7:6 And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat [them] evil {e} four hundred years.
(e) Four hundred years are counted from the beginning of Abraham's progeny, which was at the birth of Isaac: and four hundred and thirty years which are spoken of by Paul in Ga 3:17, from the time that Abraham and his father departed together out of Ur of the Chaldeans.
7:6 His seed should sojourn in a strange land. In Egypt. See Ge 15:13,16.
Four hundred years. In round numbers, counting from the time the seed, Isaac, should be born to the Exodus. It is stated in Ex 12:40 that the sojourning of the children of Israel was 430 years. This includes the period from the call of Abraham to the Exodus. See Ga 3:16,17. But Isaac was born about thirty years after the call of Abraham, which leaves Stephen's period of 400 years.
7:6 Gen 15:13.
7:1-16 Stephen was charged as a blasphemer of God, and an apostate from the church; therefore he shows that he is a son of Abraham, and values himself on it. The slow steps by which the promise made to Abraham advanced toward performance, plainly show that it had a spiritual meaning, and that the land intended was the heavenly. God owned Joseph in his troubles, and was with him by the power of his Spirit, both on his own mind by giving him comfort, and on those he was concerned with, by giving him favour in their eyes. Stephen reminds the Jews of their mean beginning as a check to priding themselves in the glories of that nation. Likewise of the wickedness of the patriarchs of their tribes, in envying their brother Joseph; and the same spirit was still working in them toward Christ and his ministers. The faith of the patriarchs, in desiring to be buried in the land of Canaan, plainly showed they had regard to the heavenly country. It is well to recur to the first rise of usages, or sentiments, which have been perverted. Would we know the nature and effects of justifying faith, we should study the character of the father of the faithful. His calling shows the power and freeness of Divine grace, and the nature of conversion. Here also we see that outward forms and distinctions are as nothing, compared with separation from the world, and devotedness to God.
