TRV
Translation
King James Version
Our 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.
Complete Jewish Bible
“Our fathers had the Tent of Witness in the wilderness. It had been made just as God, who spoke to Moshe, had ordered it made, according to the pattern Moshe had seen.
Berean Standard Bible
Our fathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the wilderness. It was constructed exactly as God had directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.
American Standard Version
Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he appointed who spake unto Moses, that he should make it according to the figure that he had seen.
World English Bible Messianic
“Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen;
Geneva Bible (1599)
Our fathers had the tabernacle of witnes, in the wildernes, as hee had appointed, speaking vnto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seene.
Young's Literal Translation
`The tabernacle of the testimony was among our fathers in the wilderness, according as He did direct, who is speaking to Moses, to make it according to the figure that he had seen;
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In the KJVVerse 27,161 of 31,102
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Commentary on Acts 7 verses 42–50
42 ¶ Then 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?
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.
44 Our 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.
45 Which 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;
46 Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
47 But Solomon built him an house.
48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
49 Heaven 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?
50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
I. II. Main points1. 2. Sub-points
Two things we have in these verses: -
I. Stephen upbraids them with the idolatry of their fathers, which God gave them up to, as a punishment for their early forsaking him in worshipping the golden calf; and this was the saddest punishment of all for that sin, as it was of the idolatry of the Gentile world that God gave them up to a reprobate mind. When Israel was joined to idols, joined to the golden calf, and not long after to Baal-peor, God said, Let them alone; let them go on (Act 7:42): Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven. He particularly cautioned them not to do it, at their peril, and gave them reasons why they should not; but, when they were bent upon it, he gave them up to their own hearts; lust, withdrew his restraining grace, and then they walked in their own counsels, and were so scandalously mad upon their idols as never any people were. Compare Deu 4:19 with Jer 8:2. For this he quotes a passage out of Amo 5:25. For it would be less invidious to tell them their own [character and doom] from an Old Testament prophet, who upbraids them,
1.For not sacrificing to their own God in the wilderness (Act 7:42): Have you offered to me slain beasts, and sacrifices, by the space of forty years in the wilderness? No; during all that time sacrifices to God were intermitted; they did not so much as keep the passover after the second year. It was God's condescension to them that he did not insist upon it during their unsettled state; but then let them consider how ill they requited him in offering sacrifices to idols, when God dispensed with their offering them to him. This is also a check to their zeal for the customs that Moses delivered to them, and their fear of having them changed by this Jesus, that immediately after they were delivered these customs were for forty years together disused as needless things.
2.For sacrificing to other gods after they came to Canaan (Act 7:43): You took up the tabernacle of Moloch. Moloch was the idol of the children of Ammon, to which they barbarously offered their own children in sacrifice, which they could not do without great terror and grief to themselves and their families; yet this unnatural idolatry they arrived at, when God gave them up to worship the host of heaven. See Ch2 28:3. It was surely the strongest delusion that ever people were given up to, and the greatest instance of the power of Satan in the children of disobedience, and therefore it is here spoken of emphatically: Yea, you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, you submitted even to that, and to the worship of the star of your god Remphan. Some think Remphan signifies the moon, as Moloch does the sun; others take it for Saturn, for that planet is called Remphan in the Syriac and Persian languages. The Septuagint puts it for Chiun, as being a name more commonly known. They had images representing the star, like the silver shrines for Diana, here called the figures which they made to worship. Dr. Lightfoot thinks they had figures representing the whole starry firmament, with all the constellations, and the planets, and these are called Remphan - "the high representation," like the celestial globe: a poor thing to make an idol of, and yet better than a golden calf! Now for this it is threatened, I will carry you away beyond Babylon. In Amos it is beyond Damascus, meaning to Babylon, the land of the north. But Stephen changes it, with an eye to the captivity of the ten tribes, who were carried away beyond Babylon, by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, Kg2 17:6. Let it not therefore seem strange to them to hear of the destruction of this place, for they had heard of it many a time from the prophets of the Old Testament, who were not therefore accused as blasphemers by any but the wicked rulers. It was observed, in the debate on Jeremiah's case, that Micah was not called to an account though he prophesied, saying, Zion shall be ploughed as a field, Jer 26:18, Jer 26:19.
II. He gives an answer particularly to the charge exhibited against him relating to the temple, that he spoke blasphemous words against that holy place, Act 7:44-50. He was accused for saying that Jesus would destroy this holy place: "And what if I did say so?" (saith Stephen) "the glory of the holy God is not bound up in the glory of this holy place, but that may be preserved untouched, though this be laid in the dust;" for, 1. "It was not till our fathers came into the wilderness, in their way to Canaan, that they had any fixed place of worship; and yet the patriarchs, many ages before, worshipped God acceptably at the altars they had adjoining to their own tents in the open air - sub dio; and he that was worshipped without a holy place in the first, and best, and purest ages of the Old Testament church, may and will be so when this holy place is destroyed, without any diminution to his glory." 2. The holy place was at first but a tabernacle, mean and movable, showing itself to be short-lived, and not designed to continue always. Why might not this holy place, though built of stones, be decently brought to its end, and give place to its betters, as well as that though framed of curtains? As it was no dishonour, but an honour to God, that the tabernacle gave way to the temple, so it is now that the material temple gives way to the spiritual one, and so it will be when, at last, the spiritual temple shall give way to the eternal one. 3. That tabernacle was a tabernacle of witness, or of testimony, a figure of good things to come, of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not men, Heb 8:2. This was the glory both of the tabernacle and temple, that they were erected for a testimony of that temple of God which in the latter days should be opened in heaven (Rev 11:19), and of Christ's tabernacling on earth (as the word is, Joh 1:14), and of the temple of his body. 4. That tabernacle was framed just as God appointed, and according to the fashion which Moses saw in the mount, which plainly intimates that it had reference to good things to come. Its rise being heavenly, its meaning and tendency were so; and therefore it was no diminution at all to its glory to say that this temple made with hands should be destroyed, in order to the building of another made without hands, which was Christ's crime (Mar 14:58), and Stephen's. 5. That tabernacle was pitched first in the wilderness; it was not a native of this land of yours (to which you think it must for ever be confined), but was brought in in the next age, by our fathers, who came after those who first erected it, into the possession of the Gentiles, into the land of Canaan, which had long been in the possession of the devoted nations whom God drove out before the face of our fathers. And why may not God set up his spiritual temple, as he had done the material tabernacle, in those countries that were now the possession of the Gentiles? That tabernacle was brought in by those who came with Jesus, that is, Joshua. And I think, for distinction sake, and to prevent mistakes, it ought to be so read, both here and Heb 4:8. Yet in naming Joshua here, which in Greek is Jesus, there may be a tacit intimation that as the Old Testament Joshua brought in that typical tabernacle, so the New Testament Joshua should bring in the true tabernacle into the possession of the Gentiles. 6. That tabernacle continued for many ages, even to the days of David, above four hundred years, before there was any thought of building a temple, Act 7:45. David, having found favour before God, did indeed desire this further favour, to have leave to build God a house, to be a constant settled tabernacle, or dwelling-place, for the Shechinah, or the tokens of the presence of the God of Jacob, Act 7:46. Those who have found favour with God should show themselves forward to advance the interests of his kingdom among men. 7. God had his heart so little upon a temple, or such a holy place as they were so jealous for, that, when David desired to build one, he was forbidden to do it; God was in no haste for one, as he told David (Sa2 7:7), and therefore it was not he, but his son Solomon, some years after, that built him a house. David had all that sweet communion with God in public worship which we read of in his Psalms before there was any temple built. 8. God often declared that temples made with hands were not his delight, nor could add any thing to the perfection of his rest and joy. Solomon, when he dedicated the temple, acknowledged that God dwelleth not in temples made with hands; he has not need of them, is not benefited by them, cannot be confined to them. The whole world is his temple, in which he is every where present, and fills it with his glory; and what occasion has he for a temple then to manifest himself in? Indeed the pretended deities of the heathen needed temples made with hands, for they were gods made with hands (Act 7:41), and had no other place to manifest themselves in than in their own temples; but the one only true and living God needs no temple, for the heaven is his throne, in which he rests, and the earth is his footstool, over which he rules (Act 7:49, Act 7:50), and therefore, What house will you build me, comparable to this which I have already? Or, what is the place of my rest? What need have I of a house, either to repose myself in or to show myself? Hath not my hand made all these things? And these show his eternal power and Godhead (Rom 1:20); they so show themselves to all mankind that those who worship other gods are without excuse. And as the world is thus God's temple, wherein he is manifested, so it is God's temple in which he will be worshipped. As the earth is full of his glory, and is therefore his temple (Isa 6:3), so the earth is, or shall be, full of his praise (Hab 3:3), and all the ends of the earth shall fear him (Psa 67:7), and upon this account it is his temple. It was therefore no reflection at all upon this holy place, however they might take it, to say that Jesus should destroy this temple, and set up another, into which all nations should be admitted, Act 15:16, Act 15:17. And it would not seem strange to those who considered that scripture which Stephen here quotes (Isa 66:1-3), which, as it expressed God's comparative contempt of the external part of his service, so it plainly foretold the rejection of the unbelieving Jews, and the welcome of the Gentiles that were of a contrite spirit into the church.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 42–50. Public domain.
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John ChrysostomAD 407
Homily on Acts 17
"Our 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 he had seen." "But a Tabernacle," say you, "there was (the Tabernacle) 'of Witness.'" (Yes,) this is why it was: that they should have God for Witness: this was all. "According to the fashion," it says, "that was shown thee on the mount:" so that on the mount was the Original. And this Tabernacle, moreover, "in the wilderness," was carried about, and not locally fixed. And he calls it, "Tabernacle of witness:" i.e. (for witness) of the miracles, of the statutes. This is the reason why both it and those (the fathers) had no Temple.
John ChrysostomAD 407
Homily on Acts 17
Seest thou, how the holy place is there wherever God may be? For to this end also he says, "in the wilderness," to compare place with place. Then the benefit (conferred upon them): And our fathers that came after brought it in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David.
BedeAD 735
Commentary on Acts
The tabernacle of testimony was with our fathers in the desert. Because they said he was acting against the holy place, here he shows that the Lord does not greatly esteem decorated stone but desires the splendor of heavenly souls. Where he wants it to be understood that just as the tabernacle was in the wilderness before the construction of the temple, so they should understand the temple itself to be destroyed when a better state succeeds. As Jeremiah once foretold, saying: Do not trust in lying words, saying: The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord (Jerem. VII). And after some time: I will do to this house, in which my name is called, and in which you have trust, as I did to Shiloh, where my name dwelled at the beginning, and I will cast you away from my face (Ibid.).
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
In Acts 7:44, Stephen, in his defense before the Sanhedrin, recounts Israel's wilderness journey, emphasizing the divine origin and nature of the Tabernacle. He highlights that this portable sanctuary, known as the "tabernacle of witness," was constructed precisely according to God's specific instructions given to Moses, mirroring a heavenly pattern. This detail underscores God's meticulous involvement in establishing worship and His presence among His people, laying groundwork for Stephen's broader argument about God's non-confinement to human-made structures.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Stephen employs several literary devices to strengthen his argument in Acts 7:44. The most prominent is Allusion, as he directly references the detailed commands given to Moses in the Pentateuch regarding the Tabernacle's construction (e.g., Exodus 25:9). This appeals to the shared scriptural knowledge of his Jewish audience, grounding his historical review in their sacred texts. Furthermore, there is strong Emphasis on the divine origin and meticulous design of the Tabernacle, highlighted by phrases like "as he had appointed" and "according to the fashion that he had seen." This emphasis serves to establish God's ultimate authority over worship and His dwelling, subtly preparing the ground for Stephen's later argument that God does not dwell in temples made with hands. Finally, the Tabernacle itself functions as Symbolism, representing God's portable presence among His people, a "tabernacle of witness" to His covenant faithfulness. This symbolism contrasts with the fixed Temple, implying that God's presence is not bound by physical structures but is dynamic and adaptable, a point central to Stephen's defense against the accusation of speaking against the Temple.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Acts 7:44 profoundly illustrates God's desire to dwell among His people, albeit in a manner that transcends human limitations and expectations. The Tabernacle, divinely designed and portable, served as a crucial theological bridge between God's transcendence and His immanence during Israel's wilderness journey. Its construction "according to the fashion that he had seen" points to a heavenly archetype, suggesting that earthly worship structures are but shadows or copies of a greater, eternal reality. This concept challenges the notion that God can be confined to any single physical edifice, a central point in Stephen's defense, and lays the groundwork for understanding God's ultimate dwelling place not in buildings, but in His people through the Holy Spirit and ultimately in Christ.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Stephen's emphasis on the Tabernacle's divine origin and its construction "according to the fashion that he had seen" offers profound lessons for contemporary believers. It reminds us that authentic worship and service to God must always be rooted in His revealed will, not in human preferences, traditions, or architectural grandeur. Just as God provided a meticulous blueprint for His ancient dwelling place, so too does He provide clear guidance in His Word for how we are to approach Him, live for Him, and build His spiritual house today. This verse challenges us to examine our own practices of worship and discipleship: are they truly aligned with God's "fashion" and purposes, or are they merely reflections of human ingenuity or cultural trends? It encourages a posture of seeking God's blueprint for our lives and ministries, recognizing that His ways are perfect, purposeful, and ultimately lead to genuine encounters with His presence. Moreover, the Tabernacle's portability serves as a powerful reminder that God's presence is not confined to church buildings or sacred spaces, but dwells within His people, enabling us to carry His presence into every sphere of life.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why did Stephen emphasize the Tabernacle's construction details in his defense?
Answer: Stephen's detailed account of the Tabernacle's construction in Acts 7:44 served several strategic purposes in his defense before the Sanhedrin. Firstly, he aimed to demonstrate his profound respect for the Law and Israel's history, countering the accusation that he spoke "against this holy place, and the law" Acts 6:13. By meticulously recounting the divine instructions for the Tabernacle, he showed his reverence for God's established order. Secondly, and more subtly, he was building a theological argument. The Tabernacle, unlike the later fixed Temple, was portable, symbolizing God's presence not being confined to a single location. Its construction "according to the fashion that he had seen" also pointed to a heavenly, non-earthly origin, hinting that God's true dwelling was not ultimately in human-made structures. This laid the groundwork for his climactic statement in Acts 7:48, challenging the Sanhedrin's over-reliance on the physical Temple.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Acts 7:44, with its focus on the divinely appointed Tabernacle and its heavenly pattern, finds its ultimate and profound fulfillment in Jesus Christ. The Tabernacle served as a temporary, portable dwelling place for God among His people, a shadow of the reality to come. Jesus, as the incarnate Son of God, is the true "Tabernacle of God with men" John 1:14, where the Greek word for "dwelt" is related to skēnē, "tabernacle". He is the ultimate "tabernacle of witness," bearing perfect testimony to God's character, will, and redemptive plan, fulfilling the Law and the Prophets. The earthly Tabernacle, built according to a heavenly "fashion" or "pattern," foreshadowed Christ as the perfect embodiment of God's presence and the means of access to Him. The author of Hebrews explicitly states that the earthly Tabernacle and its rituals were merely "a copy and shadow of the heavenly things" Hebrews 8:5, with Christ being the superior High Priest who entered the true, heavenly Tabernacle "not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption" Hebrews 9:12. Thus, the temporary, physical structure of Acts 7:44 points forward to Christ, who is God's eternal dwelling place, the perfect witness, and the ultimate means by which humanity can draw near to God.