Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
Our look at the word 'desert' in scripture has brought us to the book of Acts. Most of the references to 'desert' in Acts are historical, and well over half of them are in Stephen's sermon/ self-defense/ historical review in chapter 7.
A little background on Stephen's discourse. Stephen had been appointed as a deacon in the early church...which meant that he was one of the guys who were responsible to see that everyone in the congregation had their needs taken care of (primarily food distribution). But Stephen 'did great signs and wonders.' (Acts 6:8). Apparently there were some Jews who were disturbed by this who began to argue (about what is not mentioned...it could have been they were arguing against the teaching of Jesus as Lord, or they could have been arguing against some point of doctrine). However, Stephen was a wise and articulate person, speaking with the power of the Holy Spirit, and these fellows could not win an argument (Acts 6:10). So, they started rumors against Stephen with lies regarding what he said and eventually got the whole community in a tizzy, resulting in Stephen being apprehended and taken before the Sanhedrin. The witnesses told lies about what Stephen had said, and the high priest asked him if the charges were true (Acts 7:1). Stephen doesn't answer the charge directly, but instead launches into a summary of the entire history of the Jews, starting with Abraham and culminating with Solomon building the Temple (Acts 7:2 - 47)
This was a good move on his part, as he spoke of things that everyone would agree on. He actually mentions the desert 5 times in his review:
"After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai." - Acts 7:30
"He led them out of Egypt and did wonders and miraculous sings in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert." -- Acts 7:36
"He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us." -- Acts 7:38
"But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of heavenly bodies. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets: 'Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the desert, O house of Israel? You have lifted up the shrine of Molech and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.' "-- Acts 7:42-43, quote from Amos 5:25,27
"Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the desert. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen." -- Acts 7:44
The leaders were with him through all of this; he was building his credibility and demonstrating that he had no intentions of disrespecting Moses. But Stephen treads on their toes when he quotes the scripture indicating that the Temple is not the home of the Most High, who has heaven for his throne and earth for his footstool. Then he lays into them for resisting the Holy Spirit and betraying and murdering Jesus, equating them with their forefathers who had murdered the prophets. At this, they completely lost their cool and hauled him out and threw big rocks on him until he died, and the Jewish leaders began a systematic persecution of anyone who followed Jesus.
Many of the believers scattered around the country because of the persecution, and another one of the deacons, Philip, went to a city in Samaria. There were some crazy things that happened there, not the least of which was a wild trip Philip made due to angelic instructions.
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road -- the desert road -- that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." -- Acts 8:26
Now, in years past when I studied that I didn't really take into account the geography. But if Philip was in Samaria, he had quite a journey to get to the desert road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza. Philip would have had to have started on his journey well before a certain Ethiopian eunuch left Jerusalem to head back to his own country in order to meet up with him on the road. There's no mention of how long it took Philip to make this trip, but it would have to have been several days, even if he had the luxury of a horse or mule rather than just walking. Samaria is well north of Jerusalem, and the desert road to Gaza heads south out of Jerusalem before heading southwest to the coast. The narrative skips right over Philip's journey, so we don't realize the effort it took to follow the angel's instruction. It's interesting that Phillip was the one sent on this journey, when there had to be disciples who were already in Jerusalem who could have made the trip much more easily. Perhaps Phillip had an unusual understanding of the prophets? In any case, it was Philip who met up with the guy while he was puzzling over a passage in Isaiah, and Philip explained it all so well that the guy decided to follow Jesus, was likely baptized in a cistern, and went home rejoicing where he apparently led a great number of folks to faith in Christ. Philip, we find, was miraculously transported away.
The next reference is again historical; this time, it's Paul speaking at a synagogue in Pisidian Antioch. He's been invited to share, so he, like Stephen, begins with a brief history of Israel's relationship with God, but only mentions the desert once, as his narrative is much more condensed and he spends more time on the person and ministry of Jesus.
"The God of the people of Israel chose our fathers; he mad the people prosper during their stay in Egypt, with mighty power he led them out of that country, he endured their conduct for about forty years in the desert, he overthrew seven nations in Canaan and gave their land to his people as their inheritance." -- Acts 13:17-19. Paul's story was new to the folks in that area, and they invited them back to talk more next week. There weren't any significant problems until the next week, when the size of the crowd that came to hear about this person called Jesus started another whole episode of the Jews in the area being unhappy with the upset to the status quo and arguing abusively with Paul and Barnabas.Which, in turn, caused Paul and Barnabas to take their message to the Gentiles in the region, who were glad to receive it. Now, regarding the desert reference...I found it amusing that Paul worded it as he did...that God 'endured the conduct' of the Israelites in the desert. After our perusal of the repeated complaining, bickering, disobedience and outright rebellion that happened in the desert, I think Paul picked the right wording.
The final reference to desert in the book of Acts is actually a case of mistaken identity. Paul had taken a Nazirite vow, and he and several others had gone to the temple and given the proper notice for the end of the vow, when he would cut his hair and make an offering. Just before that day arrived, some Jews from Asia, where there had been riots following Paul's teachings, happened to be at the Temple and they spotted Paul. They immediately raised a ruckus, misrepresenting Paul and his actions, and, guess what, nearly started a riot, with folks running in from the city to see what was going on. They grabbed Paul and pulled him from the temple and closed the gates and were beating him, when the Roman soldiers, who did not take kindly to riots in the streets, intervened. The commander, assuming that Paul was the instigator of the riot, arrested him and put him in chains and headed back to the military barracks with him, with the crowd following, yelling all kinds of stuff so that the commander couldn't tell what was going on. The crowd was so violent that the soldiers actually had to carry Paul up the stairs to keep the crowd off of him. Just before they went inside, though, Paul asked the commander if he could speak. The commander was shocked that Paul spoke Greek.
"Aren't you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the desert some time ago?" -- Acts 21:38
Paul, of course, set him straight...he was a Jew from Tarsus...and he received permission to speak to the crowd from the barracks steps. He told his testimony...of where he was born, where he studied, his persecution of believers, his conversion on the road to Damascus...all of it. The crowd, many of whom really didn't know what was going on, were impressed that he spoke to them in their language and followed the story up until the point that Paul said he was sent to take the gospel to the Gentiles. At that point, they erupted again, screaming that he was not fit to live. The commander had Paul taken inside the barracks for his own safety, but was going to 'interrogate' him...ie, have him beaten...to find out what he'd really done that had the people so infuriated. However, Paul's status as a Roman citizen made such an interrogation illegal...actually, it was illegal to even put him in chains...so the commander treated him with care while he investigated the situation. Which, of course, led to Paul being taken to Caesarea and ultimately to Rome.
It is interesting, just from these snapshots of events in the book of Acts, how volatile and even violent that time period actually was. By all rights, Christianity should have been stamped out. But the men (and women) who had followed Jesus, who knew what he had done, refused to deny what they'd seen and heard. They told folks, they wrote it down, they walked knowingly into traps set for them and used those traps as opportunities to tell more folks. They did not love their lives to the point of death, and many of them died gruesome deaths rather than renounce their faith. Paul was imprisoned and ultimately beheaded. But all the attacks of the enemy failed to stop the spread of the gospel.
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