The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 221

Tlrnt God is the sub_ied llppenra from the Israelites had alwaya ill-used their greatest following verbs, "he g11.Ye," "be promised." benefactors, and resisted the leo.ders sent to The verb µ.•-r.: ,mu,•, he removed, is the teoh• 0 them by God. nical word for planting a colony. Wherein, Ver. 10.-Before for in the sigh! of, A.V. etc. (,i, f,v); into which ye oe.me and dwelt. And delivered him, eto. And evon so had Ver. 5.-And for yet, A.V.; in for for a, he delivered his servant Jesus 1\-om tho A.V. He ge.ve him none inheritanoe, etc. grave, and raised him to eternal life. (comp. Heb. xi. 8, 9). Ver. 11.-Famine for d6arth., A.V.; Egypt Ver. 6.-In a stra.nge land; a land belong- for the land of Egypt, A. V. and T.R.; Canaan ing to some one else (Heb. :ir.i. 9, ")'ii li.>-.>-.o-rpla, for Ohanaan, A.V. AS here); a land in which he had none inheri- Ver. 12.-Sent fortA for ,ent out, A.V.; tance, not yet become the possession of his t1e _fi,rst time for first, A.V. ~eed ; for as the writer to the Hebrews says Ver. 13.-Race became manifllllt for 7,indred he dwelt in tents with Isa&c and Jacob· not wa., made knoum, A.V. "Kindred" is a applicable, therefore, in the first instance much better word here, because Joseph's to Egypt at all. And this sojourning as " race " was already known to Pharaoh strangers and pilgrims lasted altogether (Gen. xii. 12); "was made known" is a far four hundred and thirty years, viz. two better phrase than "became manifest." hundred and fifteen years in Canaan, and Ver. 14.-And Joseph Bent for then ,ent two hundred and fifteen in Egypt; which Joseph, A. V. ; called to him Jacob hi.a /allier ngrees exactly with St. Paul's reckoning in for called hi.a father JMOb to him, A.V. round numbers of four hundred vears from Three aoore and fifteen souls. In Gen. xlvi. the giving of the promise to Abraham to 26, 27, the statement is very precise that the giving of tho Law 011 Mount Sinai (Gal "all the souls of the house of Jacob, which iii. 17). The " four hnndred years " must came into Egypt, were three score and ten," not be taken in connection with the "bond. including Joseph and his two sons. More- age" and the ill treatment which charac- over, the accure.oy of the number is tested terized the last half of the period, but as in two ways. First, the names of the sons spoken of the whole period during which and daughters of each patriarch are given, they had not possession of the promised and they are found, on counting them, to land. Bring them into bondage. So the amount to exactly seventy. And then the LXX.; but the Hebrew, 68 rendered in totals of the descendants of each of J e.cob's the A.V., has .. and they shall serve them." four wives is given separately, and age.in But some (see Gesenius, • Thes.') render the the total is exactly seventy (33 + 16 + 14 + Hebrew BB the LXX. do. :Four hundred = 7 70). It is true that the com11utation in years. This is a round number, 68 in Gen. ver. 26 does not agree with the above, for it xv. 13. The exact time, as given in Ex.od. makes the number of Jacob's descendants, xii 40, 41, was four hundred and thirty exclusive of Joseph and his two sons, sixty- years. six instead of sixty-seven, which is the Ver. 7.-Which for whom, A.V. And number according to the two above compu- serve me in this plaoe. These words are not tations, and consequently the total number in Gen. xv., from which the preceding words (when Joseph and his two sons are added) are quoted. Instead of ital Aa:rp,l,,,-ou,,-, sixty-nine instead of seventy. But this is µ..o[ iv -r,;; -rlnrq, -rol,,,.'I', the LXX., following such e. manifest contradiction that it seems the Hebrew, have p.era. a.,rotTK<VT/S ,roMijs, almost a necessity to suppose e. clerical "with great substance." The words" serve error, ff';! for J/?11;', caused perhaps by the me in this place," seem certainly to he.ve preceding D'o/F• It is also e. singular been suggested by Exod. iii. 12, " Ye shall anomaly that, in the enumeration of Lee.h's serve God upon this mountain ; " but they descendants, as well 68 in the genero.l give o. perfectly correct account of what enumeration, Er and Onan are distinctly happened in this case. r«-"luJn£d as well as mentioned. Ja.cob him- Yer. 8.-JMOb the twelr,e for JMOb begat self is nowhere reckoned in the Bible, though the twelfle, A. V. Re gave him the ooveJl&llt he is in the commentaries. But when we of circnmcision, snbsequently to the gift of turn to the LXX., we find that in Gen. xlvi. tile land by promise. The argument sug- 20 there are added to lllanasseh and Ephraim gested is apparently the same as St. Paul's Machir the son and Gilead the grandson in Rom. iv. 10-17. of Manasseh : and Suthelah e.nd Tao.m the Ver. 9.-MOfled tDith jealousy against sons, and Edom (meaning Eran, LXX. Eden, Jc,oeph, ,old him, for mcn,ed tDitJ, enry ,old Numb. xxvi. 36) the gro.ndson, of Ephraim, Jouph, A. V., more correctly, and m ac- making the descendants of Rachel eighteen cordance with Gen. mvii. 11, LXX.; and (it should be nineteen if Huppim, Gen. xlvi. for hut, A. V. Moved with jealonsy, etc. 21, is added) in.stead of fourteen: the number Here breaks out that part of Stephen's sixty-six of ver. 26 is preserved: the num- argument which went to ebow how the ber of Joseph'• descendants is given BI nine lltl, VII. 1-GO.] THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 217