At the end of Acts 7, Stephen is tragically and coldly murdered by the leaders of his own people when they stoned him to death after a sermon in which he pointed out their historical inability to see God working right in front of them. Ultimately, his charge against those Jewish leaders was that they were responsible for the murder of the Messiah. This of course enraged them to the point of brutal violence. In their rage, they laid down their garments at the feet of a man named Saul and stoned Stephen to death (Acts 7:54 - Acts 8:1). Saul, who approved of that murder, later became the apostle Paul.
Why did the killers lay down their garments at the feet of Saul? Was this some kind of social ritual? The bible doesn’t give us any reason, but an answer frequently posed by scholars and Christian thinkers is that stoning required athletic effort. For example, some have noted that victims of stoning would be thrown from a small cliff, and then large rocks would be hurled down upon them. Restrictive garments would have gotten in the way of them fulfilling the dictates of such an unholy rage, so they partially disrobed in order to effectively execute the physicality necessary for that kind of murder. In modern times, a similar behavior occurs when two men are about to fight in the street. It is not uncommon for one or both of them to take off a jacket or a shirt before physically engaging one another.
But there is an overlooked element to this portion of Stephen’s story, which was captured by the gospel writer, Luke. It is my opinion that Luke, who was a first rate historian, likely included this small detail in his narrative for a specific reason. He needed to introduce us to Paul and his hateful pre-conversion character.. He also needed to demonstrate how Paul was completely opposed to Christianity until he had experienced Jesus himself. Luke does this by showing us that the murderers both knew Paul and trusted him to watch after their clothing. He was one of them, and Luke uses this detail to cue his first century readers into the idea of how a radical transformation occurs in people once they are in the presence of the Lord and Savior. Because the killers could recognize Paul as someone who hated Christ like they did, Luke’s readers would be able to do so as well when they hear the details of Stephen’s story. They could then also appreciate Paul’s righteous fervor after his conversion when they read about his transformation on the road to Damascus. It would be abundantly clear to them that God had changed him from a man of hate into a man of love.
What kind of people trust you to watch their belongings when they’re about to jump into some kind of action? What does that say about them? What does it say about you?
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