Why did Stephen give such a long speech?

Why did Stephen give such a long speech?

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| PentecostalTheology.com

Before he was stoned, Stephen gives a huge speech (Acts 7) going over Israeli history, from Abraham through Moses to David.

I really don’t understand the purpose of it. What is the overall message? And why does he need to go into so much detail? The most puzzling bit for me is the end, where he goes from you can’t make a house for God to you stiff-necked people in almost the same breath.

The only theory I have is that he is using Moses as

  1. an archetype of Jesus and
  2. a way of getting through to his audience, since they considered speaking against Moses as blasphemy, as bad as speaking against God (Acts 6:11).

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