[The posts which follow make extensive use of The Acts of the Apostles, by Madame Cecilia, (Religious of St Andrew's Convent, Streatham), with an Imprimi potest dated 16 October 1907 (Westminster); Burns, Oates & Washbourne Ltd. (London). With grateful prayers for the author and her team:
REQUIEM æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen.ETERNAL rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.]
2. The Age of Moses, his Work and Office
Acts VII : 20-44
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| St Stephen before the Council. Fra Angelico.1448-1450. Cappella Niccolina. |
[21] And when he was exposed, Pharao's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.
[22] And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; and he was mighty in his words and in his deeds.
[23] And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.
[24] And when he had seen one of them suffer wrong, he defended him; and striking the Egyptian, he avenged him who suffered the injury.
[25] And he thought that his brethren understood that God by his hand would save them; but they understood it not.
[26] And the day following, he shewed himself to them when they were at strife; and would have reconciled them in peace, saying: Men, ye are brethren; why hurt you one another?
[27] But he that did the injury to his neighbour thrust him away, saying: Who hath appointed thee prince and judge over us?
[28] What, wilt thou kill me, as thou didst yesterday kill the Egyptian?
[29] And Moses fled upon this word, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begot two sons.
[30] And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the desert of mount Sina, an angel in a flame of fire in a bush.
[31] And Moses seeing it, wondered at the sight. And as he drew near to view it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying:
[32] I am the God of thy fathers; the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses being terrified, durst not behold.
[33] And the Lord said to him: Loose the shoes from thy feet, for the place wherein thou standest, is holy ground.
[34] Seeing I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, and I will send thee into Egypt.
[35] This Moses, whom they refused, saying: Who hath appointed thee prince and judge? him God sent to be prince and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
[36] He brought them out, doing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the desert forty years.
[37] This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel: A prophet shall God raise up to you of your own brethren, as myself: him shall you hear.
[38] This is he that was in the church in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on mount Sina, and with our fathers; who received the words of life to give unto us.
[39] Whom our fathers would not obey; but thrust him away, and in their hearts turned back into Egypt,
[40] Saying to Aaron: Make us gods to go before us. For as for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.
[41] And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
[42] And God turned, and gave them up to serve the host of heaven, as it is written in the books of the prophets: Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me for forty years, in the desert, O house of Israel?
[43] And you took unto you the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Rempham, figures which you made to adore them. And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
[44] The tabernacle of the testimony was with our fathers in the desert, as God ordained for them, speaking to Moses, that he should make it according to the form which he had seen.
[20] Eodem tempore natus est Moyses et fuit gratus Deo, qui nutritus est tribus mensibus in domo patris sui. [21] Exposito autem illo, sustulit eum filia Pharaonis, et nutrivit eum sibi in filium. [22] Et eruditus est Moyses omni sapientia Aegyptiorum, et erat potens in verbis, et in operibus suis. [23] Cum autem impleretur ei quadraginta annorum tempus, ascendit in cor ejus ut visitaret fratres suos filios Israel. [24] Et cum vidisset quemdam injuriam patientem, vindicavit illum, et fecit ultionem ei qui injuriam sustinebat, percusso Aegyptio. [25] Existimabat autem intelligere fratres, quoniam Deus per manum ipsius daret salutem illis : at illi non intellexerunt.
[26] Sequenti vero die apparuit illis litigantibus : et reconciliabat eos in pace, dicens : Viri, fratres estis, ut quid nocetis alterutrum? [27] Qui autem injuriam faciebat proximo, repulit eum, dicens : Quis te constituit principem et judicem super nos? [28] Numquid interficere me tu vis, quemadmodum interfecisti heri Aegyptium? [29] Fugit autem Moyses in verbo isto : et factus est advena in terra Madian, ubi generavit filios duos. [30] Et expletis annis quadraginta, apparuit illi in deserto montis Sina angelus in igne flammae rubi.
[31] Moyses autem videns, admiratus est visum. Et accedente illo ut consideraret, facta est ad eum vox Domini, dicens : [32] Ego sum Deus patrum tuorum, Deus Abraham, Deus Isaac, et Deus Jacob. Tremefactus autem Moyses, non audebat considerare. [33] Dixit autem illi Dominus : Solve calceamentum pedum tuorum : locus enim in quo stas, terra sancta est. [34] Videns vidi afflictionem populi mei, qui est in Aegypto, et gemitum eorum audivi, et descendi liberare eos. Et nunc veni, et mittam te in Aegyptum. [35] Hunc Moysen, quem negaverunt, dicentes : Quis te constituit principem et judicem? hunc Deus principem et redemptorem misit, cum manu angeli qui apparuit illi in rubo.
[36] Hic eduxit illos faciens prodigia, et signa in terra Aegypti, et in rubro mari, et in deserto annis quadraginta. [37] Hic est Moyses, qui dixit filiis Israel : Prophetam suscitabit vobis Deus de fratribus vestris, tamquam me, ipsum audietis. [38] Hic est qui fuit in ecclesia in solitudine cum angelo, qui loquebatur ei in monte Sina, et cum patribus nostris : qui accepit verba vitae dare nobis. [39] Cui noluerunt obedire patres nostri : sed repulerunt, et aversi sunt cordibus suis in Aegyptum, [40] dicentes ad Aaron : Fac nobis deos, qui praecedant nos : Moyses enim hic, qui eduxit nos de terra Aegypti, nescimus quid factum sit ei.
[41] Et vitulum fecerunt in diebus illis, et obtulerunt hostiam simulacro, et laetabantur in operibus manuum suarum. [42] Convertit autem Deus, et tradidit eos servire militiae caeli, sicut scriptum est in libro prophetarum : Numquid victimas et hostias obtulistis mihi annis quadraginta in deserto, domus Israel? [43] Et suscepistis tabernaculum Moloch, et sidus Dei vestri Rempham, figuras quas fecistis adorare eas et transferam vos trans Babylonem. [44] Tabernaculum testimonii fui cum patribus nostris in deserto, sicut disposuit illis Deus, loquens ad Moysen, ut faceret illud secundum formam quam viderat.
Notes
20. At the same time. Moses, the deliverer, was born when the Israelites were in the depths of their degradation.
acceptable to God. Lit. “ fair to God ” ( ἀστειος τω θεω). In Ex. ii. 2 we find him called “ a goodly child ” and in the epistle to the Hebrews “a comely babe ” (xi. 23).
On the beauty of Moses at the ago of three years Josephus writes: “It happened frequently, that those, who met him as he was carried along the road, were obliged to turn again upon seeing the child ; that they left what they were about, and stood still a great while to look on him, for the beauty of the child was so remarkable and natural to him on many accounts that it detained the spectators, and made them stay longer to look on him. ” (Antiq., ii., ix. 6).
Moses had also the gifts and abilities required for his mission
(a) Physical advantages— fair to God.(b) Education— see verse 22.(c) Strength of character.(d) Exceptional abilities— he was mighty in words and deeds,(e) Experience, gained by tribulation.
in his father's house. In the house of Amram and Jochabed, his parents. ^ For the early history of Moses see Ex. ii.
21. Pharao’s daughter. According to Josephus, her name was Thermuthis, and when “ she saw the child, she was greatly in love with it, on account of its size and beauty” (Antiq. ii., ix. 5).
22. Moses was instructed, etc. According to a Jewish tradition, Pharao’s daughter was childless. She adopted Moses, who thus became heir to the throne of Egypt ; hence he was educated as befitted his future position.
the wisdom of the Egyptians. The Egyptian priests were learned men, renowned for their knowledge of natural sciences, magic, astronomy, medicine, and mathematics ; consequently, they were the teachers of Egypt.
mighty in his words and in his deeds. The same words are applied to our blessed Lord. Cf. Who was a prophet, mighty in work and word before God (St Luke xxiv. 19). Moses was not naturally eloquent. Cf. Moses said: I beseech thee, Lord, I am not eloquent from yesterday and the day before; and since thou hast spoken to thy servant, I have more impediment and slowness of tongue (Ex. iv. 10). This difficulty in expressing himself seems to have been confined to his earlier career, for, in the record of his discourses in the desert, we find no trace of it.
A Jewish tradition credits Moses with the power of persuading others by his words. Moses’ own words on this point may perhaps be attributed to his humility, rather than to his lack of eloquence,
St Stephen evidently refers in this passage to the traditions concerning the deeds of Moses before he fled from Egypt. Thus Josephus relates that Moses headed an Egyptian force and conquered the Ethiopians, and that he protected his soldiers from the venomous serpents by means of the ibis, which feeds on these reptiles (Antiq., ii., x, ii)
23. full forty. Better, “ when he was completing his fortieth year ” (ὡς δε ἐπληρουτο κ.τ.λ.). St Stephen here again quotes a tradition familiar to his hearers, and thus he divides the patriarch’s life into three equal periods of forty years : —
(a) From his birth till he fled from Egypt.
(b) From his flight from Egypt until his return.
(c) From the Exodus to his death, when he was one hundred and twenty years old (Deut, xxxiv. 7).
it came into his heart. Evidently by a divine impulse. Moses, as heir to the throne, and educated at the royal palace, could have had few opportunities of knowing much of his kinsmen.
24. when he had seen, etc. This incident is related in Ex. ii. 11-15.
striking the Egyptian. Moses killed him.
25. he thought that his brethren, etc. The Hebrews knew that God had promised Abraham that his descendants should be delivered from their captivity in a strange land ; consequently, when Moses exposed his own life to defend one of his own nation, he hoped that they would recognize in him the deliverer raised up by God.
29. Moses fled upon this word. This was the immediate cause of his departure, but Moses had already decided to cast in his lot with his oppressed brethren, rather choosing to be afflicted with the people of God (Heb. xi. 25).
There is a Jewish tradition that the Egyptians, being jealous of Moses, told Pharao that he would stir up a rebellion and bring innovations into the land (Antiq., li. 11. 1). '
land of Madian, This is the Greek form of Midian,” which is probably that part of Arabia Fetrea on the eastern branch of the Red Sea, on which Mount Sinai stands.
The Midianites were the descendants of Madian (or Midian, the fourth son of Abraham. They were a nomadic people and possessed but few cities.
two sons. The names of his sons by Sephora were Gersam and Eliezer.
30. when forty years were expired. This number is frequently mentioned both in the Old and the New Testament. This was Moses’ time of preparation for his great mission as the deliverer of Egypt.
Mount Sina. More correctly “Sinai.” In Ex. iii. 1 we read Horeb, but the two names are used indifferently, being two peaks of one range of mountains.
Cf. Thou didst stand before the Lord thy God in Horeb (Deut. iv, 10).
Moses said: The Lord came from Sinai and from Seir he rose up to us (ibid. xixiii. 2).
According to Stanley, Horeb is probably the Mountain of the Dried-up Ground ; Sinai, the Mountain of the Thorn.
an Angel, Where the Hebrews speak of God appearing, the Hellenists use the expression “ the Angel,” by whom they understand the Shechinah or the Word (λογος ) of God. Several Fathers of the Church accept this doctrine, and, in the Angel speaking absolutely as God, they recognize the Word of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, forestalling, as it were, the great mystery of the Incarnation (Mgr. le Camus, L'œuvre des Apôtres, p. 124).
This view is borne out by the context, since it is the voice of the Lord that speaks to Moses out of the burning bush ; and the voice said I am the God of thy fathers, etc.
a flame of fire in a bush. Lit. “ in a flame of a bush of fire ” (ἐν φλογι πυρος Βατου).
“ The vegetation is still that which we should infer from the Mosaic history. The wild acacia (Mimosa Nilotica), under the name of “sunt,” everywhere represents the “ seneh ” or “senna” of the Burning Bush” (Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 20).
32. I am the God, etc. If St Stephen was one of the Seventy-two disciples, he may have heard our Lord quote this passage when arguing with the Sadducees concerning the resurrection of the dead (St Matt. xxii, 32) ; and certainly some, if not most, of the Sadducees whom St Stephen was addressing had taken part in that discussion.
33. Loose the shoes, etc. In the East it is customary to stand barefooted in the presence of a superior, hence the Arabs enter their mosque barefooted. The Pythagoreans also taught that when worshipping or sacrificing the feet should be bare. The Jewish priests observed this custom when ministering at the altar, as the Samaritans do even now.
The practice evidently arose from a feeling of reverence, and a fear lest any holy place should be defiled by the dust which clung to the sandals.
holy ground. Hence, on the testimony of the “ Angel,” i.e. of God Himself, there were other sacred places besides Jerusalem.
34. Seeing I have seen, (ἰδων εἰδον) An emphatic Hebrew affirmation, equivalent to “ I have surely seen.”
“ Reduplication is one of the earliest and most universal methods of emphasis.”
am come down to deliver them, God often accommodates Himself to human language when expressing His relations with men. Thus He speaks of casting our sins behind His back, of pleading with His people, carrying them in His arms, etc.
35. him God sent to he prince, etc. St Stephen now brings out the chief points in which Moses was a type of Christ.
(a) Moses was a prince and redeemer. (a) God exalted Jesus to be prince and saviour.
(b) Moses delivered his people, doing wonders and signs. (b) Jesus was mighty in work and word (St Luke xxiv, 19).
(c) Moses was a prophet and one of their brethren. (c) Jesus was also a prophet and of the family of David.
(d) Moses received “ the words of life ” for his brethren. (d) Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
(e) The Hebrews would not obey Moses, but thrust him away. (e) The Jews cried out, Not this man but Barabbas.
36. He brought them out, — i.e. from their bondage in Egypt.
doing wonders and signs. A reference to the ten plagues which fell upon the Egyptians through the instrumentality of Moses.
the Red Sea, The allusion is to the waters of the Red Sea dividing, so that the Israelites passed dry-shod while the waters closed over their enemies the Egyptians. (See Ex. xiv.)
This sea possibly derived its name from the reddish hue of its waters, due to the sea-weeds with which it abounds, so that the Jews called it the “ weedy sea.” The waters are so transparent that the weeds and coral can be clearly seen in its depths, and fagments of red coral are cast up on its shores.
Note. — St Stephen here breaks off the thread of his discourse to shew that, as the Israelites of old treated Moses, so the Jews of his day had rebelled against and rejected Jesus the Messias.
37. A prophet shall God raise up. The quotation is from Deut. xviii. 16. St Peter also cited these words when speaking to the people in Solomon’s Porch (see supra, iii. 22).
38. the church in the wilderness, — i.e. the assembly or congregation of the children of Israel to whom the Law was given. (See Annot on v. 11.) St Stephen points out that the assembly worshipped God in the desert, and there received communications from Him through Moses.
the words of life, — i.e. words that should teach men how to obtain everlasting life.
Cf. The word of God is living and effectual and more piercing than any two-edged sword; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb. iv. 12).
39. in their hearts turned back etc. The Israelites did not wish to go back to Egypt, but to return to the worship of the idols of Egypt. This is manifest from the words of the people, who said : These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt (Exod. xxxii. 4).
40. to go before us. The words are quoted from Ex. xxxii. 1. It was an ancient custom of the Orientals to have their idols carried before them when journeying or going to battle, and carvings representing these gods were placed on the prow of their vessels. The Israelites, in their journeyings in the desert, were led by the pillar of fire by night and of cloud by day (see Ex. xiii. 21).
41. they made a calf. This in the Greek is expressed by one word, apparently coined by St Stephen (ἐμοσχοποιησαν). Osiris, the sun-god, was worshipped at Memphis under the figure of the bull Apis, and the image of the bull Mnevis was venerated in Heliopolis, in Lower Egypt.
The calf was made by Aaron at the request of the people. Cf. The Lord therefore struck the people for the guilt on occasion of the calf which Aaron had made (Ex. xxxii. 35). At the feasts celebrated in honour of these bull deities, the most unbridled licence was permitted.
in those days. While God was giving Moses the Law, the people rebelled and broke the first commandment by making graven images.
and rejoiced. Moses and Josue, coming down from Mount Sinai, heard them rejoicing. Josue took it for the noise of battle but Moses, better informed, knew it to be the voice of singers (Ex. xxxii. 17-18).
The Israelites evidently chose to represent the true God under the form of a calf, because they had seen the Egyptians worship the sun under the symbol of a bull. The ox was one of the cherubic images mentioned in Ezec. i. 10. Quite recently some immense images of bulls have been discovered at Nineveh. Jeroboam, after the division of the kingdom of Israel, set up golden calves at Bethel and at Dan. See 3 Kings xii, 28-29,
42. And God turned and gave them up. Another example of accommodation of divine acts to human language. God ceased to invite them to repentance, and allowed them, for a time, to sin with impunity.
Cf. Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless he left not himself without testimony, doing good from heaven (Acts xiv, 15-16).
to serve the host of heaven. The sun, moon, and stars. Thus we read that Manasses, king of Juda, built altars to Baalim and made groves and he adored all the host of heaven and worshipped them (2 Para, xxxiii. 3).
The worship of “the hosts of heaven” is not mentioned often in the early history of the Jews. It is distinctly forbidden by the first commandment.
Under the kings, this sin was frequently committed, and we find numerous allusions to it in the prophets, e.g. And the homes of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Juda shall be unclean as the place of Topheth : all the houses upon whose roofs they have sacrificed to all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink-offerings to strange gods (Jer. xix. IS). Sabæism, or the worship of the “hosts of heaven,” was practised in Chaldea, Phoenicia, and Egypt.
the book of the prophets. The prophecy is quoted from Amos v. 25-27. The Rabbis included the works of the twelve minor prophets in one roll or volume. The twelve minor prophets are: — Osee, Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Micheas, Nahum, Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggeus, Zacharias, Malachias.
Did yon offer ? Amos here rebukes the Israelites because when in the desert, although they offered sacrifices to Jehovah, in their hearts they clung to their false gods, and, consequently, He could not accept their offerings. The words “ to me ” are emphatic, and were intended to bring home the truth that the sacrifices were offered not to God, but to Moloch.
St Stephen applies the words of Amos, written at a later period in the history of the Israelites, to the sins of idolatry which they committed in the desert.
43. you took unto you the tabernacle of Moloch, Lit, “ you lifted up ” (ἀνελαβετε) The allusion is to the practice of bearing the idol aloft before them, in the same way that the Ark of the Covenant was carried in the van when the Israelites were on the march through the desert.
We must probably identify Moloch with Baal Shemesh, the sun-god of Tyre. It was customary to place the idol under a small portable tabernacle when camping. This is clearly brought out in the original : But you carried a tabernacle for your Moloch, and the image of your idols, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves (Amos v. 26).
Hence St Stephen contrasts Moloch with Jehovah.
The tabernacle of Moloch with the tabernacle of God.
The Hebrew Scriptures read, “ And Chiun, your images, the star of your god which ye made for yourselves”; but St Stephen quotes from the Septuagint, and the Greek translators evidently substituted for the Arabic word “Chiun” (Saturn) the Coptic word “ Rephan.” [Some modern commentators link the “star of Remphan” to the so-called “star of David,” which has no connection whatsoever to King David, and which is flag of a people that rejects Christ]. This is the generally accepted explanation of the difference between the Hebrew and the Septuagint version.
In the time of Achaz and Manasses, Moloch was worshipped in the Valley of Hinnom, which lay on the south side of Mount Sion. It was a mile and a half in length, and formed a deep, solitary glen, surrounded by rugged cliffs and barren mountains. This place was considered as symbolical of the place of eternal torments, because, under Achaz and Manasses, horrible rites in honour of Moloch and Chamos were performed there, and victims were burnt alive. An immense hollow brass idol, containing a powerful furnace, was placed at the opening of the ravine, and the Israelites used to place their children in the red-hot arms of the idol, while trumpets and cymbals were sounded to drown the cries of the victims.
Verse 44. St Stephen now resumes his argument, and enforces, by other examples, the truth that the worship of God was not confined to one place.
44. The tabernacle of the testimony — i.e. the Ark of the Covenant. Both these names are found in the Old Testament (see Ex. xxxviii, 21, XXV. 21). This sacred chest contained Aaron’s rod, the pot of Manna, and the tables of the Law; and these were “ testimonies ” of God’s love for His people, of His power put forth on their behalf, and of His just claim to their allegiance.
that he should make it etc. The command was as follows : Thou shall rear up the tabernacle according to the pattern that was shewn thee in the mount (Ex. xxvi. 30).
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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