Acts 7:22 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.

NIV: Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.

NASB: Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was proficient in speaking and action.

CSB: So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his speech and actions.

NLT: Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in both speech and action.

KJV: And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.

NKJV: And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.

Traditional Jews have accused the Jewish Jesus-follower Stephen of speaking against Moses (Acts 6:11). Stephen's defense on this count is three-fold:

First, he shows how all the advantages Moses received growing up were because of God's providence, not anything Moses did or deserved (Exodus 2:1–10). Moses had nothing to do with his looks or his personality at birth. He had no conscious effect on his parents to save him from Pharaoh's edict to kill the baby Hebrew boys (Acts 7:17–22).

Next, Stephen will remind his audience that when their great hero acted on his own initiative under his own wisdom, he murdered an Egyptian and then ran away in fear, hiding for forty years (Acts 7:23–29). The man God called "beautiful" (Acts 7:20), who was blessed with wisdom and might, returned with no confidence, "slow of speech and of tongue" (Exodus 4:10).

Finally, Stephen will acknowledge Moses was a great, God-fearing man, but argue that his accusers' ancestors were not always so reverent. In fact, the very people Moses rescued continually rebelled against him (Acts 7:35), up to and including denying Moses' God and worshiping a statue of a calf (Acts 7:39–40; Exodus 32).

Stephen's accusers follow in their footsteps. Moses promised that God would "raise up for you a prophet like" him (Acts 7:37), and He did, in Jesus. But like the Israelites rejected Moses, Joseph (Acts 7:9–16), and the long list of prophets after, "God's people" rejected His Prophet—the Messiah (Acts 7:52). Stephen doesn't speak against Moses. He holds Moses in proper perspective, with respect, but not on a level with the Messiah Moses promised.

Acts 7:17–22 continues Stephen's defense against charges that he speaks against Moses, the Mosaic law, and the temple (Acts 6:11–14). In this part, he subtly shows that God's work is not confined to a building, city, or even nation. God used a hostile foreign government to prepare the greatest prophet of the Old Testament and the bringer of the Law that made the Israelites a nation. Solomon admitted during the dedication of the temple that even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain God, much less a building made by human hands (2 Chronicles 6:18). The truth is, neither can a single nation, or even the world.

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.

Chapter 7 is one of the pivot points of the book of Acts. Until recently, the early church has seen favor from the people and indifference from the Sanhedrin. Now, the Sanhedrin has beaten the apostles and ordered them not to preach about Jesus (Acts 5:40), and the people are starting to realize how different Christianity is. In Jerusalem, a Hellenist Jewish Jesus-follower named Stephen has been in a debate with other foreign Jews who finally accuse him of wishing to destroy the temple, like Jesus (Acts 6:8–15). This is Stephen's defense, which leads to his death and the introduction of Paul.

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.