The Defense of Stephen.
And the high priest said, "Are these things so?"
And he said, "Brethren and fathers, hearken. The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and said unto him, 'Get thee out of thy land, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee.' Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Haran: and from thence, when his father was dead, God removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell: and he gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: and he promised that he would give it to him in possession, and to his family after him, when as yet he had no child. And God spoke in this wise, that his family should sojourn in a strange land, and that the people of that land should bring them into bondage, and ill treat them four hundred years. 'And the nation to which they shall be in bondage will I judge,' said God: 'and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.' And the patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt: and God was with him, and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before [{341}] Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. Now there came a famine over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance. But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent forth our fathers the first time. And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's family became known unto Pharaoh. And Joseph sent, and called to him Jacob his father, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. And Jacob went down into Egypt; and he died, himself, and our fathers; and they were carried over unto Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver of the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
"But as the time of the promise drew nigh, which God promised to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, till there arose another king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph. The same dealt craftily with our race, and compelled our fathers to cast out their babes to the end they might not live. At this season Moses was born, and was exceeding fair; and he was nourished three months in his father's house: and when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.
"And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; and he was mighty in his words and works. But when he was well-nigh forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, smiting the Egyptian: [{342}] and he supposed that his brethren understood that God by his hand was giving them deliverance; but they understood not. And the day following he appeared unto them as they strove, and would have made peace, saying, 'Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?' But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, 'Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Wouldest thou kill me as thou killedst the Egyptian yesterday?'
"And Moses fled at this saying, and became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where he had two sons. And when forty years were passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. And when Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold, there came a voice of the Lord, 'I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.'
"And Moses trembled, and dared not behold. And the Lord said unto him, 'Loose the shoes from thy feet: for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. I have surely seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I am come down to deliver them: and now come, I will send thee into Egypt.'
"This Moses whom they refused, saying, 'Who made thee a ruler and a judge?' him hath God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. This man led them forth, having wrought wonders and signs in Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
"This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel, [{343}] 'A prophet shall God raise up unto you from among your brethren, like unto me.' This is he that was in the wilderness with the angel which spoke to him in the Mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received living oracles to give unto us: to whom our fathers would not be obedient, but thrust him from them, and turned back in their hearts unto Egypt, saying unto Aaron, 'Make us gods which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, who led us forth out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him.' And they made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. But God turned, and gave them up to serve idols.
"Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he appointed who spoke unto Moses, that he should make it according to the figure that he had seen. Which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered on the possession of the nations, which God thrust out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built him a house. Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in houses made by hands; as saith the prophet,--