7:6,7
“And God spoke to this effect.” Stephen is summarising, giving a broad overview, of what God had done and said in the past, how He had interacted with His people. It is good to look at individual verses in great detail, but we should also see the broad overview as well, both within individual books of the Bible, and in the Bible as a whole. God gave Abraham a dream about the time that Israel would spend in Egypt (Gen 15:13). God would then release them from this slavery, and judge the nation that enslaved them. God would bring His people out to worship Him.
How would Stephen’s hearers take this part of his speech? Would they have seen it as having some parallel to the Roman occupation they were enduring? Indeed, Israel’s history had not been a happy one for a long time, suffering many occupations.
7:8
Genesis is also where God gives Abraham the covenant of circumcision. Later on circumcision was to become a key issue, particularly with regard to the Gentiles. Acts 15, Galatians and part of Romans are the most important passages in this regard, but at this point circumcision is not a problem, it is seen simply as a sign of God’s covenant with Israel. So what is Stephen doing? Soon he will begin to point out the persistent disobedience of of Israel, but he has not started to do that yet. Part of what he is doing is pointing out that the promises were given to Abraham when he was not in the land of Israel, long before any temple had been built, or even conceived of. Israel put a wrong importance on the Law, and on the temple.
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