Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.
Acts 7:33 belongs to Stephen's clear, thrilling defense before the council in answer to the charge of blasphemy. In that defense he rehearsed the history of God's chosen people from Abraham to Solomon, showing thorough knowledge of the Jewish economy and its spiritual meaning now made manifest through Christ. He took up the most impressive points from the national records of Israel to vindicate his cause, while holding the assembly spellbound. It was his final testimony, spoken under the Holy Spirit before people who resisted his words, whose occasion, time, and place matter for understanding its significance.
Stephen spoke these words shortly before his stoning, in which Saul acted a part. Through this speech he set forth prophetic evidence that Jesus, though crucified, was the Son of God. Paul afterward proclaimed that same message. In the verse Stephen recounts the Lord appearing to Moses and declaring the ground where Moses stood holy, which was sacred because of God's presence.
The Moses episode to which the verse belongs came after forty years of faithful work as a humble shepherd in Midian. Those years of humble work trained and disciplined Moses through hardship and prepared him to deliver and lead Israel. The account presents that long preparation as the setting of Moses' call to deliver his people. It does not explain the command to remove the shoes or the meaning of the holy ground.
Acts 7:33 belongs to Stephen's clear, thrilling defense before the council in answer to the charge of blasphemy. In that defense he rehearsed the history of God's chosen people from Abraham to Solomon, showing thorough knowledge of the Jewish economy and its spiritual meaning now made manifest through Christ. He took up the most impressive points from the national records of Israel to vindicate his cause, while holding the assembly spellbound. It was his final testimony, spoken under the Holy Spirit before people who resisted his words, whose occasion, time, and place matter for understanding its significance.
Stephen spoke these words shortly before his stoning, in which Saul acted a part. Through this speech he set forth prophetic evidence that Jesus, though crucified, was the Son of God. Paul afterward proclaimed that same message. In the verse Stephen recounts the Lord appearing to Moses and declaring the ground where Moses stood holy, which was sacred because of God's presence.
The Moses episode to which the verse belongs came after forty years of faithful work as a humble shepherd in Midian. Those years of humble work trained and disciplined Moses through hardship and prepared him to deliver and lead Israel. The account presents that long preparation as the setting of Moses' call to deliver his people. It does not explain the command to remove the shoes or the meaning of the holy ground.