The high priest asked, “Are these accusations true?”
Stephen replied, “My fellow Jews and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our ancestor Abraham while he was living in Iraq and before he moved to Haran in Syria. God said to him, ‘Go! Leave behind your country and your relatives. Begin your journey and come to the land that I will show you.’
“So Abraham left southeastern Iraq and began his journey. He settled in Haran and stayed there until his father passed away. Then God had him move to the land of Israel with only a promise. Although God gave him no parcel of land he could call his own, not even a footprint, yet he promised Abraham that he and his descendants would one day have it all. And even though as yet Abraham had no child, God spoke with him and gave him this promise:
‘Your descendants will live in a foreign land with a people
who will make slaves of them
and oppress them for four hundred years.
But I will judge the nation that enslaves them,
and your descendants will be set free
to return to this land to serve and worship me.’
“Then God entered into covenant with Abraham, which included the requirement of circumcision. So when he became the father of Isaac, he circumcised him eight days after his birth.
“Isaac then became the father of Jacob, who was the father of our twelve patriarchs. Jacob’s sons became jealous of their brother Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God’s favor and blessing rested upon Joseph, and in time, God rescued him from all his oppression and granted him extraordinary favor before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh appointed him as the overseer of his nation and even of his own palace.
“Then a devastating famine came over all of Egypt and Canaan, bringing great misery to the people, including our ancestors, who couldn’t find food. But when Jacob learned that there was food in Egypt, he sent his sons, our ancestors, on their first trip to purchase grain for their family. On their second trip to Egypt, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, and because of this, Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family and where he came from.
“Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and his entire family, a total of seventy-five people, to come and reside in Egypt. Eventually, Jacob died there, along with all of his sons, our forefathers. Their bones were later carried back to the promised land and buried in Shechem, in the tomb Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor.
“The time drew near for God to fulfill the prophetic promise he had made to Abraham. Our Jewish people had increased greatly in number, multiplying many times over while in Egypt.
“Another king, who had forgotten how Joseph had made their nation great, arose to rule over Egypt. He was an abusive king who exploited our people with his smooth talk. With cruelty he forced our ancestors to give up their little boys as he committed infanticide!
“Then Moses came on the scene—a child of divine beauty. His parents hid him from Pharaoh as long as they could to spare his life. After three months they could conceal him no longer, so they had to abandon him to his fate. But God arranged that Pharaoh’s daughter would find him, take him home, and raise him as her own son. So Moses was fully trained in the royal courts and educated in the highest wisdom Egypt had to offer, until he arose as a powerful prince and an eloquent orator.
“When Moses turned forty, his heart was stirred for his people, the Israelites. One day he saw one of our people being violently mistreated, so he came to his rescue, and with his own hands Moses murdered the abusive Egyptian. Moses hoped that when the people realized how he had rescued one of their own, they would recognize him as their deliverer. How wrong he was! The next day he came upon two of our people engaged in a fist fight, and he tried to break it up by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers! Why would you want to hurt each other?’
“But the perpetrator pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who do you think you are? Who appointed you to be our ruler and judge? Are you going to kill me like you did the Egyptian yesterday?’
“Shaken by this, Moses fled Egypt and lived as an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. After forty years had passed, while he was in the desert near Mount Sinai, the Messenger of YAHWEH appeared to him in the midst of a flaming thorn bush. Moses was astonished and stunned by what he was seeing, so he drew closer to observe this marvel. Then the Lord YAHWEH spoke to him out of the flames:
‘I am the living God, the God of your ancestors.
I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’
“Trembling in God’s presence and overwhelmed with awe, Moses didn’t even dare to look into the fire.
“Out of the flames the Lord YAHWEH said to him:
‘Take the sandals off your feet,
for you are standing in the realm of holiness.
I have watched and seen how my people
have been mistreated in Egypt.
I have heard their painful groaning,
and now I have come down to set them free.
So come to me, Moses,
for I am sending you to Egypt to represent me.’
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