http://apologeticspress.org/AllegedDiscrepancies.aspx?article=2744&b=Acts
How Many of Jacob's Descendants Moved to Egypt?
by
Dave Miller, Ph.D.
Q.
Did Stephen contradict Moses regarding the number of people who moved to Egypt?
A.
In his great speech, Stephen referred to the number of Jacob’s family
members that moved down to Egypt as 75 (Acts 7:14). Yet in Genesis
46:27, Moses recorded the number as 70. Critics of the Bible claim to
have found a discrepancy. If they would have only studied the matter a
little more closely, they would have seen that Moses and Stephen were
simply approaching the matter from different perspectives. Genesis 46:26
numbers Jacob’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren as 66.
To that number, which does not include Jacob’s son’s wives, Moses added
Jacob, Joseph, and Joseph’s two sons to arrive at the number 70.
Stephen, on the other hand, did not include Joseph and his wife and two
sons since they were
already in Egypt and Joseph is
mentioned as sending for Jacob and the relatives from Egypt. Stephen
names Jacob separately from the 75 relatives. Thus Stephen’s number
includes the 66 mentioned in Genesis 46:26 plus the nine wives of
Jacob’s sons (Judah’s and Simeon’s wives being already deceased). The
Bible harmonizes perfectly and there is no discrepancy.
