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That God related personally to Abraham was admitted by all. The important point to Steven is that He did so, ". . .while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran." (Acts 7:2). Indeed, He directed him to "Leave your country and your people. . ." (7:3), just as He would now direct the righteous of Israel to leave their country and their people for the sake of world-wide witness. Stephen admits that Abraham was directed to "this land" (tain gain tautain), but reminds them that he never owned a foot of ground in it (vs.5).16 Thus, Abraham was a foreigner in the promised land, just as many of the Hellenists and some Gentiles were.
One might be tempted at this point to argue that this state was hardly God's way, since the promise was still unfulfilled. But Stephen reminds them that even after the birth of Isaac, "Your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own. . ." for 400 years (vs. 6). Only then would they come out of that country to serve God in "this place" (en toi topoi toutoi).17
The significance of the mention of circumcision in this context is that the covenant was being practiced while no land was owned by Abraham, thus showing that the enjoyment of this covenant was not dependent on being a native of the Holy Land.18
The career of the patriarchs continues to demonstrate the key motifs that interest Stephen. First, they did not recognize that God was with Joseph, so they sold him.19 In the same way, the present august assembly (though certainly no greater in stature than the patriarchs themselves) may have failed to recognize God's agent again in Christ.
This part of the argument is clear. However, why include the career of Joseph during the famine? To Stephen, the important thing is not that Joseph was sold into slavery, but that he was sold into slavery "in Egypt," (vs. 9). Did this mean that because Joseph was out of the land, he was out of the center of action spiritually? Not at all. In fact, the center of action moved with Joseph. "God was with him," affirms Stephen (vs. 9).
The subsequent events surrounding the famine demonstrated that God was working through Joseph the outcast one, an Egyptian slave living outside of Israel. Indeed, God was working so effectively through Joseph that the entire family eventually moved to Egypt, and the focus of salvation history during this period shifted completely out of the promised land.
It is true that though Joseph and Jacob died in Egypt, their bodies were brought back to Palestine. Yet, according to Stephen, it was to the city of Shechem that they were taken, in the hated territory of the Samaritans.20
Blasphemy of Moses was part of the charge brought against Stephen, so his analysis of this period in salvation history is important. The elements of the story included by Stephen focus on:
Yet, interestingly, no one in Stephen's day knew where this ground was. Would it be a good idea to look for the spot in the hope that it was still sacred? Not at all. The thing that made it sacred was the presence of God working there. Now that He had moved on to other work, the location of the spot was unimportant.
It would have been a serious mistake to stand around at this site when God had already moved on! In the same way, according to Stephen, God was moving in new directions as he spoke, but He was being inhibited by institutionalized foot-dragging on the part of his audience.
Stephen not only points out that Moses did wonders, but he reminds his audience of the venue for those works-- "in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert," (vs. 36).
The passage in 40-43 reporting on the practice of idol worship in the wilderness has confused many. Why should Stephen pick out this area of sin to report on? Surely there were ample examples of unfaithfulness to the law in Deuteronomy, without having to go to the book of Psalms? The answer, I suggest is that this passage is also dealing with the issue of sacred space.22
Stephen shows that the inclination of the people has always been to worship and love "the work of their own hands," (vs. 41). It was the fact that the animistic gods were tangible, visible and man-made that appealed to the ancient Hebrews, and the same features, he suggests, commended the temple and the sacred ground idea to his audience.
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