6:11 blasphemous words:
An accusation that looms large in the following episode. • It is calculated to evoke Lev 24:16, which prescribes death by stoning for the blasphemer (7:58). 
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6:12 before the council:
Stephen is arraigned before the Jewish high court.
See note on Acts 5:21
. 
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6:13 this holy place:
The Jerusalem Temple (21:28). Although Luke assigns the accusations in 6:13-14 to false witnesses, it is clear from the speech in 7:1-53 that Stephen was in fact openly critical of the most cherished symbols of Jewish identity: the Torah and the Temple. 
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7:1-53
Stephen's defense speech rehearses covenant history from Genesis to his own generation. He stresses that much of the story of Israel is a story of stubborn rebellion, highlighting the rejection of Joseph (7:9), Moses (7:27-29), the Law (7:53), the prophets (7:52), and finally Jesus the Messiah (7:52). He also undermines Jewish reverence for the
land
of Israel and the
Temple
of Jerusalem by stressing that God has shown himself present and active in other places, such as Mesopotamia (7:2), Haran (7:4), Egypt (7:9), Midian (7:29), Mt. Sinai (7:30), and the Red Sea (7:36). The speech ends with a searing indictment of the Jerusalem court (7:5152). 
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7:2-8
A summary of the patriarchal age of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. • The biblical backdrop is Gen 12-36. References and allusions to key events in the speech include Gen 12:1 (7:3), Gen 11:31 and 12:5 (7:4), Gen 15:13 (7:6), and Gen 17:9-14 (7:8). 
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7:2 Abraham:
The great-grandfather of the tribal family of Israel.
Mesopotamia:
Abraham hails from the ancient city of Ur (Gen 11:31), along the Euphrates River (in modern Iraq). 
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7:4 this land:
Palestine, earlier called Canaan (Gen 12:5). 
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7:7 worship me in this place:
A promise of the Exodus (Ex 3:12). 
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7:9-16
A summary of the Joseph story. It receives attention because of its anticipation of the Gospel story: both Joseph and Jesus were
rejected
by their kinsmen,
rescued
by God, and made
redeemers
of the family of Israel. • The biblical backdrop is Gen 37-47. Allusions to key events are drawn from Gen 37:11, 25-28 (7:9); Gen 41:39-44 (7:10); and Gen 41:53-47:28 (7:11-15). 
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7:14 seventy-five souls:
This figure follows the Greek versions of Gen 46:27 and Ex 1:5. The Hebrew OT counts only 70 persons in Egypt, possibly omitting the descendants of Ephraim (two sons, one grandson) and Manasseh (two sons). 
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7:16 Shechem:
According to the Hebrew OT, the patriarchs were buried at Mach-pelah (Gen 49:29-32) near Hebron (Gen 23:19), and Joseph alone was buried at Shechem (Josh 24:32). Here Stephen follows a Samaritan tradition that locates the tombs of all the patriarchs in Shechem. 
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7:17-41
The central part of the speech abbreviates the story of Moses. His life prefigures the life of Jesus according to the same pattern of rejection, rescue, and redemption that also stands out in the preceding Joseph story.
See note on Acts 7:9-16
. • The biblical backdrop is Ex 1-32. Allusions to key events are drawn from Ex 1-2 (7:17-29); Ex 3 (7:30-34); Ex 12-14 (7:36); Ex 19-24 (7:38); and Ex 32 (7:39-41). 
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7:22 wisdom of the Egyptians:
The Egyptian education of Moses is unmentioned in the OT but part of Jewish tradition, possibly as an inference from his upbringing in the royal house of Pharaoh (Ex 2:10). Contemporary Jewish writers, such as Josephus and Philo, praise him as a man of great learning.
mighty . . . words and deeds:
One of the many ways that Moses prefigures Jesus (Lk 24:19). 
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7:23 forty years old:
Moses ultimately lived to be 120 years old (Deut 34:7), which Stephen breaks down into three equal periods of 40 years (7:23, 30, 36). 
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7:37 God will raise up:
A direct quote from Deut 18:15.
See note on Acts 3:22
. 
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7:39 they turned to Egypt:
The generation of Israel liberated from Egypt remained slaves of the idols they had worshiped during their stay (Josh 24:14; Ezek 20:7-8). 
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7:41 they made a calf:
Worship of the golden calf was the original sin of the nation of Israel, a sin that led to repeated idolatry. • Literary analysis of the Pentateuch suggests the calf episode in Ex 32 was a pivotal event that made necessary what Yahweh never desired for his people in the first place—a sanctuary cult of continuous animal sacrifice. It was this act of apostasy that called forth an entire body of sacrificial laws and liturgies (Exodus, Leviticus) as a means of ordering the worship of Israel toward Yahweh and eradicating idolatry from the heart of the nation. Several OT texts stress that the ritual laws of the Temple are laws of secondary importance in the eyes of God (1 Sam 15:22; Ps 40:6-8; Jer 7:22-23; Hos 6:6).
See note on Mk 12:33
. 
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7:42 gave them over:
A dreaded form of divine punishment. When God surrenders sinners over to their wickedness, as he did with the Exodus generation of Israel, he allows them to follow a path that leads to destruction without deterrence or merciful restraint. The same mystery of divine discipline is described by Paul in Rom 1:24, 26, 28. 
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7:42-43
Stephen quotes a Greek rendition of Amos 5:25-27. • The oracle looks back on the idolatry of Israel during the Exodus and looks forward to the exile of northern Israel for the same sin. This tragic history repeats itself in the present context: Stephen is about to warn Jerusalem that its excessive reverence for the Temple also crosses the line of idolatry. 
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7:46 habitation . . . God of Jacob:
Allusions to the Greek version of Ps 132:5. 
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