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Acts 7:38

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Acts 7:38

Verse 38 of 60

Scripture focus

This 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:

Acts 7:38 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Acts 7:38

Theological / Devotional

This is he. The reference is still to Moses.

The church. Gr. ekklesia, “assembly,” or “congregation” (see on Matt. 18:17).

In the wilderness. Stephen has in mind the assembling of the Hebrew nation at Mt. Sinai prior to the giving of the law (Ex. 19).

With the angel. As in v. 35, the angel is the Lord Himself, even as in v. 31 the voice that spoke is called “the voice of the Lord.”

Who received. That is, Moses.

Lively oracles. Gr. logia zonta, “living oracles.” Logia is the diminutive of logos, “word.” In the LXX it is used for the words of God (Num. 24:4, 16), and in Philo (see Vol. V, p. 93) for the Decalogue. In the KJV, logia is translated “oracle” (Rom. 3:2; Heb. 5:12; 1 Peter 4:11). Here, the reference is to the law received by Moses and passed on to succeeding generations. These oracles are described as “lively,” that is, living, in the sense that they abide and endure from generation to generation (cf. Heb. 4:12; 1 Peter 1:23).

By SdaBc