Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 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.
6. And God spake on this wise ] The words are substantially those which we find in Gen 15:13-14.
four hundred years ] This number agrees with the number stated in Genesis; but in Exo 12:40, and also by St Paul (Gal 3:17), the time is said to have been four hundred and thirty years. The period is reckoned so as to include part of the lives of the patriarchs in Canaan, and the variation may be accounted for if one number dates back to the first call, and the second only to the departure from Haran; or the one may be reckoned from the time of the covenant of circumcision, and the other from the promise of the land. Or it may be that one is merely a round number and the other an attempt at greater exactness. We can come to no certain conclusion in the matter, but we can see that both numbers were current among the Jews, for Josephus ( Ant. ii. 15. 2) makes the time 430 years, and elsewhere ( Ant. ii. 9. 1, and Bell. Jud. v. 9. 4) 400 years.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And God spake on this wise – In this manner, Gen 15:13-14.
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 Gen 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, Exo 1:11.
And entreat them evil – Would oppress or afflict them.
Four hundred years – This is the precise time which is mentioned by Moses, Gen 15:13. Great perplexity has been experienced in explaining this passage, or reconciling it with other statements. In Exo 12:40, it is said that their sojourning in Egypt was 430 years. Josephus (Antiq., book 2, chapter 9, section 1) also says that the time in which they were in Egypt was 400 years; though in another place (Antiq., book 2, chapter 15, section 2) he says that they left Egypt f 430 years after their forefather, Abraham, came to Canaan, but 215 years after Jacob removed to Egypt. Paul also Gal 3:17 says that it was 430 years from the time when the promise was given to Abraham to the time when the Law was given on Mount Sinai. The Samaritan Pentateuch also says Exo 12:40 that the dwelling of the sons of Israel, and of their fathers, which they dwelt in the land of Canaan, and in the land of Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.
The same is the version of the Septuagint. A part of this perplexity is removed by the fact that Stephen and Moses use, in accordance with a very common custom, round numbers in speaking of it, and thus speak of 400 years when the literal time was 430. The other perplexities are not so easily removed. From the account which Moses has given of the lives of certain persons, it would seem clear that the time which they spent in Egypt was not 400 years. From Gen 46:8, Gen 46:11, it appears that Kohath was born when Jacob went into Egypt. He lived 133 years, Exo 6:18. Amram, his son, and the father of Moses lived 137 years, Exo 6:20. Moses was 80 years old when he was sent to Pharaoh, Exo 7:7. The whole time thus mentioned, including the time in which the father lived after his son was born, was only 350 years. Exclusive of that, it is reasonable to suppose that the actual time of their being in Egypt could not have been but about 200 years, according to one account of Josephus. The question then is, how can these accounts be reconciled? The only satisfactory way is by supposing that the 430 years includes the whole time from the calling of Abraham to the departure from Egypt. And that this was the fact is probable from the following circumstances:
- The purpose of all the narratives on this subject is to trace the period before they became finally settled in the land of Canaan. During all this period from the calling of Abraham, they were in a wandering, unfixed situation. This constituted substantially one period, including all their oppressions, hardships, and dangers; and it was natural to have reference to this entire period in any account which was given.
(2)All this period was properly the period of promise, not of possession. In this respect the wanderings of Abraham and the oppressions of Egypt came under the same general description.
- Abraham was himself occasionally in Egypt. He was unsettled; and since Egypt was so pre-eminent in all their troubles, it was natural to speak of all their oppressions as having occurred in that country. The phrase residence in Egypt, or in a strange land, would come to be synonymous, and would denote all their oppressions and trials. They would speak of their sufferings as having been endured in Egypt, because their afflictions there were so much more prominent than before.
(4)All this receives countenance from the version of the Septuagint, and from the Samaritan text, showing the manner in which the ancient Jews were accustomed to understand it.
(5)It should be added, that difficulties of chronology are more likely to occur than any others; and it should not be deemed strange if there are perplexities of this kind found in ancient writings which we cannot explain. It is so in all ancient records; and all that is usually expected in relation to such difficulties is that we should be able to present a probable explanation.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. That his seed should sojourn in a strange land] See Ge 15:13, Ge 15:14.
Four hundred years.] MOSES says, Ex 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, Ga 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 in all others, those alone excepted who write professedly on chronological matters.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Should sojourn in a strange land, as men which dwell in houses that are not their own; which seem to contradict the promise mentioned in the foregoing verse; but it is only to make Abraham the more believe against hope in hope, as it is said, Rom 4:18; though there were never so many difficulties more, for what God hath promised faith would overcome them all. This very space of
four hundred years is also mentioned, Gen 15:13; which is thus computed: from the birth of Isaac (the promised seed) to the birth of Jacob, sixty years; from Jacobs birth to his going into Egypt, one hundred and thirty years; from thence to their deliverance out of Egypt, two hundred and ten years; this period is accounted, Exo 12:40,41, to be four hundred and thirty years; which also St. Paul reckons by, Gal 3:17; but then thirty years is added unto the account, being the space of time between the first promise made unto Abraham of this seed, and the birth of Isaac, in whom the promise was to be fulfilled; St. Stephen here reckoning only from the birth of Isaac.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6-8. four hundred yearsusinground numbers, as in Gen 15:13;Gen 15:16 (see on Ga3:17).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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 Ge 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 from the birth of Isaac: which was as soon as Abraham had the promised seed, and may be reckoned after this manner; from the birth of Isaac to the birth of Jacob, sixty years, Ge 25:26 and from thence to the coming of Jacob into Egypt, one hundred and thirty years, Ge 47:9 and from thence to the coming of the children of Israel out of Egypt, two hundrd and ten years; which in all make up four hundred years; for the sojourning and evil entreating of Abraham’s seed are not to be confined to the land of Egypt, but belong to other lands, where they were within this time, though that land is more especially intended; and so the Septuagint version renders the text in Ex 12:40. “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, which they (and some copies add, and their fathers) sojourned in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, were four hundred and thirty years”: and this text is differently read in the Talmuds, in one of them thus f; “and the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt”,
, “and in all the lands, were four hundred and thirty years”; and in the other of them thus g, “and the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt”, , “and in the rest of the lands, were four hundred years”; upon which latter the gloss has these words;
“from the time that the decree of the captivity was made between them to the birth of Isaac, were thirty years; and from the birth of Isaac, until the Israelites went out of Egypt, were four hundred years; take out of them the sixty of Isaac, and the one hundred and thirty that Jacob had lived when he went down into Egypt, and there remain two hundred and ten; and so is the decree, that “thy seed shall be a stranger in a land not theirs”, Ge 15:13 and it is not said in Egypt, but in a land not theirs; and when Isaac was born, Abraham was a sojourner in the land of the Philistines; and from thence, till they went out of Egypt, it will be found that Isaac and his seed who were the seed of Abraham, were strangers: and the thirty years before that are not numbered in the decree;”
[See comments on Ga 3:17].
f T. Hieros, Megilla, fol. 71. 4. g T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 9. 1. Vid. Aben Ezra, in Exod. xii. 40.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
On this wise (). A free quotation from Ge 15:13.
Should sojourn ( ). Shall be a sojourner, (, beside, , home), one dwelling near one’s home, but not of it, so a stranger, foreigner, old word, often in LXX, temporary residence without full rights of citizenship (Acts 7:29; Acts 13:17), and descriptive of Christians (Eph 2:19; 1Pet 1:17; 1Pet 2:11).
In a strange land ( ). In a land not one’s own, that belongs to another, alien as in Mt 17:25f., which see.
Four hundred years ( ). Accusative of duration of time. As in Ge 15:13, but a round number as in Ex 12:40 the time is 430 years. But in Ga 3:17 Paul, following the LXX in Ex 12:40, takes the 430 years to cover the period in Canaan and the stay in Egypt, cutting the sojourn in Egypt to about half. Josephus gives it both ways. Hackett suggests two solutions, one that there were two ways of reckoning the period among the Jews with no way of settling it, the other that by the 430 years in Egypt the writers meant to include Canaan also as merely the preliminary to the period in Egypt.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “And God spake on this wise,” (elalesen de houtos ho theos) “Then God spoke this,” after this manner or about this matter.
2) “That his seed should sojourn in a strange land,” (hoti estai to sperma autou paroikon en ge allotria) “That his seed will be sojourners in a land belonging to other people,” land outside this land, outside this country- -referring to the sojourn in Egypt, Gen 15:13-14, and in the land of the Philistines, Gen 21:23; Gen 21:34.
3) “And that they should bring them in bondage,” (kai doulosousin auto) “And they (of the other land) will enslave it (the seed of Abraham),” and they did in Egyptian bondage, Exo 1:8-14; Exo 12:40-41.
4) “And entreat them evil four hundred years,” (kai kakosousin ete tetrakosia) “And they (of another country) will treat them evil for a period of four hundred years,” Exo 12:40. The period formerly used is in round numbers, Gen 15:13-14; Gal 3:17 is precise, perhaps counting from the time Abraham left Haran, until that very day Israel was led out of Egyptian bondage, Exo 12:41; Exo 12:51.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
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 were instituted.
These things appertain unto the general scope or drift of the sermon. But hence may we gather a profitable admonition. Bondage is of itself hard and bitter; but when cruelty of masters is added thereunto, it seemeth to be intolerable. Wherefore, it must needs be that the mind of the godly man was sore wounded, when he heard that his seed should serve, and be villanously and cruelly entreated, Moreover, this was no small trial; forasmuch as these things were, to look to contrary—the inheritance of the land of Canaan which was now promised, and bondage in a strange country. For who would not have thought that God had, as it were, forgotten his former promise, when as he telleth Abraham that his seed shall endure miserable bondage? He saith, at the first, that he will give his seed the land. But he had as yet no seed; yea, all hope of seed was now cut off. But when doth he promise that he will give it? After his death. By and by he saith, that that seed should be carried away to another place, that it may serve strangers. And how long? Four hundred years. Doth he not seem, by this means, to pull back his hand, that he may not perform that which he had promised?
Let us know that this was done, (not once only,) for God dealeth oftentimes with us thus, so that he may seem contrary to himself; and he speaketh also in such sort as that he may seem to call back (381) that which he had promised. Therefore, it cannot be but that flesh will judge that he is contrary to himself; but faith doth know that his words do agree well together amongst themselves, and with his works. And this is the purpose of God, to the end he may extend the sight of our faith the farther, to show his promises afar off, as it were, a long place [space] being put between. Therefore it is our duty to go forward, and to strive to attain unto that salvation which is set before us through many straits, (382) through divers lets, through long distance, through the midst of deeps, and, finally, through death itself. Furthermore, seeing that we see that the people which God had chosen did serve the Egyptians, and was uncourteously (383) afflicted, we must not be discouraged if the like condition be prepared for us at this day. For it is no new thing, neither any unwonted thing, for the Church of God to lie oppressed under tyranny, and to be, as it were, trodden under foot of the wicked.
(380) “ Feroces illorum spiritus,” their fierce tempers.
(381) “ Retractare,” to retract.
(382) “ Per innumeros anfractus,” though innumerable wanderings.
(383) “ Inhumaniter,” inhumanly.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) And that they should bring them into bondage . . .Here again there is another apparent discrepancy of detail. Taking the common computation, the interval between the covenant with Abraham and that with Moses was 430 years (Gal. 3:17), of which only 215 are reckoned as spent in Egypt. The Israelites were indeed sojourners in a strange land for the whole 430 years, but the history shows that they were not in bondage nor evil entreated till the Pharaoh arose who knew not Joseph. The chronological difficulty, however, lies in reconciling St. Pauls statement in Gal. 3:17 with the language of Gen. 15:13, which gives 400 years as the sojourning in Egypt, and Exo. 12:40, which gives 430, and with which St. Stephen is in substantial agreement. St. Paul appears to have followed the LXX. reading of Exo. 12:40, which inserts in the land of Cannan, and in some MSS. they and their fathers, and with this the Samaritan Pentateuch agrees. Josephus varies, in some passages (Ant. ii. 15, 2), giving 215 years; in others (Ant. ii. 9, 1; Wars, v. 9, 4), 400. All that can be said is, as before, that chronological accuracy did not affect the argument in either case. It was enough for St. Stephen, as for St. Paul, to accept this or that system of dates, as they had been taught, without inquiring into the grounds on which it rested. Such inquiries were foreign to the Jewish character generally, and above all to that character when possessed by the sense of new and divine realities. Round numbers were enough for them to mark the successive stages of Gods dealings with His people.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Four hundred years This period measures from Abraham’s arrival as a stranger in Haran, which was four centuries. Israel was in Egypt alone but two hundred and fifteen years.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
6. With one accord gave heed As we have mentioned in the fifth chapter of John, the Samaritans believed in a Messiah or Converter, and the miracles and touching discourse of Jesus found open ears and hearts.
The present unanimity of heed, or attention, implies that Philip was for the hour the topic of the town.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And God spoke in this vein, that his seed would sojourn in a strange land, and that they would bring them into bondage, and treat them ill, four hundred years.’
Nor did God promise immediate possession of the land for his seed. They also would be away from the land for four hundred years (Gen 15:13). Thus it was clearly not their possession of the land that mattered, but that they were His people, with a future hope. They would indeed live in a strange land. And there they would in time be in bondage, and would be ill-treated (as Stephen and his hearers were being in Palestine at that time under Roman rule). The ‘four hundred years’ relates to ‘sojourn’, not to the being in bondage, which would be for only part of that time. But both would be with a future hope.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The promise to Abraham:
v. 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.
v. 7. And The nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God; and after that shall they come forth, and serve Me in this place.
v. 8. And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs. For Abraham the promises of God provided one trial of faith after the other. Long before he had a son, the Lord told him that his descendants would be enslaved in a strange land, where they would be kept a matter of some four hundred years, Gen 15:13-16, the exact number being given in other passages of Scriptures, Gal 3:17. Incidentally, however, there was comfort for Abraham in the fact that God promised to judge, to speak the condemning sentence upon, the cruel masters, in order to bring His people out eventually to serve, to worship Him in this place, in Jerusalem, Exo 3:12. Still later God gave to Abraham the covenant and the rite of circumcision, as the first sacrament of the Old Testament Church, and when finally Isaac was born, he was received into the covenant by this rite. And so, in due course, Jacob was begotten, and finally the twelve patriarchs, the sons of Israel.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Act 7:6. Sojourn in a strange land; Some think that this is said in opposition to their sojourning as strangers in the land of Canaan, Heb 11:9 which was not a strange land, but theirs by divine promise. But God himself teaches us otherwise, Exo 6:4 where he calls Canaan the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they, that is, Abraham and his descendants, had hitherto been strangers; for they were not as yet possessed of it, though they had a good title to it. This is proper to be taken notice of, in order to explain what immediately follows. See the note on Gen 15:13.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Act 7:6-7 . By the continuative there is now brought in the express declaration of God , which was given on occasion of this promise to Abraham concerning the future providential guidance destined for his posterity. But God (at that time) spoke thus: “that his seed will dwell as strangers in a foreign land,” etc. The does not depend on ., nor is it the recitative, but (see the LXX.) it is a constituent part of the very saying adduced . [199] This is Gen 15:13 , but with the second person ( thy seed) converted into the third, and also otherwise deviating from the LXX.; in fact, . is entirely wanting in the LXX. and Hebrew, and is an expansion suggested by Exo 3:12 .
] . Comp. on Luk 24:18 ; Eph 2:19 .
] namely, the .
] Here, as in an oracle , the duration is given, as also at Gen. l.c. , in round numbers; but in Exo 12:40 this period of Egyptian sojourning and bondage ( . belongs to the whole ) is historically specified exactly as 430 years. In Gal 3:17 (see in loc. ), Paul has inappropriately referred the chronological statement of Exo 12:40 to the space of time from the promise made to Abraham down to the giving of the law.
Act 7:7 . As in the LXX. and in the original Heb. the whole passage Act 7:6-7 is expressed in direct address ( ), while Stephen in Act 7:6 has adduced it in the indirect form; so he now, passing over to the direct expression, inserts the , which is not in the LXX. nor in the Heb.
And (after this 400 years’ bondage) the people I shall judge ; of judicial retribution , which, as frequently in the N. T., is seen from the context to be punitive .
] has the weight of the authority of divine absoluteness. Comp. Rom 12:19 .
] namely, where I now speak with thee (in Canaan ). There is no reference to Horeb (Exo 3:12 : ), as we have here only a freely altered echo of the promise made to Moses , which suggested itself to Stephen, in order to denote more definitely the promise made to Abraham . Arbitrary suggestions are made by Bengel and Baumgarten, who find an indication of the long distance of time and the intervening complications . Stephen, however, here makes no erroneous reference (de Wette), but only a free application , such as easily presented itself in an extempore speech.
[199] LXX.: . . .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
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.
Ver. 6. Four hundred years ] Beginning at the birth of Isaac.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
6, 7. ] A free citation from the LXX, with the words . . . adapted and added from Exo 3:12 . The shifts of some Commentators to avoid this plain fact are not worth recounting: but again, the student who would not handle the word of God deceitfully should be here and every where on his guard against them.
The round number, 400 years, given here and Gen. l.c, is further specified Exo 12:40 as 430. (See Gal 3:17 , and note.)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 7:6 . : not in contrast to the fact just mentioned that Abraham had no child, but introducing a fuller account of God’s promise. The quotation is from LXX, Gen 15:13 , with a few alterations; in LXX and Heb., the second person, not the third, is used; instead of in LXX, , cf. Heb 11:9 ; and instead of , corresponding to . Wendt takes as “recitantis,” and not with Meyer as a constituent part of the quotation itself, LXX: . . . in LXX as a stranger or so journer in a country not one’s own, several times in combination with , cf. Gen 21:23 ; Gen 21:34 ; Gen 26:3 , and in N.T. cf. this passage and Act 7:29 . In Eph 2:19 , 1Pe 2:11 , the word is also used, but metaphorically, although the usage may be said to be based on that of the LXX; cf. Epist. ad Diognet. v., 5, and Polycarp, Phil. , inscript. See Kennedy, Sources of N. T. Greek , p. 102. : so too Gen 15:13 . The period named belongs not only to but also to , as Meyer rightly observes. But in Exo 12:40 four hundred and thirty years are mentioned as the sojourning which Israel sojourned in Egypt, and in both passages the whole space of time is so occupied; or, at all events it may be fairly said that this is implied in the Hebrew text in both Gen 15:13 and Exo 12:40 : cf. also for the same mode of reckoning Philo, Quis rer. div. her. , 54, p. 511, Mang. But neither here nor in Gal 3:17 is the argument in the least degree affected by the precise period, or by the adoption of one of the two chronological systems in preference to the other, and in a speech round numbers would be quite sufficient to mark the progressive stages in the history of the nation and of God’s dealings with them. For an explanation of the point see Lightfoot, Gal 3:17 , who regards the number in Genesis as given in round numbers, but in Exodus with historical exactness (to the same effect Wendt, Felten, Zckler). But in the LXX version, Exo 12:40 , the four hundred and thirty years cover the sojourn both in Egypt and in Canaan, thus including the sojourn of the Patriarchs in Canaan before the migration, and reducing the actual residence in Egypt to about half this period, the Vatican MS. reading four hundred and thirty-five years after adding (the word five , however, , being erased), and the Alexandrian MS. reading after the words , making the revision in the chronology more decisive. This is the chronology adopted in Gal 3:17 , and by Josephus, Ant. , ii., 15, 2; but the latter writer in other passages, Ant. , ii., 9, 1, and B.J. , v., 9, 4, adopts the same reckoning as we find here in Acts. But see also Charles, Assumption of Moses , Phi 3:4 (1897).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
spake. Greek. laleo. App-121. Quoted from Gen 15:13, Gen 15:14.
sojourn = be a stranger. Greek. paroikos. Here, Act 7:29. Eph 2:19. 1Pe 2:11. The verb paroikeo, only in Luk 24:18. Heb 11:9.
strange = foreign. Greek. allotrios. App-124.
bring them into bondage = enslave them. Greek. douloo. App-190.
entreat them evil = wrong them. Greek. kakoo. Compare App-128. Here, Act 7:19; Act 12:1; Act 14:2; Act 18:10. 1Pe 3:13.
four hundred years. See note on Exo 12:40.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
6, 7.] A free citation from the LXX, with the words . . . adapted and added from Exo 3:12. The shifts of some Commentators to avoid this plain fact are not worth recounting: but again, the student who would not handle the word of God deceitfully should be here and every where on his guard against them.
The round number, 400 years, given here and Gen. l.c, is further specified Exo 12:40 as 430. (See Gal 3:17, and note.)
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 7:6. , but) The antithesis between the promise and the time of its fulfilment, which was to be waited for[46]- , , -) Gen 15:13-14, LXX., , , . -.-, a strange) Egypt was not then named. Comp. the , to whomsoever they shall be in bondage, in Act 7:7.-) This clause, which has been omitted by some, is required by the fact itself (concerning which presently) and by the accent in Gen 15:13.- , four hundred years) These years are to be referred not only to the Egyptian bondage (which began long after the death of Joseph and of his brethren, when the people multiplied, Act 7:15, etc.), but to the whole sojourn in the strange land, [viz. from the birth of Isaac up to the departure out of Egypt.-V. g.] Four hundred years in the case of a people, and forty years in the case of a man, constitute a memorable period; even in the case of Israel and Moses. Moreover by this very number it was indicated that the joyful dwelling in the land of Canaan afterwards would be much longer in continuance.
[46] Thus here, not in ver. 5, forms the antithesis. So ABCEe and many MSS. of Vulg. read , not . Dd Vulg. Amiat. and Iren., however, read .-E. and T.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
That: Gen 15:13, Gen 15:16
four: Exo 12:40, Exo 12:41, Gal 3:17
Reciprocal: Gen 47:4 – For to Eze 16:4 – for Act 7:17 – when Heb 11:9 – he sojourned
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
6
Act 7:6. This prediction is recorded in Gen 15:13, and refers to the hardships of the Israelites in Egypt. Strange land means one outside their own promised land.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 7:6. And God spake on this wise. Stephen here quotes the passage to which he had been previously alluding, with a very slight variation, from the LXX. of Gen 15:14-15, the very words spoken by the Eternal to Abraham His friend, containing the promise, and also an intimation that its fulfilment must not be expected for a long period of years. It was a touching reminder to his hearers, how mistaken they were to set so superstitious a value on ground of which their great ancestors the friends and specially-protected ones of God had no tenure.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, The great trial which God put Abraham’s faith unto; The Lord promised to give him the land of Canaan for a possession, but he gave him not a foot’s breadth: He promised to give it unto his seed , when as yet he had no child; and when God gave him seed, yet they were to sojourn in a strange land, Egypt; and continue there in bondage four hundred years.
Learn hence, That there is no grace which God delights more to exercise and try, than the faith of his people; as faith put honour upon God, so doth God put honour upon faith; and faith never honours God more, nor is more highly honoured by him, than when it is put upon the greatest exercise and trial; That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, might be found unto praise, and honour, and glory. 1Pe 1:7
Here the apostle compares faith unto, and prefers it before gold, even the most precious gold purified in the fire. Is gold precious and rare? So is faith. Is gold pure and resplendent? So is faith. Is gold lasting and durable? So is faith. Is gold purified and improved by trying in the fire? So is faith by exercise; as the instance of Abraham here fully proves.
Observe, 2. How God takes Abraham and his seed into covenant with him, and gives him circumcision, the seal of the covenant.
Thence learn, That in the covenant which God made with Abraham, he gave himself to be a God to Abraham and to his seed, and received Abraham and his seed to be a people unto himself.
2. That circumcision was both the sign and the seal of the covenant which God made with Abraham.
1. Circumcision was a sign, and that in several respects:
It was a commemorative sign of God’s covenant with Abraham;
it was a representative sign of Abraham’s faith and obedience towards God.
A demonstrative sign of original sin, and the depravity of human nature.
A discriminating and distinguishing sign of the true church, and people of God, from all the rest of the world.
An initiating sign, by which all strangers were admitted into the Jewish church.
And, lastly, It was a prefigurative sign of baptism, which succeeded in the room of not only a sign, but a seal also: He received the sign of circumcision, the seal of the righteousness by faith Rom 4:11.
It was a seal on God’s part, to confirm all the promises made to Abraham and his seed:
And it was a seal on his and their part, to blind him to renounce the sevice of all other gods, and to oblige them to the observation of the whole Jewish law.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Act 7:6-8. And God spake, that his seed should sojourn in a strange land When God had brought Abraham into this country, he did not keep him and his posterity here till the time when they were to enter upon the possession of it, in consequence of this divine grant; but, on the contrary, God informed him in a vision that his seed should be strangers in a foreign land, and that they among whom they sojourned should bring them into bondage Should make them slaves; and entreat them evil Use them with great cruelty; and that these events, with the circumstances preparatory to them, should extend themselves to the full period of four hundred years. See note on Gen 15:13. And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage By which they shall be enslaved; will I judge, said God I will assuredly punish with righteous and tremendous severity; and after that shall they come forth Namely, out of that land; and serve me in this place In this land, erecting a temple for the performance of my worship here. He gave him the covenant of circumcision See notes on Gen 17:10-14. And so Abraham begat Isaac After the covenant was given, of which circumcision was the seal.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
See notes on verse 5
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
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 {e} four hundred years.
(e) Four hundred years are counted from the beginning of Abraham’s progeny, which was at the birth of Isaac: and four hundred and thirty years which are spoken of by Paul in Gal 3:17 , from the time that Abraham and his father departed together out of Ur of the Chaldeans.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
God also told Abraham that his offspring would be slaves and suffer mistreatment outside their land for 400 years (Gen 15:13), namely, from the year their enslavement began, evidently 1845 B.C., to the Exodus, 1446 B.C. Some interpreters take the 400 years as a round number. [Note: See also Harold W. Hoehner, "The Duration of the Egyptian Bondage," Bibliotheca Sacra 126:504 (October-December 1969):306-16.]
The Israelites were currently under Roman oppression but were about to lose their freedom and experience antagonism outside the land for many years. Jesus had predicted this (Mat 23:1 to Mat 25:46).