NT Text: Acts 7:40
OT Source(s):
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Direct Quotation
Connection Method(s): Redemptive-Historical Progression + Contrast
Significance: Stephen quotes the Israelites' demand at Sinai almost verbatim from the LXX of Exodus 32:1 — "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!" Stephen recounts this episode of golden calf idolatry within his larger argument that Israel has a persistent pattern of rejecting God's appointed deliverers. The quotation serves Stephen's rhetorical purpose of drawing a parallel between Israel's rejection of Moses and their rejection of Jesus (the "Righteous One," Acts 7:52). The connection method is redemptive-historical progression (locating the golden calf incident within the larger narrative of Israel's unfaithfulness) combined with contrast (the inadequacy of Israel's response to God's deliverers points beyond itself to the ultimate rejection of Christ).