Acts 7:3-4

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Acts 7:1-16

Stephen is now at the bar before the great council of the nation, indicted for blasphemy: what the witnesses swore against him we had an account of in the foregoing chapter, that he spoke blasphemous words against Moses and God; for he spoke against this holy place and the law. Now here, I. The high priest calls upon him to answer for himself, Acts 7:1. He was president, and, as such, the mouth of the court, and therefore he saith, ?You, the prisoner at the bar, you hear what is sworn against... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Acts 7:1-7

When Oliver Cromwell was outlining the education he thought necessary for his son Richard, he said, "I would have him know a little history." It was to the lesson of history that Stephen appealed. Clearly believing that the best form of defence was attack, he took a bird's eye view of the history of the Jewish people and cited certain truths as condemnation of his own nation. (i) He saw that the men who played a really great part in the history of Israel were the men who heard God's command,... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Acts 7:1-7

7:1-7 The high priest said, "Is this so?" And Stephen said, "Men, brothers and fathers, listen to what I have to say. The God of glory appeared to Abraham our father when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Charran. He said to him, 'Get out from your country and from your kindred and come here to a land which I will show you.' Then he came out from the land of the Chaldaeans and took up his residence in Charran. After the death of his father he removed from there and took up his... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 7:3

And said unto him ,.... Not the words in Genesis 12:1 for they were said in Haran, these in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt there, and besides, these are different from them; no mention is here made of getting out from his father's house, as there; because his father's house sent along with him, or rather he with them from Mesopotamia to Haran: get thee out of thy country ; from Ur of the Chaldees, where he was born: and from thy kindred ; his relations that lived in the same place,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 7:4

Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans ,.... The same with Mesopotamia; so Pliny says F2 De Urbibus, l. 6. c. 26. , that "because of Babylon the head of the Chaldean nation---the other part of Mesopotamia and Assyria is called Babylonia.' And he places Babylon in Mesopotamia; it was out of Ur, in the land of the Chaldeans particularly, that Abraham came, upon his first call: and dwelt in Charan : according to the Jewish writers F3 Seder Olam Rabba, c. 1. p. 2. Ganz... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Acts 7:4

When his father was dead - See the note on Genesis 11:26 . read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Acts 7:3

Verse 3 3.Come out of thy country. God useth many words, to the end he may the more wound the mind of Abraham, as if it were not a thing sharp enough of itself to be banished out of his own country. And that served to try his faith; even as that other thing also, that God assigneth him no land wherein he may dwell, but maketh him stand in doubt, and wait for a time. Wherefore the obedience of Abraham was so much the more to be commended, because the sweetness of his native soil keepeth him not... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Acts 7:4

Verse 4 4.Then going out. The readiness and willingness of faith is commended in these words. For when he is called he maketh no delay, but maketh haste (376) and subdueth all his affections, that they may obey the holy commandment of God. It is uncertain for what cause he stayed at Charran; yet it may be that the weakness of his father caused him to tarry there, who, as we read, died there shortly after; or else, because he durst go no further, until such time as the Lord had told him whither... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 7:1-7

Living faith. Abraham is well called "the father of the faithful;" nowhere, in the Old Testament or in the Newt do we meet with any one whose life was such an illustration of implicit trust and holy confidence in God as was his. If faith be not merely the acceptance of a creed, or the utterance of sacred phrases, or the patronage of religious institutions; if it be a living power in the soul, it will manifest itself in— I. CHEERFUL OBEDIENCE . ( Acts 7:2-4 .) God bade Abraham... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 7:1-17

Stephen's address: lessons of the patriarchal time. Stephen's view of Jesus and his mission rests, as every sound and thoughtful view must do, on the whole past history of the nation—as a nation called to a spiritual destiny in the purposes of God. I. THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL IS ROOTED IN DIVINE REVELATION . Her God is the "God of glory." Power, holiness, perfect freedom, are included in this idea of the "glorious God." History is a Divine revelation, because it unfolds... read more

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