Acts 7:45

Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(45) Brought in with Jesus.—This is, of course, as in Hebrews 4:8, the “Joshua” of the Old Testament. It would, perhaps, have been better, as a general rule, to have reproduced the Hebrew rather than the Greek form of Old Testament names in the English version of the New. On the other hand, there is, in this instance, something gained in our attention being called to the identity of the two names. It is noticeable that though Stephen was on his trial as a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth, that name does not pass his lips as he speaks in his defence, except in this reference to the great captain of Israel. It is possible that under this reticence, there may have been a half-veiled reference to Him who, also bearing the name that marked Him out as a Saviour, had come, after another fashion, “into the possession of the Gentiles.” The word for “possession” is found in Acts 7:5, but not elsewhere in the New Testament. In the LXX. it is common enough, as in Genesis 47:11; Leviticus 25:24; Deuteronomy 32:51.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:42-50 Stephen upbraids the Jews with the idolatry of their fathers, to which God gave them up as a punishment for their early forsaking him. It was no dishonour, but an honour to God, that the tabernacle gave way to the temple; so it is now, that the earthly temple gives way to the spiritual one; and so it will be when, at last, the spiritual shall give way to the eternal one. The whole world is God's temple, in which he is every where present, and fills it with his glory; what occasion has he then for a temple to manifest himself in? And these things show his eternal power and Godhead. But as heaven is his throne, and the earth his footstool, so none of our services can profit Him who made all things. Next to the human nature of Christ, the broken and spiritual heart is his most valued temple.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Our fathers that came after - None of the generation that came out of Egypt were permitted to enter into the and of Canaan except Caleb and Joshua, Numbers 14:22-24; Numbers 32:11-12. Hence, it is said that their fathers who "came after," that is, after the generation when the tabernacle was built. The Greek, however, here means, properly, "which also our fathers, having "received," brought," etc. The sense is not materially different. Stephen means that it was not brought in by that generation, but by the next.

With Jesus - This should have been rendered "with Joshua." Jesus is the Greek mode of writing the name "Joshua." But the Hebrew name should by all means have been retained here, as also in Hebrews 4:8.

Into the possession of the Gentiles - Into the land possessed by the Gentiles, that is, into the promised land then occupied by the Canaanites, etc.

Whom God ... - That is, he continued to drive them out until the time of David, when they were completely expelled. Or it may mean that the tabernacle was in the possession of the Jews, and was the appointed place of worship, until the time of David, who desired to build him a temple. The Greek is ambiguous. The "connection" favors the latter interpretation.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

45. which … our fathers that came after—rather, "having received it by succession" (Margin), that is, the custody of the tabernacle from their ancestors.

brought in with Jesus—or Joshua.

into the possession—rather, "at the taking possession of [the territory of] the Gentiles."

unto the days of David—for till then Jerusalem continued in the hands of the Jebusites. But Stephen's object in mentioning David is to hasten from the tabernacle which he set up, to the temple which his son built, in Jerusalem; and this only to show, from their own Scripture (Isa 66:1, 2), that even that temple, magnificent though it was, was not the proper resting-place of Jehovah upon earth; as his audience and the nations had all along been prone to imagine. (What that resting-place was, even "the contrite heart, that trembleth at God's word," he leaves to be gathered from the prophet referred to).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Jesus, or Joshua, it being the same name, as appears also, Hebrews 4:8, only Jesus is more according to the Greek use: Joshua was a type of Jesus, and agreed with him in his name, and in the reason of his name; he having also saved the people, and brought them into the promised rest; yet the difference is as great between them as betwixt the heavenly Canaan and the earthly.

Before the face of our fathers; they were not able to look upon an Israelite, whilst God was for them.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Which also our fathers that came after,.... Who came after those that died in the wilderness, and never saw nor entered into the land of Canaan; the children of that generation whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, who sprung from them, came up in their room, and succeeded them:

brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles; that is, they having received the tabernacle from their fathers, brought it into the land of Canaan, which was possessed by the Gentiles, when they entered into it with Joshua their leader, and captain, at the head of them; who is here called Jesus, as he is in Hebrews 4:8 for Joshua and Jesus are the same name, and signify a saviour; for such an one Joshua was to the people of Israel; and was an eminent type of Jesus Christ, the captain of our salvation, in his bringing many sons to glory:

whom God drove out before the face of our fathers; the Gentiles, who before possessed the land of Canaan, were drove out by God before the Israelites, to make way for their settlement there; for to whom can the success of those victories over the Canaanites be ascribed, which the Israelites under Joshua obtained, but to God? The language on the "Tingitane", or Hercules's pillars, said to be set up by some of these Canaanites, agrees with this, on which they inscribed these words;

"we are they who fled from the face of Joshua the robber, the son of Nave,''

or Nun:

unto the days of David; this clause must not be read in connection with the words immediately preceding, as if the sense was, that the inhabitants of Canaan were drove out of their land unto the times of David, and then returned and resettled, as in the Ethiopic version; but with the beginning of the verse, and the meaning is, that the tabernacle which the Israelites received from their fathers, and brought into the land of Canaan with them, was there unto the times of David.

Geneva Study Bible

Which also our fathers that came after {s} brought in with Jesus into the {t} possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out {u} before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;

(s) Delivered from hand to hand.

(t) This is said using the figure of speech metonymy, and refers to the countries which the Gentiles possessed.

(u) God drove them out that they should yield up the possession of those countries to our fathers when they entered into the land.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Acts 7:45. Which also our fathers with Joshua (in connection with Joshua, under whose guidance they stood), after having received it (from Moses), brought in (to Canaan). διαδέχεσθαι (only here in the N. T.) denotes the taking over from a former possessor, 4Ma 4:15; Dem. 1218, 23. 1045, 10; Polyb. ii. 4. 7; xxxi. 12. 7; Lucian. Dial. M. xi. 3.

ἐν τῇ κατασχέσει τῶν ἐθνῶν] κατάσχεσις, as in Acts 7:5, possessio (LXX., Apocr., Joseph.). But ἐν is not to be explained as put for εἰς (Vulgate, Calvin, Grotius, Kuinoel, and others), nor is κατάσχεσις τῶν ἐθνῶν taking possession of the land of the Gentiles (as is generally held), which is not expressed. Rather: the fathers brought in the tabernacle of the covenant during the possession of the Gentiles, i.e. while the Gentiles were in the state of possession. To this, then, significantly corresponds what further follows: ὧν ἔξωσεν ὁ Θεὸς κ.τ.λ. But of what the Gentiles were at that time possessors, is self-evident from εἰσήγαγον—namely, of the Holy Land, to which the εἰς in εἰσήγαγ. refers according to the history well known to the hearers.

ἀπὸ προσώπου τ. π. ἡμ.] away from the face of our fathers, so that they withdrew themselves by flight from their view. Comp. LXX. Exodus 34:24; Deuteronomy 11:23. On the aorist form ἔξωσα, from ἐξωθεῖν, see Winer, p. 86 [E. T. 111].

ἕως τῶν ἡμ. Δ.] is to be separated from the parenthetic clause ὧν ἔξωσεν … ἡμῶν, and to be joined to the preceding: which our fathers brought in … until the days of David, so that it remained in Canaan until the time of David (inclusively). Kuinoel attaches it to ὧν ἔξωσεν κ.τ.λ.; for until the time of David the struggle with the inhabitants of Canaan lasted. This is in opposition to the connection, in which the important point was the duration of the tabernacle-service, as the sequel, paving the way for the transition to the real temple, shows; with David the new epoch of worship begins to dawn.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Acts 7:45. διαδεξάμενοι: having received in their turn, i.e., from Moses, only here in N.T., cf. 4Ma 4:15; so also in classical Greek, in Dem. and in Polyb., cf. διαδοχῆς, “in their turn,” Herod., viii., 142: (on the technical meaning of διάδοχος, to which in the LXX διαδεχόμενος is akin to the term of a deputy, or of one next to the king, see Deissmann, Bibelstudien, pp. 111, 112).—μετὰ Ἰησοῦ, cf. Hebrews 4:8, where Syr. Pesh. has “Jesus the son of Nun” (but not here).—ἐν τῇ κατασχέσει τῶν ἐθνῶν: “when they entered on the possession of the nations,” R.V., lit[212], in the taking possession of the nations, i.e., of the land inhabited by the nations (Wendt). A.V. follows Vulgate; frequent in LXX, cf. Jos., Ant., ix., 1, 2, and Test. xii. Patr., x., used by Philo in the sense of a portion given to keep (Grimm-Thayer).—ὧν: Attic attraction, cf. Acts 1:1.—ἀπὸ προσώπου: for a similar phrase cf. Deuteronomy 11:23; Deuteronomy 12:29-30, etc., and frequently in LXX, Hebrew מִפְּנֵי.—ἕως τῶν ἡμ. Δ.: to be connected with the first part of the verse, “which also our fathers brought in … unto the days of David” (inclusively), see Wendt, in loco, i.e., “et mansit tabernaculum usque ad tempora Davidis” (Blass). Rendall takes the words as closely joined to ὧν ἐξῶσεν, but the clause ὧν ἐξῶσεν … ἡμῶν is rather subordinate.

[212] literal, literally.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

45. Which also our fathers that came after] Better, having received it after. For all the generation that came out of Egypt was dead at the entry into Canaan except Caleb and Joshua.

brought in with Jesus [i.e. Joshua] It is better here and in Hebrews 4:8 to let the Greek orthography give place to the form of the word used in the Old Testament.

into the possession of the Gentiles] The preposition is not into but in, and the noun does not mean the land possessed by the nations, but the act of the Israelites in taking possession of it for themselves. Read, when they took possession of the nations, (lit. in their taking possession,) whom God drove [thrust] out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David. Till this time the Tabernacle existed, and as the history tells was not always in one place in the land of Canaan, and at the time when the first proposal for a permanent Temple is made by David (2 Samuel 7:2) and approved by Nathan, God forbids the building of it by David. All which goes to strengthen Stephen’s argument that the worship should not be fettered to one place.

Bengel's Gnomen

Acts 7:45. Διαδεξάμενοι, having received) in a long succession.—ἐν, in [or into]) when they subdued the peoples (in Canaan).—τῇ κατασχέσει, the occupation [‘possession’]) מורשה, LXX. κατάσχεσις· ירש, κατέσχε.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 45. - In their turn for that come after, (διαδεξάμενοι), A.V.; Joshua (the Hebrew form) for Jesus (the Greek form of the name), A.V.; when they entered on the possession of the nations for into the possession of the Gentiles, A.V.; which God thrust for whom God drave, A.V. In their turn; more literally, having received it in succession. It only occurs here in the New Testament. Meyer quotes 4 Macc. 4:15, "On the death of Seleucus, his son Antiochus received the kingdom in succession ;" and classical writers. When they entered, etc. There are three ways of construing the words ἐν τῇ κατασχέσει τῶν ἐθνῶν -

(1) as the A.V., taking ἐν in the sense of εἰς, and making the phrase synonymous with the laud of Canaan, the land which the Gentiles then possessed;

(2) in (their) taking possession (of the land) of the Gentiles, i.e. when they took, taking κατάσχεσις in a transitive sense, which seems to be the sense of the R.V.:

(3) with Meyer, during the holdings or possession by the Gentiles of the land, that, viz. into which their fathers brought the tabernacle. The first seems the most simple and in accordance with the Greek of the New Testament, and with what follows of the expulsion of the nations before the Israelites. Acts 7:45

Vincent's Word Studies

That came after (διαδεξάμενοι)

Only here in New Testament. The verb originally means to receive from one another, in succession; and that appears to be the more simple and natural rendering here: having received it (from Moses). Rev., very neatly, in their turn.

Jesus

Joshua. The names are the same, both signifying Saviour. See on Matthew 1:21.

Into the possession (ἐν τῇ κατασχέσει)

Rev., when they entered on the possession.

Before the face (ἀπὸ προσώπου)

More strictly, "away from the face." The same expression occurs in the Septuagint, Deuteronomy 11:23.