Stephen Reads Exodus This Way

Stephen's speech in Acts 7 is the longest sermon in the book, and it retells Israel's history with a striking emphasis.
At the bush: "there appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai an angel in a flame of fire in a bush." Then the next verse: "the voice of the Lord came: I am the God of your fathers." Angel and Lord, in consecutive sentences, describing one encounter.
At Sinai: Moses "was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living oracles to give to us."
Living oracles, from the angel. Stephen is not innovating. He is reading Exodus the way a Second Temple Jew formed by this tradition would read it - with the Angel who carries the Name standing at the centre of the story.
Scripture links:
- Acts 7:30-32 - "an angel... the voice of the Lord came: I am the God of your fathers."
- Acts 7:38 - "with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai... living oracles."
- Exodus 3:2-6 - "the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire."
- Exodus 23:20-21 - "my name is in him."
He was stoned for the ending, not for this part.