UBF Daily Bread

GOD'S WORD REJECTED

Passage: Acts 7:39~50

Key verse: 39

³⁹“But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.^(A) ⁴⁰They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’^[a]^(B) ⁴¹That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made.^(C) ⁴²But God turned away from them^(D) and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars.^(E) This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:

“‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
    forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?
⁴³You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek
    and the star of your god Rephan,
    the idols you made to worship.
Therefore I will send you into exile’^[b]^(F) beyond Babylon.

⁴⁴“Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law^(G) with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.^(H) ⁴⁵After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them.^(I) It remained in the land until the time of David,^(J) ⁴⁶who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.^[c]^(K) ⁴⁷But it was Solomon who built a house for him.^(L)

⁴⁸“However, the Most High^(M) does not live in houses made by human hands.^(N) As the prophet says:

⁴⁹“‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.^(O)
What kind of house will you build for me?
says the Lord.
Or where will my resting place be?
⁵⁰Has not my hand made all these things?’^[d]^(P)

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Footnotes

Acts 7:40 Exodus 32:1
Acts 7:43 Amos 5:25-27 (see Septuagint)
Acts 7:46 Some early manuscripts the house of Jacob
Acts 7:50 Isaiah 66:1,2

1. God gave them over (39-43)

The idolatry that eventually led God's people into Babylonian captivity started in the desert when they made the golden calf (Ex 32). They did not obey Moses, who had received God's living word; in their hearts they turned back to Egypt and to the fatalistic, spiritual-struggle-free slave life.

2. God does not live in houses made by men (44-50)

The tabernacle in the desert was made by Moses according to God's pattern. It was brought into the promised land by Joshua. The great King David did not build the temple--his son Solomon did. Solomon knew that God is not confined to any house. Heaven is his throne and earth his footstool. He is the Creator. Stephen had been accused of speaking against the temple and the law (6:13). He taught them the Bible: God cannot be confined in a building. He pointed out that they were the law-breakers. They had rejected the Bible by not obeying it.

Prayer: Lord, help me to hold your word in my heart, and not yield to the seduction of any idol.

One Word: Worship God in God's way

Daily Bread

GOD'S WORD REJECTED

Passage: Acts 7:39~50

Key verse: 39

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