SEV Biblia, Chapter 7:44
Tuvieron nuestros padres el tabernculo del testimonio en el desierto, como les orden Dios, hablando a Moiss que lo hiciese segn la forma que había visto.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Acts 7:44
Verse 44. Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness] That is, the tabernacle in which the two tables of stone written by the finger of God were laid up, as a testimony that he had delivered these laws to the people, and that they had promised to obey them. As one great design of St. Stephen was to show the Jews that they placed too much dependence on outward privileges, and had not used the law, the tabernacle, the temple, nor the temple service, for the purpose of their institution, he labours to bring them to a due sense of this, that conviction might lead to repentance and conversion. And he farther shows that God did not confine his worship to one place, or form. He was worshipped without any shrine in the times of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, &c. He was worshipped with a tabernacle, or portable temple, in the wilderness. He was worshipped also in the fixed temple projected by David, but built by Solomon. He asserts farther that his infinite majesty cannot be confined to temples, made by human hands; and where there is neither tabernacle nor temple, (in any part of his vast dominions,) he may be worshipped acceptably by the upright in heart. Thus he proves that neither tabernacle nor temple are essentially requisite for the true worship of the true God. Concerning the tabernacle to which St. Stephen here refers, the reader is requested to consult the notes on Exod. xxv. 8, &c., and the subsequent chapters. Speaking unto Moses] o lalwn, Who spake, as in the margin; signifying the angel of God who spake to Moses, or God himself. See Exod. xxv. 40.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 44. Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness , etc.] The Ethiopic version adds, of Sinai; there it was that the tabernacle was first ordered to be built, and there it was built, and set up; which was a sort of a portable temple, in which Jehovah took up his residence, and which was carried from place to place: of it, and its several parts and furniture, there is a large account in ( Exodus 25:1-27:21). It is sometimes called Ohel Moed, or the tabernacle of the congregation, because there the people of Israel gathered together, and God met with them; and sometimes the tabernacle of the testimony, or witness, as here; ( Exodus 38:21) ( Numbers 1:50,53) because the law, called the tables of the testimony, and the testimony, it being a testification or declaration of the will of God, was put into an ark; which for that reason is called the ark of the testimony; and which ark was placed in the tabernacle; and hence that took the same name too. The Jewish writers say f371 , it is so called, because it was a testimony that the Shekinah dwelt in Israel; or as another expresses it, it was a testimony to Israel that God had pardoned them concerning the affair of the calf, for, lo, his Shekinah dwelt among them.
This tabernacle, in which was the testimony of the will of God, what he would have done, and how he would be worshipped, and which was a token of his presence, was among the Jewish fathers whilst they were in the wilderness; and is mentioned as an aggravation of their sin, that they should now, or afterwards, take up and carry the tabernacle of Moloch. The Alexandrian copy reads, your fathers; the sense is the same. As he had appointed ; that is, as God appointed, ordered, and commanded: speaking unto Moses , ( Exodus 25:40) that he should make it according to the fashion he had seen ; when in the Mount with God; ( Hebrews 8:5) for it was not a bare account of the tabernacle, and its vessels, which he hearing, might form an idea of in his mind; but there was a visible form represented to his eye, a pattern, exemplar, or archetype of the whole, according to which everything was to be made; which teaches us, that everything in matters of worship ought to be according to the rule which God has given, from which we should never swerve in the least.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 42-50 - Stephen upbraids the Jews with the idolatry of their fathers, to whic God gave them up as a punishment for their early forsaking him. It wa 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 shal give way to the eternal one. The whole world is God's temple, in whic he is every where present, and fills it with his glory; what occasio has he then for a temple to manifest himself in? And these things sho 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 mad all things. Next to the human nature of Christ, the broken an spiritual heart is his most valued temple.
Greek Textus Receptus
η 3588 T-NSF σκηνη 4633 N-NSF του 3588 T-GSN μαρτυριου 3142 N-GSN ην 2258 5713 V-IXI-3S {VAR1: εν 1722 PREP } τοις 3588 T-DPM πατρασιν 3962 N-DPM ημων 2257 P-1GP εν 1722 PREP τη 3588 T-DSF ερημω 2048 A-DSF καθως 2531 ADV διεταξατο 1299 5668 V-AMI-3S ο 3588 T-NSM λαλων 2980 5723 V-PAP-NSM τω 3588 T-DSM μωση 3475 N-DSM ποιησαι 4160 5658 V-AAN αυτην 846 P-ASF κατα 2596 PREP τον 3588 T-ASM τυπον 5179 N-ASM ον 3739 R-ASM εωρακει 3708 5715 V-LAI-3S-ATT
Robertson's NT Word Studies
7:44 {The tabernacle of the testimony} (he skene tou marturiou). Probably suggested by the mention of "the tabernacle of Moloch" (verse #43). See on Mt 17:4 for discussion of skene (from skia, shadow, root ska, to cover). this first sanctuary was not the temple, but the tent in the wilderness. "Stephen passes on from the conduct of the Israelites to his other argument that God is not necessarily worshipped in a particular spot" (Page). {According to the figure} (kata ton tupon). According to the type or pattern. tupos is from tuptw, to strike, to smite, and is the print of the blow (#Joh 20:25), qen the figure formed by a blow or impression like our type, a model or example. Quoted from #Ex 25:40. Common word in the old Greek. {That he had seen} (hon hewrakei). Past perfect active of horaw, to see (double reduplication).
