Acts 7:11 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food.

NIV: Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food.

NASB: Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers could find no food.

CSB: Now a famine and great suffering came over all of Egypt and Canaan, and our ancestors could find no food.

NLT: But a famine came upon Egypt and Canaan. There was great misery, and our ancestors ran out of food.

KJV: Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.

NKJV: Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance.

The account of the Jewish "fathers," meaning the patriarchs of the tribes, as they escaped to Egypt during a famine shows that God does not need His people to gather in a temple to recognize them. Jacob's older sons had sold their younger brother Joseph to slave traders. In the ensuing years, God arranged for Joseph to spend time in slavery and prison, predict a famine, rise to be second in command of all Egypt, and prepare for the famine. Despite being away from the land God had promised Abraham, God was with Joseph.

Back in Canaan, Joseph's family had sensed no warning of the famine, and the people and livestock were in threat of starvation (Genesis 41:37–57). Jacob hears there is grain for sale in Egypt (Genesis 42:1–2). He has no idea that his lost son has control of it. He doesn't even know Joseph is still alive.

Stephen's recounting of Joseph's story also helps demonstrate to his audience that despite their claimed reverence of Moses, the Israelites have a long history of rejecting God's prophets. In this, Joseph parallels Jesus' identification as the stone the builders rejected that became the cornerstone (Matthew 21:42). Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, but God used him as the foundation for survival for nations caught in famine. The Sanhedrin, to whom Stephen is speaking, killed Jesus, but His sacrifice is the foundation for their salvation, if they will only believe.

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.