IJoth of these selections are worked out on what may almost be called critical princi|)les. There is no alle- gorizing of the text, nor any forced constructions. Ev- ery passage quoted yields fairly the sense assigned to it.
Besides the direct illustration of a freedom from local restraints involved in the general argument, there is also an indirect illustration of the same doctrine, from his mode of treating the subject in detail. Many of his references to the Mosaic history differ from it ei- ther by variation or addition, apparently from tradi- tionary sources of information, e. g.:
1. The call of Abraham before the inifjration to Haran (Acts vii, 2), not, as according to Gen. sii, 1, in Harau.
2. The deiith of his father after the call (Acts vii, 4), not, .Ts according to Gen. xi, 32, before it.
3. The seventy-five sonls of Jacob's migration (Acts vii, 14), not, !i8 according to Gen. xlvi, 27, seventy.
4. The svpreme loveliness (utrTeioc ruj eeui, a Hebraistic superlative) of Moses (Acts vii, 20), not simply, as accord- ing to Exod. ii, 2, the statement that "he was a goodly child."
5. His Egyptian education (Acts vii, 22) as contrasted with the silence on this point in Exod. iv, 10.
6. The same contrast with rejrard to his secular great- ness, "mighty in words and deeds"' (Acts vii, 22; comp. Exod. ii, 10).
7. The distinct mention of the three periods of forty years (Acts vii, 28, 30, 36), of which only the last is speci- fied in the Pentateuch.
S. The terror of Moses at the bush (Acts vii, 32), not mentioned in Exod. iii, 3.
9. The sni)plementing of the Mosaic narrative by the allusions in Amos to their neglect of the true worship in the dei^ert (Acts vii, 42, 43).
10. The intervention of the angels in the giving of the Law (Acts vii, 53), not mentioned in Exod. xix, 10.
11. The burial of the twelve patriarchs at Shechem (Acts vii, 16), not mentioned in Exod. i, 6. The burial of Joseph's bones alone is recorded (Jos'h. xxiv, 32).
12. The purchase of the tomb at Shechem by Abraham from the sons of Enimor (Acts vii, IC), not, as according to Gen. xxiii, 1.^, the luirchase of the cave atMachpeluh from Ephron the Hiitite.
13. The introduction of Remphan from the Sept. of Amos V, 26, not found in the Hebrew.
The explanation and source of these variations must be sought under the different names to which they re- fer; but the general fact of their adoption by Stephen is significant as showing the freedom with which he handled the sacred history, and the cimiparative dis- regard of verbal accuracy bj' him and by the sacred historian who records his speech. "He had regard," as .Jerome says, " to the meaning, not to the words." (See their reconcilement in ^\■ordsworth's New Test. [IHCO], p. f)5-(>9.)
(). IHk Condemnation and Af(i7-ti/rdom. — It would seem that, just at the close of his argument, Stephen saw a change in the aspect of his judges, as if for the first lime they had caught the drift of his meaning. He broke oft' from his calm address, and turned suddeidy upon them in an impas.sioned attack which shows that he saw what was in store for him. Tho.se heads thrown back on their unbending necks, those ears closed against any penetration of truth, were loo much for his patience: "Ye stitt-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! 1/e do always resist the Hoh' (Jhost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets di<l not i/our fa- thers persecute ? . . . the Just One : of whom i/e are the betrayers and murderers." As he spoke they showed by their faces that their hearts (to use the strong lan- guage of the narrative) "were being sawn asunder,"
1 and they kept gnashing their set teeth against him;
I but still, though with dilficulty, restraining themselves.
STEPHEN"
1011
STEPHEN
He, in this last crisis of his fate, turned his face up wards to the open sky, and as he jiazvd the vault of heaven seemed to him to part asunder {Cifjvoiyfti-t'of;), and the divine glory appeared through tlie rending of the earthly veil — the Divine Presence, seated on a throne, and on the right hand the human form of "Je- sus," not, as in the usual representations, sitting in re- pose, but standing erect, as if to assist his suffering ser- vant. Stephen spoke as if to himself, describing tlie glorious vision ; and, in so doing, alone of all the speak- ers and writers in the New Test., except only Christ himself, uses the expressive plirase, " the Son of man." As his judges heard the words, expressive of the divine exaltation of hiro whom they had sought so lately to destroy, they could forbear no longer. They broke into a loud yell; they clappe<l their hands to their cars, as if to prevent the entrance of any more blasphemous words; they flew as with one impulse upon him, and dragged him out of the city to the place of execution.
It has been questioned by what right the Sanhedrim proceeded to this act without the concurrence of the Roman government; but it is enough to rei)ly that the whole transaction is one of violent excitement. On one occasion, even in our Lord's life, the Jews had nearly stoned him even within the precincts of the Tem- ple (John viii, 59). " Their vengeance in other cases was confined to those subordinate punishments which were left under their own jurisdiction : imprisonment, public scourging in the synagogue, and excommunica- tion" (Milman, ffist. of Latin Christianity, i, 400). See Conybeare and Howson, Life of St. Paul, i, 74. On this occasion, however, they determined for once to carry out the full penalties enjoined by the severe code of the Mosaic ritual. See Stoning. Any violator of the law was to be taken outside the gates, and there, as if for the sake of giving to each individual member of the community a sense of his responsibility in the transac- tion, he was to be crushed by ston«s, thrown at him by all the people.' Those, however, were to take the lead in this wild and terrible act who had taken upon them- selves the responsibility of denouncing him (Deut. xvii, 7 ; comp. John viii, 7). These were, in this instance, the witnesses who had reported or misreported the words of Stephen. They, according to the custom, for the sake of facility in their dreadful task, stripped themselves, as is the East- ern practice on commencing any violent exertion ; and one of the prominent leaders in the transac- tion was deputed by custom to sig nify his assent (Acts xxii, 20 ) t > the act by taking the clothes nit > his custody, and standing o\<r them while the bloody work went on. The person who officiated on this occasion was a young man fr )m Tarsus — one, probably, of the ( di cian Hellenists who had dispute I with Stephen. His name, as the narrative significantly adds, wa^ Saul. Everything was now rea h for the execution. It was outsi it the gates of Jerusalem. The earli- er tradition fixed it at what is now called the Damascus gate. 1 lie later, which is the present tradition fixed it at what is hence called Nt Stephen's gate, opening on the de- scent to the Mount of Olives: iiid in the red streaks of the nhit( limestone rocks of the sloping hill used to be shown the marks ot In blood, and on the first rise of Oii\ ( t opposite, the eminence on which tin Virgin stood to support him with her prayers. The sacred nariatue fixes its attention only on two fig-