Acts 7:4

Acts 7:4. When his father was dead. For remarks upon this and the other alleged discrepancies between the statements advanced by Stephen and those contained in the Old Testament history, see the detailed remarks on the short Excursus below. A strange interpretation of the expression ‘was dead,' has been accepted by some commentators of high reputation. There is a tradition (found originally in the Talmud) among the Jews, that Terah, the father of Abraham, relapsed into idolatry during the abode at Haran, and that Abraham departed from him on account of this apostasy. ‘When his father was dead,' then, according to this view, signifies, ‘When his father was spiritually dead, then his son left him in the land of the Chaldeans.' But that the words possess such a mystic sense is most improbable; the plain obvious meaning, in spite of the chronological difficulty which it involves, must be maintained that is, after his father's death, Abraham removed into Canaan.