Stephen’s Speech Before the Sanhedrin Against the Background of the Summaries of the History of Israel (Acts 7)

In the early 30s of the first century CE, during the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, a Jew of the Diaspora named Stephen1 was stoned to death near the walls of Jerusalem in an act of lynch law. A young Pharisee named Saul watched the stoning with approval. This very Saul is himself later stoned by Jews in the town of Lystra in Asia Minor. But he survives the punishment. He mentions it in one of his letters (2 Cor 11:25). This Saul, who now calls himself Paul, is executed much later in Rome. We learn about the events concerning Stephen from the Christian author who mentions the name of his patron but not his own name2. He writes a work in two volumes about Jesus and the effects of the Spirit in the Imperium Romanum3. In the first volume, which is devoted to the life and work of Jesus, he makes Jesus already during his journey to Jerusalem formulate the following lamentation: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets And stones those who are sent to it!”4 (Luke 13:34) Jesus’ accusation refers particularly to Jeremiah who, according to early Jewish tradition, was stoned either in Taphnas in Egypt – so the Vitae Prophetarum Jer 1:15 – or died from being stoned in Jerusalem – so the Paralipomena Jeremiou 9:21ff6. Earlier in the history of the Kings of Israel a man functioning as a prophet was stoned in Jerusalem: Zechariah the son of the priest Jehoiada in the reign of King Joash (2 Chr 24:20f)7.