ACTS 7 1-16

Luke wrote “of the things fulfilled among us” paraphrased  [ ] ref  { } thots

Book of the Acts of the First Believers

     Review — A group called Libertines couldn’t disprove the words of Stephen, so they made accusations about him, stirred up the people and a mob against him, and dragged him to court where they provided false witnesses against him.

     7:1 - Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?” 2 Stephen said, “Brothers, and fathers, listen. The God of glory, long ago, appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran (in the northwest Mesopotamian region). 3 God told him ‘Leave your country and your people, and go to the land that I will show you.’

     4 So he left the land of the Chaldeans and he settled in Harran. And then, after the death of his father, God sent him to this land, where we (Israel) are now. 5 He gave him no inheritance, not even enough land to set his foot on. But God promised him, he and his descendants after him, would possess this land. Even though at that time, Abraham had no child.

     6 And God also told him, ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country which wasn’t their own. They’ll be enslaved and mistreated.” {Israel ‘microcosm’ - world macro?} 7 “But I will punish that nation. And afterward they will come out and will worship me⛲️here in this place.’” {Same place where, during the Lord’s long second advent, the kingdom of God will spread and grow out from. And then, after “the regeneration” [palin(again)genesis] the River of Life will flow from there, from the throne of God ..”the lion will eat straw like the ox, the bear and cow will graze together” Isaiah 11:7.}

     8 “Then he gave Abraham the covenant/agreement/contract of promises of circumcision.” {A shadow and type of the “circumcision of the heart”Ro.2:29, and imo, collectively during second half of an “8th” millennium, Rev.20 with Leviticus 23 as an outline of the Lord’s two advents.}

     “And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him “eight” days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.” [The fathers of the twelve tribes, the nation the “savior of the world” was born into and from.]

     9 “Now, BECAUSE the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, THEY sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him, 10 rescued him from all his troubles, and gave him wisdom, because of which he became well thought of and under the goodwill of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Pharaoh even made him ruler over Egypt and of all his palace! 11 But then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors back in this land (Israel) couldn’t find food. 12 When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt” (stored for Egypt, by Joseph, whom God had warned of the coming drought by a dream Joseph, through God’s Spirit, interpreted for Pharoah) “he sent for our forefathers, the brothers of Joseph, on their first visit to Egypt. 13 But it was on their second visit, that Joseph told them who he was. And Pharaoh learned it too. 14 After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and the whole family, seventy-five in all. {There’s a discrepancy with another verse? Likely such lists and genealogies were likely taken from records kept by humans, a discrepancy isn’t unusual.}

     15 So Jacob went down to Egypt, and that’s where he and our (Israel’s) ancestors died. 16 Their bodies were later brought back to the land, to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought with silver, from the sons of Hamor at Shechem.”

Next Week: 7:17-37