Stephen's speech - Acts 7:1-34 - N. T. -
The high priest asked, 'Is this true?' Stephen replied, 'My brothers, my fathers, listen to what I have to say. The God of glory appeared to our ancestor Abraham, while he was in Mesopotamia before settling in Haran, and said to him, "Leave your country and your family and to go to the land I will show you". So he left Chaldaea and settled in Haran; and after his father died God made him leave Haran and come to this land where you are living today. God did not give him a single square foot of this land to call his own, yet he promised to give it to him and after him to his descendants, childless though he was. The actual words God used when he spoke to him are that his descendants would be exiles in a foreign land, where they would be slaves and oppressed for four hundred years. But I will pass judgement on the nation that enslaves them" God said "and after this they will leave, and worship me in this place." Then he made the covenant of circumcision: so when his son Isaac was born he circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac did the same for Jacob, and Jacob for the twelve patriarchs.
'The patriarchs were jealous of Joseph and sold him into slavery in Egypt. But God was with him, and rescued him from all his miseries by making him wise enough to attract the attention of Pharaoh king of Egypt, who made him governor of Egypt and put him in charge of the royal household. Then a famine came that caused suffering throughout Egypt and Canaan, and our ancestors could find nothing to eat. When Jacob heard that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there on a first visit, but it was on the second that Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and told Pharaoh about his family. Joseph then sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, a total of seventy-five people. Joseph went down into Egypt and after he and our ancestors had died there, their bodies were brought back to Shechem and buried in the tomb that Abraham had bought and paid for from the sons of Hanor, the father of Shechem.
As the time drew near for God to fulfil the promise he had solemnly made to Abraham, our nation in Egypt grew larger and larger, until a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing of Joseph. He exploited our race, and ill-treated our ancestors, forcing them to expose their babies to prevent their surviving. It was at this period that Moses was born, a fine child and favoured by God. He was looked after for three months in his father's house, and after he had been exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. So Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a man with power both in his speech and his actions.
At the age of forty Moses decided to visit his countrymen, the sons of Israel. When he saw one of them being ill-treated he went to his defence and rescued the man by killing the Egyptian. He thought his brothers realised that through him God would liberate them, but they did not. The next day, when he came across some of them fighting, he tried to reconcile them. 'Friends,' he said 'you are brothers; why are you hurting each other?' But the man who was attacking his fellow countryman push him aside. 'And who appointed you' he said 'to be our leader and judge? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?' Moses fled when he heard this and he went to stay in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
Forty years later, in the wilderness near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to him in the flames of a bush that was on fire. Moses was amazed by what he saw. As he went nearer to look at it the voice of the Lord was heard. "I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob". Moses trembled and did not dare to look anymore. The Lord said to him, "Take off your shoes; the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have seen the way my people are ill-treated in Egypt, I have heard their groans, and I have come down to liberate them. So come here and let me send you into Egypt."
Cf. - Psalm 29:3a,c,4 - O. T. - The voice of Yahweh over the waters! Yahweh over the multitudinous waters! The voice of Yahweh in power! The voice of Yahweh in splendour!
Cf. - Genesis 12:1,7-9 - O. T. - Yahweh said to Abram, 'Leave your country, and your father's house, for the land I will show you.' Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, 'It is to your descendants that I will give this land'. So Abram built there an altar for Yahweh who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the mountainous districts east of Bethel, where he pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to Yahweh and invoked the name of Yahweh. Then Abram made his way stage by stage to the Negeb.
Cf. -Genesis 15:2,13-14 - O. T. - 'My Lord Yahweh.' Abram replied 'what do you intend to give me? I go childless...' Then Yahweh said to Abram, 'Know this for certain, that your descendants will be exiles in a land not their own, where there will be slaves and oppressed for four hundred years. But I will pass judgement also on the nation that enslaves them and after that they will leave, with many possessions.
Cf. - Exodus 3:12 - O. T. - 'I shall be with you,' was the answer 'and this is the sign by which you shall know that it is I who have sent you... After you have led the people out of Egypt, you are to offer worship to God on this mountain.'
Cf. - Genesis 17:10; 21:4 - O. T. - Now this is my Covenant which you are to maintain between myself and you, and your descendants after you: all your males must be circumcised. Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.
Cf. - John 7:22 - N. T. - Moses ordered you to practise circumcision - not that it began with him, it goes back to the patriarchs - and you circumcise on the Sabbath.
Cf. - Genesis 37:11,28; 39:2-3 - O. T. - His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the thing in mind. Now some Midianite merchants were passing, and they drew Joseph up out of the well. They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty silver pieces, and these men took Joseph to Egypt. Yahweh was with Joseph, and everything went well with him. He lodged in the house of his Egyptian master, and when his master saw how Yahweh was with him and how Yahweh made everything succeed that he turned his hand to, he was pleased with Joseph and made him his personal attendant.
Cf. - Acts 21:23 -
Cf. - Genesis 41:54-55; 42:5,2 - O. T. - There was famine in every country, but there was bread to be had throughout the land of Egypt. When the whole country began to feel the famine, the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread. But Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, 'Go to Joseph and do what he tells you. Israel's sons with others making the same journey went to buy grain, for there was famine in the land of Canaan. I hear' Jacob said 'that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down and buy grain for us there, that we may survives and not die.
Cf. - Genesis 45:1; 46:27+; 50:13 - O. T. - Then Joseph could not control his feelings in front of all his retainers, and he exclaimed, 'Let everyone leave me'. No one therefore was present with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. Joseph's sons born to him in Egypt were two in number. The member of the family of Jacob who went to Egypt totalled seventy. His sons did what he had ordered them to do for him. His sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field at Machpelah opposite Mamre, which Abraham had bought from Ephron the Hittite as a burial-plot.
Cf. - Exodus 1:7-8,10-11,22; 2:2 - O. T. - But the sons of Israel were fruitful and grew in numbers greatly; they increased and grew immensely powerful that they filled the land. Then there came to power in Egypt a new king who knew nothing of Joseph. We must be prudent and take steps against their increasing any further, or if war should break out, they might add to the number of our enemies. They might take arms against us and so escape out of the country. Accordingly, they put slave-drivers over the Israelites to wear them down under heavy loads. In this way they built the store-cities of Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh.
Cf. - Hebrews 11:23 - N. T. - It was by faith that Moses, when he was born, was hidden by his parents for three months; they defied the royal edict when they saw he was such a fine child.
Cf. - Exodus 2:5,10 - O. T. - Now Pharaoh's daughter went down to bathe in the river, and the girls attending her were walking along the riverside. Among the reeds she noticed the basket, and she sent her maid to fetch it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter who treated him like a son; she named him Moses because she said, 'I drew him out of the water'.
Cf. - Luke 24:18-20 - N. T. - Then one of them, called Cleopas, answered him, 'You must be the only person staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these last few days'. 'What things?' Jesus asked. 'All about Jesus of Nazareth' they answered 'who proved he was a great prophet by the things he said and did in the sight of God and of the whole people; and how our chief priests and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and had him crucified.
Cf. - Exodus 2:11-15; 3:1-2,4,6,5,7-8,10 - O. T. - Moses, a man by now, set out at this time to visit his countrymen, and he saw what a hard life they were having; and he saw an Egyptian strike a Hebrew, one of his countrymen. Looking round he could see no one in sight, so he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. On the following day he came back, and there were two Hebrews, fighting. He said to the man who was in the wrong, 'What do you mean by hitting your fellow countrymen?' 'And who appointed you' the man retorted, 'to be prince over us, and judge? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?' Moses was frightened. 'Clearly that business has come to light' he thought. When Pharaoh heard of the matter he would have killed Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and made for the land of Midian. And he sat down beside a well.
Moses was looking after the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law priest of Midian. He led his flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of Yahweh appeared to him in the shape of a flame of fire,....... And now the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me, and I have witnessed the way in which the Egyptians oppress them, so come, I send you to Pharaoh to bring the sons of Israel, my people, out of Egypt. - PAGE 104 -
Stephen's speech - Acts 7:35-54 - N. T. -
It was the same Moses... - PAGE 105 -
Hence, these two books (The Gospel According To Apostle/Saint Luke & The Acts Of The Apostles) of the New Testament were closely associated, and being call 'a history of the rise of Christianity'. Therefore, I faithfully believe that it is utmost importance for us; all human beings to comprehend these two books, [ All the others Old Testament and New Testament books are equally importance, but as for now, we will start studying and read these two books first, that is, being call 'a history of the rise of Christianity', before continuing the other books.] to the best of our knowledge and enabling our spirit to acknowledges: "Who is God, and how, and in what ways, that is, God is with us." Amen!
HE / SHE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE / SHE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE / SHE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE." - JOHN 16:12-15 -
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