What does Acts 7:24 mean?
After Moses had been weaned, he grew up in the home of the pharaoh's daughter with all the privileges afforded a royal child, including a formal Egyptian education (Acts 7:22). He never forgot who his people were, however. It's unclear if he knew the harsh slavery conditions Pharaoh had put them under—as a nursing child, he wouldn't have been able to understand the full extent of their suffering. And as an adult in Pharaoh's palace, he may or may not have fully realized the brutality of what was happening, as the Israelites lived in a separate area, Goshen (Genesis 45:10; Exodus 8:20–22).When he was forty, Moses went to visit his people and saw an Egyptian beating an Israelite. Moses immediately identified with the victim. Thinking they were alone, he killed the Egyptian, then buried the body in the sand (Exodus 2:11–12).
Contemporary culture tends to glamorize vengeful killings done in the name of justice. Moses' murder of the Egyptian is a full forty years before God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments, but the prohibition of murder is one of the oldest laws in creation. After Noah left the ark, God told him that not only humans but even animals needed to be executed if they killed a person: "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image" (Genesis 9:6).
Moses knew it was wrong, and not just because the law would have favored a free Egyptian over a foreign slave. He had some understanding that God had chosen him to rescue the people (Acts 7:25), but he didn't wait for God's timing. God had told Abraham his descendants would be in slavery for four hundred years (Genesis 15:13) and they had forty more years to go.
Acts 7:23–29 furthers Stephen's defense against allegations that he disrespects the Law, the temple, and Moses (Acts 6:8–15). He has obliquely reminded his audience that God was the God of the Jews before they had a temple or even a homeland (Acts 7:1–16). Now, he outlines their beloved Moses' not-so-honorable beginnings. Their most-respected prophet and leader started as a murderer. Stephen is recounting the story originally given in Exodus 2:11–22.
Stephen is a Greek-speaking Jewish Christian and one of the first deacons in the church in Jerusalem (Acts 6:1–7). He's also a skilled apologist and has been debating Jews from outside Judea about the proper place of the Mosaic law and the temple (Acts 6:8–15). His opponents cannot counter his arguments so they resort to lies. They tell the Sanhedrin that Stephen wants to destroy the temple and repeal the Mosaic law. Stephen counters that his accusers don't respect Moses or the Law, and the temple isn't necessary to worship God. This enrages the mob, and Stephen is stoned, becoming the first Christian martyr.
