Another difficulty in Stephen’s speech in Acts 7:15–16 concerns the chronology of Abraham, Jacob, and the sons of Hamor. When this passage is compared with the accounts in Genesis, questions arise about whether the events described could have happened as Stephen’s speech appears to suggest.
In Acts, Stephen recalls the deaths and burials of Jacob and the patriarchs. He then refers to a burial place associated with Abraham’s purchase from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. However, the Old Testament presents the purchase of land at Shechem as an event that took place during Jacob’s lifetime, long after Abraham had died.
Genesis 23 describes Abraham’s purchase of the cave of Machpelah from Ephron the Hittite, near Mamre. Abraham bought the property to bury Sarah, and this became the family burial place associated with several generations of the patriarchs. The passage does not mention Abraham purchasing a burial site in Shechem.
The account of Shechem appears much later in Genesis. In Genesis 33:18–19, Jacob arrives safely at the city of Shechem and purchases a plot of land from the sons of Hamor. Genesis 34 then describes Hamor and his son Shechem in connection with events involving Jacob’s family. These events belong to the generation of Jacob, not Abraham.
This creates a chronological problem in Acts 7:16. If the sons of Hamor mentioned there are the same people associated with Jacob in Genesis, Abraham could not have purchased land from them because he belonged to an earlier generation. The Old Testament narratives place the two events in different periods and identify different buyers: Abraham purchased the burial property at Machpelah, while Jacob purchased land at Shechem.
Another question concerns the ownership of the burial place. Genesis 23 records Abraham’s purchase of Machpelah, but it does not state that he owned a burial site at Shechem. Genesis 33:19, meanwhile, identifies Jacob as the buyer of the land there, and Joshua 24:32 connects that property with Joseph’s burial. If Jacob’s purchase is the one intended, why does Acts associate it with Abraham?
One possible explanation is that Acts preserves a different tradition or reflects a complicated blending of the patriarchal burial accounts. Some interpreters have also suggested that the wording may connect separate purchases or burial traditions. However, the passage does not explicitly explain such a connection, so these proposals cannot be treated as certain solutions.
Ultimately, the passage presents a significant chronological and textual difficulty when read alongside Genesis and Joshua. Whether it arose from a different tradition, a blending of accounts, or a historical error remains debated. Comparing these passages highlights the importance of examining biblical narratives in their literary and historical contexts.
It is also worth clarifying that Jacob buying land at Shechem does not necessarily mean he was buying an already established tomb owned by Abraham. Genesis describes a plot of land, while Joshua later connects it with Joseph’s burial. The issue is not simply why Jacob would purchase something his grandfather already owned; the more fundamental question is why Acts attributes the purchase to Abraham when Genesis attributes it to Jacob.
Leave a Reply