Posted on 09/13/2017 4:41:18 PM PDT by Ezekiel
Stephen's Testimony: the "Error" of 75 Souls, and of Shechem
Acts chapters 6-7.
Stephen is brought before the council, whose members were presumably going to listen to his testimony. He began speaking in verse 2, starting off with a history lesson.
He continued on:
13 And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.
14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,
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.
And yet nobody said a word.
A simple reading of the Torah is that 70 souls came to Egypt (Gen 46:27), and Abraham purchased the cave of Machpeleh from Efron the Hittite, in Hebron (Gen 23:13-20). It was Jacob who purchased the plot in Shechem for Joseph:
Jos 24.32. And the bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel brought out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of silver; and it became the inheritance of the sons of Joseph:
Stephen was speaking outside of the plain historical narrative. The bones (substance, constitution) of Joseph were the essense of Jacob and the fathers. And as Levi met and Melchizedek through Abraham, Abraham bought the parcel in Shechem through Jacob. At the time that Jacob came into Egypt, the tally being 70 souls, if Leah had already died then there were five already buried in the cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron: Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, and Leah.
Vayigash(Genesis 44:18-47:27)
Joseph From the Kabbalistic Perspective
As we have already seen, early on Joseph is linked to the fulfillment of Jacob's legacy.These are the generations of Jacob, Joseph was seventeen years old ...[Genesis 37:2]
At the outset, the Torah connects Jacob with Joseph. Of all his sons specifically Joseph holds the key to not only Jacob's but the family's mission.
That's just one example of how to view Stephen's account, but it's not a simple obvious meaning. And maybe he wasn't intent on a deeper meaning. He could have said anything to serve as a quick hearing test. In any case, an explanation of the details in his history lesson is not the purpose of this study.
The point is, that Stephen was going along retelling the basic history that everybody knew, yet he included statements that appeared false on their face. And nobody noticed. Nobody stopped him to shut him down for his apparent lies, or to correct him, or even to ask for an explanation.
Was anybody on the court paying the least bit of attention? Because if they were, they would have caught that.
This is the evidence of what kind of court that was. Stephen continued on for quite a while about Moses, the burning bush, the golden calf, forty years in the wilderness, David, Solomon's Temple... and also quoted Isaiah 66. At this point the verse is up to number 50, a fair distance from verses 14-16 when he tossed out the bit about 75 souls and Abraham buying land from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
Suddenly, it's no longer an historical narrative:
51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
75 souls? Abraham making a real estate deal with the sons of Hamor? Not one blip on the attention scale. They were hearing Joseph blah blah blah, Jacob blah blah blah, Moses blah blah blah, Moloch, Remphan blah blah blah...
As human nature goes, however, the second they perceived that he was talking about them, their ears perked right up.
55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.
59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
***
Stephen's testimony is in the New Testament, for the Church to read and hear.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
This repeated statement in the book of Revelation is always in context of he who overcomes.
Kabbalah.... The hidden Sola Scriptura ;) (sarc)
Sola Scriptura is an alien concept from the standpoint of Scripture:
Psalm 19
1. To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David:
2. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork:
3. Day to day utters speech, and night to night expresses knowledge...
:)
Verily, verily, to an orthodox ultra-religious Jew with a mesorah (an oral tradition,)
Catholicism, l’havdil, makes more sense.
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