Acts 7:8, commentary and pictures

The verse recounts God's giving of the covenant of circumcision and the line of descent from Abraham through Isaac, circumcised the eighth day, and through Isaac to Jacob, and through Jacob to the twelve patriarchs. It was spoken by Stephen as part of his defense before the council and his judges when questioned on the charge of blasphemy. It was his historical testimony and his final testimony, spoken under the direction of the Holy Spirit, so its setting and occasion belong to its significance. He uttered it in a clear, thrilling voice that held the assembly spell-bound.

It belongs to his review of Israel's history and God's dealings with His chosen people, beginning with Abraham and tracing down from generation to generation through all the national records of Israel to Solomon. He took up the most impressive points of that history to vindicate his cause. In doing so he showed thorough knowledge of the Jewish economy. In recounting that history he gave its events a spiritual meaning made clear and manifest through Christ.

He preached Christ from the Old Testament Scriptures beginning with Moses and the prophets, giving inspired proof in regard to the mission, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, to clearly prove His identity with the Messiah. In that testimony the patriarchs, with the prophets from the days of Adam to that time, bear witness to Christ, whose voice spoke through them. The verse thus shows that Christ is the key which unlocks the Old Testament and gives access to its rich treasures, so that all religious services and ceremonies are valueless if the Saviour revealed and represented in them is rejected.