Acts 7:14Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

They came to buy bread and were in need of him. What then did he do? He not only showed love for mankind toward them in this need, but also told Pharaoh about them and settled them there.

"They sold him into Egypt." Though they knew no fault in their brother, they treated him so wickedly. They did this at the very time when he had come to them with food for them. By their act they assisted the prophecy without knowing it. Against their will they became the causes of his prosperity, though only after many trials for him. They brought upon themselves great fear and unbearable shame. Yet Joseph did not remember the wrong and plotted nothing terrible against them. On the contrary, he fed them when they were tormented by hunger and made them known to Pharaoh.

Stephen follows the translators of the Septuagint when he speaks in this way. In the Hebrew original, however, only seventy are mentioned. Even if you wished to count these souls in the Book of Genesis, adding Jacob himself, Joseph, and Joseph's two sons who were in Egypt, you would find only seventy souls in all (Gen 46:26-27; Ex 1:5).

In the speech which Stephen delivered in the hall of the Sanhedrin, in answer to the high priest’s interrogation, he recalled before his judges the history of the people of God. He began with their forefather Abraham and ended with Solomon (vv. 1-50).

In conclusion he reproached the persecutors of Christians for their resistance to the Holy Spirit, Who was calling them to salvation (vv. 51-53).

Stephen’s speech is both defensive and accusatory. The accusation reported that he had spoken blasphemous words against the Law of Moses and the Jerusalem temple, and against Moses and God.

“Seventy-five souls”: in this count Stephen follows the translation of the LXX, which counts precisely seventy-five. In the original Hebrew text, only seventy are counted, and Josephus follows this count (Ant. 2.7.4; 6.5.6).

The number seventy in the Hebrew text arose in this way. To the sixty-six souls who came from Jacob’s loins, according to Gen. 46:26, Joseph, his two sons, and Jacob himself are added in verse 27.

The LXX translation probably adds to them the five grandsons and great-grandsons of Joseph mentioned in Gen. 46:20. For this reason it counts not seventy, but seventy-five.

Thus it counts not only the members of Jacob’s family who migrated into Egypt, but also those members of it who were already dwelling in Egypt. In other words, it counts Jacob’s whole household, excluding the female sex.

Joseph’s moving brotherly relation to the brothers who sold him, his mercy toward them, his presentation of them to Pharaoh, his costly embassy to his father, and his calling of all Jacob’s posterity: a fervent account of all this could also have worked beneficially upon the hearers.

Such tender scenes were recalled that anyone not entirely alien to brotherly feeling and disposition should have felt sympathy for all innocent sufferers.

This was especially so for One such as Jesus Christ appeared to be before the eyes of many unprejudiced people. Someone said of Him: “If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing” (Jn 9:33).

Joseph appeared beautiful. Christ the Savior, revealing Himself to the world, spoke as no one had ever spoken (see Jn 7:46).