He
gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on. He promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his offspring after him, when he still had no child. God spoke in this way: that his offspring would live as aliens in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. ‘I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,’ said God, ‘and after that will they come out, and serve me in this place.’ He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
Acts 7:5-8
Acts 7 [2.] He said, “Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, ‘Get out of your land, and from your relatives, and come into a land which I will show you.’ Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and lived in Haran. From there, when his father was dead, God moved him into this land, where you are now living.
Acts 7 [5.] He gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on. He promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his offspring after him, when he still had no child. God spoke in this way: that his offspring would live as aliens in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. ‘I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,’ said God, ‘and after that will they come out, and serve me in this place.’ He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
Acts 7 [9.] “The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him, and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house. Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time. On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s race was revealed to Pharaoh. Joseph sent, and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his relatives, seventy-five souls. Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, himself and our fathers, and they were brought back to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.
Meaning:
Stephen continues his account of Abraham. God had brought Abraham into Canaan (Acts 7:4), yet Stephen stresses that Abraham never owned it. Everything rested on God’s promise. In these verses Stephen speaks of the promise of the land, the prophecy of slavery in Egypt, the covenant of circumcision and the beginning of the twelve tribes.
- “He gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on”
Abraham lived in the Promised Land as a foreigner. The only ground he ever bought was a burial cave for Sarah. Yet God had said, “all the land which you see, I will give to you, and to your offspring forever” (Genesis 13:15). Hebrews says that Abraham “lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own” (Hebrews 11:9). He lived by faith in what God had said.
- “when he still had no child”
The promise seemed impossible twice over: Abraham owned no land and had no son. God promised a possession to his offspring when there was no offspring. This is why Abraham is the great example of faith, since he “believed in Yahweh, who credited it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).
- “enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years”
Stephen summarizes God’s words to Abraham in Genesis 15:13-14: “your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years.” The number is a round figure; Exodus gives four hundred thirty years (Exodus 12:40). God also promised to judge the oppressor. Stephen ends the quotation with the words “and serve me in this place,” which echo God’s word to Moses at Sinai: “you shall serve God on this mountain” (Exodus 3:12). The goal of the Exodus was worship.
- “He gave him the covenant of circumcision”
God gave circumcision as the sign of his covenant with Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 17:10). It was given long before the temple existed and long before the law at Sinai. Paul notes that Abraham “received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision” (Romans 4:11).
- “circumcised him the eighth day”
Abraham obeyed the covenant: “Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him” (Genesis 21:4). The line of promise then passed through Isaac to Jacob and to Jacob’s twelve sons, the fathers of Israel’s tribes. Stephen calls them “the twelve patriarchs,” preparing for the next part of his story.
The Significance of Acts 7:5-8
- Living by promise
Abraham died owning only a grave, yet he held on to God’s word. Believers too live by promises not yet fully seen, trusting the faithful God to keep his word in his time.
- God’s covenant came before the temple
Stephen’s hearers prized the temple and the law. Stephen shows that God’s relationship with Israel began with a promise and a covenant given to a man who had no land and no temple. God’s faithfulness, not a building, is the foundation of his people.
Cross-References:
Genesis 15:13-14: "your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years." The prophecy Stephen quotes.
Genesis 17:10: "Every male among you shall be circumcised." The covenant of circumcision.
Hebrews 11:9: "By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own" Abraham’s life of faith.
Conclusion: Stephen reminds the council that Abraham never owned the Promised Land and had no child when God promised it to his offspring. God foretold the slavery in Egypt and the deliverance that would follow, gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, and began the line of the twelve patriarchs. The passage shows that Israel’s story rests on God’s promise and covenant, received by faith long before the temple was built.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible