Stephen was giving the 'speech of his life' at his trial, having been accused of blasphemy.  It was because Stephen spoke positively about Jesus that false witnesses invented evidence to support the charge (Acts 6:11-14).  But the Holy Spirit enabled Stephen to show how God's power was greater than human anger (Luke 12:11).  So, Stephen reminded them of Joseph, the eleventh of Jacob's twelve sons.  Even though his brothers would, one day, become the leaders of the tribes of Israel (Israel was a special name God gave to Jacob), they were intensely jealous of Joseph.  They were murderously an

Stephen did not need to defend himself at his trial.  The Holy Spirit gave Him the words to proclaim that God always keeps His Word, and is still doing so through Jesus (Luke 12:11).  The Sanhedrin court claimed to believe in God's promises, so Stephen reminded them of the way in which God fulfilled His promise in their national history - preparing them to hear that Jesus was God's promised 'Righteous One', even though they had rejected Him (Acts 7:52-53).  It was their opportunity to repent and choose to follow Jesus.

Somebody said that, "The main lesson of history is that we do not learn the lessons of history!" Stephen, on trial for blasphemy against Moses and God (Acts 6:11), reminded his accusers of Moses' personal history – born under foreign rule, saved from infanticide, educated as a prince in Egypt, murdered an Egyptia

In these verses, Stephen, who was accused of blaspheming against Moses, quickly walked his accusers through almost 1000 years of Israel's history of rejecting God's Word and His servants. Stephen began with Moses whose authority was challenged many times in the wilderness journey, starting with the exodus experience in leaving slavery (