Bede — Commentary on Scripture

Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.

They set them before the sight of the apostles, and praying, they laid hands on them. Not those who set them, but the apostles, laid hands on them. For indeed the common dispensation demanded that men be chosen as ministers for widows; but when those were found who seemed worthy for this ministry, gradually, as often happens, the providence of the saving counsel pleased that they themselves should be ordained as ministers of the altar of the sacred and dominical blood, as well as the refection and common table of the multitude of believers: which is proved by the word which said: And praying, they laid hands on them. For this is indeed for those who are promoted from the common number of the faithful to the office of the most holy altar.

Acts 6:8 · 2 passages

And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.

Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. In Greek it is added: In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I wrote in the previous book that Stephen is interpreted as "crowned," and it is not far from the truth what I wrote. But learning more diligently, I found that Stephen in Greek signifies not "crowned," but "crown." For this name is of the masculine gender among them, and thus appropriate for a man; however, the term for "crowned" is στεφανηφόρον, as if, "bearing a crown." Indeed, in the psalm where we sing: You will bless the crown of the year with your goodness (Psalm 64), that verse begins among the Greeks as εὐλογήσεις τὸν στέφανον. Expounding beautifully on the mystery of this name, Eusebius says: "Immediately, after his ordination, he was stoned by those who also killed the Lord, whereby a crown is given to Stephen by Christ in accordance with his name." The term for "crown" in Greek is also in the neuter gender στέμμα. I thought this worth noting, because we often find this name included even in Latin books.

Stephen, full of grace and strength, performed great wonders and signs among the people. But some from the synagogue, which was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, etc., arose. Stephen, in Greek, is called Crowned in Latin. He anticipated in his name the reality of being crowned, humbly stoned, but sublimely crowned. In Hebrew, it is interpreted as your norm. Whose? Namely, of the subsequent martyrs, of whom he was the first to suffer, setting the example of dying for Christ.

Acts 6:9

Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.

However, there arose some from the synagogue called the Libertines and Cyrenians, etc. And in the Greek text, the name Libertines is written. Now, libertini are called the sons of freedmen, that is, those who, after servitude, were freed and granted liberty. It is therefore evident that those who first rebelled against the faith of Christ were born of a servile stock; who, although they were emancipated from human masters, nonetheless did not cease to be slaves of sin. In their person, the most wicked persecutors of faith and all holiness, namely heretics, are fittingly portrayed, about whom Peter says: "For speaking proud words of vanity, they lure in the lusts of the flesh those who have barely escaped, those who walk in error, promising them liberty, while they themselves are slaves of corruption" (2 Peter 2). This servitude is, of course, opposed to the liberty of the Spirit, which the Bereans had, about whom it is said in praise while Paul and Silas preached: "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, who received the word with all eagerness, daily examining the Scriptur…

However, there arose some from the synagogue called the Libertines and Cyrenians, etc. And in the Greek text, the name Libertines is written. Now, libertini are called the sons of freedmen, that is, those who, after servitude, were freed and granted liberty. It is therefore evident that those who first rebelled against the faith of Christ were born of a servile stock; who, although they were emancipated from human masters, nonetheless did not cease to be slaves of sin. In their person, the most wicked persecutors of faith and all holiness, namely heretics, are fittingly portrayed, about whom Peter says: "For speaking proud words of vanity, they lure in the lusts of the flesh those who have barely escaped, those who walk in error, promising them liberty, while they themselves are slaves of corruption" (2 Peter 2). This servitude is, of course, opposed to the liberty of the Spirit, which the Bereans had, about whom it is said in praise while Paul and Silas preached: "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, who received the word with all eagerness, daily examining the Scriptures."

Acts 6:10 · 2 passages

And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.

And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Holy Spirit who spoke. In the Greek text, there is more: "And they were not able to resist the wisdom that was in him, and the Holy Spirit who spoke: for which reason they were reproved by him with all confidence." Therefore, when they could not contradict the truth, then they suborned men who said, etc.

And they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. This is what the Lord Himself says to His martyrs: For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. It was fitting that in the first martyr, what He deigned to promise to all who are betrayed for His name should be confirmed.

Acts 7:1

Then said the high priest, Are these things so?

Then the high priest said. In the Greek text, it is added to Stephen; and then it is appended: "Are these things so?"

Acts 7:2 · 2 passages

And 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,

The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, etc. It should be noted, according to the words of Stephen, that it was not as it appears in Genesis, that God spoke to Abraham after the death of his father, who certainly died in Haran, where the son also lived with him; but before he dwelt in the same city, even then when he was in the region of Mesopotamia, of which it is a city.

Brothers and fathers, hear: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham. Because the blessed Stephen was accused of speaking blasphemy against Moses and God, at the very beginning of his speech he very vigilantly addressed their slander by saying that the same God who spoke to the fathers and prophets was the God of majesty and glory. Even when he reached the times of Moses in his speech, he praised him with fitting words, but proved that those people had always been rebellious and disobedient to his words. It is also noteworthy how skillfully he spoke; thus, he began to speak to his persecutors as if he were afraid of them: Brothers and fathers, hear. What could be gentler, what could be more gracious in winning over his audience, than to commend the Savior? He began gently so that he would be listened to for a long time. And since he had been accused here of speaking against God and the law, just as he showed that he was preaching the true God at the beginning of his speech, he also explained their law to them in such a way that he was seen as a proclaimer of that law of which…

Brothers and fathers, hear: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham. Because the blessed Stephen was accused of speaking blasphemy against Moses and God, at the very beginning of his speech he very vigilantly addressed their slander by saying that the same God who spoke to the fathers and prophets was the God of majesty and glory. Even when he reached the times of Moses in his speech, he praised him with fitting words, but proved that those people had always been rebellious and disobedient to his words. It is also noteworthy how skillfully he spoke; thus, he began to speak to his persecutors as if he were afraid of them: Brothers and fathers, hear. What could be gentler, what could be more gracious in winning over his audience, than to commend the Savior? He began gently so that he would be listened to for a long time. And since he had been accused here of speaking against God and the law, just as he showed that he was preaching the true God at the beginning of his speech, he also explained their law to them in such a way that he was seen as a proclaimer of that law of which he was accused of being a destroyer. Indeed, as his speech progressed, when he refuted both their new and old errors, he clearly showed how great was the authority of his spirit, and how free his soul was from the fear of the enemy.

Acts 7:3

And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.

"Leave your country and your kindred and come into the land I will show you." Then he left the land, etc. The land and kindred of Abraham refers to the homeland and race of the Chaldeans, from where he had long since left, who now lived in Mesopotamia, but because he left with hope of returning and longing, he hears from the Lord: "Leave your country." Not to physically move himself, which he had already done, but to remove the love of it from his mind. Therefore, what follows: Then he left the land of the Chaldeans, does not signify a physical departure, but a departure of the mind, by which he separated himself forever from the conversation and people of the Chaldeans. Because according to the belief of the Chroniclers, in the same year he left Chaldea, entered Mesopotamia, stayed in Haran, and was led into the promised land.

Acts 7:6

And 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.

For his seed shall be a stranger in a foreign land, and they shall subject them to slavery and mistreat them for four hundred years. It should not be understood as if he said that this seed would be mistreated or subjected to slavery for those four hundred years, but by a hyperbaton it should be read that his seed would be strangers for four hundred years, during part of which time slavery also occurred. For it is written: "In Isaac shall your seed be called" (Gen. XXI), and from the year of Isaac's birth to the year of the exodus from Egypt four hundred and five years are counted, which Scripture, in its manner, calls four hundred years, during which that seed would be strangers, either in the land of Canaan or in Egypt. It can also be understood that from Isaac's fifth year, when through the son of the bondwoman, affliction began, the labor of four hundred years is counted.

Acts 7:14

Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.

Joseph called his father Jacob and all his kin, seventy-five souls. He follows the Septuagint in saying this, but in the Hebrew truth, only seventy souls are found. And if you wish to count the series of souls in Genesis, adding Jacob himself and Joseph with his two sons who were in Egypt, you will find only seventy souls.

Acts 7:16 · 3 passages

And 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.

And he died and our fathers, and they were carried over to Shechem. Concerning Joseph alone, Scripture relates that his bones were transferred from Egypt and buried in Shechem. But from these blessed Stephen’s words and from the writings of Saint Jerome, who lived in those places, it should be noted that the other patriarchs were also buried there, although the memory of Joseph is deservedly more celebrated, since he himself commanded that this be done with his bones, and the city itself belonged to his tribe. Indeed, Jerome in the history of blessed Paula relates thus: "He passed (he says) through Shechem, not as many mistakenly read Sichar, which is now called Neapolis, and around Jacob’s well, built on the side of Mount Garizim, over which the Lord sat, he entered the church." And soon after: "And from there (he says) turning, he saw the tombs of the twelve patriarchs." Likewise in the book about the best kind of translation: "The twelve patriarchs are not buried in Arbes, but in Shechem." But understandably, what follows troubles:

And they were placed in the tomb which Abraham bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. For Genesis teaches that Abraham bought the place of the tomb from Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, in Cariatharba, for four hundred silver shekels, in which Abraham himself, Isaac, Jacob, and Adam the first man were buried. And also Jacob, returning from Mesopotamia, received a portion of the field near the city of Shechem, where he pitched his tents, from Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred lambs given. Therefore, Abraham did not buy the sepulcher from Hamor the Shechemite but from Ephron the Hittite, in which the twelve patriarchs were not buried, but in Shechem, as we have said. However, blessed Stephen, speaking commonly, follows the common opinion more in his speech. For combining two narratives together, he aims not so much at the proper order of the surrounding history as at the cause in question, which was being discussed. For he who was accused of teaching against the holy place and the law proceeds to show how Jesus Christ is shown from the…

And they were placed in the tomb which Abraham bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. For Genesis teaches that Abraham bought the place of the tomb from Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, in Cariatharba, for four hundred silver shekels, in which Abraham himself, Isaac, Jacob, and Adam the first man were buried. And also Jacob, returning from Mesopotamia, received a portion of the field near the city of Shechem, where he pitched his tents, from Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred lambs given. Therefore, Abraham did not buy the sepulcher from Hamor the Shechemite but from Ephron the Hittite, in which the twelve patriarchs were not buried, but in Shechem, as we have said. However, blessed Stephen, speaking commonly, follows the common opinion more in his speech. For combining two narratives together, he aims not so much at the proper order of the surrounding history as at the cause in question, which was being discussed. For he who was accused of teaching against the holy place and the law proceeds to show how Jesus Christ is shown from the law to be promised, and that they did not choose to serve Moses then, nor the Lord now. These things I have said as I could, not prejudicing a better judgment, if one be present. Moreover, where it is said: From the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem, it is written in the Greek example: From the sons of Hamor, who was in Shechem, which seems to agree more with the history of Genesis, though it may have happened that the same Hamor had a father and son named Shechem.

And they were placed in the sepulcher that Abraham had purchased for a sum of silver. In the Greek it is written: Our father Abraham, which the blessed Stephen added while speaking gently to his listeners so he would be heard longer and more willingly.

Acts 7:17 · 2 passages

But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

But when the time of the promise which God had confessed to Abraham approached, it is better written in Greek: Which God had promised to Abraham.

But when the time of the promise which God had confessed to Abraham was drawing near, namely that which was said: And after these things, they will go out and serve me in this place.

Acts 7:27

But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?

Who made you a ruler and judge over us? In his entire speech, he convicted them, already then being contrary to the law and Moses.

Acts 7:31-32

When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,

And as he came near to observe, the voice of the Lord came: I am the God of your fathers. In the Greek it is written thus: A voice came from heaven saying to him: I am the God of your brothers, remove the sandals from your feet. For the place where you stand is holy ground. This place, according to moral sense, admonishes us that while standing in the Church, which is rightly called holy ground, we should renounce dead works.

Acts 7:37

This 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.

This is Moses who said to the sons of Israel: God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers, like me. Like me, visible in the flesh, but more wonderful in majesty and more terrible in majesty than I. He says, lest the doctrine of Christ be thought new and foreign, it is Moses himself, whom your fathers did not wish to obey, who preaches and says that he will come in the form of a man and will give the precepts of life to all souls.