Stephen: Brothers, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

“And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers also did…

“Moses said, ‘THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR COUNTRYMEN; TO HIM YOU SHALL LISTEN regarding everything He says to you.

ACTS of the Apostles 3:17,22 NASB20 – The Apostle Simon Peter, addressing the Jews in the Temple.

Stephen’s defense so far:

Stephen also addressed his accusers respectfully as ‘brothers and fathers.’ (For these are rulers and judges of Jewish Law to the extent Roman rulers and governors will allow.)

“The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham,” Stephen had begun.

“And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham fathered Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob, the twelve patriarchs.

ACTS 7:8

He then pointed to Israel’s founding fathers as poor judges of God’s will when it came to their own brother Joseph.

“The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him,

ACTS 7:9

Stephen then chronicles the years when the Lord used Joseph in Egypt, with his brothers bringing Jacob to Egypt during a time of famine. So through Joseph, Israel (Jacob) and his other sons shared in the blessings enjoyed by Joseph, who had become a ruler and leader of the land for Pharaoh.

Then Steven reminds us that their fathers were enslaved in Egypt after Joseph was forgotten.

It had been about four hundred years, not unlike the previous four centuries Before Christ, when the word of God had not been heard in Israel until John the Baptist.

Israel is enslaved in Egypt; Judah is captive in their own promised land by Rome.

At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God’s sight.

Acts of the Apostles 7:20 CSB – from Stephen’s defense before the High Priest

Stephen then presents the rulers of Jerusalem with the same dilemma as Moses faced:

You MUST choose sides.

• Where will the LORD lead you, as His ruler of a land which is not under God our Father?
• God leads Moses away from his ‘chosen’ people for a time.

Did YOU force the LORD’S Anointed One to flee from YOU?

• Do YOU obey the LORD and will you faithfully remember your covenant of circumcision of promised redemption?

A Ruler must also choose

25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.

Of course, the Apostles had already taught that Jerusalem’s leaders had not recognized that Jesus had come to redeem Israel from their sins, not to become their ruler and King who could expel Rome from its gates.

Stephen continues from Scripture they all knew well:

.. he tried to reconcile them to peace, by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers, why are you injuring each other?’

27 But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying,

Who made you a ruler and judge over us?

ACTS 7:27B – Stephen quoting Exodus 2 account of Moses fleeing Egypt

Shmot (Exodus) 2

2:13 וַיֵּצֵא בַּיּוֹם הַשֵּׁנִי וְהִנֵּה שְׁנֵֽי־אֲנָשִׁים עִבְרִים נִצִּים וַיֹּאמֶר לָֽרָשָׁע לָמָּה תַכֶּה רֵעֶֽךָ׃

2:14 וַיֹּאמֶר מִי שָֽׂמְךָ לְאִישׁ שַׂר וְשֹׁפֵט עָלֵינוּ הַלְהָרְגֵנִי אַתָּה אֹמֵר כַּאֲשֶׁר הָרַגְתָּ אֶת־הַמִּצְרִי וַיִּירָא מֹשֶׁה וַיֹּאמַר אָכֵן נוֹדַע הַדָּבָֽר׃

2:15 וַיִּשְׁמַע פַּרְעֹה אֶת־הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה וַיְבַקֵּשׁ לַהֲרֹג אֶת־מֹשֶׁה וַיִּבְרַח מֹשֶׁה מִפְּנֵי פַרְעֹה וַיֵּשֶׁב בְּאֶֽרֶץ־מִדְיָן וַיֵּשֶׁב עַֽל־הַבְּאֵֽר׃

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But he said, “Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and said, “Surely the matter has become known!” When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian…

Exodus 2:14-15a – Challenge of Hebrew slaves to Moses when he fled to Midian for forty years

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After forty years

.. an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush.. the voice of the Lord called out to him,

I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.’

ACTS 7:32A NASB- Stephen quoting Exodus 3:

Stephen continues to quote Scripture from Shmot (Exodus) 3 ::

He likely quotes it Hebrew, even as all had memorized the Scripture, though Stephen would have conversed with the ruler of the Hebrews in the common Greek of the Roman Empire.

Stephen Compares these Hebrew leaders to those from whom Moses fled for forty years

Then after forty years in Midian, MOSES STEPS UPON HOLY GROUND OF THE LORD!

Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look.

ACTS 7:32B CSB

STEPHEN continues in the familiar Hebrew Scripture, quoting THE LORD GOD:

.. 34 I have certainly seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them; and now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

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And looking intently at one leader, the High Priest; and then a leader of the Sadducees and several leading Pharisees;

Stephen’s shining light upon Scripture pierces some in the room who recognize the rejection of Moses by the Hebrews for forty years.

Perhaps some recall how they too had rejected Jesus for three years as our Lord preached and healed in their Temple and many synagogues throughout Judea, Galilee and in many towns.

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“This Moses whom they disowned, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush.

ACTS 7:33 – Stephen’s indictment of Jerusalem’s leaders

36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.

Every leader in the room recalls signs and wonders recently performed in Jerusalem, yes even at the Temple by the Apostles. They could not restrain these disciples of Jesus from preaching the Gospel, even as Peter and John had mysteriously walked out of Herod’s prison.

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To be continued...