Acts 7:23-29

[23] And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. [24] And one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian: [25] For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not. [26] And the next day unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, brethren; do ye wrong one to another? [27] But his neighbour wrong him away, saying, Who made a ruler and a judge over [28] Wilt thou kill as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday? [29] Then fled Moses at saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.

What is the context of Acts 7:23-29?

What does Acts 7:23-29 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

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" Jewish brethren who did not recognize that God had appointed him as their ruler and judge rejected him even though Moses sought to help them. Likewise Jesus" Jewish brethren rejected Him. Moses" brethren feared that he might use his power to destroy them rather than help them. Similarly the Jewish leaders feared that Jesus with His supernatural abilities might bring them harm rather than deliverance and blessing (cf. John 11:47-48). This rejection led Moses to leave his brethren and to live in a distant land where he fathered sons ( Acts 7:29). Jesus too had left His people and had gone to live in a distant land where He was producing descendants (i.e, Christians).