And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him, and rescued him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him governor over Egypt and over all his household. Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent forth our fathers the first time. And at the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five of them; and Jacob went down into Egypt. And he died, himself and our fathers, and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
In a Nutshell
Stephen reminds his fake accusers, and the Sanhedrin, of their own history.
Questions
Listen to Stephen's discussion of Joseph's role in Pharaoh's court? Why is repentance a characteristic of God's people?
Circumcision was a sign of God's covenant, a sign that God was keeping His promises to His people. Abraham and Sarah had no offspring between them until God opened Sarah's womb and the chuckling Isaac was born. Isaac and Rebekkah were parents of Esau the hairy, and Jacob the tricky. That was a true nest of domestic disaster. Sure, Esau diverged from Abraham and Isaac's spiritual rules about marriage - he married into the Canaanite worship of the womb. But the longer Jacob lived he got caught up in a fertility cult of his own in which he tended, it seems, to honour his own virility in way that bordered on fertility-cult idolatry. Having left home to live with uncle Laban, Jacob won the love of Rachel, but Rachel's father tricked the trickster and Jacob found himself wedded and bedded to Leah. His life thereafter was dominated by Leah and Rachel, and their respective maids, competing for status in Jacob's household. But when God's messenger put the wrestling Jacob in his place, with a whack which knocked any alternative male fertility cult out of his desire, Israel would limp for the rest of his days, solemnly respecting the One who had given him his sons, the one who freed him to walk on His path.
Not that it was then all happiness and ease! Among the sons of Jacob there was ongoing hatred and dispute, until the brothers sold Joseph into Egypt. They thought they had rid themselves of their brotherly blight. But God again turned the tables and it was Joseph, as the Egyptian Pharaoh's 2-I-C, who helped save the day when famine threatened to wipe them all out in their belovéd land of God's promise. Yes, they became strangers and pilgrims in Egypt - Jacob's bones being finally laid to rest in Abraham's cemetery in Shechem - but God keeps His promises and He goes before His people. "Keep going!" was what He had said to Abram (Genesis 12:1) and Jesus had said to His disciples, "Continue in my word and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free" (John 8:31-47).