Our fathers that came after - None of the generation that came out of Egypt were permitted to enter into the and of Canaan except Caleb and Joshua, Numbers 14:22-24; Numbers 32:11-12. Hence, it is said that their fathers who "came after," that is, after the generation when the tabernacle was built. The Greek, however, here means, properly, "which also our fathers, having "received," brought," etc. The sense is not materially different. Stephen means that it was not brought in by that generation, but by the next.

With Jesus - This should have been rendered "with Joshua." Jesus is the Greek mode of writing the name "Joshua." But the Hebrew name should by all means have been retained here, as also in Hebrews 4:8.

Into the possession of the Gentiles - Into the land possessed by the Gentiles, that is, into the promised land then occupied by the Canaanites, etc.

Whom God ... - That is, he continued to drive them out until the time of David, when they were completely expelled. Or it may mean that the tabernacle was in the possession of the Jews, and was the appointed place of worship, until the time of David, who desired to build him a temple. The Greek is ambiguous. The "connection" favors the latter interpretation.

Brought in with Jesus - That is, with Joshua, whom the Greek version, quoted by St. Stephen, always writes Ιησους, Jesus, but which should constantly be written Joshua in such cases as the present, in order to avoid ambiguity and confusion.

Possession of the Gentiles - Των εθνων, of the heathens, whom Joshua conquered, and gave their land to the children of Israel.

Which also our fathers that came after,.... Who came after those that died in the wilderness, and never saw nor entered into the land of Canaan; the children of that generation whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, who sprung from them, came up in their room, and succeeded them:

brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles; that is, they having received the tabernacle from their fathers, brought it into the land of Canaan, which was possessed by the Gentiles, when they entered into it with Joshua their leader, and captain, at the head of them; who is here called Jesus, as he is in Hebrews 4:8 for Joshua and Jesus are the same name, and signify a saviour; for such an one Joshua was to the people of Israel; and was an eminent type of Jesus Christ, the captain of our salvation, in his bringing many sons to glory:

whom God drove out before the face of our fathers; the Gentiles, who before possessed the land of Canaan, were drove out by God before the Israelites, to make way for their settlement there; for to whom can the success of those victories over the Canaanites be ascribed, which the Israelites under Joshua obtained, but to God? The language on the "Tingitane", or Hercules's pillars, said to be set up by some of these Canaanites, agrees with this, on which they inscribed these words;

"we are they who fled from the face of Joshua the robber, the son of Nave,''

or Nun:

unto the days of David; this clause must not be read in connection with the words immediately preceding, as if the sense was, that the inhabitants of Canaan were drove out of their land unto the times of David, and then returned and resettled, as in the Ethiopic version; but with the beginning of the verse, and the meaning is, that the tabernacle which the Israelites received from their fathers, and brought into the land of Canaan with them, was there unto the times of David.

That came after (διαδεξάμενοι)

Only here in New Testament. The verb originally means to receive from one another, in succession; and that appears to be the more simple and natural rendering here: having received it (from Moses). Rev., very neatly, in their turn.

Jesus

Joshua. The names are the same, both signifying Saviour. See on Matthew 1:21.

Into the possession (ἐν τῇ κατασχέσει)

Rev., when they entered on the possession.

Before the face (ἀπὸ προσώπου)

More strictly, "away from the face." The same expression occurs in the Septuagint, Deuteronomy 11:23.

Which also our fathers that came after {s} brought in with Jesus into the {t} possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out {u} before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;

(s) Delivered from hand to hand.

(t) This is said using the figure of speech metonymy, and refers to the countries which the Gentiles possessed.

(u) God drove them out that they should yield up the possession of those countries to our fathers when they entered into the land.

7:45 Which also our fathers... brought in with Jesus. With Joshua (Revised Version). Joshua, the Hebrew form for Jesus. He and the later generations of Jews brought this tabernacle into Canaan when they conquered it.

7:45 Which our fathers having received - From their ancestors; brought into the possession of the Gentiles - Into the land which the Gentiles possessed before. So that God's favour is not a necessary consequence of inhabiting this land. All along St. Stephen intimates two things:
1. That God always loved good men in every land:
2. That he never loved bad men even in this. Josh 3:14.

that...: or, having received

Margin Jesus

i.e. Joshua.

45. which . our fathers that came after-rather, "having received it by succession" (Margin), that is, the custody of the tabernacle from their ancestors.

brought in with Jesus-or Joshua.

into the possession-rather, "at the taking possession of [the territory of] the Gentiles."

unto the days of David-for till then Jerusalem continued in the hands of the Jebusites. But Stephen's object in mentioning David is to hasten from the tabernacle which he set up, to the temple which his son built, in Jerusalem; and this only to show, from their own Scripture (Isa 66:1, 2), that even that temple, magnificent though it was, was not the proper resting-place of Jehovah upon earth; as his audience and the nations had all along been prone to imagine. (What that resting-place was, even "the contrite heart, that trembleth at God's word," he leaves to be gathered from the prophet referred to).

7:42-50 Stephen upbraids the Jews with the idolatry of their fathers, to which God gave them up as a punishment for their early forsaking him. It was no dishonour, but an honour to God, that the tabernacle gave way to the temple; so it is now, that the earthly temple gives way to the spiritual one; and so it will be when, at last, the spiritual shall give way to the eternal one. The whole world is God's temple, in which he is every where present, and fills it with his glory; what occasion has he then for a temple to manifest himself in? And these things show his eternal power and Godhead. But as heaven is his throne, and the earth his footstool, so none of our services can profit Him who made all things. Next to the human nature of Christ, the broken and spiritual heart is his most valued temple.