Acts 7:16

“And were carried over into Sichem, etc.] The Syriac version reads in the singular number, “and he was translated into Sichem, and laid”, etc. as if this was said of Jacob only, whereas he is not spoken of at all, only the fathers, the twelve patriarchs; for Jacob, though he was carried out of Egypt, he was not buried in Sichem, but in the cave of Machpelah, (<015013>Genesis 50:13). But Joseph and the rest of the patriarchs, who died in Egypt, when the children of Israel came out from thence, they brought their bones along with them, and buried them in Sichem: of the burial of Joseph there, there is no doubt, since it is expressly affirmed in (<062432>Joshua 24:32) and that the rest of the…”

“And died - Genesis 49:33. He and our fathers - The time which the Israelites remained in Egypt was 215 years, so that all the sons of Jacob were deceased before the Jews went out to go to the land of Canaan. And were carried over - Jacob himself was buried in the field of Macpelah by Joseph and his brethren, Genesis 1:13. It is expressly said that the bones of Joseph were carried by the Israelites when they went into the land of Canaan, and buried in Shechem, Joshua 24:32; compare Genesis 50:25. No mention is made in the Old Testament of their carrying the bones of any of the other patriarchs, but the thing is highly probable in itself. If the descendants of Joseph carried his bones, it…”

“And were carried over to Shechem - It seems that St. Stephen, rapidly running over so many circumstances of history, has not leisure (nor was it needful where they were so well known) to recite them all distinctly. Therefore he here contracts into one, two different sepulchres, places, and purchases, so as in the former history, to name the buyer, omitting the seller, in the latter, to name the seller, omitting the buyer. Abraham bought a burying place of the children of Heth, Gen. 23:1-20. There Jacob was buried. Jacob bought a field of the children of Hamor. There Joseph was buried. You see here, how St. Stephen contracts these two purchases into one. This concise manner of speaking,…”

“7:16 a certain price: Four hundred pieces of silver, according to Gen 23:16.”

“were: Of the two burying-places of the patriarchs, one was at Hebron, the cave and field which Abraham purchased of Ephron the Hittite ( Gen 23:16, etc.); the other in Sychem, which Jacob (not Abraham) bought of the sons of Emmor ( Gen 33:19). To remove this glaring discrepancy, Markland interprets παρα \[Strong's G3844\], from, as it frequently signifies with a genitive, and renders, "And were carried over to Sychem; and afterwards from among the descendants of Emmor, the father, or son, of Sychem, they were laid in the sepulchre which Abraham bought for a sum of money." This agrees with the account which Josephus gives of the patriarchs; that they were carried out of Egypt, first to…”