Acts 7:1 ASV

As I was reading chapter 7, I observed that the accusers allowed Stephen to make quite a lengthy speech. I asked ‘why?’ and discovered that he was answering this very question of “Is it so that you speak against the holy place and the law and that Jesus will change the customs of Moses?” It seems that ‘some of those who belonged to the synagogue’ were probably checking off, in their minds, Stephen’s proper knowledge of Israel’s history and the law as he continued on and on. In other words, Stephen was proving that he was not speaking against the law of Moses but for it on behalf of Christ’s purpose. But when Stephen spoke of the hereditary murders of the Israelites towards the prophets and now of Jesus, the Righteous One; ‘those who belonged to the synagogue’ refused repentance and were enraged to kill, again. Their anger was their motivation. Stephen’s motivation was full of the Holy Spirit. And Stephen saw Jesus at the right hand of God. “Those of the synagogue” saw Saul’s feet.