Acts 7:3

3 and said to him, "`Leave your country and your relatives, and go into whatever land I point out to you.'

Acts 7:3 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 7:3

And said unto him
Not the words in ( Genesis 12:1 ) for they were said in Haran, these in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt there, and besides, these are different from them; no mention is here made of getting out from his father's house, as there; because his father's house sent along with him, or rather he with them from Mesopotamia to Haran:

get thee out of thy country;
from Ur of the Chaldees, where he was born:

and from thy kindred;
his relations that lived in the same place, who did not go along with him:

and come into the land which I shall show thee;
not telling him the place whither he was to go; wherefore when he had his first call, and first set out, he knew not whither he went; see ( Hebrews 11:8 ) . This was an emblem of the calling of the saints out of the world, from their former course of life, and from among their old companions and friends, to follow Christ whithersoever he is pleased to lead them; and who at last will bring them safe to the land afar off, the better and heavenly country.

Acts 7:3 In-Context

1 Then the High Priest asked him, "Are these statements true?"

2 The reply of Stephen was, "Sirs--brethren and fathers--listen to me. God Most Glorious appeared to our forefather Abraham when he was living in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,

3 and said to him, "`Leave your country and your relatives, and go into whatever land I point out to you.'

4 "Thereupon he left Chaldaea and settled in Haran till after the death of his father, when God caused him to remove into this country where you now live.

5 But he gave him no inheritance in it, no, not a single square yard of ground. And yet He promised to bestow the land as a permanent possession on him and his posterity after him--and promised this at a time when Abraham was childless.