Shǐtúxíngzhuàn 7:4

4 Tā jiù líkāi Jiālèdǐ rén zhī dì zhù zaì Hālán . tā fùqin sǐ le yǐhòu , shén shǐ tā cóng nàli bān dào nǐmen xiànzaì suǒ zhù zhī dì .

Shǐtúxíngzhuàn 7:4 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 7:4

Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans
The same with Mesopotamia; so Pliny says ^F2, that

``because of Babylon the head of the Chaldean nation---the other part of Mesopotamia and Assyria is called Babylonia.''

And he places Babylon in Mesopotamia; it was out of Ur, in the land of the Chaldeans particularly, that Abraham came, upon his first call:

and dwelt in Charan:
according to the Jewish writers ^F3, he dwelt here five years:

and from thence, when his father was dead;
who died in Haran, as is said in ( Genesis 11:32 ) and that it was after the death of Terah his father, that Abraham went from thence, is manifest from ( Genesis 11:31 Genesis 11:32 ) ( Genesis 12:4 Genesis 12:5 ) and yet a Jew ^F4 has the impudence to charge Stephen with a mistake, and to affirm, that Abraham went from Haran, whilst his father was yet living; proceeding upon a false hypothesis, that Terah begat Abraham when he was seventy years of age: but Philo the Jew is expressly with Stephen in this circumstance; he says ^F5,

``I think no man versed in the laws can be ignorant, that Abraham, when he first went out of the land of Chaldea, dwelt in Charan; (teleuthsantov te autw tou patrov ekenyi) "but his father dying there", he removed from thence:''

and so says Stephen:

he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell;
the land of Canaan; see ( Genesis 12:5 ) or "he removed himself", as the Ethiopic version renders it; or rather "God removed him", as the Syriac version reads, and so one copy in the Bodleian library; for it was by the order and assistance, and under the direction and protection of God, that he came into that land: after the words

wherein ye now dwell,
Beza's ancient copy adds, "and our fathers that were before us".

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 De Urbibus, l. 6. c. 26.
F3 Seder Olam Rabba, c. 1. p. 2. Ganz Tzemach David, par. 1. fol. 5. 2.
F4 R. Isaac Chizzuk Emuna, par. 2. c. 61. p. 448.
F5 De Migratione Abrahami, p. 415.

Shǐtúxíngzhuàn 7:4 In-Context

2 Sī tí fǎn shuō , zhūwèi fù xiōng qǐng tīng . dàng rì wǒmen de zǔzong Yàbólāhǎn zaì mǐ suǒ bō dà mǐ hái wèi zhù Hālán de shíhou , róngyào de shén xiàng tā xiǎnxiàn ,

3 Duì tā shuō , nǐ yào líkāi bĕn dì hé qīnzú , wǎng wǒ yào zhǐshì nǐde dìfang qù .

4 Tā jiù líkāi Jiālèdǐ rén zhī dì zhù zaì Hālán . tā fùqin sǐ le yǐhòu , shén shǐ tā cóng nàli bān dào nǐmen xiànzaì suǒ zhù zhī dì .

5 Zaì zhè dìfang shén bìng méiyǒu gĕi tā chǎnyè , lián lì zú zhī dì yĕ méiyǒu gĕi tā . dàn yīngxǔ yào jiāng zhè dì cìgĕi tā hé tāde hòuyì wèi yè . nàshí tā hái méiyǒu érzi .

6 Shén shuō , tāde hòuyì , bì jìjū waì bāng , nàli de rén , yào jiào tāmen zuò núpú , kǔdaì tāmen sì bǎi nián .