SEV Biblia, Chapter 7:6
Y le habl Dios así: Que su simiente sería extranjera en tierra ajena, y que los sujetarían a servidumbre y maltratarían, por cuatrocientos aos.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Acts 7:6
Verse 6. That his seed should sojourn in a strange land] See Gen. xv. 13, 14. Four hundred years.] MOSES says, Exod. xii. 40, that the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt-was 430 years. See the note there. St. PAUL has the same number, Gal. iii. 17; and so has Josephus, Ant. lib. ii. cap.
1, sect. 9; in Bell. lib. v. cap. 9, sect. 4. St. Stephen uses the round number of 400, leaving out the odd tens, a thing very common, not only in the sacred writers, but in all others, those alone excepted who write professedly on chronological matters.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 6. And God spake on this wise , etc.] The Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions read, and God spake to him, and so does one of Bezas copies; and the Ethiopic version reads it both ways, God said thus to Abraham, as in ( Genesis 15:13). That his seed should sojourn in a strange land ; or be a stranger in a land not theirs; first in the land of Canaan, and then in Egypt, which were possessed by other persons, the natives of them: and that they should bring them into bondage ; that is, the inhabitants of the lands, and particularly Egypt, should bring the seed of Abraham into bondage, as they did; and very hard bondage it was, at least some part of it: and entreat them evil four hundred years ; which must be reckoned not from the time of their going down into Egypt, which to their coming up out of it were but two hundred and ten years, but from the birth of Isaac: which was as soon as Abraham had the promised seed, and may be reckoned after this manner; from the birth of Isaac to the birth of Jacob, sixty years, ( Genesis 25:26) and from thence to the coming of Jacob into Egypt, one hundred and thirty years, ( Genesis 47:9) and from thence to the coming of the children of Israel out of Egypt, two hundrd and ten years; which in all make up four hundred years; for the sojourning and evil entreating of Abrahams seed are not to be confined to the land of Egypt, but belong to other lands, where they were within this time, though that land is more especially intended; and so the Septuagint version renders the text in ( Exodus 12:40). Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, which they (and some copies add, and their fathers) sojourned in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, were four hundred and thirty years: and this text is differently read in the Talmuds, in one of them thus f269 ; and the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, twxrah lkbw , and in all the lands, were four hundred and thirty years; and in the other of them thus f270 , and the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt, twxra rabw , and in the rest of the lands, were four hundred years; upon which latter the gloss has these words; from the time that the decree of the captivity was made between them to the birth of Isaac, were thirty years; and from the birth of Isaac, until the Israelites went out of Egypt, were four hundred years; take out of them the sixty of Isaac, and the one hundred and thirty that Jacob had lived when he went down into Egypt, and there remain two hundred and ten; and so is the decree, that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land not theirs, ( Genesis 15:13) and it is not said in Egypt, but in a land not theirs; and when Isaac was born, Abraham was a sojourner in the land of the Philistines; and from thence, till they went out of Egypt, it will be found that Isaac and his seed who were the seed of Abraham, were strangers: and the thirty years before that are not numbered in the decree; (See Gill on Galatians 3:17).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-16 - Stephen was charged as a blasphemer of God, and an apostate from the church; therefore he shows that he is a son of Abraham, and value himself on it. The slow steps by which the promise made to Abraha advanced toward performance, plainly show that it had a spiritual meaning, and that the land intended was the heavenly. God owned Josep in his troubles, and was with him by the power of his Spirit, both of his own mind by giving him comfort, and on those he was concerned with by giving him favour in their eyes. Stephen reminds the Jews of their mean beginning as a check to priding themselves in the glories of tha nation. Likewise of the wickedness of the patriarchs of their tribes in envying their brother Joseph; and the same spirit was still workin in them toward Christ and his ministers. The faith of the patriarchs in desiring to be buried in the land of Canaan, plainly showed they ha regard to the heavenly country. It is well to recur to the first ris of usages, or sentiments, which have been perverted. Would we know the nature and effects of justifying faith, we should study the characte of the father of the faithful. His calling shows the power and freenes of Divine grace, and the nature of conversion. Here also we see tha outward forms and distinctions are as nothing, compared with separatio from the world, and devotedness to God.
Greek Textus Receptus
ελαλησεν 2980 5656 V-AAI-3S δε 1161 CONJ ουτως 3779 ADV ο 3588 T-NSM θεος 2316 N-NSM οτι 3754 CONJ εσται 2071 5704 V-FXI-3S το 3588 T-NSN σπερμα 4690 N-NSN αυτου 846 P-GSM παροικον 3941 A-NSN εν 1722 PREP γη 1093 N-DSF αλλοτρια 245 A-DSF και 2532 CONJ δουλωσουσιν 1402 5692 V-FAI-3P αυτο 846 P-ASN και 2532 CONJ κακωσουσιν 2559 5692 V-FAI-3P ετη 2094 N-APN τετρακοσια 5071 A-APN
Robertson's NT Word Studies
7:6 {On this wise} (houtws). A free quotation from #Ge 15:13. {Should sojourn} (estai paroikon). Shall be a sojourner, paroikos (para, beside, oikos, home), one dwelling near one's home, but not of it, so a stranger, foreigner, old word, often in LXX, temporary residence without full rights of citizenship (#7:29; 13:17), and descriptive of Christians (#Eph 2:19; 1Pe 1:17; 2:11). {In a strange land} (en gei allotriai). In a land not one's own, that belongs to another, alien as in #Mt 17:25f., which see. {Four hundred years} (ete tetrakosia). Accusative of duration of time. As in #Ge 15:13, but a round number as in #Ex 12:40 the time is 430 years. But in #Ga 3:17 Paul, following the LXX in #Ex 12:40, takes the 430 years to cover the period in Canaan and the stay in Egypt, cutting the sojourn in Egypt to about half. Josephus gives it both ways. Hackett suggests two solutions, one that there were two ways of reckoning the period among the Jews with no way of settling it, the other that by the 430 years in Egypt the writers meant to include Canaan also as merely the preliminary to the period in Egypt.
