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The birth and youth of Moses:
v. 17. But when the time of the promise drew nigh which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
v. 18. till another king arose which knew not Joseph.
v. 19. The same dealt subtly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.
v. 20. In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months;
v. 21. and when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.
v. 22. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.
After the death of Jacob, of Joseph, and the patriarchs, the sojourn of the children of Israel in Egypt was pleasant enough for several centuries. But even as, in the same degree that, the time of their stay according to God's promise was drawing to a close, the people grew and became plentiful in Egypt. Their rapid increase corresponded to the rapid approach of the time set by God. This remarkable growth was in accordance with the promise given to Abraham by God. This continued until a different king arose in Egypt; a new dynasty was established by conquest. The new Pharaoh very naturally neither knew of, nor cared about, Joseph and the blessing which he had brought to the land of Egypt, being concerned far more about the rapid multiplying of the strange people occupying a very desirable part of the country. So he hit upon a scheme which was certainly a wise stratagem from the standpoint of the Egyptians, although it resulted in an evil treatment of the children of Israel, in afflictions of all kinds, whose culmination, in a way, was the order to cast into the Nile the children, all the boys that were born to the Israelites, in order that they might not be preserved alive. It was when matters had come to this point that Moses was born, in conformity with God's plan of deliverance for the Jews, as the words of Stephen indicate, for he was exceeding fair, fair to God, in the judgment of God; his was not only an extraordinary bodily beauty, but the indications of unusual mental endowment were very favorable. For three months his mother kept him hid and nourished him, gave him all the care that a child should have. And when she finally did expose him, it was, by the direction of God, at a place where Thermuthis, the daughter of Pharaoh, found the child, took him up out of his little vessel, and nourished him to be her own son. She practically, if not actually, adopted him. And in his capacity as the foster son of the princess, Moses enjoyed unusual advantages, and Stephen here supplements the Old Testament account. Moses was brought up, taught, educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, very probably attending their great schools of learning corresponding to our modern universities, thus receiving a mental training which was second to none in the world of those days. Note: This thorough training afterwards stood Moses in good stead, for it was true then as it is now that all the arts and sciences in the world shall serve the one greatest science, theology, and the preaching of the Gospel. The result, in the case of Moses, certainly justified all efforts made in his behalf, for he was mighty in words and deeds. He was full of vigor and energy in carrying forward any project, even if he may have been lacking in facility of expression, Exo_4:10. What he lacked in grace and polish he more than compensated for by depth and power. Herein Moses is a model for all men whom God has placed in positions of leadership in His Church.