stars worshipped (Deuteronomy 4:19; 2 Kings 17:16; 21:3; Jeremiah
19:13); spoken of symbolically (Numbers 24:17; Revelation 1:16, 20;
12:1). (See ASTROLOGERS.)
- STATER Greek word rendered “piece of money” (Matthew 17:27, A.V.;
and “shekel” in R.V.). It was equal to two didrachmas (“tribute money,”
17:24), or four drachmas, and to about 2s. 6d. of our money. (See
SHEKEL.) - STEALING See THEFT.
- STEEL The “bow of steel” in (A.V.) 2 Samuel 22:35; Job 20:24; Psalm
18:34 is in the Revised Version “bow of brass” (Hebrews
kesheth-nehushah). In Jeremiah 15:12 the same word is used, and is also
rendered in the Revised Version “brass.” But more correctly it is copper
(q.v.), as brass in the ordinary sense of the word (an alloy of copper and
zinc) was not known to the ancients. - STEPHANAS crown, a member of the church at Corinth, whose family
were among those the apostle had baptized (1 Corinthians 1:16; 16:15,
17). He has been supposed by some to have been the “jailer of Philippi”
(comp. Acts 16:33). The First Epistle to the Corinthians was written from
Philippi some six years after the jailer’s conversion, and he was with the
apostle there at that time. - STEPHEN one of the seven deacons, who became a preacher of the
gospel. He was the first Christian martyr. His personal character and
history are recorded in Acts 6. “He fell asleep” with a prayer for his
persecutors on his lips (7:60). Devout men carried him to his grave (8:2).
It was at the feet of the young Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, that those who
stoned him laid their clothes (comp. Deuteronomy 17:5-7) before they
began their cruel work. The scene which Saul then witnessed and the
words he heard appear to have made a deep and lasting impression on his
mind (Acts 22:19, 20).
The speech of Stephen before the Jewish ruler is the first apology for the
universalism of the gospel as a message to the Gentiles as well as the Jews.
It is the longest speech contained in the Acts, a place of prominence being
given to it as a defence.