42 and God did turn, and did give them up to do service to the host of the heaven, according as it hath been written in the scroll of the prophets: Slain beasts and sacrifices did ye offer to Me forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43 and ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan—the figures that ye made to bow before them, and I will remove your dwelling beyond Babylon. 44 'The tabernacle of the testimony was among our fathers in the wilderness, according as He did direct, who is speaking to Moses, to make it according to the figure that he had seen; 45 which also our fathers having in succession received, did bring in with Joshua, into the possession of the nations whom God did drive out from the presence of our fathers, till the days of David, 46 who found favour before God, and requested to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob; 47 and Solomon built Him an house. 48 'But the Most High in sanctuaries made with hands doth not dwell, according as the prophet saith: 49 The heaven 'is' My throne, and the earth My footstool; what house will ye build to Me? saith the Lord, or what 'is' the place of My rest? 50 hath not My hand made all these things?
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Acts 7:42-50
Commentary on Acts 7:42-50
(Read Acts 7:42-50)
Stephen upbraids the Jews with the idolatry of their fathers, to which God gave them up as a punishment for their early forsaking him. It was no dishonour, but an honour to God, that the tabernacle gave way to the temple; so it is now, that the earthly temple gives way to the spiritual one; and so it will be when, at last, the spiritual shall give way to the eternal one. The whole world is God's temple, in which he is every where present, and fills it with his glory; what occasion has he then for a temple to manifest himself in? And these things show his eternal power and Godhead. But as heaven is his throne, and the earth his footstool, so none of our services can profit Him who made all things. Next to the human nature of Christ, the broken and spiritual heart is his most valued temple.