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Stephen illustrates the basic difference between the outlook of man and that of God on this point, by comparing the tabernacle and the temple (vs.44-50). The tabernacle hardly fits the usual pattern for sacred space. Shrines and temples are usually built around the site of a theophany.23 A sacred grove, spring, mountain, or stone are the proper loci for religious shrines. But this shrine was mobile. The sacredness of the shrine had to do with the "pattern he [Moses] had seen," (vs.44) and the teaching value that resulted, not with its location.
Not only this, but the tabernacle sat in the barnyard of a farmer for a period of time that must have been about 400 years according to the chronology of I Kings.24 During this whole time--almost equal in length to the whole post-exilic history of Jerusalem--the location of the temple was irrelevant to God's working. Certainly the space Stephen devoted to the history of the tabernacle must relate to the over-all theme of the speech. The best guess as to the significant aspect of the tabernacle is the absence of any tie to a geographical location.
It is possible that God's refusal to let David build the temple, in spite of the fact that he was even more favored by God than Solomon, is used to show that the temple was not God's ideal. Certainly, in the original speech, Stephen cannot have failed to teach on the great text in II Sam. 7 where God declares that He has, "been moving around in a tent, even in a tabernacle." God goes on to ask, "Did I [ask] why have you not built Me a house of cedar?"25
This need not be seen as an argument that the construction of the temple was a mistake. It was not the construction of the temple that was an error, but the false interpretation of the temple that had become a deadly error.26 No doubt, it was this danger that caused God to reflect some negativity regarding the whole project. Yet, there is no actual statement to the effect that God had not ordained the temple. Rather, there is the unwavering declaration that "the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands." (vs. 48).
This was the critical misunderstanding that was inhibiting God's purposes in Stephen's day, as it still does today.
Stephen seems to have realized that he had already signed his death warrant by directly opposing the theology of the Counsel. He certainly evidences no effort at restraint in the denunciation that follows.27 Stephen's Death and Legacy
I think entirely too much importance is attached to Stephen's reference to Christ as the "Son of Man". The fact that this is the only usage of the term outside of the gospels is accounted for by the unique nature of the confrontation, including the fact that the audience is made up of Jewish Old Testament scholars. The allusion to Dan. 7:14 seems natural and realistic in this setting. It is certainly not what makes the speech important.28
The fact that the counsel stoned Stephen without Roman approval is an evident breech of Roman law, even if the crimes of blasphemy were capitol offenses. Bruce is probably correct when he observes that,
. . .during the closing part of Pilate's administration, especially when he was resident in Caesarea, the Jewish rulers knew that they could take certain discreet liberties.29
It remains possible in this author's mind that the counsel simply functioned as an illegal lynch mob.30 The main point is that the church lost a great light the day that Stephen died. Stephen was ahead of the development of many of the other leaders in the Jerusalem church in his understanding of the relationship of the gospel to the issues of race, sacred space, and the radical change in God's program with respect to the Old Testament.31 Indeed, it was Philip the evangelist, another apparent Hellenist, who in Acts 8, opens the door to Samaritans, and to the Ethiopian Eunich.
It must have seemed like an unmitigated tragedy to have lost a visionary who understood better than most of the Apostles at this time some of the most basic aspects of Christian spirituality. Yet, the narrative indicates that God was at work, even though the believers there would not have known it at the time. The cloaks were laid at the feet of one who would later demonstrate every bit as much radicalism as Stephen--Saul of Tarsus.32
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