ACTS LESSON 14

    We will pick up this lesson in Acts 7:1 "Then said the high
priest, Are these things so?"

    We see, here, that this high priest began to question Stephen, and
he was not expecting the answer he gave.  He preaches to the high
priest and rulers.

    Acts 7:2 "And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The
God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in
Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran," Acts 7:3 "And said unto him,
Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the
land which I shall shew thee."

    We see, here, that Stephen goes back to the call of Abraham, which
all Israelites believe in.  They and the rulers know that every word
he (Stephen) is saying about God appearing to Abraham and telling him
to leave his homeland is true.

    Acts 7:4 "Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and
dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he
removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell."

    We see in 4th verse, that Abraham was obedient to God and left his
homeland.  He stayed in Haran until his father died and then left
there and came to the land that Jerusalem was now part of.  Abraham
had left a life of luxury and a big home and dwelt in tents.  He was
looking for a city whose maker was God.

    Acts 7:5 "And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not [so much
as] to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him
for a possession, and to his seed after him, when [as yet] he had no
child."

    This message given by Stephen could not, and would not, be
questioned to this point, because they knew it was absolute truth.
Abraham had faith that all God said was truth and never questioned
about his seed, even though at that moment he had none.  He knew God
would not lie and that it would come about just as God had said.

    Acts 7:6 "And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn
in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and
entreat [them] evil four hundred years."

    Of course, they knew Stephen was speaking of the Hebrews being in
Egypt 400 years and being slaves to this people.

    Acts 7:7 "And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I
judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in
this place."

    This judgement, spoken of here, was the ten plagues that came on
Egypt to make Pharaoh let the people go.  They did come to the
promised land after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.  They
built the temple in Jerusalem and did worship God.

    Acts 7:8 "And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so
[Abraham] begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac
[begat] Jacob; and Jacob [begat] the twelve patriarchs." Acts 7:9 "And
the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was
with him,"

    We see here, also, that Stephen has not said one thing so far that
they had not been taught from their youth.  They believed every word.
They were proud to be of the twelve tribes of Israel.

    Acts 7:10 "And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave
him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he
made him governor over Egypt and all his house."

    They know that Joseph was truly made second in command in Egypt.

    Acts 7:11 "Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and
Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance."

    This, of course, was speaking of the seven years of famine called
dearth here.

    Acts 7:12 "But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he
sent out our fathers first." Acts 7:13 "And at the second [time]
Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made
known unto Pharaoh." Acts 7:14 "Then sent Joseph, and called his
father Jacob to [him], and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen
souls."

    We see here, the revealing to these leaders of the temple that
Stephen knew the history of the Hebrew people from the training he had
gotten in his Hebrew home.  This story had been told over and over in
Hebrew homes, how Joseph had saved his people when the famine came.
He is relating how they first went and bought food not knowing that
Joseph was their long gone brother.  Finally the famine became so bad,
that all of Jacob's family had to go to Egypt to survive the famine.
Seventy-five souls belonging to Jacob went into Egypt, (including
Joseph and his family) and approximately three million came out.

    Acts 7:15 "So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our
fathers," Acts 7:16 "And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in
the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of
Emmor [the father] of Sychem."

    Here are some more important details that only a Hebrew would
know.  Jacob was not buried in Egypt, but near Jerusalem.  To read
more about all of this in detail, read the Genesis lessons.

    Acts 7:17 "But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God
had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,"

    God had promised Abraham that his seed would be so many they would
be a multitude; in fact, so many that they would be as the sand of the
sea.

    Acts 7:18 "Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph." Acts
7:19 "The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our
fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they
might not live."

    This is when the Hebrew boy babies were to be killed at birth and
thrown into the Nile river.  This evil King took the Hebrews into
bondage and used them for slave labor.  They became afraid of the
Hebrews, because they were multipling so fast.  In this time of
upheaval, Moses was born.

    Acts 7:20 "In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair,
and nourished up in his father's house three months:" Acts 7:21 "And
when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished
him for her own son." Acts 7:22 "And Moses was learned in all the
wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds."

    We see that God spared Moses for the purpose of delivering His
people out of Egypt.  His mother raised him for Pharaoh's daughter
until he was weaned, then Moses was trained in the Egyptian schools as
an Egyptian prince.

    Acts 7:23 "And when he was full forty years old, it came into his
heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel." Acts 7:24 "And
seeing one [of them] suffer wrong, he defended [him], and avenged him
that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:" Acts 7:25 "For he
supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand
would deliver them: but they understood not." Acts 7:26 "And the next
day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set
them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one
to another?" Acts 7:27 "But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him
away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?" Acts 7:28
"Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?

    We see here that, Moses (trying to help the Hebrews) has really
caused problems for himself.  Notice, that it wasn't an Egyptian who
was telling on Moses, but his fellow Hebrews.  Even though Moses is an
Egyptian prince, his nationality is Hebrew and the Pharaoh would not
be pleased that a Hebrew (regardless of who he was) killed an
Egyptian.  We will see in the next verse that Moses fled to the desert
where he met God.  We will pick up with this in the next lesson.
Notice, again, the accuracy with which Stephen is relating this to
these Hebrew temple leaders.







                           Acts 14 Questions

1.  What surprising answer did Stephen give the priest?
2.  Who appeared to Abraham?
3.  What did He tell Abraham to do?
4.  When did Abraham leave Haran?
5.  What had Abraham left to wander with God?
6.  How many children did Abraham have when God promised to leave the
    land to his seed?
7.  What did these Hebrew temple leaders know about Stephen's message?
8.  How long would the Hebrew children sojourn in a strange land?
9.  What was the strange land?
10. What covenant did God make with Abraham?
11. Who was the father of the twelve patriarchs?
12. What position did Joseph hold in Egypt?
13. What does dearth in verse 11 mean?
14. In verse 14, how many of Jacob's people, including Joseph and his
    family, went into Egypt?
15. Where was Jacob buried?
16. What had God promised Abraham?
17. When the new King of Egypt took over, what did he have the Hebrews
    to do with their boy babies?
18. Who raised Moses for her own son?
19. How old was Moses when he killed the Egyptian?
20. Who accused Moses of killing the Egyptian?
21. What did Moses do to keep Pharaoh from finding out?

                                 Notes