Acts 7:17-22 17But as the time of the promise approached, which God had assured to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18until ‘there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph.’ 19This one, deceiving our people, mistreated our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. 20At this time, Moses was born, and he was beautiful to God. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, 21and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter claimed him and brought him up as her own son. 22And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.
In the next verses, Stephen picked up Israel’s story from the book of Exodus, continuing the theme of promise and fulfillment found in the Pentateuch. The descendants of Jacob lived in Egypt for four hundred years. During that time, they grew in number from seventy-five to many thousands. Most of those years were good, with the family line expanding. God’s promise to Abraham of descendants as numerous as the sands of the seashore was becoming a reality.
Verse 18 introduces the problem from Exodus 1:8 of a new pharaoh who did not know the story of Joseph and what he had done for the people. Institutional memory can be short, and four hundred years can be a long time for old stories to have any meaning. New leadership can significantly change the direction of a nation in a short time. This new king of Egypt saw an opportunity to get his agenda done by enslaving the Hebrews (Exodus 1:10-11).
As time went on, he faced another problem of a growing population of Hebrews. If the trajectory continued, there would be more foreigners than native Egyptians, which would threaten his power and take his workforce away. So he schemed and deceived (katasophisamenos) to retain his god-like power and control, and tricked the Israelites into abandoning their infants. As Exodus 1:15-22 shows, his plan did not work well. At this point, Stephen gave several subtle but significant interpretations of the story that once again fit into the situation of the Jewish leaders, who were also deceiving our people about the truth in order to stay in control. They were acting just like Pharaoh and going against the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham.
Stephen’s defense continued the story from Exodus 2 with a focus on the birth of Moses and the first forty years of his life as an Egyptian prince. All male infants were in danger of infanticide by the Egyptians. God intervened with the miracle of the salvation of baby Moses from the scheme of Pharaoh. God’s plan to work through Moses was clear from the earliest months of Moses’ life with the blessing of being part of his birth family and later, by being adopted by a princess of Egypt. Verse 20 also indicates how God had a special plan for Moses implied with the word beautiful (asteios), which can mean good upbringing, handsome, refined and smart in all ways, what one might expect a prince to be. Moses was destined for greatness from birth.
Verse 22 summarizes the first third of his life. Exodus does not give many details of that part of his life. Stephen’s statement contains some Jewish legends (found in Philo, De Vita Mosis 1:20–24) about Moses’ upbringing and how he gained wisdom, powerful in word, and mighty in deed. As Exodus 4:10 states, Moses did not see himself in this way. This verse may be an intentional echo of Luke 2:52 and how “Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and people.” Moses becomes a type for Jesus as the savior of his enslaved people.
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