Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Acts 7:1 - 7:8
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Act_7:1-8
1The high priest said, "Are these things so?" 2And he said, "Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3and said to him, 'Leave your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.' 4Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living. 5But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, even when he had no child, He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him. 6But God spoke to this effect, that his descendants would be aliens in a foreign land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. 7And whatever nation to which they will be in bondage I Myself will judge,' said God, 'and after that they will come out and serve Me in this place.' 8And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs."
Act_7:1 "The high priest" This was Caiaphas. See note at Act_4:6.
Act_7:2 "And he said" Stephen's defense is very similar to the book of Hebrews. He answered the charges in two ways: (1) the Jewish people had continually rejected Moses in the past and (2) the Temple was only one of several ways that God used to speak with Israel. This is a direct answer to the charges brought against him in Act_6:13.
▣ "Hear" This is the aorist active imperative form of the Greek word akouô. It is used in the Septuagint to translate the famous prayer of Judaism, the Shema (cf. Deu_6:4-5). It is also used in the prophets to reflect the sense of "hear so as to respond" (cf. Mic_1:2; Mic_6:1). It is difficult to be certain this technical connotation is present when these Jewish men express their Hebrew thoughts in Koine Greek words, but in some contexts like this it may be true.
▣ "'The God of glory" This God of glory (cf. Psa_29:3) appeared to the Patriarch Abraham (cf. Gen_12:1; Gen_15:1; Gen_15:4; Gen_17:1; Gen_18:1; Gen_22:1), thus beginning the Jewish people. See Special Topic at Act_3:13.
▣ "Abraham" Abraham was considered the father of the Jewish people. He was the first Patriarch. His call and subsequent walk with God are described in Gen_12:1 to Gen_25:11. In Galatians 3 and later Romans 4 Paul uses him as the paradigm of justification by grace through faith.
▣ "when he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran" Gen_11:31 implies that Abraham was in the city of Haran when YHWH spoke to him. However, the time of God's contact with Abraham was not specifically stated. Abraham was from Ur of the Chaldeans (cf. Gen_11:28; Gen_11:31), but later moved to Haran (cf. Gen_11:31-32; Gen_29:4) following God's command. The point is that God spoke to Abraham outside of the land of Canaan. Abraham did not own or possess any part of the Holy Land (cf. Act_7:5) during his lifetime (except a cave to bury his family, cf. Gen_23:9).
The term "Mesopotamia" can refer to the different ethnic groups:
1. a people group in the northern area of the Tigris and Euphrates (i.e., "Syria between the Rivers")
2. a people group near the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates
Act_7:3 "Leave your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you" This is a quote from Gen_12:1. The theological issue involved in this quote is when God says this to Abram:
1. while he was in Ur before he took his father Terah and nephew Lot to Haran
2. while he was in Haran and he waited until his father died to follow God south to Canaan?
Act_7:4 "he left the land of the Chaldeans" Chaldea (BDB 505) may be the name of a district close to the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (see note at Act_7:2). It later came to refer to the nation which developed in this region, also known as Babylon (BDB 93). This nation also produced many scholars who developed mathematical formulas related to the movement of the night lights (i.e., planets, stars, comets, etc.). This group of wise men (i.e., astrologers) was also known by the name Chaldean (cf. Dan_2:2; Dan_4:7; Dan_5:7-11).
▣ "Haran" Haran (BDB 357) is a city to which Terah, Abraham, and Lot moved (cf. Gen_11:31-32). Another of Abram's brothers settled there and the place is called by his name (i.e., city of Nahor, cf. Gen_24:10; Gen_27:43). This city on the upper part of the Euphrates (i.e., tributary river, Balikh) was started in the third millennium b.c. and has retained its name until today. Just as a note of interest, Abraham's brother, Haran (BDB 248), is not spelled the same in Hebrew as the city.
▣ "after his father died" Many have seen a contradiction here between Gen_11:26; Gen_11:32; Gen_12:4. There are at least two possible solutions.
1. Abraham might not have been the oldest son, but the most famous son (i.e., listed first).
2. The Samaritan Pentateuch has Terah's age at death at 145, not 205, as the Hebrew text.
See Gleason L. Archer, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, p. 378.
Act_7:5 "He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him" This is an allusion to Gen_12:7 or Act_17:8. The theological key is not only God's promise, but Abraham's faith in God giving him a descendant as well as a land. This faith is highlighted in Gen_15:6 (cf. Gal_3:6; Rom_4:3).
Act_7:6 This predictive prophecy is stated in Gen_15:13-14 and reaffirmed in Exo_3:12. However, Exo_12:40 has "430 years" instead of "400 years." The Septuagint (LXX) translates Exo_12:40 as "and the sojourning of the children of Israel, while they sojourned in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan was 430 years."
The rabbis have said that the number "400 years" starts with the offering of Isaac in Genesis 22. John Calvin has called the 400 years a round number. It may relate to four generations of 100 years each (cf. Gen_15:16).
Act_7:7 "And whatever nation" This is a quote from the Septuagint of Gen_15:14. This is not meant to be obtuse, but is a general statement. The nation was obviously Egypt. Other nations, however (i.e., Philistia, Syria, Assyria, Babylon), would become Israel's oppressors and God will judge them also.
▣ "and after that" This full phrase is a quote from Exo_3:12. Stephen is reciting a loose, running history of Israel.
This text asserts that Canaan and Jerusalem will uniquely become YHWH's special place. This fits the emphasis of Deuteronomy.
▣ "in this place" In the context of the quote from Exo_3:12, this refers to Mt. Sinai (see Special Topic at Act_7:30), which is also outside the Promised Land and is the site of one of the major events in the life of Israel (the giving of the Law to Moses).
Act_7:8 "covenant" See Special Topic at Act_2:47.
▣ "circumcision" This was practiced by all of Israel's neighbors, except the Philistines (Greek Aegean people). For most cultures it was usually a rite of passage into manhood, but not for Israel, where it was an initiation rite into the covenant People. It was a sign of a special faith relationship with YHWH (cf. Gen_17:9-14). Each Patriarch circumcised his own sons (i.e., acted as priest for his own family). Robert Girdlestone, Synonyms of the Old Testament, p. 214, says the rite of circumcision connected the rite of blood-shedding with the act of circumcision. Blood was connected to covenant forming (cf. Gen_15:17), covenant breaking (cf. Gen_2:17), and covenant redemption (cf. Isaiah 53).
▣ "the twelve patriarchs" This usually refers to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but here it refers to Jacob's twelve sons, who will become the tribes of Israel.