Acts 7:6 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And God spoke to this effect — that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years.

NIV: God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated.

NASB: But God spoke to this effect, that his DESCENDANTS WOULD BE STRANGERS IN A LAND THAT WAS NOT THEIRS, AND THEY WOULD ENSLAVE AND MISTREAT them for four hundred years.

CSB: God spoke in this way: His descendants would be strangers in a foreign country, and they would enslave and oppress them for four hundred years.

NLT: God also told him that his descendants would live in a foreign land, where they would be oppressed as slaves for 400 years.

KJV: 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.

NKJV: But God spoke in this way: that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into bondage and oppress them four hundred years.

Stephen is explaining to the Sanhedrin and a crowd in Jerusalem that neither the Mosaic law nor the temple are required for Jews to worship God. The first Jewish God-worshiper, Abraham, did not inherit the land where his descendants were to worship God. He did not have a temple to worship in. And he did not have a law to tell him how to worship. And, yet, he is the founding patriarch from whom all God-worshiping Jews come, including Stephen's accusers.

Stephen continues his narrative about God's promises to Abraham. Some of God's covenant with Abraham was positive: Abraham's wife Sarah would have a son, that son's descendants would inherit the land of Canaan, and through Abraham's offspring all the nations of the world would be blessed (Genesis 15:4–7, 18–20; 12:2–3, 7). But Abraham, himself, would not inherit the land, and his descendants would be enslaved for four hundred years (Genesis 15:13).

Events progressed as God promised. Long after Abraham and his son Isaac had died, Abraham's great-grandson Joseph saved Egypt from a famine that affected Canaan as well. Joseph brought his father and brothers down to Egypt. After Joseph's death, however, a new Pharaoh enslaved his family. Four hundred years later, God called up Moses to announce terrible curses on the Egyptians and rescue for the Israelites (Genesis 46:1–7; Exodus 12:33–42).

A "sojourner" is a resident foreigner. The Israelites were sojourners in their four hundred years in Egypt, but Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob's families were also sojourners before the Israelites went to Egypt (Exodus 6:4).

In another attempt to throw doubt on the inerrancy of the Bible, critics point out that Exodus 12:40–42 claims the Israelites were enslaved for 430 years. A closer examination will show the text says they "lived in Egypt" for 430 years. Apparently, after Jacob brought his sons and their families to Egypt to escape the famine, they lived in peace for thirty years. Then the new Pharaoh enslaved them (Exodus 1:8–14). Or, Stephen is simply speaking in the same rounded numbers people have always used in conversation.

Acts 7:1–8 is the beginning of Stephen's defense before the Sanhedrin. Jews from outside Judea have accused Stephen, a follower of Jesus, of speaking against Moses, the Law, and the temple (Acts 6:8–15). Stephen uses the history of Israel to show how hypocritical the charges are. In Abraham's story, alone, Stephen shows how God is sovereign over His people outside Israel and outside the Mosaic law. God called Abraham hundreds of miles from Jerusalem in Mesopotamia and made a covenant with him hundreds of years before the Israelites received the Law. This story is told in full in Genesis 11:27—30:24.

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.