Acts 7:50

Hath not my hand made all these things?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Heaven is my throne - See the notes on Matthew 5:34.

Earth is my footstool - See the notes on Matthew 5:35.

What house ... - What house or temple can be large or magnificent enough for the dwelling of Him who made all things?

The place of my rest - My home, my abode, my fixed seat or habitation. Compare Psalm 95:11.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

45. which … our fathers that came after—rather, "having received it by succession" (Margin), that is, the custody of the tabernacle from their ancestors.

brought in with Jesus—or Joshua.

into the possession—rather, "at the taking possession of [the territory of] the Gentiles."

unto the days of David—for till then Jerusalem continued in the hands of the Jebusites. But Stephen's object in mentioning David is to hasten from the tabernacle which he set up, to the temple which his son built, in Jerusalem; and this only to show, from their own Scripture (Isa 66:1, 2), that even that temple, magnificent though it was, was not the proper resting-place of Jehovah upon earth; as his audience and the nations had all along been prone to imagine. (What that resting-place was, even "the contrite heart, that trembleth at God's word," he leaves to be gathered from the prophet referred to).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

As appears in the history of the creation, Genesis 1:1. It is spoken unto our capacity after the manner of men, and implies that God is too great to stand in need of temples or offerings; and that what worship he requires, is not for his own sake, for our righteousness cannot profit him; but for man’s sake, that he might be exercised in the duties of religion and devotion.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Hath not my hand made all these things? The heaven, and the earth, and all that is in them; the Arabic version renders it, "all these creatures"; and therefore what can be made for God? or what house built for him? in Isaiah the words are read without an interrogation, and affirm that his hand had made all these things, and therefore nothing could be made for him suitable to him, by the hands of men.

Geneva Study Bible

Hath not my hand made all these things?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Bengel's Gnomen

Acts 7:50. Ἡ χείρ μου, My hand) which is ever unwearied.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 50. - Did not my hand make for hath not my hand made, A.V. Acts 7:50