73 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then said the high priest,.... The Ethiopic version adds, "to him"; that is, to Stephen; for to him he addressed himself: or he "asked him", as the Syriac version renders it; he put the following question to him: are these things so? is it true what they say, that thou hast spoken blasphemous words against the temple, and the law, and hast said...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
When our Lord Jesus called his apostles out to be employed in services and sufferings for him, he told them that yet the last should be first, and the first last, which was remarkably fulfilled in St. Stephen and St. Paul, who were both of them late converts, in comparison of the apostles, and yet got the start of them both in services and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said,.... Stephen replied, in answer to the high priest's question, and addressed himself to the whole sanhedrim, saying: men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; to the following oration and defence; he calls them men, brethren, by an usual Hebraism, that is, "brethren"; and that, because they were of the same nation; for it was common with...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans,.... The same with Mesopotamia; so Pliny says (b), 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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he gave him none inheritance in it,.... To be personally enjoyed by him; and which was a great trial to Abraham's faith, to be brought out of his country, and into another land, and which was promised to him and his; and yet, as not the whole, so not a single part of it was given him to possess: no, not so much as to set his foot on: so that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage,.... At the end of the four hundred years, and which was the Egyptian nation: I will judge, said God; that is, condemn and punish them, as he did, by inflicting the ten plagues upon them: and after that they shall come forth; out of the land of Egypt, and their hard bondage there; and which was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he gave him the covenant of circumcision,.... Or the covenant, of which circumcision was a sign or token, Genesis 17:11. Stephen speaks here in the language of the Jews, who are wont to speak of circumcision after this manner; hence in the Jewish liturgy, there is a collect, לברית מילה, "for the covenant of circumcision" (h); and so it is said...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the patriarchs, moved with envy,.... See Genesis 37:11 the sons of Jacob and brethren of Joseph were filled with envy, and enraged at him, because of the evil report of them he brought to his father; and because he had a greater share in his father's love than they had; and because of his dreams, which signified that he should have the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And delivered him out of all his afflictions,.... From the evil designs of his mistress, and from all the miseries of a prison: and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; so Justin in the place above cited says, that Joseph was very dear to the king; but not through his knowledge of magic arts, as he suggests, but on...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt, and Canaan,.... This dearth, or famine, is said to be in all lands, Genesis 41:54 though only Egypt and Canaan are mentioned here, because the history is concerned with no other. The Jewish writers (p) speak of three lands particularly, which were affected with it, Phenicia, Arabia, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt,.... Not then growing, or gathering in there, or that was of that year's produce; for the famine was strong in the land of Egypt, as well as in Canaan; but was what had been laid up, and preserved in the seven years of plenty, by the order and care of Joseph; which by some means or another, Jacob...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren,.... That is, when the brethren of Joseph went a second time down to Egypt for corn, Joseph made himself known unto them, Genesis 45:1. And Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh; for though it was known before that he was an Hebrew, see Genesis 39:17 yet it was not known of what...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then sent Joseph,.... Gifts and presents to his father, and wagons, to fetch down him and his family into Egypt, Genesis 45:21. and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls; which seems to disagree with the account of Moses, who says, that "all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers, and were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulcher that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem. But when the time of the promise drew...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So Jacob went down into Egypt,.... At the invitation of his son Joseph: and died, he, and our fathers; both Jacob and his twelve sons died in Egypt, though we have no account of the death of any of them, but Jacob and Joseph, particularly; only in general, that Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation, Genesis 49:33 Exodus 1:6...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And were carried over into Sichem,.... The Syriac version reads in the singular number, "and he was translated into Sichem, and laid", c. as if this was said of Jacob only, whereas he is not spoken of at all, only the fathers, the twelve patriarchs for Jacob, though he was carried out of Egypt, he was not buried in Sichem, but in the cave of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But when the time of the promise drew nigh,.... That is, the time of the four hundred years; when God promised to deliver the seed of Abraham out of their affliction and servitude, and bring them into the land of Canaan to inherit it: which God had sworn to Abraham; in Genesis 15:13 for though there is no express mention made of an oath, yet there...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Till another king arose,.... In, or over Egypt, as the Alexandrian copy, and others, and the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions read; in Exodus 1:8 it is a new king; the Jewish writers are divided about him, whether he was a different king from the former; or only so called, because he made new edicts (d): "Rab and Samuel, one says a new...