Acts 7:17

But as the time of the promise drew nigh which God vouchsafed unto Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, until there arose another king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph. The same dealt craftily with our race, and our fathers, that they should cast out their babes to the end that they might not live. At which season Moses was born, and was exceeding fair; and he was nourished three months in his father's house: and when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; and he was mighty in his words and works.

Just as the Patriarchs had rejected Joseph the great deliverer who had saved the nation from starvation, Stephen would now show that the chosen people had also rejected Moses, notwithstanding the fact that Moses was exceedingly well qualified to be God's instrument of deliverance from bondage.

On the whole, Stephen's eulogy of Moses fell far short of the extravagant claims usually made by the Jews with regard to the great lawgiver, some even claiming that he was the author of Egyptian civilization. The points here stressed are: (1) that Moses had been providentially incorporated into the royal family of Egypt, (2) that he was "exceeding fair," and (3) that he had been provided with the very best education possible.

Exceeding fair ... "This phrase is intensive, rather than a mere equivalent for the superlative, and means "fair unto God."[11] Coupled with the statement later that he was mighty "in words and works," these expressions reveal Moses to have been a man of the most extraordinary power and ability. Even in his early childhood, Moses possessed remarkable ability and beauty. Josephus wrote:

It happened frequently, that those who met him as he was carried along the road, were obliged to turn again upon seeing the child; they left what they were about and stood a great while to look at him; for the beauty of the child was so remarkable and natural that it detained the spectators, and made them stay longer to look upon him.[12]

Although not specifically stated by Stephen in his address, it is manifest that he was here presenting Moses as a type of Jesus our Lord, a principal factor of which was his rejection by the chosen people, next related.

Mighty in words and works ... There is no reference here to any of those miraculous deeds which later marked the life of Moses; but the meaning is that his achievements in every way were superlative.

[11] John Peter Lange, Commentary on Acts (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1866), p. 119.

[12] Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, translated by William Whiston (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston), p. 77.