Background:
If you can not get your head around the FACT that the Church, The Jewish Remnant, The Tribulation Saints, and the Old Testament Saints are ISRAEL, then you need to really study the KING JAMES BIBLE for yourself and not listen to REPROBATES like Andy Woods and the literally thousands of other false teachers. Start here Homework Assignment: Read Genesis Chapter 17 carefully and then read and compare Romans Chapter 4 and Galatians Chapter 4. Focus specifically on Genesis 17:7 and Romans 4:16. The land of Israel in future prophecy is for the TRUE ISRAEL and National Israel today is only the Prestage gathering to bring “UNREPENTENT – STIFF NECKED ISRAEL” into the Time of Jacob’s Trouble – Daniel’s 70th Week – The Tribulation. After the true Jewish Remnant comes out (only 1/3 ZECHARIAH 13:9) , they will join the Church, The Tribulation Saints, and the Old Testament Saints at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb Revelation 19 and REIGN WITH JESUS CHRIST in the Millennial Kingdom. The current state of National Israel are only the caretakers of this land acting as tenant caretakers – husbandmen (READ MATTHEW 21 Husbandmen Parable) tending land before the true ISRAEL inhabits our land.
Just because a so called Jew claims the inheritance by DNA through their mother, this does NOT mean anything, but what counts is IF a jew or gentile is CIRCUMSIZED IN their heart. Romans 2:29
“But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”
Essential:
The shock and awe of Hebrews
The Shock and Awe of Paul in the book of Hebrews (thethirdheaventraveler.com)
The True Jew (thethirdheaventraveler.com)
Hey dummies send money to ISRAEL not CHRISTIANS. (thethirdheaventraveler.com)
A Biblical perspective of the Israeli – Palestinian War is looking from the Future Backwards. (thethirdheaventraveler.com)
Why Messianic Jews will not call themselves Christians (thethirdheaventraveler.com)
Stephen was chosen by the 12 disciples, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost and anointed as a deacon of the early church.
It was his miracles and power of the Holy Spirit that raised attention to him and most likely because of his power to persuade and grow new converts to the new church, the Religious Jews hated him in the way they did Jesus Christ and the Devil moved them abruptly to put him to death.
No doubt the same high priest that presided over Stephen’s council was the same Caiaphas – THE HERODIAN NOT in the bloodline of Aaron appointed high priest of God but of the Roman government that presided over the trial of Jesus Christ.*
Read with me Acts 6:2-15 KJB
See my study on the bloodlines from Esau to Nimrod to the Pharisees
Connect the Dots
Connect the DOTS The Fall – Nimrod – The Pharisees – Zionism – Synagogue of Satan (thethirdheaventraveler.com)
The End Signs Antichrist Rising: Look Up Saints #Rapture #Tribulation (thethirdheaventraveler.com)
Amir Tsarfati the ever-changing Chameleon – The ever-consistent False Teacher (thethirdheaventraveler.com)
Acts Chapter 7 King James Bible
Then said the high priest, Are these things so?
2And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,
3And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.
4Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.
5And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.
6And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.
7And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.
8And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.
9And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,
10And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
11Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.
12But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.
13And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph’s kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.
14Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
15So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,
16And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.
17But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
18Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.
19The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.
20In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father’s house three months:
21And when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.
22And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.
23And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
24And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
25For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
26And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?
27But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
28Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?
29Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.
30And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.
31When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,
32Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold.
33Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.
34I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.
35This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.
36He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
37This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.
38This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:
39To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
40Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
41And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
42Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?
43Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
44Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.
45Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;
46Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
47But Solomon built him an house.
48Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
49Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
50Hath not my hand made all these things?
51Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
52Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
53Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
54When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
55But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
56And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
57Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
58And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.
59And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
60And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Stephen’s POWERFUL sermon to the council has been examined over the ages as profound. I personally believe it is equal to the spiritual power delivered by Paul in the book of Hebrews, specifically chapters 11 and 12. FAITH and the NEW JERUSALEM – MILLENIAL KINGDOM.
The deeper I have studied this sermon, I believe it is the same SHOCK and AWE of Hebrews*
See my study of the shock and awe of Hebrews
The Shock and Awe of Paul in the book of Hebrews (thethirdheaventraveler.com)
Snapshot:
Stephen is literally saying, “Hey, Ya’ll think you are Israel because you call Abraham and Moses your father and Patriarch, but allow me to speak and let you in on a little secret: YOU AINT ISRAEL CUZ you denied the MESSIAH.
(Background: Look at sweet conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees in John 8 KJB. Read with me.)
Let me make clear what God has been making clear from the Patriarchs as follows:
ABRAHAM – living as a HEBREW -A Pilgrim in a strange land the Father of the Church and of the Jewish Remnant.* See my study on who is ISRAEL.
Modern National Israel is the Husbandmen of Matthew 21:33-40 (thethirdheaventraveler.com)
Who is ISRAEL? Closing arguments on the End of this Age – Bible Prophecy showing us the final curtain call (thethirdheaventraveler.com)
JOSEPH – Rejected by his brethren, A stranger in a strange land marries an Egyptian, type and shadow of Jesus Christ.
MOSES – rebuked and rejected by the people raised in a strange land as an Egyptian.
God clearly calls people OUTSIDE the places most revered by the JEWS* See study notes below by Matthew Miller at Stack Exchange “God calls people outside the temple and the Holy Land.
(1) God calls people outside the temple and the Holy Land.* See notes below
FOCUS ON VERSE 43
Why?
I SET BEFORE THE READER 2 ALTARS* May the Holy Spirit reveal the TRUTH by FIRE – the cleansing of his WORD – Jesus Christ within you- The Spirit of Truth John 16:13 KJB
*Elijah challenges the prophets to build an altar to Baal and he will build an altar to God. The prophets of Baal cry out to him but Baal does not answer. Elijah builds his altar to the Lord and drenches it with water. Elijah prays to God. God sets the altar on fire. The fire consumes the altar, even the water in the trenches1. Elijah rebuilt the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down, using twelve stones, one stone for each of the twelve tribes23.Israel’s National Flag today represents the STAR OF REMPHAN = Unrepentant Stiff-necked Israel
Acts 7:43
Modern National Israel is the Husbandmen of Matthew 21:33-40 (thethirdheaventraveler.com)
or
Israel’s Flag today represents the STAR out of Jacob – The Messiah = Jesus Christ.
Stephen puts ISRAEL – UNREPENTENT Stiff necked (see notes below on the meaning of stiff necked) ISRAEL on report as YOU who hate Jesus Christ and do not recognize him as the Messiah but rather looking for the coming Messiah – which they will embrace the false messiah – See Daniel 9:24-27, Zechariah 13:9, Isaiah 10:22, 50:1, Hosea 1:10,11, Revelation 2:9, 3:9.
This clearly identifies the present state of Israel today. A nation is represented by a flag, a nation declaring itself as a Jewish Nation of God’s chosen people claiming a land given to them by their Patriarch Abraham. But take heed you false prophets and apostate teachers the land promised to Abraham is to ISRAEL the real true ISRAEL who is The Church, The Jewish Remnant (true Jews), The Tribulation Saints, The Old Testament Saints.
Read Romans 9-11 (Paul addressing the Jewish Remnant in the future Tribulation – heed Romans 10:9,10 and see that it does NOT harmonize with the GOSPEL 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 KJB; Read Acts 2:21 (Peter addressing the Remnant in the future Tribulation) Joel 2:32 (Joel addressing the Jewish Remnant in the future Tribulation)
Specifically
Romans 9:24-33 KJB
God’s amazing sense of humor is the star they use brings them into judgement which is coming soon to bring them into Daniel’s 70th Week aka The Time of Jacob’s Trouble aka The Tribulation.
Stephen declared the state of Israel’s forefathers as STIFF NECKED (referring to an ox not submitting to the yoke) who worshipped and chased after strange gods as proven by Solomon and his wives bringing in the Canaanite god – and Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor – Numbers 25:3.
The Star on Israel’s flag is NOT the so-called Star of David and is certainly NOT of God, but rather the STAR OF REMPHAN. Acts 7:43.
See notes below.
Is NOT the star out of Judah as prophesied by Balaam the false prophet which God did allow him to point to the MESSIAH – A Star out of Jacob. Numbers 24:17.
When reading Numbers 24 we must read Numbers 25 for the entire picture. Balaam the false prophet for hire is given the true vision of the Messiah, and immediately afterwards we’re shown the DOCTRINE OF BALAAM that leads Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor – Numbers 25:3.
The spirit of TRUTH and the spirit of ERROR. Doctrine Matters (thethirdheaventraveler.com)
Doctrine is: Learning The Teaching of the Word of God (thethirdheaventraveler.com)
https://www.thethirdheaventraveler.com/2021/10/jesus-hates-nicolaitans.html
https://www.thethirdheaventraveler.com/2022/04/understand-bible-from-workman-approved.html
Doctrine of Balaam:
Acts 7:43
“Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.”
King James Version (KJV)
The tabernacle of Moloch is a phrase that appears in the Bible, specifically in the book of Acts 7:43. It is a reference to the idolatrous practices of the Israelites, who were known to worship Moloch, a god associated with child sacrifice 12. The tabernacle was a portable tent-like structure that housed the idol of Moloch and was carried around by the Israelites during their travels 1.
The star of Remphan is also mentioned in Acts 7:43 along with the tabernacle of Moloch. It is believed to be another name for the planet Saturn, which was worshipped as a god by some ancient cultures 12. The star of Remphan was likely an emblem or symbol associated with this deity 1
amos – In Acts 7:43, what are “the tabernacle of Moloch” and “the star of Remphan”? – Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange
“It was customary for the idolaters of all nations to carry images of their gods about them in their journeys, military expeditions, etc.; and these, being very small, were enclosed in little boxes, perhaps some of them in the shape of temples, called tabernacles; or, as we have it, Acts 19:24, shrines. These little gods were the penates and lares among the Romans, and the tselems or talismans among the ancient eastern idolaters. The Hebrew text seems to refer to these when it says, the tabernacle of your Molech, and Chiun, your images, צלמיכם tsalmeycem, your tselems, τους τυπους, the types or simulachres of your gods. See the note on Genesis 31:19. Many of those small portable images are now in my own collection, all of copper or brass; some of them the identical penates of the ancient Romans, and others the offspring of the Hindoo idolatry; they are from an ounce weight to half a pound. Such images as these I suppose the idolatrous Israelites, in imitation of their neighbors, the Moabites, Ammonites, etc., to have carried about with them; and to such the prophet appears to me unquestionably to allude.
I will carry you away beyond Babylon – You have carried your idolatrous images about; and I will carry you into captivity, and see if the gods in whom ye have trusted can deliver you from my hands. Instead of beyond Babylon, Amos, from whom the quotation is made, says, I will carry you beyond Damascus. Where they were carried was into Assyria and Media, see 2 Kings 17:6; : now, this was not only beyond Damascus, but beyond Babylon itself; and, as Stephen knew this to be the fact, he states it here, and thus more precisely fixes the place of their captivity. The Holy Spirit, in his farther revelations, has undoubted right to extend or illustrate those which he had given before. This case frequently occurs when a former prophecy is quoted in later times.” Source: here
http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/acts-7.html.
There is a great deal of speculation on what the star was. Some suppose it to have been Saturn because of the worship of the Egyptians and Arabs. Its Coptic name may have been Remphan, or a form thereof. But in Hebrew it was apparently Chiun. An excerpt from Gil’s Exposition:
“and Chiun is indeed, by Kimchi and Aben Ezra (h), said to be the same with Chevan, which, in the Ishmaelitish and Persian languages, signifies Saturn; and so does Rephan in the Egyptian language: and it is further to be observed, that the Egyptians had a king called Remphis, the same with Apis; and this may be the reason why the Septuagint interpreters, who interpreted for Ptolomy, king of Egypt, put Rephan, which Stephen calls Remphan, instead of Chiun, which they were better acquainted with, since they both signify the same deity, and the same star; and which also was the star of the Israelites, called by them because supposed to have the government of the sabbath day, and therefore fitly called the “star of your god”. ” Source: here
http://biblehub.com/commentaries/acts/7-43.htm.
Mostly intended to be a type or form of their idolatry.
That Stephen called them stiff-necked (proud, not bowing before God) and uncircumcised (not of the true circumcision of the faith of Abraham) in verse 51, countered all that they believed and angered them greatly (vs 54, 57). Their history of turning away from God, fornicating with idols and making treaties with idolatrous nations caught up with them. God destroyed their temple in A.D. 70 just as Christ and Stephen told them He would.
Stephen’s address to the council is a significant event in the book of Acts. It is recorded in Acts 7:1-53. Stephen was one of the seven men chosen by the apostles to serve as deacons in the early church. He was known for his wisdom and his ability to perform miracles 1.
In his address, Stephen gave a detailed account of Israel’s history, starting with Abraham and ending with Jesus. He emphasized that God had been at work throughout Israel’s history, even when the people had rejected Him and His messengers 1.
There are several books that examine Stephen’s address to the council. Here are some of them:
- Stephen’s Speech: A Literary Examination: This book by James A. Brooks examines Stephen’s speech from a literary perspective. Brooks analyzes the structure, style, and content of the speech and argues that it is a carefully crafted work of art 2.
- Stephen’s Testimony to the Church: This book by C. Samuel Storms examines Stephen’s speech from a theological perspective. Storms explores the themes of the speech and shows how they relate to the rest of Scripture 3.
- The Speeches in Acts: Their Content, Context, and Concerns: This book by Marion L. Soards examines all of the speeches in Acts, including Stephen’s address to the council. Soards analyzes each speech in its literary and historical context and shows how it contributes to Luke’s overall message .
(1) God calls people outside the temple and the Holy Land.
Being a rather short summary, Stephen’s speech is not a complete record of Israel’s history. There’s a great deal he omits and what he omits is just as important what he includes. For instance, God appears many times to the patriarchs in the land of Canan but Stephen never mentions these appearances. Instead he focuses on God’s activity outside the promised land.
- God calls Abraham while he is still in Mesopotamia even before he lived in the closer land of Haran (7:2).
- Abraham lived only as an alien and a stranger in Canan (7:4-5).
- Abraham’s descendants were also aliens and strangers in a foreign land (7:6-7).
- Joseph rose to power in Egypt and saves his family there (7:9-16).
- Moses is rasied in Egypt as an Egyptian (7:20-22)
- Moses encounters God in the land of Midian near Mt. Sinai (7:29-34).
God clearly calls people outside the places most revered by the Jews.
(2) But the Holy Land is still a special place.
But Stephen still maintains that it is the place to which God has promised and called his people.
- God promised this land to Abraham (7:5).
- God promises that Abraham’s descendents will worship in this place (7:7)
- Jacob and the patriarchs are buried here (7:15-16).
In a bit of a side note, Stephen links the covenant of circumcision with the promise of the land (7:7-8). I think this important for later questions about circumcision in Acts 15.
(3) God is in the habit of raising up quasi gentile saviors whom the Jews oppose
Joseph and Moses are representative figures through which Stephen makes an implied comparison to Jesus. Like Jesus
- Joseph is rejected by his brothers but God rescues him and places him over a gentile nation where he rescues the wider world and his family (7:19-16).
- Moses is rejected by Israel as their deliver but God calls Moses from a gentile land to rescue Israel from bondage (7:17-37).
Stephen even makes the implied comparison between Jesus and Moses more explicit. After laying out the pattern established in the life of Moses, Stephen quotes Moses as saying, “God will send you a prophet like me from your own people (7:37).” And of course Jesus fits the pattern.
Also Just as Israel claimed not to know what happened to Moses when he was on Sinai receiving the the law so Stephen’s implies that his audience in a similar is denying that Jesus is ascended and mediating for us in the presence of God.
(4) Israel has rejected God’s pattern and instead worshiped the temple as an idol.
Stephen makes a subtle comparison between the Israelites past idolatry and their present fixation upon the temple. Note the parallels between the following two statements.
He received living oracles to give to us. Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, saying to Aaron, “Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: “Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan,the images that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.”
Stephen then says
“Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands,, as the prophet says, “‘Heaven is my throne,and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?
These two passages are parallel for the following reasons
- Both begin with a statement about what Moses recieved on the Mountain
- Both claim that Israel rejected what Moses received.
- Both speak about exiting/entering a land and or the beginning and ending of the Exodus.
- Both speak about what Isrealite hands had made
- Both conclude with a Old Testament citation.
Just as the children of Israel worship the “work of their hands” (7:41) so Stephen’s audience is worshiping a temple “made by hands” (7:48). Just as God exiled Israel for idolatry so Stephen appears to imply that God is going exile the present generation for an idolatrous attachment to the temple.
The pattern God showed Moses on the mountain was a movable, mobile tent. God does not dwell in permanent houses made by man. His spirit moves wherever he pleases and the tent was designed to move with him.
Further evidence for Stephen accusing his audience of Idolatry is found in the claim that they are “stiff-necked” like their fathers (Acts 7:51). “Stiff-necked” is a word picture which derives from the experience of plowing with cattle. When a cow is “stiff-necked” it refuses to go where its owner wants it to go. The term is first used of Israel by God after they made the golden calf (Exodus 32:9, 33:3, 5, 34:9). Its relatively rare elsewhere. G. K. Beale makes the observation that Israel in this idolatrous act is becoming what they worshipped – a calf.
Stephen had been taken before the Sanhedrin to answer the charges against him. He was teaching what Jesus had taught – that the temple would be destroyed and the laws of Moses changed. Acts. 6:14-15,
” for we have heard him saying, That this Jesus the Nazarean shall overthrow this place, and shall change the customs that Moses delivered to us;’
15 and gazing at him, all those sitting in the sanhedrim saw his face as it were the face of a messenger.” (YLT)
In Acts 7, Stephen began rehearsing a brief history of the sins of the children of Abraham from the promise given to Abraham through the exodus from Egypt. They were always backsliding, turning to idolatry, and transgressing the law.
In verse 43, the reference is to their idols that they would carry around in little ceremonial boxes – tabernacles.
Clarke’s commentary on verse 43:
“It was customary for the idolaters of all nations to carry images of their gods about them in their journeys, military expeditions, etc.; and these, being very small, were enclosed in little boxes, perhaps some of them in the shape of temples, called tabernacles; or, as we have it, Acts 19:24, shrines. These little gods were the penates and lares among the Romans, and the tselems or talismans among the ancient eastern idolaters. The Hebrew text seems to refer to these when it says, the tabernacle of your Molech, and Chiun, your images, צלמיכם tsalmeycem, your tselems, τους τυπους, the types or simulachres of your gods. See the note on Genesis 31:19. Many of those small portable images are now in my own collection, all of copper or brass; some of them the identical penates of the ancient Romans, and others the offspring of the Hindoo idolatry; they are from an ounce weight to half a pound. Such images as these I suppose the idolatrous Israelites, in imitation of their neighbors, the Moabites, Ammonites, etc., to have carried about with them; and to such the prophet appears to me unquestionably to allude.
I will carry you away beyond Babylon – You have carried your idolatrous images about; and I will carry you into captivity, and see if the gods in whom ye have trusted can deliver you from my hands. Instead of beyond Babylon, Amos, from whom the quotation is made, says, I will carry you beyond Damascus. Where they were carried was into Assyria and Media, see 2 Kings 17:6; : now, this was not only beyond Damascus, but beyond Babylon itself; and, as Stephen knew this to be the fact, he states it here, and thus more precisely fixes the place of their captivity. The Holy Spirit, in his farther revelations, has undoubted right to extend or illustrate those which he had given before. This case frequently occurs when a former prophecy is quoted in later times.” Source: here
There is a great deal of speculation on what the star was. Some suppose it to have been Saturn because of the worship of the Egyptians and Arabs. Its Coptic name may have been Remphan, or a form thereof. But in Hebrew it was apparently Chiun. An excerpt from Gil’s Exposition:
“and Chiun is indeed, by Kimchi and Aben Ezra (h), said to be the same with Chevan, which, in the Ishmaelitish and Persian languages, signifies Saturn; and so does Rephan in the Egyptian language: and it is further to be observed, that the Egyptians had a king called Remphis, the same with Apis; and this may be the reason why the Septuagint interpreters, who interpreted for Ptolomy, king of Egypt, put Rephan, which Stephen calls Remphan, instead of Chiun, which they were better acquainted with, since they both signify the same deity, and the same star; and which also was the star of the Israelites, called by them because supposed to have the government of the sabbath day, and therefore fitly called the “star of your god”. ”
Source: here
http://biblehub.com/commentaries/acts/7-43.htm
Mostly intended to be a type or form of their idolatry.
That Stephen called them stiff-necked (proud, not bowing before God) and uncircumcised (not of the true circumcision of the faith of Abraham) in verse 51, countered all that they believed and angered them greatly (vs 54, 57). Their history of turning away from God, fornicating with idols and making treaties with idolatrous nations caught up with them. God destroyed their temple in A.D. 70 just as Christ and Stephen told them He would.
If you examine the so-called ‘Star of David,’ or hexagram, closely, you discover something astonishing. It has six points, forms six equilateral triangles, and in its interior forms a six sided hexagon. Thus, it has been intentionally designed with a 666 message. God specifically warns against this kind of thing in His written word. Christians and Jews must not look to or dabble in the occult, not even for fun and entertainment.
The star was mentioned and condemned by the God of Israel in Amos 5:26 and it was called by Him, the star of your god, Moloch' or otherwise calledChiun’. Reference to Amos 5:26 and the Israelites having it in the wilderness was also made in Acts 7:43. Here it was called the Star of Remphan. All these names refer to the `god’ Saturn. The hexagram was brought to the Jewish people by Solomon when he turned to witchcraft and idolatry after his marriage to Pharaoh’s daughter in 922B.C. It became known as the Seal of Solomon in Egyptian magic and witchcraft. David had absolutely nothing to do with the hexagram and that star most certainly did not, in any way, represent God’s people. Solomon gave himself up to satanic worship and built altars to Ashtoreth and Moloch (Saturn).
The Star of Remphan is a serious, deep end times study of thousands of years-old prophecies from the Bible, and it is relevant today because some of it has been fulfilled already and some will be fulfilled in the near future. Our subject today is the Jews in the time of Jacob’s trouble, the great Tribulation and the covenant with death and Hell that the Jews will make with Antichrist.
where did it come from originally?
The Star of Remphan is a serious, deep end times study of thousands of years-old prophecies from the Bible, and it is relevant today because some of it has been fulfilled already and some will be fulfilled in the near future. Our subject today is the Jews in the time of Jacob’s trouble, the great Tribulation and the covenant with death and Hell that the Jews will make with Antichrist.
The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia declares that the six-pointed star—according to the star-worshipping Rosicrucians—was known to the ancient Egyptians. The religion of the ancient Egyptians is known to have consisted preeminently of sun-worship. Moses sternly warned the Israelites against worshiping the sun, moon, stars, and all the host of heaven.
Deuteronomy 4:19 And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage.
Moses’ warning was emphatic. The prohibition of making and worshiping any image of that which is in heaven above emphasizes the stars and implies also the other celestial bodies.
The six-pointed star can be traced through the worship of Ashtoreth (also known as Astarte, meaning ‘star’) and Chiun and Remphan (meaning ‘star’) from the Egyptians before King Solomon’s time.
The first biblical mention of an idolatrous star among the Israelites is in the 8th century BC, mentioned in Amos 5 regarding their trek from Egypt to Canaan. God is thinking back and talking them about what had transpired.
Amos 5:25-27 “Did you offer Me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? You also carried Sikkuth [i.e., tabernacle of Moloch, the god to which they sacrificed children] your king and Chiun, [i.e., a pagan deity] your idols, the star of your gods, which you made for yourselves. Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.
It cannot be determined whether this star is the occult six-pointed star we know today as the Star of David; nevertheless, this verse does establish that the worship of pagan gods used a star or stars to symbolize them.
Regarding star worship, the Jewish Encyclopedia says,
This is perhaps the oldest form of idolatry practiced by the ancients. The observation of the stars in the East very early led the people to regard the planets and the fixed stars as gods. The ancient Israelites fell into this kind of idolatry, and they had the image of Siccuth and Chiun, “the star of their gods.” The star of the pagan deity Chiun is generally believed to represent the planet Saturn.
In the book The History and Practice of Magic, Volume 2, the six-pointed star is called the talisman of Saturn. The obverse side has the five pointed star, commonly called the pentagram; and the reverse side has the Seal of Solomon with the hexagram at its center. The hexagram is also known as the “King’s Star” in astrological circles, and was an important astrological symbol in Zoroastrianism. It was also used by the Druids during the highest Sabbath of occultists and witches, now called “Halloween.” The hexagram is also found in Arabian magic and witchcraft through the Middle Ages.
The Shield or Star of David is not mentioned in rabbinic literature at all. Notably, not a single ancient archeological proof exists as yet concerning the use of this symbol in the Holy Land in ancient times, even after King David. It has been noted in two isolated cases in the 3rd century AD: on a Jewish tombstone at Tarentum, in southern Italy, and it was used in the Capernaum synagogue in the same century.
The earliest Jewish literary source which mentions it is the 12th century Eshkol ha-Kofer, written by the Karaite Jewish scholar Judah Hadassi. He writes,
Seven names of angels precede the mezuzah: Michael, Gabriel, etc…. YHWH protect thee! And likewise the sign called “David’s shield” [the Star of David] is placed beside the name of each angel.
The name “Star of David” originated in the 13th century in Kabbalah—the ancient Jewish tradition of mystical interpretation of the Bible—where it is a magic symbol associated with the pentagram. It is very commonly known that the pentagram is directly associated with witchcraft and occultism.
The star symbol continues down through the occult to the Jewish Mayer Amschel Bauer, who, in the 18th century, changed his name to depict the red six-pointed star (or shield) which he had hung on his door in Germany, and thus began the family of the “Red Shield” or Rothschild. Also, several Rothschild descendants have the star of David on their coat of arms. They were a Jewish family, but it is not a symbol of Judaism.
The Rothschilds were instrumental in raising up the Zionist Movement in 1896, in funding its activities, and then forcing the occultist leaders of Israel in 1948 to adopt the hexagram as their national symbol.
The “Star of David” was adopted by the First Zionist Congress (in 1897) as a symbol, and it is seen on the flags of the Zionist Organization and of the State of Israel.
There is no biblical evidence, whether Scriptural or archeological, that the so called ‘Star of David’ is a God-given symbol for the Israelites (or, more specifically, the Jews). The Israelite view of God under Moses, which permitted no images of God, was and still is, opposed to the acceptance of any symbols to represent God, and neither the Bible nor the Talmud condones them.
There is extensive evidence that the ‘Star of David’ originated in very ancient occult practices and continues to occupy a place in those practices today. Sadly, this practice is prevalent within Judaism and Christianity today. It is an interweaving of occult mysticism with the Holy Scriptures.
The so-called ‘Star of David’ is essentially a hexagram, nothing more, nothing less. There is no biblical, archaeological or Jewish evidence that traces this ancient occult symbol to king David of Israel.
Some Orthodox Jewish groups reject the use of the hexagram Shield of David because of its association with magic and the occult. They do not recognize it as a Jewish symbol.
If you examine the so-called ‘Star of David,’ or hexagram, closely, you discover something astonishing. It has six points, forms six equilateral triangles, and in its interior forms a six sided hexagon. Thus, it has been intentionally designed with a 666 message. God specifically warns against this kind of thing in His written word. Christians and Jews must not look to or dabble in the occult, not even for fun and entertainment.
Witches, magicians, mediums or sorcerers will not guide you in your walk with God, neither will “good luck charms” protect you. And we are certainly not to use their symbols as representative of God or His People.
amos – In Acts 7:43, what are “the tabernacle of Moloch” and “the star of Remphan”? – Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange
The orthodox principle. I call this principle the “orthodox” principle because it will be especially agreeable to Christians in the Orthodox (Eastern) tradition. According to this principle,
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