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Question

Father Angelo,

I apologize again  but I would like to ask you some more questions. First of all I thank you for the exhaustive answer you sent me last year concerning a question of mine, it was really helpful. 

Now I am writing to you for a possible clarification regarding chapter 7 of the Acts of the Apostles. Here is the first question: why in Acts 7:14 does St. Stephen say that all the kinship of the Apostles is related to him? Why does St. Stephen say in Acts 7:14 that Joseph’s entire family consisted of 75 people, while in Exodus 1:5 it says there were 70 in all? The Jerusalem Bible says that St. Stephen quotes the Septuagint where the number 75 is written (I do not understand why there is such a numerical difference) instead of 70, but I wonder how it is possible that a Jew (even if Hellenized) in front of the Sanhedrin quotes the Bible in Greek instead of the Torah in Hebrew. Does this mean that he could not read Hebrew? The New Testament has come down to us entirely in Greek, yet it tells of events that happened to Jews, so how are these inconsistencies possible? Did the Sanhedrin also accept the Bible translated into Greek instead of the original Hebrew? 

The second question regards  Acts 7,16 where S. Stephen tells about the field which Abraham bought in  Shechem. In Gn 33,18-20 it is written that the field in  Shechem was bought by Jacob for a hundred denarii, not by Abraham. 

Abraham in fact is reported in Gen 23:17-18 to have purchased Machpelah, not Shechem. Why this error? How is it possible that St. Stephen did not know the history of his own people and that the Sanhedrin (composed of Jews) said nothing? I asked you these two questions because some Jews use them as statements to say that the New Testament was composed entirely by Greeks who knew little or nothing about Judaism. I do not understand why the Septuagint is always quoted instead of the original Hebrew text. 

I hope I have not digressed too much, I await your welcome replies and in the meantime I thank you again for all the time you dedicate to us. 

I wish you a good day Father, I hope to hear from you soon. 

Answer

Dear Matteo,

  1. In the commentary of the Acts of the Apostles by the Dominican biblical scholar Mark Sales, regarding the number of Jews who went down to Egypt, he wrote: “In the Hebrew text and in the Vulgate, Genesis 40:27 speaks only of 70, but the Alexandrian version reports 75. The Greek translators added to the 70 of the Hebrew text the five descendants of Joseph born of Ephraim and Manasseh, mentioned in chapter 26, 28 of the book of Numbers”.
  2. Carlo Maria Martini, a member of the Society of Jesus who was later Archbishop of Milan, writes in his Commentary of the Acts of the Apostles: “In composing his book St Luke often used expressions taken from the Greek version of the Old Testament, known as the 70. This is true not only for the explicit quotations from Scripture, which are very numerous, but also for the language used in the narrations. By using words and formulas that the venerable version had already endowed with a certain sacred character, the narrative was given the flavor and the course of a religious story, in which the continuation of that divine intervention in the life of the people that had been recounted in the Old Testament Bible is described” (Acts of the Apostles, Introduction, pp. 26-27).
  3. Dealing with the second question about the author of the purchase of the field at Shechem, I must underline that there have been discussions among Catholic interpreters. This discussion is also analyzed by the above-mentioned biblical scholar Marco Sales. He wrote: “Nowhere does the Scripture speak of this purchase. Abraham did buy a tomb where he was buried with Sarah, Isaac and Jacob, but this tomb was in Hebron and not in Shechem, and he bought it from Ephrom Hephteus and not from the sons of Hemor (Gen 23:16-29). It was Jacob, however, who bought a field in Shechem from the sons of Emor (Gen 33:19-10). Here again St Stephen is accused of contradicting Genesis. Various ways were tried to reconcile Genesis with the words of St. Stephen. Some resorted to a copyist’s distraction, who wrote Abraham instead of Jacob: but this solution is not sufficient, since it is not possible that the error of one copyist could have passed through all the codices.
    Others, however, thought that St. Stephen himself in the heat of speaking had confused Abraham with Jacob, and attributed to the former what belonged to the latter. Saint Stephen, they say, was not inspired when he spoke, and therefore could well have been the victim of an error. St Luke objectively reports his speech without, however, pronouncing on its truthfulness. This solution, too, must be rejected, since, even leaving aside the praise that the Acts give to Stephen, it is not likely that the Saint Deacon could have deceived himself in a matter so well known to all the Jews, and have spoken a historical falsehood before the Sanhedrin without provoking reprimands and protests from anyone.
    Most Catholic interpreters therefore believe that St. Stephen is speaking here of Abraham’s purchase of a field prior to the purchase of the cave in Hebron. Although Genesis does not explicitly mention this first purchase of a field at Shechem, it is presupposed by chapter 12:6-7 where it says that Abraham built an altar to the Lord at Shechem. For how could Abraham have  built an altar and protect it from defilement if he had not first become the owner of the land on which the altar stood? So he had to buy the field, and the news of this event, though not explicitly recorded in Scripture, was passed down by tradition from father to son. Saint Stephen appealed to this tradition, and no one can raise any difficulty with it. This solution is much more probable than the others, and is to be preferred”.
  4. Carlo Maria Martini writes instead: “Two data are merged here, that of the tomb by Abraham in Hebron and that of the purchase of a field by Jacob from the sons of Emor in Shechem. Since Jas 24:32 speaks of Joseph’s burial in Shechem, this tradition may have drawn the others together in a kind of narrative simplification”.
  5. Carlo Maria Martini’s hypothesis is an abstract one. The solution given by Marco Sales seems more conjectural and adherent to reality. I am pleased with your critical and careful reading of the sacred text. 

With the hope that it will become your daily nourishment for eternal life, I bless you and accompany you with my prayers.

Padre Angelo