“Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?”
At this they covered their ears and, yelling at a loud voice, all rushed at him together - the Sanhedrin's response to Stephen's testimony is to 'cover their ears' (kateichon ta ōta, held their ears shut), refusing to hear. The violent reaction ('yelling at a loud voice, all rushed at him together') is mob violence, not juridical procedure. They become the very people Stephen has described: rejecting God's word with violence.
Church Fathers on Acts 7:42
To whom, he says, our fathers would not obey: Acts 7:39 after the wonders done in those forty years. And not only so, but just the contrary: but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt. Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us; for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him. And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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