Acts 7:23–29 (ESV)
Stephen's Speech (Part 4)
23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his
brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong
each other?’ 27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 At this retort Moses fled and became an exile
in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
Stephen continues his speech as he travels through the Jewish history. Yesterday’s reading, Moses came into the picture and was
raised in Pharaoh’s house. In today’s reading, Moses defends an Isrealite and ends up killing an Egyptian that was beating the Israelite. He did this to stand up to the injustice, but the Israelites were not grateful for his actions.
The next day, Moses stops two fellow Israelites from fighting and they ask Moses who made you judge and are you going to kill us like you did the Egyptian? Moses knows that his future there is in serious jeopardy and he flees as an exile. What
I find interesting is that Moses, the man who God will give the Ten Commandments to bring to the people, is guilty of “You shall not murder!”. He violated this commandment, but God still uses him to bring down the Ten Commandments from the
mountain. Now who says that the Old Testament is about Law and the New Testament is about the Gospel. The Gospel is easily found in both the New and Old Testaments.
I pray: O Lord,
I... like Moses, fall short of the Glory of God and freely admit that I am a sinner. Because I am a sinner, I deserve death and hell. I am forever thankful that you are a forgiving God, that you do forgive and restore. I repent of my sins
and you forgave me. Create in me a clean heart of God, and renew a right spirit within me. Amen.