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.
7. The nation whom they shall serve. This judgment is joined with the deliverance of the people. For, whereas God doth punish the cruelty and tyranny of the wicked Egyptians, he doth that for his people’s sake, whom he took into his tuition, that it may be seen that he is the deliverer of his Church.
The high priest speaks with a show of fairness, yet his tone is haughty and his prejudgment plain: if Stephen has spoken such words, he shall be condemned as a blasphemer. But Stephen's answer proves him a man mighty in Scripture, filled with the Holy Ghost not to reveal new secrets, but to bring the Old Testament writings to remembrance and convict his gainsayers.
AI summary
Commenting on Acts 7:1-16
And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage,.... At the end of the four hundred years, and which was the Egyptian nation: I will judge, said God; that is, condemn and punish them, as he did, by inflicting the ten plagues upon them: and after that they shall come forth; out of the land of Egypt, and their hard bondage there; and which...