And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.
All Commentaries on Acts 7:7 Go To Acts 7
John Chrysostom
AD 407
This is suitable to be said here also: that God is rich in ways and means to bring us up from hence. For this above all showed the riches of God's resources, that in its very reverses (ἀ ποστροφῇ) the nation increased, while enslaved, while evil-entreated, and sought to be exterminated. And this is the greatness of the Promise. For had it increased in its own land, it had not been so wonderful. And besides, it was not for a short time, either, that they were in the strange land: but for four hundred years. Hence we learn a (great lesson) of philosophic endurance (φιλοσοφίαν):— they did not treat them as masters use slaves, but as enemies and tyrants— and he foretold that they should be set in great liberty: for this is the meaning of that expression, They shall serve (Me): and they shall come up hither again (ἐ νταὕθα ἐπανελεύσονται); and with impunity. — And observe, how, while he seems to concede something to circumcision, he in fact allows it nothing
