Acts 7:3Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

How then, they will say, does Scripture say this about Abraham’s father (Gen 11:31)? It says nothing superfluous, nothing beyond what is necessary.

It taught us only what was useful to know, namely, that Terah, after the revelation to his son, went out with him.

It says nothing more about him, because shortly after the migration to Haran he died. “Go forth from your kindred.”

By this Stephen shows that they are not children of Abraham. In what way? In that Abraham was obedient, while they are disobedient.

From what he did according to God’s command, we see that he endured labors. They, however, only gather the fruits, while all the forefathers endured afflictions.

"Go out from your land and from your kindred." How, then, does Scripture say that Abraham's father wished to go out (Gen 11:31), while here it says that Abraham was told, "Go out from your land"? From this we conclude that God's appearance to Abraham affected his father, and that he wished to go out from the land of the Chaldeans. By this very fact Stephen shows that they are not children of Abraham. For Abraham, leaving both fatherland and kindred, showed obedience, while they are disobedient.

We read that the Lord commanded Abraham to accomplish three things when He said to him, "Go out from your land and from your kindred and from your father's house." First He said, "from your land," that is, from the riches of this world and from earthly goods. Then He said, "from your kindred," that is, from the way of life, former habits, and vices known to us from birth through connections or kinship. Third, He said, "from your father's house," that is, from every memory of this world that stands before our eyes.

Therefore the words that follow, "Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans," signify a departure not in body, but in mind. Having accomplished this, he forever broke communion with the Chaldean people. According to the books of Chronicles, in one and the same year he went out from Chaldea, came to Mesopotamia, dwelt in Haran, and was brought into the land of promise.

In the speech that Stephen delivered in the hall of the Sanhedrin, in answer to the high priest’s questioning, he recalls before his judges the history of the people of God.

He begins with their forefather Abraham and ends with Solomon (vv. 1-50). In conclusion he reproves the persecutors of Christians for resisting the Holy Spirit, who calls them to salvation (vv. 51-53).

This speech of Stephen is as much defensive as it is accusatory. The accusation reported that he had spoken blasphemous words against the law of Moses and the temple of Jerusalem, against Moses and God.

The basis for this accusation was that, in his contests with the Jews, Stephen expressed the thought that in the New Testament the Mosaic law was abolished.

“Go forth from your land,” and so forth. Stephen cites the words of God spoken to Abraham at the appearance in Haran as if they had been spoken in Ur.

This is undoubtedly because the meaning of God’s command was the same then as now, while Moses does not transmit the words of God spoken in Ur.

Thus, “there was not yet temple nor sacrifice, but Abraham was counted worthy of a divine vision. Observe how Stephen draws their thought away from the sensible, beginning with locality, since the discussion concerned a place” (Chrysostom, Theophylact).

The history of Abraham’s migration from Mesopotamia first to Haran and then to Palestine is given briefly, yet expressively.

It shows that Abraham unquestioningly fulfilled God’s command to leave his native land, his father, and his kin, though this was not easy.

Moreover, God seemed to promise that He would show him a definite land. Yet He moved him from Haran, where Abraham had settled, certainly by God’s direction.

“According to the testimony of Philo and Josephus, the Jews of that time, especially the Alexandrian Jews, believed on the basis of tradition that God’s first appearance to Abraham was not in Haran, but in Ur of the Chaldeans.

Moses does not state this directly. As a result of this appearance, Abraham’s father Terah set out with the whole family from Ur to Canaan.