Acts 7:6

And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years. AND GOD SPAKE ON THIS WISE. THAT HIS SEED SHOULD SOJOURN IN A STRANGE LAND; AND THAT THEY SHOULD BRING THEM INTO BONDAGE, AND ENTREAT THEM EVIL FOUR HUNDRED YEARS - that is, speaking in round numbers, as in ; . The exact period was 430 years (; ). (Though the structure of the sentence seems to imply that they were not only 'brought into bondage,' but 'evil entreated' four hundred years it is to the former only that the four hundred years are intended to apply.)...

6._Thy seed shall be a stranger. _Stephen putteth the Jews in mind in how miserable and reproachful an estate their fathers were in Egypt; and showeth that this their servitude, wherewith they were oppressed, came not by chance; because it was foretold long before by the oracle of God. This history ought to have been of great force, partly to tame their lofty courages, (380) and to teach them modesty; partly to set forth the grace of God, because God had always had a care of that nation. For this is a singular benefit, in that the people are restored wonderfully, as it were, from death to life. In the mean season, the Jews are taught that the Church of God was elsewhere than in the land wherein they dwelt; that the fathers were chosen to be a peculiar people, and that they were kept safe under the tuition of God, before ever the temple was built, or the external ceremonies of the law wer...

1-16 Stephen was charged as a blasphemer of God, and an apostate from the church; therefore he shows that he is a son of Abraham, and values himself on it. The slow steps by which the promise made to Abraham advanced toward performance, plainly show that it had a spiritual meaning, and that the land intended was the heavenly. God owned Joseph in his troubles, and was with him by the power of his Spirit, both on his own mind by giving him comfort, and on those he was concerned with, by giving him favour in their eyes. Stephen reminds the Jews of their mean beginning as a check to priding themselves in the glories of that nation. Likewise of the wickedness of the patriarchs of their tribes, in envying their brother Joseph; and the same spirit was still working in them toward Christ and his ministers. The faith of the patriarchs, in desiring to be buried in the land of Canaan, plainly show...

Verse Acts 7:6. _THAT HIS SEED SHOULD SOJOURN IN A STRANGE LAND_] See Genesis 15:13, Genesis 15:14. _FOUR HUNDRED YEARS._] MOSES says, Exodus 12:40, _that the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt-was 430_ _years_. See the note there. St. PAUL has the same number, Galatians 3:17; and so has Josephus, _Ant_. lib. ii. cap. 1, sect. 9; in _Bell_. lib. v. cap. 9, sect. 4. St. Stephen uses the round number of 400, leaving out the odd _tens_, a thing very common, not only in the sacred writers, but

AND GOD SPAKE ON THIS WISE - In this manner, Genesis 15:13. HIS SEED - His posterity; his descendants. SHOULD SOJOURN - This means that they would have a “temporary residence there.” The word is used in opposition to a fixed, permanent home, and is applied to travelers, or foreigners. IN A STRANGE LAND - In the Hebrew Genesis 15:13, “Shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs.” The land of Canaan and the land of Egypt were strange lands to them, though the obvious reference here is to the latter. SHOULD BRING THEM INTO BONDAGE - Or, would make them slaves,...

EXPOSITION ACTS 7:1 _And the high priest said _for then _said the high priest, _A.V. The high priest spoke as president of the Sanhedrim (see Acts 9:1. Acts 9:1 and Matthew 26:62). Theophilus the son of Annas or his brother Jonathan is probably meant. ACTS 7:2 _Brethren and fathers _for _men, brethren, and fathers, _A.V. _Haran _for _Charran, _A.V. BRETHREN AND FATHERS. The Greek is ἄνδρες ἀδελφοὶ (_i.e. _"men who are also my brethren") καὶ πατέρες. H

AND GOD SPAKE ON THIS WISE,.... The Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions read, "and God spake to him", and so does one of Beza's copies; and the Ethiopic version reads it both ways, God "said thus to Abraham", as in Genesis 15:13. THAT HIS SEED SHOULD SOJOURN IN A STRANGE LAND; or "be a stranger in a land not theirs"; first in the land of Canaan, and then in Egypt, which were possessed by other persons, the natives of them: AND THAT THEY SHOULD BRING THEM INTO BONDAGE; that is, the inhabitants of the lands, and particularly Egypt, should bring the seed of Abraham into bondage, as they did; and very hard bondage it was, at least some part of it: AND ENTREAT THEM EVIL FOUR HUNDRED YEARS; which must be reckoned not from the time of their going down into Egypt, which to their coming up out of it were but two hundred and ten years, but fro

ACTS 7:3-51 In addition to several direct quotations from the Septuagint, Stephen’s speech consists of a series of allusions to and summaries of Israelitish history. In these phrases drawn from the Old Testament about thirty variants between B and D occur in which one agrees with the Septuagint against the other. In most of the cases it is codex Bezae that has been conformed to the text of the Septuagint; according to Ropes’s judgment, 156 in only one instance (h;|dei in ver. Acts 7:18) is there reason to suspect that the B-text has been conformed to the Septuagint. ------------------------- 156 The Text of Acts,...

CHAPTER 7 _ 1. The Address of Stephen (Acts 7:1)._ 2. The Martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 7:54). This is the largest chapter in this book and concludes the first section. Stephen is the chosen instrument to deliver the final testimony to the nation. He was not permitted to finish it. We notice at once a marked difference between the previous preaching by the Apostle Peter and the address of Stephen. The testimony of Peter was marked on the day of Pentecost and at the other occasions by great brevity. Stephen's address is the longest discourse reported in the New Testament. The name of Jesus is prominent in all the addresses of Peter. The fact that He was rejected by the people, crucified and that He rose from the dead, and the call to repentance, were the leading features of Peter's preaching.

ABRAHAM AND THE PATRIARCHS. The High Priest invites Stephen to plead to the charge. Addressing his audience in the style used by Paul (Acts 22:1), Stephen speaks of the theophany to Abraham, placing it, as Philo does, in Mesopotamia before the move to Haran (contrast Genesis 11:31; Genesis 12:1). The Divine injunction and promise (Acts 7:3) are those of Genesis 12:1 spoken in Haran. That not a foot-breadth was given Abraham in the land of promise, is taken from Deuteronomy 2:5, where an