Acts 7:6

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 7:6

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 Genesis 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,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Acts 7:6

That his seed should sojourn in a strange land - See Genesis 15:13 , Genesis 15:14 . Four hundred years - Moses says, Exodus 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, Galatians 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... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Acts 7:6

Verse 6 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.... 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

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 7:1-53

The recital of a nation's spiritual pedigree—its leading suggestions. Technically the description of a defense may very justly be applied to the long stretch of these verses. They no doubt do stand for Stephen's formal defense. He has been very mildly challenged by the high priest to say whether the "things" laid to his charge "are so." And he loses not a minute in replying. He replies, however, in his own way. That way is somewhat indirect. His tone betrays some sense of his being in... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 7:1-60

The first martyrdom. When we look at the Lord Jesus as our Exemplar, though we are conscious that all his excellences of life and character were strictly human, and within the range of those human faculties which we possess in common with our Lord, yet are we also conscious that the transcendent perfection of his human life is what we can never reach. Our Lord's goodness was the goodness of man, and yet it is a goodness that we never can attain to. Where his feet stood firm, our feet will... read more

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