22. mighty in words—Though defective in utterance (Exodus 4:10); his recorded speeches fully bear out what is here said. and deeds—referring probably to unrecorded circumstances in his early life. If we are to believe JOSEPHUS, his ability was acknowledged ere he left Egypt. read more
23-27. In Acts 7:23; Acts 7:30; Acts 7:36, the life of Moses is represented as embracing three periods, of forty years each; the Jewish writers say the same; and though this is not expressly stated in the Old Testament, his age at death, one hundred twenty years (Deuteronomy 34:7), agrees with it. it came into his heart to visit his brethren—his heart yearning with love to them as God's chosen people, and heaving with the consciousness of a divine vocation to set them free. read more
24. avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian—going farther in the heat of his indignation than he probably intended. read more
2. Stephen’s address 7:2-53As a Hellenistic Jew, Stephen possessed a clearer vision of the universal implications of the gospel than did most of the Hebraic Jews. It was this breadth of vision that drew attack from the more temple-bound Jews in Jerusalem and led to his arrest. His address was not a personal defense designed to secure his acquittal by the Sanhedrin. It was instead an apologetic for the new way of worship that Jesus taught and His followers embraced."On the surface it appears to... read more
The career of Moses 7:17-36Stephen’s understanding of Moses was as orthodox as his view of God, but his presentation of Moses’ career made comparison with Jesus’ career unmistakable. As in the previous pericope, there is a double emphasis in this one, first, on God’s faithfulness to His promises in the Abrahamic Covenant and, second, on Moses as a precursor of Jesus."More specifically than in the life of Joseph, Stephen sees in the story of Moses a type of the new and greater Moses-Christ... read more
Stephen’s view of Moses and the Law 7:17-43Stephen continued his review of Israel’s history by proceeding into the period of the Exodus. He sought to refute the charge that he was blaspheming against Moses (Acts 6:11) and was speaking against the Mosaic Law (Acts 6:13). read more
Moses, the great deliverer of his people, was born, preserved, protected (by Pharaoh’s daughter no less), and educated in Egypt.". . . the pillar of the Law was reared in a foreign land and in a Gentile court." [Note: Ibid., p. 111.] Moses became a powerful man in word (his writings?) and deed. All this took place outside the Promised Land, which further depreciated the importance of that land.Like Moses, Jesus was lovely in God’s sight when He was born, because God chose Him, and Mary nurtured... read more
Moses’ presumptive attempt to deliver his people resulted in his having to flee Egypt for Midian where he became an alien (cf. Acts 7:6). These verses relate another story of an anointed leader of God’s people, like Joseph, being rejected by those people. Yet God did not abandon Moses or his people. God blessed Moses in a foreign land, Midian, by giving him two sons.Moses offered himself as the deliverer of his brethren, but they did not understand him. The same thing happened to Jesus. Moses’... read more
Defence and Martyrdom of Stephen1-53. Speech of Stephen. There is every reason to believe that this speech was really delivered by St. Stephen, and not composed by St. Luke; for, (1) the speech does not (in any direct manner) answer the charges alleged (Acts 6:14), as a speech composed by the historian himself would have done; (2) there are several erroneous references to the OT. (not all due to the use of LXX), natural enough in a speech delivered impromptu, but not natural in a speech... read more
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Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Acts 7:24
Acts 7:24. And seeing one of them suffer, &c.— See Exo 2:11 where the word is מכה meche, which sometimes signifies to smite so as to kill; and the Israelite is here represented as καταπονουμενω, subdued in a struggle, and in immediate danger of his life: so that Moses had no occasion for a divine impulse in order to his doing this action; for, (not to mention, that God most probably would have supported him afterwards, and he needed not to have fled for it,) as the Egyptian had got the... read more