Acts 7:20-22 - Moses was born

7:20

Why does Luke refer to Moses as “no ordinary child” (NIV)? ESV has “was beautiful in the sight of God”. Whichever translation is correct, the point is that Moses was special and he was going to play a key role in the rescue of Israel from slavery, and in taking them to the promised land. The Jews knew this and rejoiced in it. Yet they also knew that the complete fulfilment of God’s plans had not happened yet, they were looking for something more. At the same time the Jewish leaders were fixated on Moses and the Law. There are many parallels between Moses and Jesus, but Moses is only a type, a precursor. Moses gives hints of what the real Messiah will be like, but Moses was not the messiah. Moses was born into a time when Israel was in slavery. Jesus came into a time when Israel was under Roman occupation, and all mankind is in slavery to sin.

7:21,22

Male babies were being killed at the time, but Moses’ mother placed him outside and Pharaoh’s daughter found him and brought him up as her own son. Moses was brought up in the heart of the Egyptian kingdom, and was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Moreover, he thrived in this environment, being “powerful in speech and action”. Yet he was not an Egyptian, he was not here to expand the Egyptian nation. Likewise, Jesus was born a Jew and lived as a Jew. He knew and learnt the ways of the Jews, and excelled in it. He too was “powerful in speech and action”, and many orders of magnitude greater than Moses. The Jews were rightly proud of being God’s nation, but they failed to realise that they too were sinners in need of salvation.