Acts 7:41Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

“And in those days they made a calf, and offered sacrifice to the idol.” Do you see the utmost madness? In the very place where God appeared to Moses, they make a calf and offer sacrifice to it. “And they rejoiced,” he says, “in the works of their own hands.” They rejoiced in what they ought to have been ashamed of. And what is surprising if you do not acknowledge Christ, when you acknowledged neither Moses nor God, who revealed Himself in so many signs? Yet they not only failed to acknowledge them, but insulted them in another way by making idols.

“And they made a calf in those days.” The same is found in David: “And they made a calf in Horeb.” Horeb is mentioned not without purpose, but to show the extreme madness of the Israelites. Here God appeared to Moses, and here they made idols and offered sacrifices to them.

In order afterward to defend himself against the charge of insulting Moses and his law, he dwells at length on this great Old Testament figure (vv. 20-43). He strives to show all his reverence both for Moses and for the law given through him.

In God's special providence over Moses' salvation and destiny, his particular calling is already revealed (vv. 20-22). Stephen indicates that Moses, while still at Pharaoh's court, already foresaw this calling. He did so, of course, by reflecting on the extraordinary circumstances of his life. His calling was to be the deliverer of his people from the Egyptian yoke (v. 25).

"They offered sacrifice to the idol." Stephen calls this image an idol, although in the people's opinion it was an image of Jehovah, because God cannot be represented under the form of any irrational creature.

Consequently, in essence it was not an image of Jehovah, but a soulless idol (cf. Ps 105:19). Therefore it is further said that the people rejoiced before the work of their hands, and not before Jehovah God, who had brought them out of Egypt.

In this rejoicing the people's sin against their God is indicated. It was the sinful rejoicing of the people before an idol.

The fashioning of the calf shows that the Jews fell precisely into Egyptian idol-worship. In that worship special honor was given to a living calf, the so-called bull Apis, as the embodiment of fertility.

Another deity of the same kind was the calf-idol Mnevis of Heliopolis. Apis was difficult to obtain, because a bull with special markings was chosen as this kind of god. One such mark was a white spot on the forehead.

But casting an image of it was not difficult, because the Jews were skilled in every kind of work. Moreover, when they left Egypt, they took from the Egyptians, who were greatly frightened by the plagues, many kinds of gold and silver objects (see Ex 12:35-36).