The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 225

and Ohiun in the wilderness, and that struing the words ,,, "fi 1<a:raaxl,m .,.;;;,, sacrifi068 were oontinually offered to the ,9vc»v-(l) as the A.V., taking;,, in the sense Lord, it seems to arise from an entire mis- of ,ls, e.nd making the phrase synonymous conception of the passage in Amos, What with the land of Cano.o.n, the land whioh the Amos means to say is that because of the Gentiles then possessed; (2) in (their) treacherous. unfaithful heart of Israel as ~king posseBsion (of the ~e.nd) of the Gentiles, shown in the worship of the golden ~alf 1.e. when they took, ta.kmg 1<aT1l.ax•a1t in n and all their rebellions in the wilderness transitive sense, which seems to be the all their Morifioes were worthless. Just ~ sense of the R.V.; (3) with Meyer during he had said !n v. 22, "Though ye offer the holding or possession by the Gentiie. of the me _burnt otrenngs and your meat offerings, land, that, viz.,intotohich their father& brought I mll not accept them: neither will I rernrd the tabernacle, The first seems the most the peace offerings of your fat beasts· ,P " I simple and in e.ccordo.nce with the Greek hate, I despise your fea.st days; " ,: Take of the New Testament, e.nd with what a war from me the noise of thy songs; for follows of the expulsion of the nations before I will not hear the melody of thy viols" the Israelites. (Amos v. 21, 23): just as Isaiah also says, Ver. 46,-In the sight of for before, A.V. "To what purpose is the multitude of your (/vcl,,r,ov); <Uh£d for desired, A.V.; habitation sacrifices unto me? ... I am full of the burnt , for tabernacle, A.V. (a,c-f,v.,,.,,_). Habitation. offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts In Dent. xxxiii. 18 a,c-fivo,µ.a stands in the ... Bring no more vain oblations; ... it is LXX. for ':i,:i~, and in 2 Pet. i 18, v. 14, for iniquity, even the solemn meeting" (Isa. i. the hume.n body as the tabernacle or 11-13, etc.); and a.gain," He that ki.lleth 11.n ox is as if he slew a man; he that temporary dwelling of the soul or spirit. sa.crificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's And the idea. of e. temporary or movable dwelling seems to suit Stephen's e.rgu.ment neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he better offered swine's blood" (Isa.. lxvi. 8): so all than that of a fixed one. The nii:,l'°c the sacrifices offered up during forty years of Ps. cx..x:rii. 5 (to which perhaps, e.s welt 'a; in the wilderness were no sacrifices at all, 2 Sam, vii. 1-6, Stephen refers) is equally and their hypocrisy WIIB clearly seen when applicable to a tent. they reached the land of Canaan, and, Ver. 47.-.A houBe for an house,A.V. The according to Moses' prophetic declaration, o11tos (the house) of ver, 47, which Solomon "forsook God which made them . . . and built, seems to be e.lmost in contra.et with sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods the a,c-fiv,.,µ.a (the tabernacle). whom they knew not" (Dent. mii 15- Ver. 48.-Houses (in italics) for temples, 18), snch as Chinn and Maloch, Be.alim A.V. and T.R. The word vao,s (here, but not and .A.shtoreth. This later idolatry was in eh. xvii. 24) is omitted in the R.T. lnIBll. the fruit and the judicial punishment of xvi 12, LXX, ( quoted by Meyer), X"P°"'ol11Ta their first declension and e.poste.sy in the (plural) is used without a.substantive for the wilderness, e.nd led to the Captivity in "se.nctue.ry" (ref11Rz;,) of Moo.b. For the Babylon. It was on seeing their unfaith- sentiment tho.t the infinite God, Crea.tor of fulness in tlae wilderness that " God turned heaven and earth, co.nnot be contained in a aud go.ve them up to serve the host of house built by the hands of men, see also heo.,·en." 2 Chron. vi. 18, as well e.s the po.ssages Ver. 44.-The testimony for v,itnu,, A.V.; e.bove quoted. Stephen justifies himself even <U he appointed who 11pah£ for a11 he had from the charge of ho.ving spoken bla.sphe- appointed, speaking, A. V.; figure for fa11hion, moua words age.inst the temple by citing A.\'. Chrysostom ea.Us e.ttention to the Isa. I.xvi. 1. mention of the wilderneBB, e.s showing that Ver. 49.-The heat>en for hea-ven, A.V.; Goel';; presence e.nd service were not confined the earth the footstool of my feet for earth is tu J crusalem. my footstool, A.V. ; what manner of house Ver. 45.-In their tu,rn for that come after, for what house, A.V. (i,alie[o.µ.evo,), A.V.; Joshua(theHebrew,furm) Ver. 50.-Did not my hand make for hath for Jesus ( the Greek form of the name), A. V.; Mt my hand made, A.V. when they entered on tlUJ posae11aion of the Ver. 51.-Btiifneoked; hard of nook, in- natwns for into the possuswn of the Gentil-e,, dexible. The word a,cll.71po-rpd.x1111.os only A.V.; wl,ich God thrUBt for whom God drat1e, ocours here in the New Testament. But it A.Y. In their turn; more literally, ha'f'ing answers in the LXX. to the Hebrew 9:;iil-n!?°P, received it in 1uCC&1Bion. It only occurs here (hard of neck); see Exod. xxxiii. 8, 5, e.nd in the New Testament. Meyer quotiis 4 elsewhere. In applying this expression to Mace. iv. 15, "On the death of SeleucW!, his his hearers, Stephen was using the identical son Antiochus received the kingdom in snc-- langue.ge of Moses when he conveyed God's ceil8ion ; " e.nd cle.saice.l writers. When the:, rebuke to them. Considering that they entered, elc. There are three ways of ea. profeHed to be etanding tn MoB011' side CH, VU. 1-60,] THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 221