“This
Moses, whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.’ This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us, to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt, saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’ They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.
Acts 7:35-41
Acts 7 [30.] “When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, a voice of the Lord came to him, ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses trembled, and dared not look. The Lord said to him, ‘Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I have surely seen the affliction of my people that is in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.’
Acts 7 [35.] “This Moses, whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.’ This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us, to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt, saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’ They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.
Acts 7 [42.] But God turned, and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets,
‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices
forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
You took up the tabernacle of Moloch,
the star of your god Rephan,
the figures which you made to worship.
I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’
Meaning:
Stephen now speaks with growing intensity. Five times he points to Moses with words like “This Moses” and “This man.” The repetition contrasts what God did through Moses with how Israel treated him. Stephen had been accused of speaking against Moses (Acts 6:11); here he shows that it was Israel who rejected Moses.
- “This Moses, whom they refused… God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer”
Stephen quotes again the words of rejection from Exodus 2:14. The man refused as ruler and judge was the one God sent as “a ruler and a deliverer.” Stephen’s hearers would have seen the parallel with Jesus, whom Peter preached as the one “God exalted… with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior” (Acts 5:31).
- “having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness”
God confirmed Moses’ mission with mighty acts: the plagues, the crossing of the sea when “the waters were divided” (Exodus 14:21), and the provision in the desert. Peter spoke of Jesus in the same way (Acts 2:22).
- “The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me”
This is God’s promise in Deuteronomy 18:15. Peter had already applied it to Jesus (Acts 3:22), and when the crowds saw his signs they said, “This is truly the prophet who comes into the world” (John 6:14). Moses himself pointed forward to Jesus. Jesus said, “if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me” (John 5:46).
- “who received living revelations to give to us”
Stephen calls the law given at Sinai “living revelations.” Far from despising the law, he honours it; the problem was Israel’s refusal to obey it.
- “turned back in their hearts to Egypt”
While Moses was on the mountain they said to Aaron, “Come, make us gods, which shall go before us” (Exodus 32:1), and Aaron made a molten calf (Exodus 32:4). Later they even said, “Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt” (Numbers 14:4).
- “rejoiced in the works of their hands”
The golden calf was a god made by human hands. This phrase prepares for Stephen’s later point about the temple, for “the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands” (Acts 7:48).
The Significance of Acts 7:35-41
- Honouring the past while repeating its sins
Stephen’s hearers revered Moses, yet their ancestors had refused him. People can honour God’s messengers in name while resisting the message.
- Idols of our own making
Every age is tempted to trade the living God for something made by human hands.
Cross-References:
Deuteronomy 18:15: "Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from among you, of your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him." The prophet like Moses.
Exodus 32:1: "Come, make us gods, which shall go before us" Israel’s demand to Aaron.
John 5:46: "For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me." Moses points to Jesus.
Conclusion: Stephen shows that the Moses whom Israel refused was the ruler and deliverer God sent, who worked wonders, received living words from God, and promised a prophet like himself. Yet Israel disobeyed him, turned back to Egypt in their hearts and worshipped a calf made with their own hands. The passage reveals a pattern of rejecting God’s chosen deliverer that Stephen will apply to Jesus.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible