Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Acts 7:15

καὶ κατέβη with אACEP.

15. καὶ κατέβη Ἰακώβ, and Jacob went down. Now the whole race whom God had chosen to himself was in Egypt, away from the land of promise, and remained there for a long period, yet God was with them in their exile, and His worship was preserved for the whole time. This seems the point which Stephen desires to emphasize by so frequent a repetition of the words ‘into Egypt.’

καὶ ἐτελεύτησεν αὐτὸς κ. ο. π. ἡ., and he died, himself, and our fathers. Of the transportation of the bodies of the patriarchs to Canaan we have no record in Holy Writ. Josephus (Ant. II. 8. 2) says ‘the posterity and sons of these men, after some time, carried their bodies and buried them at Hebron.’ In the discussion of Exodus 13:19 Carry up my bones away hence with you, it is said (Mechilta, ed. Weiss, 1865, Vienna, 8vo. p. 30) that the bodies of the patriarchs were carried out of Egypt with the returning Israelites, and it is argued that this is implied in the expression with you, which Moses quotes as uttered by Joseph, who must have known that his brethren to whom he was speaking would all be dead before the exodus. Therefore with you could only be used if their bodies were to be transported as well as his own.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Acts 7:15

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