Acts 7:51

“Ye stiffnecked, etc.] Or “hard necked”, the same with Prw[ hçq, which is a character frequently given of this people, (<023209>Exodus 32:9, 33:3,5, 34:9) and elsewhere, and is expressive of their obstinacy, stubbornness and refractoriness; who would not submit their necks to the yoke of God’s law, and be obedient to his commands: and uncircumcised in heart and ears; for though they had the mark of circumcision in their flesh, of which they boasted; yet they had not the true circumcision of the heart; their hearts were not circumcised to fear and love the Lord, nor their ears to hear the word of the Lord and the Gospel of Christ; so that notwithstanding their confidence in carnal privileges,…”

“Ye stiffnecked . . . ye do always resist the Holy Ghost, &c.--It has been thought that symptoms of impatience and irritation in the audience induced Stephen to cut short his historical sketch. But as little farther light could have been thrown upon Israel's obstinacy from subsequent periods of the national history on the testimony of their own Scriptures, we should view this as the summing up, the brief import of the whole Israelitish history--grossness of heart, spiritual deafness, continuous resistance of the Holy Ghost, down to the very council before whom Stephen was pleading.”

“Ye stiff-necked - The discourse of Stephen has every appearance of having been interrupted by the clamors and opposition of the Sanhedrin. This verse has no immediate connection with what precedes, and appears to have been spoken in the midst of opposition and clamor. If we may conjecture in this case, it would seem that the Jews saw the drift of his argument; that they interrupted him; and that when the tumult had somewhat subsided, he addressed them in the language of this verse, showing them that they sustained a character precisely similar to their rebellious fathers. The word “stiff-necked” is often used in the Old Testament, Exodus 32:9; Exodus 33:3, Exodus 33:5; Exodus 34:9;…”

“Ye stiff necked - Not bowing the neck to God's yoke; and uncircumcised in heart - So they showed themselves, Act 7:54; and ears - As they showed, Act 7:57. So far were they from receiving the word of God into their hearts, that they would not hear it even with their ears. Ye - And your fathers, always - As often as ever ye are called, resist the Holy Ghost - Testifying by the prophets of Jesus, and the whole truth. This is the sum of what he had shown at large. Acts 7:53”

“7:51 Stephen raised the same charge that God had raised against his people in the wilderness: that they were heathen at heart and deaf to the truth, because they were rejecting the gospel and obstinately resisting the Holy Spirit (see Exod 32:9; 33:3; 34:9; Deut 9:6, 13; 31:27; see also Ps 78:8; Zech 7:11-12).”

“stiffnecked: Exo 32:9, Exo 33:3, Exo 33:5, Exo 34:9; Deu 9:6, Deu 9:13, Deu 31:27; Ch2 30:8; Neh 9:16; Psa 75:5; Psa 78:8; Isa 48:4; Jer 17:23; Eze 2:4; Zac 7:11, Zac 7:12 uncircumcised: Lev 26:41; Deu 10:16, Deu 30:6; Jer 4:4, Jer 6:10, Jer 9:25, Jer 9:26; Eze 44:7, Eze 44:9; Rom 2:25, Rom 2:28, Rom 2:29; Phi 3:3; Col 2:11 resist: Act 6:10; Neh 9:30; Isa 63:10; Eph 4:30 as: Act 7:9, Act 7:27, Act 7:35, Act 7:39; Mat 23:31-33 Acts 7:52”