Acts 7:1-16

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 another country is in question. The promise (Acts 7:5) is from a number of passages (Genesis 12, 13, 17), and that introduced in Acts 7:6 is a quotation from Genesis 15:13; Exodus 2:22; Exodus 12:40; a stranger in a strange land (Exodus 2:22) of Gershom. They shall serve me in this place (Exodus 3:12, this mountain). The phrase covenant of circumcision is composed of Genesis 17:10 and Genesis 17:13; Paul has it in Romans 4:11. For the circumcision of Isaac, see Genesis 21:4. The speaker passes quickly on to Joseph, his sale into Egypt and his rise there (cf. Genesis 37-41), with the migration of Jacob and the patriarchs.

Acts 7:14. LXX gives the number as 75; Heb. says 70 (Genesis 46:27; Deuteronomy 10:22).

Acts 7:16. In Genesis 49:30; Genesis 50:13, Jacob is buried at Machpelah, not in Shechem.