The Trial Of Stephen, Part 2

The Trial of Stephen, Part 2

Acts 7:9–16 NKJV

“And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to the Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people. So Jacob went down to Egypt; and he died, he and our fathers. And they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.

Last week. we looked at the beginning of Stephen’s defense before the Sanhedrin. Stephen had been arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin by members of his own synagogue. He was apparently charged with saying that Jesus of Nazareth would destroy the Temple as well as to change the “customs” which Moses had delivered to them. (Acts 6:13-14) Acts tells us that these charges were brought by false witnesses. Whereas, the charge against the Temple did have basis in the words of Jesus Himself, they were false in the sense that the words of Jesus were wrongly applied for a false purpose, to condemn Jesus. This tells us that even things which are of themselves true can be deceitfully used. We only need look at the Serpent’s use of God’s prohibition against eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan asked Eve if God had indeed said such. (Genesis 3:1).

We must also remember the words that the Holy Spirit would give the words to say when we are brought before magistrates (Matthew 10:19). The text does say that Stephen was a wise man in hos own right. But it also says that he was full of the Holy Spirit. Stephen was well-versed in the Scripture, but the Holy Spirit took what he has studied and made this remarkable defense which Stephen presents. We must remember that due to the suddenness of his arrest that he had no time to prepare a defense on his own part. We must, therefore, see this as the defense by the Holy Spirit through Stephen. As we noticed last week, Stephen’s defense, like Jesus before Pilate, was not a defense of the person of Stephen but a witness to the Gospel.

Last week, we see that Stephen began his defense of the Gospel by appealing to Scripture, which is the first witness in both time and priority. Even though there was a great distance between the understanding of the Sanhedrin and the Spirit given interpretation of Stephen, the Scriptures served as a common ground between them. His defense was heavily based upon the first five books of the Bible which were the only books that the Sadducees considered authoritative. Stephen had begun his apology with God’s call to Abraham to follow him to a land which would later belong to his descendants. The emphasis on this part of the argument was the covenant faithfulness of God. Even though it would be 400 years before God’s promise would be fulfilled, it would be fulfilled. This would also support the argument why it wasn’t until nearly 2000 years later that Christ would come and redeem His people. It also reminds us two thousand years later that Jesus will return and establish the Kingdom of God in its fullness. This should encourage us to be patient.

Stephen now turns to Joseph and the Patriarchs, the twelve sons of Jacob (Israel). The story of Joseph was well known to the Sanhedrin. They held the Patriarchs in high esteem, especially Joseph. Again, the appeal to common ground, despite the differences in interpretation. Stephen does not have the time to recount the story which covers many chapters in Genesis. Instead, he summarizes the narrative. This means that he is being selective. the first thing we should notice is that the Patriarchs were filled with envy. We can recount the cause of their envy which was based upon Jacob’s favoritism of Joseph, even though he was the 11th born of Jacob’s sons. Jacob gave Joseph a supervisory role over his brothers and made a special coat of many colors. It did not help that Joseph related two dreams he had, showing that not only his brothers, but his father and Leah? would one day bow before Him. We know that these dreams had come from God who through what seems to be His odd design would come to pass.