Acts 7:9-16 (NIV)
“Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt; so he made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.
“Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our fathers could not find food. When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit. On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died. Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.”
Stephen’s point in this part of the history of Israel is very simple. Joseph, the one God chose to deliver His people from a coming famine, was initially rejected by the patriarchs, his brothers. In fact, they not only rejected the idea that God had a future planned for Joseph, but actively persecuted him, taking him captive and selling him into slavery.
Joseph’s brothers could not have known that their actions would set into motion the very events God had planned and had even told Abraham about (Genesis 15:13-16). Through a series of unlikely events, God elevated Joseph from slavery to the second-highest position in the whole land of Egypt. From that position of power, and with the wisdom and foresight God had provided, Joseph was able to save the land of Egypt from a seven-year famine and was able to save his whole extended family from it as well.
The point was that God’s people had a history of rejecting and persecuting those whom He had sent to deliver them, a theme repeated throughout Stephens’ speech before the Sanhedrin. In exactly the same way, these people, descendants of the patriarchs who had persecuted Joseph, had rejected, persecuted, and murdered Jesus, the one God had sent to deliver them, not from a famine, but from sin and death, compounding the sins of their fathers.
But, hidden in the background of this bit of history is also a ray of hope. The patriarchs were ultimately saved by the very one they had rejected and persecuted. But, before they could be saved by him, they had to surrender to him, humble themselves and bow before him. And it had taken quite a bit of suffering on their part before they were willing to do that.
Father, the parallels are quite stunning once they are pointed out. The Israelites had a long history of rejecting their deliverers and persecuting the prophets You sent to them to turn them back to You. This sheds quite a bit of light on Jesus’ saying in Matthew 23:33-36, that the bloodguilt from the murders of all those deliverers and prophets would fall on those who orchestrated His own murder. It was simply the culmination of ages of persecution and rejection finally coming to fruition. But there was also that ray of hope for those who were willing to repent and surrender to the one they had previously rejected. Lord, help us, Your people, to stay clear-eyed and solid in our faith, just like Stephen, as we boldly proclaim Your good news to those all around us, today and every day. Amen.
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