Acts 7:30-34 30Now when forty years were completed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31And when Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he approached to look at it, the voice of the Lord came: 32‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled in fear and did not dare to look. 33Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34Seeing, I have seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’
Stephen retells the story of the next forty years of Moses’ life and God’s call to free the Hebrew people from Egyptian bondage. These verses are a summary of Moses’ experience at the burning bush described in Exodus 3:1-10. Stephen’s understanding of angels was consistent with biblical theology in that angels represent God’s presence and voice to people. The word angel means messenger. The angel that appeared in the burning bush is called a “theophany,” an appearance of God’s presence. Much of these verses are quoted from the Septuagint, which likely was the primary text Stephen and other Hellenistic Jews used. It is unlikely that Stephen spoke Greek to the Sanhedrin, so Luke, as the author, cites the text while Stephen probably spoke Aramaic.
The question that can be asked is why Stephen chose the story of Moses at the burning bush as part of his apologetic speech before the Jewish leaders. They all knew this story. The scribes among them probably had studied every minute detail. Several inferences can be suggested. One is how the voice of the Lord came to Moses. Moses experienced a powerful and rare revelation directly from God. The identity of God as the “I am” recalls Jesus’ many “I am” sayings recorded in John’s Gospel. Jesus did not come to reveal a different God. Christians are not monotheists but worship the same God as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This point should have confirmed to the Jewish leaders that Stephen and other early Christians were orthodox and consistent with sacred Scripture.
A second inference comes from Moses’ response of fear and trepidation. When God speaks, the only proper response is humility, awe, wonder, and worship. Stephen had already pointed out the greatness of Moses in verse 22. One of the greatest heroes of Jewish history could not stand in the presence of the Almighty God. The reference to an angel also recalls the look on Stephen’s face in 6:15 when he was arrested and brought before the council. In a sense, Stephen represented God’s presence before these men, but unlike Moses, they failed to see God at work.
A third is the holiness of the moment, with Moses told to take off his sandals because the place he was standing was holy because of God’s presence. The mountain and the burning bush were parts of nature, but when God comes, anything mundane turns into sacred. The Jews had the presence of God Incarnate among them and before them in the person of Jesus, yet they failed to recognize him as such. The Sanhedrin had also had the apostles as witnesses who were filled with God’s holy presence stand before them, and they failed to recognize God’s holiness once again. God’s presence was not confined to the temple but wherever God’s people are. The theology of these Jewish leaders was too narrow, and Stephen was challenging them to think more biblically by recalling some of their most sacred stories.
Finally, Moses was given the call from God to deliver his people from Egyptian slavery. God comes to his people as Savior to redeem them from all forms of slavery, especially slavery to sin and all its consequences. The very name of Jesus means Savior. “Jesus of Nazareth” meant “The Savior who came from the small village of Nazareth.” Because of their hardened and rebellious hearts, the Jews could not even come to the place of saying the name. God’s movement among them was clear to those with any humility and faith. God’s message and presence come to people today, though not in a dramatic way like Moses experienced. When the message of salvation is spoken, people are confronted with the same choice as these Jewish leaders had: to believe or not believe.
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