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Context No. 2274 of 4322 · Acts

Context · Reflection

Acts 7:35-43: in context

35“This Moses whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. 37This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.’ 38This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us, 39to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him and turned back in their hearts to Egypt, 40saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’ 41They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. 42But God turned away and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43You took up the tabernacle of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship, so I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’

In his speech before the council, Stephen recounts the history of Israel, and comes to a sad turn. Moses had led them out of slavery in Egypt with wonders and signs. But the people, Stephen says, would not obey him; they rejected him, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt. They asked Aaron to make them gods, made a golden calf, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. Delivered from bondage, their hearts nonetheless turned back toward the Egypt they had been freed from.

The striking phrase is that in their hearts they turned back to Egypt. God had delivered them from slavery, brought them out with mighty wonders, freed them from bondage. And yet their hearts turned back, longing for Egypt, for the old life, for the very bondage they had been rescued from. They had been freed in body but not in heart; they were out of Egypt, but Egypt was not out of them. And this heart that turned back to Egypt led them into idolatry, making a calf and worshiping the works of their own hands. Their hearts' backward longing was their undoing. This is a danger for all who have been delivered by God. We can be rescued from some bondage, freed from an old life, a sin, a way of living that enslaved us, and yet find our hearts turning back toward it, longing for what we were freed from, hankering after the old bondage even after God has rescued us. Like Israel, we can be out of Egypt while Egypt is not out of us, our hearts pulled back toward the very things God delivered us from. No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back, Jesus says, is fit for the kingdom; and remember Lot's wife, he warns, who looked back toward the city she was fleeing. The heart's backward longing toward the old bondage is a real danger even after deliverance. This searches whether our hearts are truly turned from what God has delivered us from, or still turn back toward it. Has God freed us from some bondage, some old life, while our hearts still long for it, still turn back toward the Egypt we were rescued from? The Israelites were delivered from slavery, yet their hearts turned back to Egypt, and it led them into idolatry and ruin. This calls us to let our hearts be truly free of what God has delivered us from, not turning back toward the old bondage. If they, having escaped, Peter warns, are again entangled and overcome, the last state is worse than the first. God delivers us not only in body but that our hearts might be free; and we are called not to let our hearts turn back to Egypt, longing for the bondage we were rescued from, but to press forward into the freedom and the promised land God has for us, our hearts truly turned from what enslaved us rather than hankering after it. Do not turn back, in heart, to the Egypt God has brought you out of.

Has God delivered me from some bondage, sin, or old life, while my heart still turns back toward it, longing for what I was rescued from, so that I am out of Egypt but Egypt is not out of me, and can Israel, delivered from slavery yet turning back in their hearts to Egypt and falling into idolatry, warn me not to let my heart turn back to the old bondage but to press forward into the freedom God has given, my heart truly turned from what enslaved me rather than hankering after it?

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