Later text
Acts 7:15BSB
So Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died.
Intertextuality Pair
Acts 7:15 → Genesis 46:1-7
Allusion
Earlier text
So Israel set out with all that he had, and when he came to Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. And that night God spoke to Israel in a vision: “Jacob, Jacob!” He said. “Here I am,” replied Jacob. “I am God,” He said, “the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will surely bring you back. And Joseph’s own hands will close your eyes.” Then Jacob departed from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel took their father Jacob in the wagons Pharaoh had sent to carry him, along with their children and wives. They also took the livestock and possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt. Jacob took with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons, and his daughters and granddaughters—all his offspring.
+ 3 more earlier texts
Earlier text
When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he pulled his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and he was gathered to his people.
Earlier text
Exodus 1:6BSB
Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,
Earlier text
and you are to declare before the LORD your God, "My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt few in number and lived there and became a great nation, mighty and numerous.
Significance
"So Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died" (Acts 7:15). Stephen records the death of the patriarchs in the land of sojourn to underline a theme running through his whole defense: the fathers received the promises but not the possession — they died as strangers, still waiting. The God who summoned Jacob down to Egypt (Genesis 46:1-7) went with him there and would bring his descendants out, yet the generation of promise died in hope, not in sight. Their unfinished faith presses toward the resurrection hope that Christ secures, for the God who names himself "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" is "not the God of the dead, but of the living" (Luke 20:37-38) — the patriarchs died in Egypt, but their covenant God holds them still, and will raise them in the Last Day.
- Found via
- Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
- Reference Type
- Allusion
- Connection Method(s)
- Redemptive-Historical Progression