Acts 7:39

39 "But our ancestors refused to obey him; they pushed him aside and wished that they could go back to Egypt.

Acts 7:39 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 7:39

To whom our fathers would not obey
But often murmured against him, and were disobedient to him, and to the oracles he delivered to them, and so to God, whose oracles they were:

but thrust him from them;
as one of the two Hebrews did, when he interposed to make up the difference between them; and which was an emblem and presage of what that people would afterwards do; ( Acts 7:27 )

and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt;
they wished themselves there again, they lusted after the fish, the cucumbers, the melons, leeks, onions, and garlic there; and went so far as to move for a captain, and even to appoint one to lead them back thither again.

Acts 7:39 In-Context

37 Moses is the one who said to the people of Israel, "God will send you a prophet, just as he sent me, and he will be one of your own people.'

38 He is the one who was with the people of Israel assembled in the desert; he was there with our ancestors and with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and he received God's living messages to pass on to us.

39 "But our ancestors refused to obey him; they pushed him aside and wished that they could go back to Egypt.

40 So they said to Aaron, "Make us some gods who will lead us. We do not know what has happened to that man Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.'

41 It was then that they made an idol in the shape of a bull, offered sacrifice to it, and had a feast in honor of what they themselves had made.