Acts 7:10 - Printer Friendly

ESV: and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.

NIV: and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.

NASB: and rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and his entire household.

CSB: and rescued him out of all his troubles. He gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over his whole household.

NLT: and rescued him from all his troubles. And God gave him favor before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. God also gave Joseph unusual wisdom, so that Pharaoh appointed him governor over all of Egypt and put him in charge of the palace.

KJV: And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

NKJV: and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

Stephen continues his defense against charges that he blasphemed the temple. Here, he puts the building into proper perspective. Joseph, son of Jacob, spent years in slavery and prison in Egypt, yet God was "with him" (Acts 7:9). Stephen quickly skips over Joseph's hardships during his initial years in Egypt. He doesn't need to go over Potiphar's wife's false accusation or Joseph's ensuing years in prison (Genesis 39:1–41:36). Stephen's audience knows the stories well. Stephen is just pointing out how God was with Joseph, even though he left the land God had promised Abraham's descendants and lived his life in Egypt.

God elevated His servant and prophet despite Joseph's rejection and betrayal by his brothers. Joseph was verified as a prophet through his own dreams (Genesis 37:1–11) and by his God-given ability to interpret others' dreams (Genesis 40:1—41:36). Joseph eventually rose to be the second most powerful man in Egypt.

Stephen has been showing how Jews were God's people without a nation or a temple. Now he starts to show how their rejection of God's prophets was a rejection of Him. Despite God's obvious hand on their brother in his younger years, nine of Jacob's oldest sons had sold Joseph into slavery (Genesis 37:12–36). Although Stephen's accusers claim to honor Moses and the other prophets of Israel, the Israelites have a long history of ignoring, rejecting, and even killing prophets. They rejected Moses before he led them out of Egypt and after (Acts 7:35, 39–40), they killed many of the prophets God sent throughout their history (Acts 7:52), and they killed the Prophet Moses promised would follow him: Jesus (Acts 7:37, 52).

Acts 7:9–16 describes one of the church's first deacons, Stephen, during his trial before the Sanhedrin. A crowd of Jews has accused him of speaking against Moses, the Mosaic law, and the temple (Acts 6:8–15). Stephen uses his defense to show how Abraham's descendants have been God's people since long before the Law or the temple. In Acts 7:1–8, he gave a summary of how God called Abraham far from the land his people would later inherit. Stephen continues showing how God cared for His people without a place, adding that they didn't respect His prophets, starting with Joseph. Joseph's story is in Genesis 37—Exodus 1.

Stephen is a Greek-speaking Jewish Christian and one of the first deacons in the church in Jerusalem (Acts 6:1–7). He's also a skilled apologist and has been debating Jews from outside Judea about the proper place of the Mosaic law and the temple (Acts 6:8–15). His opponents cannot counter his arguments so they resort to lies. They tell the Sanhedrin that Stephen wants to destroy the temple and repeal the Mosaic law. Stephen counters that his accusers don't respect Moses or the Law, and the temple isn't necessary to worship God. This enrages the mob, and Stephen is stoned, becoming the first Christian martyr.

Chapter 7 is one of the pivot points of the book of Acts. Until recently, the early church has seen favor from the people and indifference from the Sanhedrin. Now, the Sanhedrin has beaten the apostles and ordered them not to preach about Jesus (Acts 5:40), and the people are starting to realize how different Christianity is. In Jerusalem, a Hellenist Jewish Jesus-follower named Stephen has been in a debate with other foreign Jews who finally accuse him of wishing to destroy the temple, like Jesus (Acts 6:8–15). This is Stephen's defense, which leads to his death and the introduction of Paul.

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.