The history of the patriarchs focused on the dynamics of covenant relationship—living under God's blessing without customary code or tangible shrine. This next section looks at Moses and in its own kerygmatic way sets aside the charges leveled against Stephen. Stephen does this by laying the groundwork for two analogies that he will apply to his audience in the indictment (vv. 51-53). His recounting of the exodus and the experiences of the wilderness generation is marked by a strong theme of rebellion. Since Stephen explicitly states that Messiah is a prophet like Moses (v. 37; compare 3:22-23), it should not be surprising to find typological features in the history of Moses which match up with Luke's presentation of the life of Christ or even the body of Christ, the church. Though Stephen's audience may not have caught all the typological references, Luke's readership—and we—can benefit from them.

Stephen recounts Moses' early years—his rescue as an infant, and the rejection that led to his flight from Egypt (7:17-22, 23-29). He places Moses' birth within the framework of the fulfillment of God's promises; in words that the NIV has somewhat obscured, he says emphatically, "Now when the time of the promise, which God confessed to Abraham drew near" (compare vv. 6-7). The Hebrew nation, he notes, was experiencing numerical increase, one of the blessings of the covenant (Gen 12:2; 17:2, 6; 35:11; 46:3; 47:27; Ex 1:7). Israel's population growth posed a problem for a pharaoh who knew nothing about Joseph. While this ruler is often identified as Ramses II (nineteenth dynasty, c. 1290-1224 B.C.; Bruce 1990:196), Archer understands the oppression as occurring over a number of dynasties starting with the later Hyksos and extending to Thutmose I (c. 1600-1514 B.C.; Archer 1964:215-21). Stephen's compressed statement does not let us know explicitly the motivation for the oppression or the nature of Pharaoh's ignorance—was it real or a conscious choice to forget in light of perceived menace (as Marshall 1980:139)? But the action he took is spelled out. He dealt treacherously (Acts 7:19; see Ex 1:10), exercising a crafty wisdom that oppressed the Jews (compare Acts 7:6; Ex 1:11). He practiced population control through infanticide (Ex 1:16, 22).

Into this situation Moses, a beautiful child, fair in the sight of God (NIV mg), was born. From the very start Moses was specially related to God and his purposes. Though hidden for three months, Moses too finally had to be exposed (Acts 7:21; ektithemi, a technical term for infanticide by exposure; compare Philo De Vita Mosis 1.12; Diodorus Siculus Library of History 2.4.3). But Pharaoh's daughter took him (aneilato, literally "took up"). This is the verb used in the LXX to explain the derivation of Moses' name: "I drew him out of the water" (Ex 2:10). It is also a technical term for adopting a foundling (Oxyrhynchus Papyri 37:6; 38:6).

Pharaoh's daughter reared Moses as her own son. His education produced a man powerful in word and deed (compare descriptions of Jesus [Lk 24:19] and Apollos of Alexandria [Acts 18:24]). Moses' training is described in Jewish tradition but not in the Old Testament (Philo De Vita Mosis 1.21-24; Josephus Jewish Antiquities 2.236; compare Heb 11:25-26). Moses' protestations in Exodus 4:10 do not finally contradict this picture, for they either are Moses' self-interested self-deprecations with little basis in fact (Marshall 1980:140) or point to an early lack of eloquence that he overcame later (Bruce 1990:198).

The lessons for us from Moses' early life echo the lessons from Joseph's: God was, step by step, fulfilling prophecy concerning Israel's sojourn in Egypt. In the time of Moses the Jews experienced the mistreatment God predicted. Yet God was again faithful to his eternal covenant and displayed his power. He used Pharaoh's own daughter to rescue the Hebrew baby boy who would grow up to lead God's people out from under Pharaoh's oppression.

In an abortive bid for liberation, Moses encountered his people's rejection for the first time. Stephen maintains the momentum of a course of events moving to fulfillment. He uses fulfillment terms to speak of Moses' attaining manhood, "completing" forty years (pleroo, v. 23; compare 1:16; 3:18; 7:30). The number accords with rabbinic tradition, though the Old Testament is not specific (Strack and Billerbeck 1978:2:679; for example, Genesis Rabbah 100:10). At that time it "arose in Moses' heart" (the literal rendering; compare Jer 3:16) to visit "his brothers the sons of Israel." He probably intended to show concern and even to help (compare Ex 3:16; 4:31; Lk 1:68; 7:16). Indeed, when he encountered injustice he defended an oppressed Jew and avenged him by slaying the Egyptian oppressor (Ex 2:11/Acts 7:24). He supposed this brave act would be a rallying point for mounting a liberation movement (compare Philo De Vita Mosis 1.40-44). Surely his countrymen would understand that by this man, on whom God's hand had rested from birth (Acts 7:20), God would bring them salvation (Lk 1:71; compare terms about Jesus in Lk 19:10; Acts 4:12). But they did not understand, just as their first-century descendants would not understand the mission of Jesus, the prophet like Moses (Lk 2:50; 18:34—compare Mk 10:34; see Lk 8:10 and Acts 28:26-27/Is 6:9-10; Lk 24:25).

This lack of understanding led to rejection (Ex 2:13-15/Acts 7:26-29). The next day Moses attempted to mediate between two Hebrews, and they shoved him aside. Rhetorically, they questioned the source of his authority and his motive—was it to murder, as he had the Egyptian?

At this word Moses banished himself to Midian, a region east of Aqaba in northwest Arabia. He became a foreigner, married and had two sons. The name of one, Gershom, commemorated Moses' alien status (Ex 2:21-22 LXX). In many ways Acts 7:29 is the climax of the subplot that began at verse 6: with Moses self-exiled as a common criminal, Israel was as far away from salvation as it could get.

As Stephen relates Moses' wilderness and ministry years, he details his call at the burning bush, his work as redeemer of Israel and finally how Israel rebelled against him (vv. 30-34, 35-38, 39-43). When the forty years of Moses' exile were "completed" (pleroo, again hinting that the events were a fulfillment of God's sovereign plan; compare vv. 17, 23), an angel appeared to him in a flaming bush at Mt. Sinai (compare v. 2; Ex 3:2; Judg 13:20-21). Because of the way in which angel, the Lord's voice, the Lord and God are used interchangeably in the Exodus account and here (Acts 7:31-33), we should probably understand this as a reverent way of describing a theophany of the transcendent God (Bruce 1988:140; Marshall 1980:141). It is not a reference to an angel "who bears the presence and authority of God himself" (as Kistemaker 1990:258). This vision (a supernatural sight experienced while one is awake or asleep; compare 10:3, 19) of a fiery bush that did not burn up (Ex 3:3) so attracted Moses' attention that he marveled (compare Acts 2:7; 3:12; 4:13) and moved toward it to make careful observation, "to master the mystery" (Bruce 1990:200; compare 11:6).

The Lord's voice came (NIV makes the voice an object of he heard), confessing the identity of this supernatural presence (Ex 3:6). By declaring, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God told Moses that this revelation was in continuity with prior utterances of covenant promises. Moses' reaction to the spoken revelation, which had begun to interpret the vision, was to tremble and not dare to look. This was indeed the right response to the news that he was standing in the palpable presence of the transcendent God (compare Is 66:1-2, 5).

God gave Moses some immediate instructions and a commission (Acts 7:33-34). "Because" he stood on holy ground (NIV does not translate gar), out of respect he must remove his sandals (v. 33/Ex 3:5). God prefaced his commission of Moses by revealing his covenant compassion for his people, which he would express in redemptive activity (Ex 3:7-8/Acts 7:34; compare 7:6, 19). Moses could take heart: he was not alone in this enterprise. God had declared his personal stake and role in liberating his suffering people.

This encounter in the desert at Sinai should remind Stephen's audience, Luke's readers and us that wherever God chooses to make himself known, there is holy ground. For a second time outside the Holy Land, God had appeared to a person of his choosing and made known a portion of his covenant promises and saving will. This presents a challenge to first-century Jews, so jealous for "this holy place," the temple, and to all others who cling to certain sacred spaces of their religious heritage.

Here Stephen changes style and begins a "passionate, rhetorically heightened indictment" (Haenchen 1971:282). Four instances of the demonstrative pointing to the redemptive work of "this Moses" occur in as many verses (vv. 35-38). God sent him as ruler and deliverer (compare vv. 23-29; 3:15; 5:31; Lk 24:21). The NIV has simple past, but the verb is apestalken, "has sent," a perfect tense pointing to the "abiding results of Moses' mission . . . a thought never absent from a Jew's mind" (Bruce 1990:201). Moses led the people out of Egypt (a key theme in the commission passage—Ex 3:8, 10-12). He did this with signs and wonders, not only in Egypt but also at the Red Sea and in the wilderness during the forty years of wandering (Ex 7—11; 14:21; Num 14:22).

Stephen now makes a direct connection between Moses and the Messiah by quoting the "prophet like Moses" prophecy (Acts 7:37/Deut 18:15; compare Acts 3:22-23 and the Jewish eschatological hope, 4QTestim; Targum of Exodus 12:42; Ruth Rabbah 5:6; Pesiqta Rabbati 15:10). The main parallel Stephen draws between Jesus and Moses, however, is their mistreatment and rejection by Israel (7:23-29, 39, 51-52). This becomes a powerful argument for the legitimacy of Jesus' messianic claims.

Just as rejection of Moses led to false worship and constant breaking of the law, so continued rejection of Jesus, the "prophet like Moses," will mean that the Jews will never be freed of their false worship (the idolizing of the temple) and false piety (the keeping of man-made customs; vv. 39-41, 53).

But Stephen is not finished with his own honoring of Moses. He was in the assembly (ekklesia, pointing to the "day of assembly" when the people gathered to receive the law, Deut 4:10; 9:10; 18:16—though a Christian will hardly miss a possible allusion to the church). He served as a mediator between the angel and the people (NIV obscures this with a rearrangement of phrases) when on Mt. Sinai he received the living oracles to give to the Jews. The New Testament and Jewish tradition speak of the law as given through or in the presence of angels (Acts 7:53; Gal 3:19; Heb 2:2; Deut 33:2 LXX; Pesiqta Rabbati 21:7; Strack and Billerbeck 1978:3:554-56). The angel here, however, is probably another respectful circumlocution for the transcendent God present with human beings (compare Acts 7:30, 35). The law is "living oracles" not in the sense of giving life (as Krodel 1986:147) but in the sense of being Israel's very life (Deut 30:19-20; 32:46-47). By following the law, they would be able to live their earthly life to its fullest extent (Kistemaker 1990:262). With these words Stephen shows that the charge of blasphemer against Moses, the law and the customs handed down by Moses (Acts 6:11, 13-14) is baseless.

Now Stephen comes to the people's rebellion against Moses and God's response (7:39-41, 42-43). The people rejected Moses' leadership (compare v. 27), and their heart's disposition was to live as though they were still in pagan Egypt (Ex 13:17; compare later Num 14:3-4). They adopted an empirical approach to their circumstances. Since they did not "see" Moses anymore, they demanded that an idol be their tangible spiritual leader.

Almost automatically, rejection of divinely sent leadership and of God's message issues in idol making. And so today, whenever the guidance of Scripture is set aside, humans will idolize the "wisdom" from some human source. Gurus, imams, priests and shamans guide us in our world of religious effort. Articulate professors, feisty talk-show hosts and charismatic movie stars become our moral and spiritual compasses in a secular world.

Idol making necessarily leads to idol worship. This Israel entered into with gusto, rejoicing in what their hands had made (Acts 7:41/Ex 32:4-6; compare Acts 17:24-25, 29). This last phrase will be central to Stephen's indictment of his audience (7:48-51). The first-century Jew's veneration of the temple was the same to God as worship of the golden calf.

God's punishment of the Israelites was to turn away from them and hand them over to the consequences of their sin (compare Rom 1:24, 26). He handed them over to the worship of (contrast Acts 7:7) the powers behind the idols, the host of heaven, those evil spiritual forces ever in mortal combat with God (1 Cor 10:20; Eph 6:10-13). That Israel practiced idolatry in the wilderness, even star worship of the type Stephen goes on to describe, is documented by the Pentateuch and the prophets (Lev 18:21; 20:2-5; Deut 4:19; Ezek 20:10-26; Hos 9:10). Stephen characterizes the sin by quoting Amos 5:25-27. Molech of the Ammonites was known as Venus' star. Rephan follows the LXX rendering of "Kaiwan," the Babylonian name for Saturn (E. F. Harrison 1986:132; Longenecker 1981:316-317). Amos details the further judgment God metes out: exile, the ultimate curse for covenant disobedience, removal from the enjoyment of the Promised Land.