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Act 7:38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him
in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:

This is he (Moses), that was in the church (tabernacle) in the wilderness and the angel which
spake to him in the Mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received the lively (living) oracles
(law) to give unto us:

ISRAEL MURMURS

Act 7:39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts
turned back again into Egypt,

Act 7:40 Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought
us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

When Moses went to the mountain to receive the law, the people rejected him and turned to

idols. Aaron was weak, and the people knew this. They were afraid of Moses, but knew they
could sway Aaron. They waited until Moses was gone and began to work on Aaron.

These religious men interrogating Stephen have accused him of rejecting Moses, yet they are
just as Israel was in the wilderness. They are accepting the law but rejecting Moses’s prophecy
of a great prophet who would come. This prophet (Jesus) has always been with Israel and
Moses.

THE GOLDEN CALF

Act 7:41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in
the works of their own hands.

The golden calf made in “those days” was no more of an idol than the law was on the day
Stephen stands before the religious leaders. They too, have turned the laws and sacrifices of
God into idols and rejoice in their own works.

Act 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?

The “host of heaven” were the Egyptian gods of the stars. The quote here is from Amos 5:25.
The Israelites had disobeyed the commands of God by worshiping idols and sacrificing to
heathen gods instead of the true God.

Act 7:43 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.