Acts 7:14 – Those searching for contradictions in the Bible feel they have one here: “threescore and fifteen souls” – seventy-five (Acts 7:14) versus “threescore and ten” – seventy (Genesis 46:27). Some appeal to the Greek Septuagint to resolve the “contradiction.”[1] However, the Baptist theologian John Gill offers this explanation:
But there is no contradiction; Moses and Stephen are speaking
of different things; Moses speaks of the seed of Jacob, which came out of his
loins, who came into Egypt, and so excludes his sons’ wives; Stephen speaks of
Jacob and all his kindred, among whom his sons’ wives must be reckoned, whom Joseph
called to him: according to Moses’s account, the persons that came with Jacob
into Egypt, who came out of his loins, and so exclusive of his sons’ wives,
were threescore and six; to which if we add Jacob himself, and Joseph who was
before in Egypt, and who might be truly said to come into it, and his two sons
that were born there, who came thither in his loins, as others in the account
may be said to do, who were not yet born, when Jacob went down, the total
number is threescore and ten, (Genesis 46:26-27) out of which take the six
following persons, Jacob, who was called by Joseph into Egypt, besides the
threescore and fifteen souls, and Joseph and his two sons then in Egypt, who
could not be said to be called by him, and Hezron and Hamul, the sons of Pharez
not yet born, and this will reduce Moses’s number to sixty four; to which sixty
four, if you add the eleven wives of Jacob’s sons, who were certainly part of
the kindred called and invited into Egypt, Genesis 45:10 it will make up
completely threescore and fifteen persons…nor was there any need to alter and
corrupt the Septuagint version of Genesis 45:27 to make it agree with Stephen’s
account; or to add five names in it, in Acts 7:20 as Machir, Galaad, Sutalaam,
Taam, and Edom, to make up the number seventy five: and it may be observed,
that the number is not altered in the version of Deuteronomy 10:22 which agrees
with the Hebrew for seventy persons.[2]
Notice also “all his kindred” (which is 75) in Acts 7:14, compared to “All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins” and “all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob” (which is 70) in Genesis 46:26 and Exodus 1:5. “besides Jacob’s sons’ wives” (Genesis 46:26) excludes them from the count. And “for Joseph was in Egypt already” (Exodus 1:5; Genesis 46:27) differentiates those descendants (Joseph and his sons) who came into Egypt a different way, or at a different time. Gill notes in his commentary on Genesis 46:26-27:
such as were his seed and offspring. This is observed for the
sake of what follows, and to exclude them: besides
Jacob’s sons’ wives;
these do not come into the account, because they did not
spring from him: all the souls [were]
threescore and six;
thirty two of Leah’s, leaving out Er and Onan,[3] sixteen of Zilpah’s, fourteen of Rachel’s, and seven of Bilhah’s, make sixty nine; take out of them Joseph and his two sons, who were in Egypt before, and you have the exact number of sixty six.[4]
[2] John Gill’s Exposition, online. https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/acts-7-14.html
[3] Er and Onan, who died before in the land of Canaan, are excluded from the count. Genesis 38:7-10.
[4] John Gill’s Exposition, online. https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/genesis-46-26.html
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