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Act_7:35-43
b. There is thus, a contrast between the sentiments originally entertained by the Israelites in reference to Moses, and his subsequent actual mission to them, or his miraculous work, when he led Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness. But this contrast can be seen in the proper light only when, (in accordance with the example of Stephen), we apply the principle expressed by the term solidarity [joint responsibility] to the language of the Israelite mentioned in Exo_2:13-14. For the plural ἠñíÞóáíôï åἰðüíôåò , is here intended to imply that the language of one man expressed the real sentiments of many, or was even the index of the views which all entertained; unius hominis dicta et facta adscribuntur etiam illis, qui eodem sunt animo. (Bengel).
c. The contrast is, specially, formed by the following two propositions: (1) ôßò óå êáôÝóôçóåí ἄñ÷ïíôá êáὶ äéêáóôÞí ; (2) ὁ Èåὸò ἀðÝóôáëêåí áὐôὸí ἄñ÷ïíôá êáὶ ëõôñùôῄí . The former contains the human question (of unbelief and denial); the latter, the divine answer, as given by the divine act. But while God undoubtedly sent him as a ruler and leader, whose call as an ἄñ÷ùí had been denied, he did not send him merely as a äéêáóôÞò , which fact was not recognized, but in the still higher capacity of a ëõôñùôÞò . Here a climax is presented. In the first instance, the authority of Moses to judge, or decide a dispute between two individuals, was questioned; but God afterwards sent him as the saviour of his whole nation, and the umpire and administrator, as it were, in the case of two nations.— Óὺí ÷åéñὶ ἀããÝëïõ ; literally, united with the hand, the helping power, of the angel; the phrase implies that the intercourse of Moses with the angel, and the power and operations of the latter, furnished the former with his credentials as the ambassador of God.
Act_7:37-39. a. This is that Moses.—The second contrast, which is analogous to the first, is presented in these verses; in this case, however, the divine procedure is first described, and the course adopted by the Israelites afterwards considered, while, in the former case, this order is reversed. God conferred the high dignity on Moses of being a prophet, a mediator of divine revelations; the Israelites would not [ ïὐê ἠèÝëçóáí ] obey, but turned away from him, and “turned again with the heart” to Egypt. The language in Act_7:37 is intended to give prominence to the rank of Moses and to the divine favor which he enjoyed, by introducing the circumstance that the Prophet promised by God, the Messiah, was to be a prophet as Moses ( ὡò ἐìÝ ). [Deu_18:18, already quoted above in Act_3:22]. The position of Moses as a prophet is explained by a description of his mediatory agency at the time when the law was given. He was in the church ( ἐêêëçóßá , the assembly of the people) with the angel, and with our fathers, that is to say, his call, his official duties, and his position, connected him, on the one hand, with the angel, but, on the other, with the people: from the former he received; to the latter he gave ( ἐäÝîáôï — äïῦíáé ). Thus he stood between them, and was the mediator between God and the people.—The angel spake to him on mount Sinai. That which the book of Exodus ascribes directly to Jehovah, is conceived by Stephen (who concurs with the Alexandrian Jews, e. g., Philo) as having been accomplished through the mediation of angels.—Stephen describes the law itself as consisting of ëüãéá æῶíôá , that is, divine sayings, or oracles; they are not like a dead letter, but possess vital power and efficacy. (See below: Doctr. and Eth., No. 3). Stephen had been accused of speaking against the law, and of blaspheming Moses (Act_6:11; Act_6:13); here, he commends its high character, speaks of it with reverence, and exalts it.
b. But thrust him from them.—Although God had so highly honored Moses, and assigned such a lofty position to him, his own people had not the will to obey him, and to submit to his guidance ( ὑðÞêïïé ãåíÝóèáé ); on the contrary, they thrust him from them ( ἀðþóáíôï , like ἀðþóáôï , in Act_7:27), and turned again to Egypt, with their heart, their wishes and longings. What was the object of their desires? It was usual among earlier interpreters, whom all those of more recent times imitate, to assume that this object could only have been the image-worship of Egypt. It is, however, remarkable that not a single word occurs in the present passage, when the golden calf is mentioned, which would imply that it was made as an imitation of an Egyptian idol; nor is there any distinct intimation found in the Old Testament, whether we consult the Pentateuch or the succeeding boots (not even excepting Eze_20:7-8), that this image of a calf in the desert of Arabia, was an Egyptian reminiscence. It was, doubtless, such essentially; still, a statement that such was the case, is not found either in the passage before us, or in any passage of the Old Testament. We have, consequently, little reason to maintain that the sentiments with which the Israelites looked back to Egypt referred mainly, and still less, that they referred exclusively, to the Egyptian worship of idols. We have much more reason to believe that this turning back of the Israelites unto Egypt refers to a feeling which was now aroused, and which afterwards repeatedly manifested itself, namely, a longing after Egypt and the enjoyments and whole mode of life to which they had there become accustomed; comp. Num_11:5.
Act_7:40. Make us gods to go before us.—If the former verse be so understood as to ascribe to the Israelites a longing to return to Egypt, proceeding from home-sickness, Meyer holds that, then, their present demand must necessarily refer to “gods” who should conduct them on their return. But such is not by any means the sense of Act_7:40. Stephen had, in the former verse, mentioned their longing desire after Egypt simply as an evidence that they were now alienated in feeling from Moses, and unwilling to be guided by him. But in Act_7:40, he simply repeats the terms occurring in the original narrative, Exo_32:1, which presents an additional and a striking proof that the sentiments of the people had become unfriendly to Moses. The Hebrew text does not furnish the slightest indication of a desire on the part of the people actually to return to Egypt, preceded by the idol which was to be made. Bengel has, in our judgment, inaccurately understood the word ðñïðïñåýóïíôáé in such a sense.—The nominative absolute, ὁ ãὰñ Ìùûóῆò ïὖôïò , etc., stands first in the order of the words, for the purpose of giving special prominence to the person named; we have not, however, any reason to suppose that ïὖôïò is intended to express a feeling of contempt [de Wette; the word is repeatedly used by Stephen with reverence; see note on Act_7:35 f. a. above.] The logical connection indicated by ãÜñ , is not, as Meyer supposes, the following: ‘We may unhesitatingly introduce an idolatrous worship, for Moses, that inflexible opponent of it, has now disappeared!’ (Meyer).—The connection is, rather, the following; ‘We do not know what has occurred to Moses, who brought us out, and was hitherto our leader; his place at the head of our host, must be occupied by a divine leader, and that shall be the God whom Aaron is to make.’ Here, too, Moses is evidently mentioned in a disparaging tone, and the people faithlessly disown their obligations to him.
Act_7:41. And they made a calf.—The actual making of the image of a calf, or, rather, a bull (which is here described by a verb, ìïó÷ïðïéåῖí , not found elsewhere, in the whole range of Greek literature), is mentioned by Stephen as the act of the people, whereas in Exo_32:4, Aaron is represented as exclusively the maker. But he very justly charges the former with the act, for Aaron was governed by their directions, and was, in a certain sense, only the obedient servant who executed the will of the sovereign people.—The image of the bull was, doubtless, a symbol borrowed from Egypt, and intended to represent either Apis, a living bull at Memphis in Upper Egypt, or Mnevis at Heliopolis in Lower Egypt; divine honor was paid to both animals. Earlier writers, e. g., Spencer and Selden, as well as others of a later period, e. g., Lengerke, refer the image to Apis; Ewald believes that it rather represents Mnevis. [See the art. Kalb in Win. Realw., and especially, in Herzog: Real-Encyk.].—Stephen terms the object åἴäùëïí , an idol, although strictly speaking, it did not bear this character: it was, rather, in the view both of the people and of Aaron (Exo_32:4-5), merely a visible image of the true and living God, or of Jehovah, and was not intended to represent a false or imaginary god. Nevertheless, as from the nature of the case, the worship of God under any image made by man, imperceptibly conducts to a deification of the creature as the natural result, this image of Jehovah is pronounced to be an idol. Stephen designedly appends the words ôῷ åἰäþëῳ to ἀíÞãáãïí èõóßáí , although the original text in Exo_32:6 merely says: åַéַòֲìåּ òֹìֹú . For he intends to convey the idea that the Israelites in reality brought sacrifices, not to God, but to the image. They rejoiced in the works of their own hands, i.e., they sinned against the Creator, by joyfully deifying the works of their own hands, namely, created objects.
Act_7:42-43. a. Then God turned, and gave them up.—Stephen now refers to the divine punishment, which followed the disobedience of the people, who apostatized from the worship of the living God.—God turned away from them; ἔóôñåøå is here used in a middle and reflexive sense, like ἀíáóôñÝöù in Act_15:16, and does not refer, in a transitive sense, to áὐôïýò , as if it were equivalent to: convertit animos eorum (Heinrichs); neither is it used adverbially, like ùׁåּá when followed by a second verb, as if it were equivalent to rursus tradidit (Morus). This latter interpretation, indeed, does not accord with the facts, at least in so far as the narrative does not exhibit any traces of an earlier idolatrous worship on the part of the Israelites, of which the present was only a repetition; the former (of Heinrichs), on the other hand, would give a tautological sense to ðáñÝäùêåí áὐôïýò . The word ἔóôñåøå only denotes that God henceforth looked on his sinful people with merited displeasure.—The language: ðáñÝäùêåí áὐôïὺò ëáôñ . does not simply express a divine permission, as Chrysostom [ åἴáóå ] and recent interpreters understand it, but describes an act of God, which proceeded from his penal justice. That worship to which God gave up, or abandoned the Israelites was Star-worship [Sabæism], or the worship ( ëáôñåýåéí ) of the sidereal world—a form of idolatry which prevailed as well in Egypt, as in Chaldea and Phœnicia.
b. Have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices?—To prove that the Israelites had really been guilty of idolatry during their journey in the wilderness, Stephen appeals to Amo_5:25-27, which passage, while he in general adheres to the Alexandrian version, he nevertheless quotes with a certain degree of freedom. The question: Ìὴ … ἸóñáÞë in Act_7:42 [the form of which requires a negative answer (Winer: Gram. § 61. 3. b.)—Tr.], means: “Ye certainly have offered me no sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness!” It conveys, without doubt, a reproach, in a rhetorical manner, and implies that even the sacrifices which were offered to Jehovah in the wilderness, had not been accepted, in consequence of the prevailing idolatry. There is, hence, no reason for supposing, as some have done, that the pronoun ìïé is equivalent to the [more emphatic] phrase ἐìïὶ ìüíῳ . The positive charge is made in Act_7:43 : Ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch.—The Greek here strictly follows the text of the Septuagint; the latter, without doubt, guided merely by conjecture, exhibits the words ôïῦ Ìïëü÷ , in place of the Hebrew îַìְëְּëֶí , which signifies “your king,” i.e., idol. The ñִëּåּú was the portable tent of the idol, which was carried along by the Israelites during the march, constituting the opposite, or the rival, of the “tabernacle of witness” [Act_7:44]. The precise nature and character of Moloch are far from having been fully established by documentary accounts; there can be no doubt, however, that this name was given to a sidereal deity. With respect to the name ῬåìöÜí , the Septuagint, which Stephen here follows, departs still further from the original Hebrew. The word ἄóôñïí probably denotes an image of a star, the symbol of the star-god Remphan. This latter name, which the Septuagint substitutes for Chiun ( ëִּéּåּï ), seems to have had an Egyptian origin, and to refer to Saturn. [For the results of the most recent investigations, see J. G. Müller’s two articles, Moloch, and Rephan, in Herzog: Real-Encyk.—Tr.].—When God threatens, and declares that he will expel the idolatrous people from the land, and cause them to be conducted to a distant country, the original Hebrew, which the Septuagint follows, simply specifies Damascus as the point beyond which they shall be carried. In view, however, of the well-known historical fulfilment of the divine words, Stephen substitutes the name of Babylon for that of the Syrian capital.
2. Stephen is strictly consistent with himself when he represents the revelations of God as having been made to Moses through the mediation of an angel; this is true with respect to the call of Moses at Horeb, Act_7:30; Act_7:35, to the divine act of the giving of the law, Act_7:38 (and comp. Act_7:53), and to the whole intercourse of Moses with God. It is as undoubtedly true that God himself spoke with Moses through the angel, Act_7:31, and that He himself sent Moses, Act_7:35; it is, indeed, in consequence of these facts, that such a lofty position and such an exalted mission are claimed for Moses, as contradistinguished from the people. Still, the peculiar circumstance that God did not speak to Moses directly, but only through the intervention of an angel, assigns to this prophet a subordinate position, as compared with Jesus Christ. Stephen does not expressly state this point, it is true, but he intimates it, to the honor of the Messiah.
3. The commandments given by God to Moses, and delivered by the latter to the people, are ëüãéá æῶíôá . This term is not, as some interpreters allege, equivalent to æùïðïéïῦíôá . For, that the law as a whole, or that any particular commandments of the Mosaic law, were capable of imparting or infusing life, where no life had previously been known, Stephen, certainly could not have intended to say, in opposition to all his convictions concerning Jesus. But he does ascribe life and efficient power to the law itself. He has not here explained his meaning, but we may conjecture that it was the following:—The law is a living power, in so far as it takes hold of the conscience, and gives it additional vitality, when it exclaims: “Thou shalt,” “Thou shalt not;” further, in so far as it does not permit the will to repose inactively, but either guides it in the path of duty, or else provokes it to resistance; and, lastly, in so far as all the promises and threatenings connected with it, are actually fulfilled.
4. An image of God, which is intended to receive worship in any form or degree, is at once converted into an idol. This result, whatever visible representation of God is contrived, follows so naturally and logically, that no preventives can be of any avail. The wisdom of God is revealed in the Decalogue, in which the making of any images of God whatsoever, out of any materials, or after the form of any created object, is strictly prohibited under all circumstances, Exo_20:4-5. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the Son of man, is alone the true image of God, in whom we see the Father. The Catholic church professedly distinguishes in theory between reverence (“debitum honorem et venerationem”) and adoration, but, in practice, the former always conducts to the latter, at least in the great mass of the congregations. It avoids the use of the term adoration, but tolerates and retains all that the term implies. And thus men are inevitably, even if unconsciously, brought to the point at which the deification of the creature, or idolatry begins; the worship of images terminates in idolatry.
5. God revealed his justice when he turned away from the Israelites, and gave them up to idolatry. As they had turned from him with their heart ( ἐóôñÜöçóáí , Act_7:39), He himself justly turned away from them ( ἔóôñåøå , Act_7:42). As they had, in opposition to his commandment, converted a created object into an image of Him, he abandoned them to absolute idolatry or the adoration of the creature. Their sin was followed by an analogous retribution and punishment. “If thou departest from God, he will depart from thee!” It was in this manner that he punished the apostasy of the Gentiles, Rom_1:23-25. So, too, as an impartial judge, he punished the same sin, when Israel was guilty of it; and he adopts the same course in the case of apostasy within the pale of Christendom.
Act_7:17-43
Act_7:18. Which knew not Joseph.—Nothing is sooner forgotten than a benefit that has been received. (Starke).
Act_7:19. That they cast out their young children.—Such is the conduct of the persecutors of the church. They deal deceitfully with the devout, and seek the ruin of spiritual youths and children. (Starke).—These young children of the Israelites in Egypt—the little martyrs—belong to the company of the children afterwards murdered by Herod in Bethlehem. (Besser).
Act_7:21. Nourished him for her own son.—Pharaoh, who had issued the cruel command that Moses should be put to death, nevertheless educates him at his own court. God so protects his people, that even enemies become their servants.
Act_7:22. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.—By the appointment of God, to whom all the endowments and resources of the nations belong, the art and science of Egypt aided in accomplishing his design. (Starke).—It is a gracious act of God, when he enables an individual to acquire the treasures of human knowledge; they may be made available in his service. Human science, however, must be associated with divine grace, and human learning derive its life and power from the Spirit, through whom alone truly useful results can be produced. (Apost. Past.).
Act_7:22. To visit his brethren.—He is not a faithful Moses, whom the afflictions of the church of God do not move.
Act_7:24. And smote the Egyptian.—It does not seem probable, it is true, that a man-slayer should be a true believer. In this case, however, as in those of Phinehas (Numb. Acts 25) and of Elijah (1 Kings, Acts 18), the act was of an extraordinary character, and is not intended to serve as an example.—Besides, Moses did not intend to shed blood; he simply designed to defend an injured man, and was governed, not by personal considerations, but by love to his people.—But this act was, in accordance with the counsel of God, the prelude of all that he designed to accomplish through Moses, namely, the destruction of the Egyptians, and the deliverance of Israel. (From Starke and Apost. Past.).
Act_7:25. But they understood not.—Jesus, too, came unto his own, and his own received him not. [Joh_1:11]. (Quesnel).
Act_7:28. Wilt thou kill me?—It is sad, when the sick man disowns his physician, the subject his prince, the slave his deliverer; or, when man turns from his Saviour, and rejects his aid. So we deal with Christ; Mat_23:37. (Quesn.).
Act_7:29. Then fled Moses … and was a stranger.—This ingratitude of the Jews added forty years to the period of their bondage; for God could have delivered them even at this time through Moses. (Starke).—But, on the other hand, God devoted these forty years to the work of preparing Moses for his future calling. It is in solitude, or in tranquil scenes, that God trains his agents. Moses was already learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. He was, besides, aware, Act_7:25, that God had appointed him to be the deliverer of Israel, and he doubtless supposed at this early day that he was already qualified to perform the work. But he is, on the contrary, compelled to be a fugitive, and to pass forty additional years in another country, where, doubtless, many a sad tale of the afflictions of his people reached his ears. The call is at length made on him; at an apparently late day. It is an unfavorable indication of character, when an individual obtrudes himself, as it were, on the sacred office, and cannot wait till God has opened the way. (Apost. Past.).—Periods of delay in the kingdom of God, viewed as seasons of ripening: I. When the ungodly ripen for judgment [Gen_15:16]; II. When believers are exercised in implicit submission to the divine will; III. When the agents of God are trained for his service.
Act_7:30. The burning bush, [ ñְðֶä a thorn-bush, bramble. Robinson: Lex.—Tr.] viewed as an emblem and type: I. Of the Israelites, who, when they were in Egypt, resembled a degenerate, wild thorn-bush—burning, but not consumed in the furnace of affliction, amid fiery trials: II. Of the Messiah, whose human lowliness (thorn-bush) was united with divine glory (the flame in the bush) in one undivided Person (the bush was not consumed); III. Of the Christian Church, which bears the shame of the cross, but amid all its trials, exhibits an indestructible vital power. “This bush has been burning nearly 2000 years, and still no one has seen its ashes.” (From Starke and other earlier writers.)
Act_7:32. Moses trembled, not from servile fear, but in devout humility. How well it is, when a pastor experiences this holy trembling on entering the pulpit, not only at the commencement of his ministry, but ever afterwards! Does not this child-like awe—this reverence in the presence of God—present a barrier to many idle words, to many vain gestures, to many a sinful act? Is it not a stimulus, always urging him to speak and to act as in the divine presence, by the direction of the Spirit, after the mind of God? (Ap. Past.).
Act_7:33. The words.: Put off thy shoes, etc., an admonition to put away all the pollutions of the world, and all pride, in the presence of the Lord: addressed, I. To pastors, whether in the study, or in the pulpit; II. To the hearers, whether they are approaching the house of God, or are engaged in the services.
Act_7:34. I have seen, etc. The deeper our distress is, the nearer is God: I. He sees the afflictions of his people; II. He hears the sighing of the believer; III. He comes with his aid at the proper moment; IV. He sends forth his servants.
Act_7:35 ff. This Moses. (See above, Doctr. and Eth., No. 1.).
Act_7:38. Who received the lively oracles.—The law of God, too, is a living word: it has a life of its own,—emanating from the living God; I. To man, in the state of innocence, it was a life-giving power, not weighing down nor destroying, but developing and guiding, his natural life. II. In the state of sin, man does find that the law is “the letter that killeth” (2Co_3:6), for it exposes his spiritual death, and threatens him with death eternal. Yet, even here it manifests its own life, else would it not burn like fire in the sinner’s heart, and pierce like a two-edged sword; yea, it imparts life, by awakening the conscience, and pointing to Him whose word gives life, Joh_6:63. III. (Lastly,) in the state of grace, the law is neither dead nor set aside; for, with respect to its own nature, it now receives additional vital power in Christ, who unfolds and fulfils it; and, with respect to the believer himself, it enters fully into his heart, acts in unison with his spiritual nature, inspires him with love, and enables him, through the Holy Spirit, to follow after holiness.
Act_7:39. Whom our fathers would not obey.—We are here furnished with a useful guide, when we encounter persons who attempt to justify their disobedience to evangelical truth, by appealing to the fathers, to the ancients. We are taught to reply, that we will cheerfully render all that is due to the memory of the fathers, but that in so far as they were disobedient to the Gospel, their conduct cannot serve as an example for us, since the infallible word of God alone, is, and always must continue to be, our rule of faith and practice. (Apost. Past.).—In their hearts turned, etc.—Behold this image of those ungrateful Christians who turn away from the Redeemer by whom they were delivered from sin, and, with their hearts, return to Egypt, the corrupt world. (Starke).—This is one of Satan’s snares. When a soul is touched and awakened, he seeks to regain control over it, by reminding it of the sensual enjoyments which it had formerly found in the service of sin.
Act_7:40. Saying unto Aaron.—How circumspectly this case should teach the servants of God to walk. No intellectual strength, nor any official rank or dignity, can protect us against the snares of the enemy, unless we perseveringly walk, by faith, with God. When we forsake his presence, we cannot successfully resist either specious promises or violent threats. (Apost. Past.).
Act_7:42. Then God turned, and gave them up.—God inflicts the most severe punishment, when he abandons men, and gives them up to their own perverted mind, so that one sin impels them to the commission of another. (Starke).—Have ye offered to me, etc.—God does not regard the sacrifices which the hand, but those which the heart and mind, offer to him. Psa_51:19; Isa_66:2. (Starke).
Act_7:43. I will carry you away.—There is a certain analogy between the guilt which man contracts, and the punishment which God inflicts. Idolatrous nations are his agents in punishing the idolatry of the Jews. (Starke).—God removes men to new habitations, sometimes in wrath (Act_7:43), sometimes in mercy, Act_7:4. (Starke).
ON THE WHOLE SECTION, Act_7:17-43.
Moses, viewed as the deliverer of his people, and Christ, as the Redeemer of the world: I. The resemblance between Moses and Christ; (a) both received the attestation of God: the miraculous deliverance in infancy (Pharaoh and Herod); the training for the great work, in retirement (Moses at the court of Pharaoh, and in the wilderness; Jesus in the abode of the carpenter, and in the wilderness near Jordan); the solemn call to assume office (Moses at Horeb; Jesus at his baptism); abundant gifts of the Spirit, and power (Moses, “mighty in words and in deeds,” Act_7:22; Jesus, “mighty in deed and word,” Luk_24:19); the deliverance wrought by each, and the judgment which, in each case, visited an ungrateful and disobedient people.
(b) both are disowned and rejected by the people: their divine mission was not recognized, Act_7:27, their holy sentiments were blasphemed, Act_7:28, the liberty which they offered, was scorned, Act_7:39, their memory was blotted out by an ungrateful generation, Act_7:40. II. Christ’s superiority to Moses. The latter delivers from temporal, Christ, from spiritual bondage; Moses delivers Israel, Christ, mankind; Moses was the agent of a temporal, Christ, the author of an eternal redemption [Heb_9:12]; Moses was a servant [Heb_3:5], Christ, is the Lord.
The early training of Hoses an illustration of God’s mode of preparing his chosen instruments: by means of, I. Great dangers, and divine protection, Act_7:21; II. Human learning, Act_7:22, and divine illumination, Act_7:30; III. Varied experience of the world, Act_7:22-24, and retired self-communion, Act_7:29; IV. Painful humiliations, Act_7:27-28, and rich exhibitions of divine grace, Act_7:32-34. (A similar view may be taken of the early history, and later experience of Joseph, David, Elijah, Paul, Luther, etc.).
God’s chosen instruments: I. The materials which he selects; II. The mode in which they are prepared; III. The tests to which they are subjected; IV. The work which he performs through them.
Moses, a model, as a true reformer: possessing, as he does, the indispensable qualifications of, I. Treasures of knowledge, and of religious experience; II. Clear views of the age in which he lived, and an ardent love for the people; III. An heroic spirit, in the presence of the world, and childlike humility in the presence of God and his word.
Moses, both a man of God, and also a man of the people: I. By birth, he belonged to the people; II. In spirit and character, he stood above the people; III. He labored in word and in deed for the people; IV. He acted against the people and their evil desires, in conformity to the law of God.
Moses among his people, or, The grace of God, and the ingratitude of men; I. The grace of God, Act_7:35-38; II. The ingratitude of men, Act_7:39-43. —[The flight of Moses from Egypt, Act_7:29 : I. The circumstances which occasioned it; II. The divine purpose in permitting it.; III. The results. —Or, viewed as illustrative, I. Of human character; II. Of the ways of Providence. —Tr.]
Footnotes:
Act_7:35. a. The perfect tense ἀðÝóôáëêåí is supported by a far greater number of MSS. [A. B. D. E. and Cod. Sin.] than the aorist ἀðÝóôåéëåí [of the text. rec. which follows C. H. The perf. is adopted by Lach., Tisch., and Alf.—Tr.]
Act_7:35. b. óὺí ÷åéñß is most fully sustained by the authorities [A. B. C. D. E.; Syr., Vulg.], while ἐí ÷ ., which is obviously an easier reading, is found only in one MS. [H. but also in Cod. Sin.—Meyer and de Wette think that óὺí was substituted for the original ἐí .— óὺí in Lach., Tisch. and Alf.—Tr.]
Act_7:36. ãῇ Áἰãýðôῳ in A. E. H. [Cod. Sin.] and minuscule mss., as well as in the Greek church fathers, is, without doubt, the genuine reading, while ôῇ Áἰãýðôῳ [adopted by Lach. from B. C.] and ãῇ Áἰãýðôïõ may be traced to it as their original source. [Tisch. and Alf. read ãῇ Áἰãýðôῳ .—Tr.]
Act_7:37. a. Lachmann and Tischendorf [and Alf.], follow A. B. D., and prefer the shortest reading, i.e., ἀíáóôÞóåé ὁ Èåὸò ἐê ô . ἀä ., so that both êýñéïò before ὸ Èåὸò [of text. rec. with C. E. H.], and ὑìῶí after the latter, are cancelled as interpolations. [Cod. Sin. omits both êýñéïò and ὑìῶí ].——So, too, áὐôïῦ ἀêïýóåóèå [in the same verse], although not without authorities of weight, [C. D (corrected). E. Vulg., etc.], is, nevertheless, to be regarded as a spurious reading, since it could have been more easily interpolated from the original Hebrew and the Septuagint, than have been omitted, if it had originally constituted a part of the text. [The two words are omitted by Cod. Sin.—Tr.]
Act_7:37. b. [The margin of the Engl. Bible substitutes for: like unto me (Tynd.; Cranmer; Geneva) the more literal translation (Rheims): as myself.—Tr.]
Act_7:39. The reading ôῇ êáñäßᾳ is found only in one MS. [H.] of the first class, but occurs in others of the second class, and also in various ancient oriental versions and Greek church fathers; internal evidence, however, decides in favor of it, rather than in that of ôáῖò êáñäßáéò [of text. rec. with D. E.], or of ἐí ôáῖò ê . [of A. B. C. and Cod. Sin., and adopted by Lach.]. It has, accordingly, been preferred by Tischendorf [and Alf.]
Act_7:43. a. The correct reading is, doubtless, èå ͂ ïῦ without ὑìῶí ; the latter word [of text. rec.] is wanting, it is true, only in two MSS., B. and D., and some oriental versions, but was probably inserted from the Septuagint, Amo_5:26. [ ὑìῶí , found in A. C. E. Cod. Sin., is omitted by Lach., Tisch. and Alf.—Tr.]
Act_7:43. b. The orthography of Rephan varies in a surprising manner; nearly every one of the principal MSS. has a form of the word peculiar to itself. Lachmann and Tischendorf [and Alf.] have adopted ῬåöÜí [in accordance with C. E., etc.; other forms are: ῤáéöÜí , A. and Sept.; ῥåìöÜí of text. rec. in a few MSS.; ῥåìöÜì , D. and Vulg.; ῥïìöᾶ , B. and Complut.; ῥåöᾶ or ῥåööᾶ , H., etc.; ἁáöÜí , ῥåööÜí , Syr., etc.—Cod. Sin. exhibits ñïìöáí ; a later hand (C) corrected thus: ñáéöáí .—Tr.]