Study Desk

"But God gave him no inheritance here, not even one square foot of land. God did promise, however, that eventually the whole land would belong to Abraham and his descendants—even though he had no children yet.

God also told him that his descendants would live in a foreign land, where they would be oppressed as slaves for 400 years.

and rescued him from all his troubles. And God gave him favor before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. God also gave Joseph unusual wisdom, so that Pharaoh appointed him governor over all of Egypt and put him in charge of the palace.

Jacob heard that there was still grain in Egypt, so he sent his sons—our ancestors—to buy some.

The second time they went, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, and they were introduced to Pharaoh.

Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and all his relatives to come to Egypt, seventy-five persons in all.

"As the time drew near when God would fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased.

"At that time Moses was born—a beautiful child in God's eyes. His parents cared for him at home for three months.

"One day when Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the people of Israel.

Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would realize that God had sent him to rescue them, but they didn't.

When Moses heard that, he fled the country and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian. There his two sons were born.

"So God sent back the same man his people had previously rejected when they demanded, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?' Through the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush, God sent Moses to be their ruler and savior.

and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.

He fell to his knees, shouting, "Lord, don't charge them with this sin!" And with that, he died.

Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did.

They listened closely to him because for a long time he had astounded them with his magic.

and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah.

The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter. And as a lamb is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.

He was humiliated and received no justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth."

When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing.