30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, 32 Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold. 33 Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground. 34 I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt. 35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. 36 He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years. 37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. 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: 39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, 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. 41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. 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 an 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? (Acts 7:30-50 KJV)
William Burkitt’s Commentary
St. Stephen here goes on with the history of Moses, and having, in the former verses, made mention of what occurred to him in Egypt and in Madian, here an account is given of what happened to him in the wilderness; and the first thing observable, is the appearance of God to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, which burned, but was not consumed. This bush was an emblem of the church: This bush burning pointed out the afflicted state of the church in Egypt, having a long time been in the fiery furnace there; but the burning bush, not consumed, signified the church’s preservation. God was in the midst of the bush, whilst the bush was in the midst of the burning.
Where note, How almighty God, intending to send Moses as a deliverer of his people out of Egypt, gives him a visible sign for confirming of his faith, in the sight of this burning but unconsumed bush:
1. To assure him of his people’s deliverance, that though they were now slaves in Egypt, yet they should be set free, and instated in a land flowing with milk and honey; next to satisfy him that he should be the instrument to bring to pass so glorious a work.
O how gracious is God’s condescension towards his servants, who is pleased, by visible signs, to support the weakness of their faith. The Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire in the bush.
Observe, 2. How Moses, in the faith of God’s presence with him, protection over him, and assistance of him, goes forth for Egypt, where he works many signs and wonders before Pharoah, at last brings the people forth into the wilderness to Mount Sinai, where God gave them his law, and appointed Moses then to make a tabernacle for his worship.
Now, the use which St. Stephen makes of this, is to convince the Jews, that for above four hundred years their fathers had worshipped God without any tabernacle at all, and consequently, that now that sort of worship was abolished, God might be very acceptably served and worshipped in the absence of it.
Observe, 3. That notwithstanding Moses was raised up by God, and sent to be a deliverer into Egypt, and a lawgiver to the Israelites in the wilderness; yet they rebelled against him, and against God in him; for they ran into the vilest idolatry, even to make and worship a golden calf, to adore the host of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars, for deities; yea, they carried about with them the images and pictures of the heathen gods, Mars and Saturn, with design to worship them, for which gross idolatry God sent them into captivity beyond Babylon.
Hence learn, 1. That there is a strange inclination in man’s heart to the sin of idolatry; the reason is, because it is a worship of our own invention. Now, man is most fond of, and forward for, that service of God which is of his own finding out and setting up. We love a devotion of our own devising very dearly.
Learn, 2. That idolatry in worshipping the sun, moon, and stars, is a very ancient sin; both the old Gentiles and old Jews were guilty of it; and consequently, we may infer, that neither antiquity nor universality will bear us out in idolatrous worship. Example is no plea against a rule, nor antiquity against truth: It is no excuse to us, when we do evil, to say our forefathers did so before us.
Learn, 3. That the idolatry of the Jews was a grand iniquity, and much worse than the idolatry of the heathens; the Gentiles knew not God, but the Jews owned him, and gloried in him. But though they knew God, they worshipped him not as God.
Observe, 4. The Israelites being come out of Egypt by the conduct of Moses, and having entered the wilderness at God’s appointment and particular direction, the tabernacle for his public worship and serivce erected: This is here called, The tabernacle of witness Ac 7:44; it being the place where God used to witness and manifest his glorious presence, and because the ark of the covenant, the law and the testimonies, were laid up in it, which were witnesses and declarations of God’s will how he would be served.
Now this tabernacle was an ambulatory temple, a the temple was a standing tabernacle.
This tabernacle was moveable; they carried it with them from place to place, while they sojourned in the wildrness, and at last they brought it with them into Canaan, Ac 7:45. which tabernacle our forefathers brought in with Jesus, (that is, Joshua, into the possession of the Gentiles, that is, the hand of Canaan, where it continued all the days of David, till Solomon began his reign, who built the temple in a most magnificent and sumptuous manner.)
Here note, 1. That the public worship of almighty God is a moral duty, founded in the light of nature, and the common reason of mankind.
2. That solemn places for public worship have been from the beginning, before the giving of the law. The ancient devotion of the world delighted much in groves, Abraham planted a grove, and called there on the name of the Lord Ge 21:33. This was a sort of oratory or chapel, whither Abraham and his family resorted, to worship the true God. After the giving of the law, while the people of the Jews were in an unsettled condition, God was contented with a mean tabernacle; but when they were settled in Canaan, then a magnificent temple is built, in some measure suitable to the greatness and majesty of that God who was to be worshipped in it.
From whence we may infer, That the public worship of God, though it doth require inward and spiritual devotion, yet, as public, is necessarily external; and as such, it ought to express, in the best manner we are able, that profound reverence which we pay to the divine Majesty.
And therefore, that the circumstances of it should not only be decent, but very solemn and magnificent, the light of nature seems plainly to require, and the gospel doth nowhere gainsay. When David determined to build God an house for public worship, he resolved it should be exceedingly magnificent; which reolution was not a piece of ceremonial piety, but grounded upon a moral and eternal reason, of equal force in all ages; namely, that the greatest and best of Beings be most awfully adored by us in the best manner we are able; and that we declare our high regard and esteem of so glorious a Majesty, by all outward fitting testimonies of respect and reverence.
Observe, lastly, That, after the temple was built, the worship of God was not so tied to that place, as that he could not be worshipped acceptably anywhere else; for God hath declared, by the mouth of his holy prophet, That he delighted not in temples made with hands, as if He were included therein, and bound thereto. Isa 66:1-2
And thus St. Stephen, by a large induction of particulars, made good his defense, that he was not guilty of blasphemy for affirming that Christ would destroy the temple, and change the customs which Moses delivered.
He closes his apology with this argument, That which was not blasphemy to affirm of the tabernacle, though it was set up by God’s special appointment given to Moses, is not blasphemy to affirm of the temple; but it was no blasphemy to affirm the use of the tabernacle to have been temporary, and consequently alterable; therefore to affirm the same of the temple is not blasphemy; especially since the Lord hath said, That he dwelleth not in temples made with hands.