Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 83
7:2-22
L UK E – A cts
71
This was Stephen’s reply: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia before he
settled in Haran. God told him, ‘Leave your native land and your relatives,
and come into the land that I will show you.’ So Abraham left the land of
the Chaldeans and lived in Haran until his father died. Then God brought
him here to the land where you now live.
“But God gave him no inheritance here, not even one square foot of
land. God did promise, however, that eventually the whole land would
belong to Abraham and his descendants—even though he had no children
yet. God also told him that his descendants would live in a foreign land,
where they would be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. ‘But I will punish
the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and in the end they will come
out and worship me here in this place.’
“God also gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision at that time. So
when Abraham became the father of Isaac, he circumcised him on the
eighth day. And the practice was continued when Isaac became the father
of Jacob, and when Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs of the
Israelite nation.
“These patriarchs were jealous of their brother Joseph, and they sold
him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from
all his troubles. And God gave him favor before Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
God also gave Joseph unusual wisdom, so that Pharaoh appointed him
governor over all of Egypt and put him in charge of the palace.
“But a famine came upon Egypt and Canaan. There was great misery,
and our ancestors ran out of food. Jacob heard that there was still grain
in Egypt, so he sent his sons—our ancestors—to buy some. The second
time they went, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, and they were
introduced to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and all his
relatives to come to Egypt, seventy-five persons in all. So Jacob went to
Egypt. He died there, as did our ancestors. Their bodies were taken to
Shechem and buried in the tomb Abraham had bought for a certain price
from Hamor’s sons in Shechem.
“As the time drew near when God would fulfill his promise to Abraham,
the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased. But then a new king
came to the throne of Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph. This king
exploited our people and oppressed them, forcing parents to abandon
their newborn babies so they would die.
“At that time Moses was born—a beautiful child in God’s eyes. His parents cared for him at home for three months. When they had to abandon him, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and raised him as her own son.
Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful
in both speech and action.
