The Third Heaven Traveler

Question

(1) God calls people outside the temple and the Holy Land.

Being a rather short summary, Stephen's speech is not a complete record of Israel's history. There's a great deal he omits and what he omits is just as important what he includes. For instance, God appears many times to the patriarchs in the land of Canan but Stephen never mentions these appearances. Instead he focuses on God's activity outside the promised land.

God calls Abraham while he is still in Mesopotamia even before he lived in the closer land of Haran (7:2).
Abraham lived only as an alien and a stranger in Canan (7:4-5).
Abraham's descendants were also aliens and strangers in a foreign land (7:6-7).
Joseph rose to power in Egypt and saves his family there (7:9-16).
Moses is rasied in Egypt as an Egyptian (7:20-22)
Moses encounters God in the land of Midian near Mt. Sinai (7:29-34).

God clearly calls people outside the places most revered by the Jews.

(2) But the Holy Land is still a special place.

But Stephen still maintains that it is the place to which God has promised and called his people.

God promised this land to Abraham (7:5).
God promises that Abraham's descendents will worship in this place (7:7)
Jacob and the patriarchs are buried here (7:15-16).

In a bit of a side note, Stephen links the covenant of circumcision with the promise of the land (7:7-8). I think this important for later questions about circumcision in Acts 15.

(3) God is in the habit of raising up quasi gentile saviors whom the Jews oppose

Joseph and Moses are representative figures through which Stephen makes an implied comparison to Jesus. Like Jesus

Joseph is rejected by his brothers but God rescues him and places him over a gentile nation where he rescues the wider world and his family (7:19-16).
Moses is rejected by Israel as their deliver but God calls Moses from a gentile land to rescue Israel from bondage (7:17-37).

Stephen even makes the implied comparison between Jesus and Moses more explicit. After laying out the pattern established in the life of Moses, Stephen quotes Moses as saying, "God will send you a prophet like me from your own people (7:37)." And of course Jesus fits the pattern.

Also Just as Israel claimed not to know what happened to Moses when he was on Sinai receiving the the law so Stephen's implies that his audience in a similar is denying that Jesus is ascended and mediating for us in the presence of God.

(4) Israel has rejected God's pattern and instead worshiped the temple as an idol.

Stephen makes a subtle comparison between the Israelites past idolatry and their present fixation upon the temple. Note the parallels between the following two statements.

He received living oracles to give to us. Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, saying to Aaron, "Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: "Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan,the images that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon."

Stephen then says

"Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands,, as the prophet says, “‘Heaven is my throne,and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?

These two passages are parallel for the following reasons

Both begin with a statement about what Moses recieved on the Mountain
Both claim that Israel rejected what Moses received.
Both speak about exiting/entering a land and or the beginning and ending of the Exodus.
Both speak about what Isrealite hands had made
Both conclude with a Old Testament citation.

Just as the children of Israel worship the "work of their hands" (7:41) so Stephen's audience is worshiping a temple "made by hands" (7:48). Just as God exiled Israel for idolatry so Stephen appears to imply that God is going exile the present generation for an idolatrous attachment to the temple.

The pattern God showed Moses on the mountain was a movable, mobile tent. God does not dwell in permanent houses made by man. His spirit moves wherever he pleases and the tent was designed to move with him.

Further evidence for Stephen accusing his audience of Idolatry is found in the claim that they are "stiff-necked" like their fathers (Acts 7:51). "Stiff-necked" is a word picture which derives from the experience of plowing with cattle. When a cow is "stiff-necked" it refuses to go where its owner wants it to go. The term is first used of Israel by God after they made the golden calf (Exodus 32:9, 33:3, 5, 34:9). Its relatively rare elsewhere. G. K. Beale makes the observation that Israel in this idolatrous act is becoming what they worshipped - a calf.

Stephen had been taken before the Sanhedrin to answer the charges against him. He was teaching what Jesus had taught - that the temple would be destroyed and the laws of Moses changed. Acts. 6:14-15,

" for we have heard him saying, That this Jesus the Nazarean shall overthrow this place, and shall change the customs that Moses delivered to us;'

15 and gazing at him, all those sitting in the sanhedrim saw his face as it were the face of a messenger." (YLT)

In Acts 7, Stephen began rehearsing a brief history of the sins of the children of Abraham from the promise given to Abraham through the exodus from Egypt. They were always backsliding, turning to idolatry, and transgressing the law.

In verse 43, the reference is to their idols that they would carry around in little ceremonial boxes - tabernacles.

Clarke's commentary on verse 43:

"It was customary for the idolaters of all nations to carry images of their gods about them in their journeys, military expeditions, etc.; and these, being very small, were enclosed in little boxes, perhaps some of them in the shape of temples, called tabernacles; or, as we have it, Acts 19:24, shrines. These little gods were the penates and lares among the Romans, and the tselems or talismans among the ancient eastern idolaters. The Hebrew text seems to refer to these when it says, the tabernacle of your Molech, and Chiun, your images, צלמיכם tsalmeycem, your tselems, τους τυπους, the types or simulachres of your gods. See the note on Genesis 31:19. Many of those small portable images are now in my own collection, all of copper or brass; some of them the identical penates of the ancient Romans, and others the offspring of the Hindoo idolatry; they are from an ounce weight to half a pound. Such images as these I suppose the idolatrous Israelites, in imitation of their neighbors, the Moabites, Ammonites, etc., to have carried about with them; and to such the prophet appears to me unquestionably to allude.

I will carry you away beyond Babylon - You have carried your idolatrous images about; and I will carry you into captivity, and see if the gods in whom ye have trusted can deliver you from my hands. Instead of beyond Babylon, Amos, from whom the quotation is made, says, I will carry you beyond Damascus. Where they were carried was into Assyria and Media, see 2 Kings 17:6; : now, this was not only beyond Damascus, but beyond Babylon itself; and, as Stephen knew this to be the fact, he states it here, and thus more precisely fixes the place of their captivity. The Holy Spirit, in his farther revelations, has undoubted right to extend or illustrate those which he had given before. This case frequently occurs when a former prophecy is quoted in later times." Source: here

There is a great deal of speculation on what the star was. Some suppose it to have been Saturn because of the worship of the Egyptians and Arabs. Its Coptic name may have been Remphan, or a form thereof. But in Hebrew it was apparently Chiun. An excerpt from Gil's Exposition:

"and Chiun is indeed, by Kimchi and Aben Ezra (h), said to be the same with Chevan, which, in the Ishmaelitish and Persian languages, signifies Saturn; and so does Rephan in the Egyptian language: and it is further to be observed, that the Egyptians had a king called Remphis, the same with Apis; and this may be the reason why the Septuagint interpreters, who interpreted for Ptolomy, king of Egypt, put Rephan, which Stephen calls Remphan, instead of Chiun, which they were better acquainted with, since they both signify the same deity, and the same star; and which also was the star of the Israelites, called by them because supposed to have the government of the sabbath day, and therefore fitly called the "star of your god". "

Source: here
http://biblehub.com/commentaries/acts/7-43.htm

Mostly intended to be a type or form of their idolatry.

That Stephen called them stiff-necked (proud, not bowing before God) and uncircumcised (not of the true circumcision of the faith of Abraham) in verse 51, countered all that they believed and angered them greatly (vs 54, 57). Their history of turning away from God, fornicating with idols and making treaties with idolatrous nations caught up with them. God destroyed their temple in A.D. 70 just as Christ and Stephen told them He would.

If you examine the so-called ‘Star of David,’ or hexagram, closely, you discover something astonishing. It has six points, forms six equilateral triangles, and in its interior forms a six sided hexagon. Thus, it has been intentionally designed with a 666 message. God specifically warns against this kind of thing in His written word. Christians and Jews must not look to or dabble in the occult, not even for fun and entertainment.

The star was mentioned and condemned by the God of Israel in Amos 5:26 and it was called by Him, the star of your god, Moloch' or otherwise calledChiun'. Reference to Amos 5:26 and the Israelites having it in the wilderness was also made in Acts 7:43. Here it was called the Star of Remphan. All these names refer to the `god' Saturn. The hexagram was brought to the Jewish people by Solomon when he turned to witchcraft and idolatry after his marriage to Pharaoh's daughter in 922B.C. It became known as the Seal of Solomon in Egyptian magic and witchcraft. David had absolutely nothing to do with the hexagram and that star most certainly did not, in any way, represent God's people. Solomon gave himself up to satanic worship and built altars to Ashtoreth and Moloch (Saturn).

The Star of Remphan is a serious, deep end times study of thousands of years-old prophecies from the Bible, and it is relevant today because some of it has been fulfilled already and some will be fulfilled in the near future. Our subject today is the Jews in the time of Jacob’s trouble, the great Tribulation and the covenant with death and Hell that the Jews will make with Antichrist.

where did it come from originally?

The Star of Remphan is a serious, deep end times study of thousands of years-old prophecies from the Bible, and it is relevant today because some of it has been fulfilled already and some will be fulfilled in the near future. Our subject today is the Jews in the time of Jacob’s trouble, the great Tribulation and the covenant with death and Hell that the Jews will make with Antichrist.

The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia declares that the six-pointed star—according to the star-worshipping Rosicrucians—was known to the ancient Egyptians. The religion of the ancient Egyptians is known to have consisted preeminently of sun-worship. Moses sternly warned the Israelites against worshiping the sun, moon, stars, and all the host of heaven.

Deuteronomy 4:19 And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage.

Moses' warning was emphatic. The prohibition of making and worshiping any image of that which is in heaven above emphasizes the stars and implies also the other celestial bodies.

The six-pointed star can be traced through the worship of Ashtoreth (also known as Astarte, meaning ‘star’) and Chiun and Remphan (meaning 'star') from the Egyptians before King Solomon's time.

The first biblical mention of an idolatrous star among the Israelites is in the 8th century BC, mentioned in Amos 5 regarding their trek from Egypt to Canaan. God is thinking back and talking them about what had transpired.

Amos 5:25-27 "Did you offer Me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? You also carried Sikkuth [i.e., tabernacle of Moloch, the god to which they sacrificed children] your king and Chiun, [i.e., a pagan deity] your idols, the star of your gods, which you made for yourselves. Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus," says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.

It cannot be determined whether this star is the occult six-pointed star we know today as the Star of David; nevertheless, this verse does establish that the worship of pagan gods used a star or stars to symbolize them.

Regarding star worship, the Jewish Encyclopedia says,

This is perhaps the oldest form of idolatry practiced by the ancients. The observation of the stars in the East very early led the people to regard the planets and the fixed stars as gods. The ancient Israelites fell into this kind of idolatry, and they had the image of Siccuth and Chiun, “the star of their gods.” The star of the pagan deity Chiun is generally believed to represent the planet Saturn.

In the book The History and Practice of Magic, Volume 2, the six-pointed star is called the talisman of Saturn. The obverse side has the five pointed star, commonly called the pentagram; and the reverse side has the Seal of Solomon with the hexagram at its center. The hexagram is also known as the "King’s Star" in astrological circles, and was an important astrological symbol in Zoroastrianism. It was also used by the Druids during the highest Sabbath of occultists and witches, now called “Halloween.” The hexagram is also found in Arabian magic and witchcraft through the Middle Ages.

The Shield or Star of David is not mentioned in rabbinic literature at all. Notably, not a single ancient archeological proof exists as yet concerning the use of this symbol in the Holy Land in ancient times, even after King David. It has been noted in two isolated cases in the 3rd century AD: on a Jewish tombstone at Tarentum, in southern Italy, and it was used in the Capernaum synagogue in the same century.

The earliest Jewish literary source which mentions it is the 12th century Eshkol ha-Kofer, written by the Karaite Jewish scholar Judah Hadassi. He writes,

Seven names of angels precede the mezuzah: Michael, Gabriel, etc…. YHWH protect thee! And likewise the sign called “David’s shield” [the Star of David] is placed beside the name of each angel.

The name “Star of David” originated in the 13th century in Kabbalah—the ancient Jewish tradition of mystical interpretation of the Bible—where it is a magic symbol associated with the pentagram. It is very commonly known that the pentagram is directly associated with witchcraft and occultism.

The star symbol continues down through the occult to the Jewish Mayer Amschel Bauer, who, in the 18th century, changed his name to depict the red six-pointed star (or shield) which he had hung on his door in Germany, and thus began the family of the “Red Shield” or Rothschild. Also, several Rothschild descendants have the star of David on their coat of arms. They were a Jewish family, but it is not a symbol of Judaism.

The Rothschilds were instrumental in raising up the Zionist Movement in 1896, in funding its activities, and then forcing the occultist leaders of Israel in 1948 to adopt the hexagram as their national symbol.

The “Star of David” was adopted by the First Zionist Congress (in 1897) as a symbol, and it is seen on the flags of the Zionist Organization and of the State of Israel.

There is no biblical evidence, whether Scriptural or archeological, that the so called ‘Star of David’ is a God-given symbol for the Israelites (or, more specifically, the Jews). The Israelite view of God under Moses, which permitted no images of God, was and still is, opposed to the acceptance of any symbols to represent God, and neither the Bible nor the Talmud condones them.

There is extensive evidence that the ‘Star of David’ originated in very ancient occult practices and continues to occupy a place in those practices today. Sadly, this practice is prevalent within Judaism and Christianity today. It is an interweaving of occult mysticism with the Holy Scriptures.

The so-called ‘Star of David’ is essentially a hexagram, nothing more, nothing less. There is no biblical, archaeological or Jewish evidence that traces this ancient occult symbol to king David of Israel.

Some Orthodox Jewish groups reject the use of the hexagram Shield of David because of its association with magic and the occult. They do not recognize it as a Jewish symbol.

If you examine the so-called ‘Star of David,’ or hexagram, closely, you discover something astonishing. It has six points, forms six equilateral triangles, and in its interior forms a six sided hexagon. Thus, it has been intentionally designed with a 666 message. God specifically warns against this kind of thing in His written word. Christians and Jews must not look to or dabble in the occult, not even for fun and entertainment.

Witches, magicians, mediums or sorcerers will not guide you in your walk with God, neither will “good luck charms” protect you. And we are certainly not to use their symbols as representative of God or His People.

amos - In Acts 7:43, what are "the tabernacle of Moloch" and "the star of Remphan"? - Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange

The Third Heaven Traveler

The Powerful Analysis of Stephen's response to the JEWISH Council Acts 7 KING JAMES BIBLE

Acts 7:43

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