Acts 7:8
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Then God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, and Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
the covenant of circumcision--that is, the covenant of which circumcision was the token. and so--that is, according to the terms of this covenant, on which Paul reasons (Gal. 3:1-26). the twelve patriarchs--so called as the founders of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Open source ↗When our Lord Jesus called his apostles out to be employed in services and sufferings for him, he told them that yet the last should be first, and the first last, which was remarkably fulfilled in St. Stephen and St. Paul, who were both of them late converts, in comparison of the apostles, and yet got the start of them both in services and sufferings; for God, in conferring honours and favours, often crosses hands. In this chapter we have the martyrdom of Stephen, the first martyr of the Christian church, who led the van in the noble army. And therefore his sufferings and death are more largely related than those of any other, for direction and encouragement to all those who are called out to resist unto blood, as he did. Here is, I. His defence of himself before the council, in answer to the matters and things he stood charged with, the scope of which is to show that it was no blasphemy against God, nor any injury at all to the glory of his name, to say that the temple should be destroyed and the customs of the ceremonial law changed. And, 1. He shows this by going over the history of the Old Testament, and observing that God never intended to confine his favours to that place, or that ceremonial law; and that they had no reason to expect he should, for the people of the Jews had always been a provoking people, and had forfeited the privileges of their peculiarity: nay, that that holy place and that law were but figures of good things to come, and it was no disparagement at all to them to say that they must give place to better things (v. 1-50). And then, 2. He applies this to those that prosecuted him, and sat in judgment upon him, sharply reproving them for their wickedness, by which they had brought upon themselves the ruin of their place and nation, and then could…
Open source ↗7:8 the covenant of circumcision: See Gen 17:9-14; see also “Circumcision in the New Testament” Theme Note.
Open source ↗Cross-references
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Abraham was the father of Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel.
Brothers, let me put this in human terms. Even a human covenant, once it is ratified, cannot be canceled or amended.
What I mean is this: The law that came 430 years later does not revoke the covenant previously established by God, so as to nullify the promise.
Brothers, I can tell you with confidence that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
Later, they set out from Bethel, and while they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult.
Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.
But because Moses gave you circumcision, you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath (not that it is from Moses, but from the patriarchs.)
Consider how great Melchizedek was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder.
In what context was it credited? Was it after his circumcision, or before? It was not after, but before.
And with her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni. But his father called him Benjamin.