Acts 7:47-49

7:47 But Solomon built a house ¹  for him. 7:48 Yet the Most High ²  does not live in houses made by human hands, ³  as the prophet says,

7:49 ‘Heaven is my throne,

and earth is the footstool for my feet.

What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,

or what is my resting place? ⁴ 

¹ sn See 1 Kgs 8:1-21.

² sn The title the Most High points to God’s majesty (Heb 7:1; Luke 1:32, 35; Acts 16:7).

³ sn The phrase made by human hands is negative in the NT: Mark 14:58; Acts 17:24; Eph 2:11; Heb 9:11, 24. It suggests “man-made” or “impermanent.” The rebuke is like parts of the Hebrew scripture where the rebuke is not of the temple, but for making too much of it (1 Kgs 8:27; Isa 57:15; 1 Chr 6:8; Jer 7:1-34).

⁴ sn What kind…resting place? The rhetorical questions suggest mere human beings cannot build a house to contain God.