This section of Stephen’s speech describes what God did through Moses, although Israel rejected God in each case. Each of these examples anticipates Israel’s rejection of Jesus (and the current rejection of the Holy Spirit). They rejected Moses as judge and ruler, even though God appointed him as both ruler and redeemer (v. 35).
Redeemer (λυτρωτής appears only here in the NT; the noun redemption (λύτρωσις) and the verb (λυτρόω). The word group means paying the price to free something from bondage, such as freeing a slave. Redemption is a keyword in Luke-Acts. It appears in Luke 1:68 in the first line of Zechariah’s prayer, praising the God of Israel for visiting his people and redeeming them. In Luke 2:38, Anna spoke of her encounter with the infant Jesus to “who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.” This is a reference to the messianic hope for the soon-deliverance of Israel. At the end of Luke, one of the disciples on the road to Emmaus says they “had hoped that [Jesus] was the one to redeem Israel.” This makes the question in Acts 1:6 more messianic and eschatological: “Will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” In some sense, the “redemption of Israel” is restoring the Kingdom to Israel.
Just as Israel rejected Moses as their judge and redeemer, they have rejected Jesus as the redeemer, the one who restores the kingdom to Israel. They are now rejecting the apostles announcing the coming of the Holy Spirit and the soon restoration of the kingdom (Acts 3:16-17).
Stephen’s speech continues: Moses led Israel through the Red Sea, accompanied by signs and wonders. In Exodus, “wonders and signs” (τέρατα καὶ σημεῖα) authenticated Moses as God’s representative. In the Gospels, Jesus did signs and wonders to authenticate his announcement of the messianic age (and that he was the Messiah). Peter says this in his first sermon in Acts. Jesus was “a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst” (Acts 2:22). Now the apostolic community continues to do signs and wonders to demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit as they announce the soon-coming of the messianic age (Acts 2:43; 4:30; 5:12).
Just as Israel rejected Moses after God demonstrated his appointment through signs and wonders, they rejected Jesus after he performed signs and wonders. They are currently rejecting the apostles performing the same kinds of signs.
Moses led the congregation in the wilderness (7:38-43). In Numbers, Moses spoke directly with God. In Acts 7:38, “the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai” and Moses received living oracles. In the context of the Golden Calf Incident, Moses is on Mount Sinai speaking directly to God and receiving the Word of God (the Law, the tablets inscribed by God’s own hand).
The fathers “refused to obey him but thrust him aside.” The verb translated “thrust aside” (ἀπωθέω) can have the sense of reject or repudiate. In Acts 13:46, Paul uses the word to describe his listeners rejecting the word of God. Stephen’s speech began this section with the same word (they rejected Moses when he tried to defend the Hebrew slaves). When he is on Mount Sinai, they reject Moses and turn to worship the Golden Calf. After the Golden Calf incident, God “hands them over” to the worship of other gods (Acts 7:42–43). Although παραδίδωμι is a common verb in the New Testament, it is the same verb Paul used in a very similar context. After humans reject the creator and instead worship the creation, God “hands them over” three times to sin (Romans 1:24; 26; 28).
Citing Amos 5:25-27, Stephen connects the first example of Israel’s idolatry in the Torah (the Golden Calf) to the worship of Molech and Rephan, which led to the exile beginning in 722 B.C. The people “took up around the gods,” ἀναλαμβάνω has the sense of carrying something. Steve Walton suggests this is a parody of carrying the Ark of the Covenant (Walton, Acts 1-9:42, 466). The result of rejecting Moses was the Babylonian exile. Stephen changes the wording of Amos from exile “beyond Damascus” to Babylon to make Amos’s prophecy to the northern kingdom of Israel apply to Jerusalem (which went into exile in Babylon).
Israel is called “congregation in the wilderness” (7:38). Luke first used this noun (ἐκκλησία) in 5:11. Virtually all English translations use “church” in Acts 5:11 (KJV; ESV, NIV; NRSVue), but congregation in 7:38. Steve Walton suggests “Stephen is making a typological point about the believing community as in continuity with the congregation of Israel” (Walton, Acts 1-9:42, 464). Consider the number of allusions to the Jerusalem community in Acts 2-5 as an ideal Israel or a restored Israel. Translating “church” in 5:11 obscures the continuity with the Jewish people in the Old Testament and implies more continuity with Paul’s congregations later in Acts. Perhaps “assembly” (or the Hebrew qahal) would be a better translation since what is happening in Acts 2-5 is not “the Christian Church” as we know it later.
Stephen’s speech summarizes Moses’s life and argues that rejecting Jesus (and the apostolic teaching) is the same as idolatry that led to the Babylonian exile. Stephen is not the one who is blaspheming Moses; the Sanhedrin is.
In Stephen’s speech, he points out how Israel has always rejected the leaders God sent them. First, they rejected Moses, even though God chose him to lead and save them. Stephen uses this to show that, just like they rejected Moses, the Israelites are now rejecting Jesus (the true Redeemer) and the apostles who are spreading His message. Stephen talks about how Moses was called by God to save Israel, and he led them through the Red Sea with miracles. These miracles showed that Moses was God’s chosen leader. Similarly, Jesus did miracles to show He was the Messiah, and now the apostles are performing miracles to show they have the Holy Spirit. But, just like the Israelites rejected Moses, they are rejecting Jesus and the apostles, even though they’re doing the same miracles. Stephen also mentions how Israel turned to idol worship (like with the Golden Calf) when they should have been following Moses, and that rejection led to their exile. He’s saying that by rejecting Jesus, the apostles, and the Holy Spirit, the Israelites are making the same mistake and heading down the same path of disobedience that got them exiled in the first place. Stephen makes the point that the early Christians (the “church”) are continuing what God started with Israel. The rejection of Jesus by the leaders (the Sanhedrin) is just as bad as the idolatry of the past, and Stephen tells them that it’s not him who’s dishonoring Moses—they are by rejecting God’s true messenger.