17 “But when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt 18 till another king arose who did not know Joseph. 19 This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose their babies, so that they might not live. 20 At this time Moses was born, and was well pleasing to God; and he was brought up in his father’s house for three months. 21 But when he was set out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds. 23 “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. 25 For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ 27 But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 Then, at this saying, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he had two sons. 30 “And when forty years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. 31 When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him, 32 saying, ‘I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and dared not look. 33 ‘Then the Lord said to him, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.” ’ 35 “This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
Commentary
Vs. 17-19 17 “But when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt 18 till another king arose who did not know Joseph. 19 This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose their babies, so that they might not live.
Stephen now recalls to them how as God’s Word about Abrahams descendants was about to be fulfilled (Gen. 15:13-16), and that the people of Israel were multiplying greatly in the land of Egypt, that another king arose there who did not know Joseph and remember all the good he had done for them. And so, this man dealt every treacherously with the children of Israel by bringing them into hard bondage and making them expose their babies so that they might not live (see Exodus 1:8-22).
Vs. 20-22 20 At this time Moses was born, and was well pleasing to God; and he was brought up in his father’s house for three months. 21 But when he was set out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.
Now at this time Moses was born, and was pleasing to God, (thus we now have a second type of Christ, a savior being raised up by God to deliver His people again). And so, Stephen recalls how Moses was raised up by God who after Moses was only three months in his father’s house was set out according to the command of Pharaoh and yet was discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter who took him away and raised him as her own son, and so Moses became learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds (vs. 22; Ex. 2:1-10). Moses’ early life then was one of great vigor and achievements, but as we will see it would not be until he was old and stumbling in speech that God would bring him back to save his people.
Vs. 23-29 23 “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. 25 For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ 27 But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 Then, at this saying, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he had two sons.
In this section Stephen now recalls how Moses when he first came to his brethren was also rejected by them. For Moses being forty years old and wanting to return to his people came to them, and seeing one of them suffer wrong, he avenged him who was oppressed and struck down the Egyptian who was doing so (vs. 24). “For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand.” Vs. 25 Thus Moses thought at that time that deliverance for Israel would come through him by the strength of his hand. And so, it was after that incident that Moses once again came to them and seeing two of his brethren fighting, he tried to reconcile them, but the one who was doing wrong to his neighbor pushed Moses away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’ And so, it was at this saying that Moses fled to the land of Midian where Stephen recalls h also had two sons (vs. 29, see Exodus 2:11-24). Now in recalling those words Stephen is showing that that man’s words towards Moses mirror Israel’s own thoughts and feelings and words towards Moses. For how many times did Moses have to face their rejection of God to save them, for even with a basic reading of the Book of Exodus one can clearly see they’re not believing, nor trusting him, and thus God who sent him to them, in spite of all the mighty works that God did through him. And thus, Moses outside of all of parallels of his life that parallels Christ’s, parallels His in this most distinctly. And yet they now hold up Moses as the one in whom they trust, and yet historically they have never trusted him, for if they did, they would’ve believed and obeyed him, and in this believed and obeyed him about the Lord Jesus Christ about whom he foreshadowed, foretold, and wrote about in both the law, and in the giving of its services.
Vs. 30-34 30 “And when forty years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. 31 When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him, 32 saying, ‘I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and dared not look. 33 ‘Then the Lord said to him, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.” ’
Stephen now recalls how Moses though rejected by his brethren when he tried to save them, was called by God to save them after he had been a sojourner in the land of Midian for forty years (Moses now being eighty), how the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in the burning bush, saying to him, ‘I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and dared not look. 33 ‘Then the Lord said to him, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.” ’ Vs. 32-34
Vs. 35-36 35 “This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
Therefore, Moses the one whom they rejected when they said, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush. For it was Moses whom God appointed and empowered to bring them out of Egypt, and to lead them to the promised land, “after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.” Therefore once again Israel’s rejection of Moses in spite of all he said and did for them also mirrors their now rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ in spite of all He has said and did and has done for them!
Scripture Quotations
New King James (1982):Thomas Nelson.
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