Acts 7:29

Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(29) Then fled Moses at this saying.—The rapid survey of the history passes over the intermediate link of Pharaoh’s knowledge of the murder of the Egyptian, and his search for Moses.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:17-29 Let us not be discouraged at the slowness of the fulfilling of God's promises. Suffering times often are growing times with the church. God is preparing for his people's deliverance, when their day is darkest, and their distress deepest. Moses was exceeding fair, fair toward God; it is the beauty of holiness which is in God's sight of great price. He was wonderfully preserved in his infancy; for God will take special care of those of whom he designs to make special use. And did he thus protect the child Moses? Much more will he secure the interests of his holy child Jesus, from the enemies who are gathered together against him. They persecuted Stephen for disputing in defence of Christ and his gospel: in opposition to these they set up Moses and his law. They may understand, if they do not wilfully shut their eyes against the light, that God will, by this Jesus, deliver them out of a worse slavery than that of Egypt. Although men prolong their own miseries, yet the Lord will take care of his servants, and effect his own designs of mercy.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Then fled Moses ... - Moses fled because he now ascertained that what he had done was known. He supposed that it had been unobserved, Exodus 2:12. But he now thought that the knowledge of it might reach Pharaoh, and that his life might thus be endangered. Nor did he judge incorrectly; for as soon as Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to take his life, Exodus 2:15.

Was a stranger - Or became a sojourner πάροικος paroikos, one who had a temporary abode in the land. The use of this word implies that he did not expect to make that his permanent dwelling.

In the land of Madian - This was a part of Arabia. "This would seem," says Gesenius, "to have been a tract of country extending from the eastern shore of the Elanitic Gulf to the region of Moab on the one hand, and to the vicinity of Mount Sinai on the, other. The people were nomadic in their habits, and moved often from place to place." This was extensively a desert region, an unknown land; and Moses expected there to be safe from Pharaoh.

Where he begat two sons - He married Zipporah, the daughter of "Reuel" Exodus 2:18, or "Jethro" Numbers 10:29; Exodus 3:1, a "priest" of Midian. The names of the two sons were Gershom and Eliezer, Exodus 18:3-4.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

29. Then fled Moses, &c.—for "when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses" (Ex 2:15).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Then fled Moses; knowing that what he had done to the Egyptian would be discovered to Pharaoh, and his life in danger.

The land of Madian; inhabitant by the posterity of Midian, Abraham’s son by Keturah, Genesis 25:1,2. Moses was forty years in Egypt, forty years in Midian, with Jethro or Jether, who was called also Reuel, Exodus 2:18, and Hobab, Numbers 10:29, and the other forty years in the wilderness, which make up the hundred and twenty years of his life, Deu 34:7. This makes to St. Stephen’s purpose, to prove that God is always with them that fear him, in what country or place soever; as he was with Abraham in Mesopotamia, and with his people in Egypt, so with Moses in Midian.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then fled Moses at this saying,.... For hereby the thing was known to Pharaoh, being presently carried to court, who sought to kill him for it, Exodus 2:15 The Jews have a very fabulous story, that Moses was taken up upon it, and put in prison, and delivered into the hands of an executioner to be put to death; but that God wrought a miracle for him; he made his neck as hard as a pillar of marble, and the sword turned upon the neck of the executioner, and he died; and God sent Michael, the prince, in the likeness of the executioner, who took Moses by the hand, and led him out of Egypt, and left him at the borders of it, the distance of three days' journey (c) but the truth of the matter is, as Stephen relates, he fled directly, as soon as he heard the above words, for he knew his life was in the utmost danger:

and was a stranger in the land of Madian; which, as Josephus says (d), lay near the Red sea, and took its name from one of the sons of Abraham by Keturah. Philo the Jew (e) says, it was on the borders of Arabia; and according to Jerom (f), it was near Arnon and Areopolis, the ruins of which only were shown in his days; here he sojourned many years with Jethro the priest of that place:

where he begat two sons; whose names were Gershom and Eliezer, having married Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, Exodus 18:2.

(c) Shalshaleth Hakabala, fol. 5. 2. & Chronicon Mosis, fol. 6. 1.((d) Antiqu. l. 2. c. 11. sect. 1.((e) De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 609. (f) De locis Hebr. fol. 93. B.

Geneva Study Bible

Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Acts 7:29-30. See Exodus 2:15-22; Exodus 3:2.

ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ] on account of this word, denoting the reason which occasioned his flight. Winer, p. 362 [E. T. 484].

Μαδιάμ] מִדְיָן, a district in Arabia Petraea. Thus Moses had to withdraw from his obstinate people; but how wonderfully active did the divine guidance show itself anew, Acts 7:30! On πάροικος, comp. Acts 7:6.

καὶ πληρωθ. ἐτῶν τεσσαράκ.] traditionally (but comp. also Exodus 7:7): “Moses in palatio Pharaonis degit XL annos, in Mediane XL annos, et ministravit Israeli annos XL.” Beresh. Rabb. f. 115. 3.

ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ τοῦ ὄρ. Σ.] in the desert, in which Mount Sinai is situated, מִדְבַּר סִינַי, Exodus 19:1-2; Leviticus 7:28. From the rocky and mountainous base of this desert Sinai rises to the south (and the highest), and Horeb more to the north, both as peaks of the same mountain ridge. Hence there is no contradiction when, in Exodus 3, the appearance of the burning bush is transferred to the neighbourhood of Horeb, as generally in the Pentateuch the names Sinai and Horeb are interchanged for the locality of the giving of the law (except in Deuteronomy 33:2, where only Horeb is mentioned, as also in Malachi 4:4); whereas in the N. T. and in Josephus only Sinai is named. The latter name specially denotes the locality of the giving of the law, while Horeb was also the name of the entire mountain range. See the particulars in Knobel on Exodus 19:2.

ἐν φλογὶ πυρὸς βάτου] in the flame of fire of a thorn bush. Stephen designates the phenomenon quite as it is related in Exodus, l.c., as a flaming burning bush, in which an angel of God was present, in which case every attempt to explain away the miraculous theophany (a meteor, lightning) must be avoided. On φλόξ πυρός, comp. 2 Thessalonians 1:8, Lachmann; Hebrews 1:7; Revelation 1:14; Revelation 2:18; Revelation 19:12; Isaiah 29:6; Isaiah 56:12; Pind. Pyth. iv. 400.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Acts 7:29. ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ· Weiss points out that Moses fled on account of this word, because he saw that his people would not protect him against the vengeance of Pharaoh. Jos., Ant., ii., 11, 1, makes the cause of the flight of Moses not the words which told him that his deed was known, but the jealousy of the Egyptians, who represented to the king that he would prove a seditious person.—Μαδιάμ: generally taken to mean or to include the peninsula of Sinai (Exodus 2:15; Exodus 3:1), and thus agrees with the natural supposition that his flight did not carry Moses far beyond the territory of Egypt (cf. Exodus 18:1-27). The name Midianites would be applied to the descendants of Abraham’s fourth son by Keturah, who in various clans, some nomadic, some mercantile (e.g., those to whom Joseph was sold), may be described as Northern Arabs. (Dr. Sayce, u. s., p. 270, maintains that Moses to get beyond Egyptian territory must have travelled further than to the . peninsula of our modern maps, and places Sinai in the region of Seir, with Midian in its close neighbourhood.) Amongst one of these tribes Moses found a home in his flight, Hamburger, “Midian,” Real-Encyclopädie des Judentums, i., 5, 755. Hackett, Acts, p. 104, “Midian,” B.D.1.—οὗ ἐγένν., cf. Exodus 2:22; Exodus 4:20; Exodus 18:3. Weiss thinks the notice due to a reviser, who wished to show that Moses had given up his people, and made himself a home in a strange land.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

29. Then [And] fled Moses at this saying] Josephus (Antiq. ii. 11. 1) makes no mention of this reason for the flight of Moses, but says that the Egyptians were jealous of him, and told the king “that he would raise a sedition, and bring innovations” into the land. In consequence of the plots against him because of these suspicions Moses fled away secretly.

and was a stranger in the land of Madian] Lit. “and became a sojourner” &c. Madian is the Greek form for Midian, which for clearness’ sake would be better here. By “the land of Midian,” which is only found in Scripture history, is probably meant the peninsula on which Mount Sinai stands (see Exodus 3:1).

where he begat two sons] Gershom and Eliezer; their mother was Zipporah the daughter of Jethro (Exodus 18:2-4).

Bengel's Gnomen

Acts 7:29. Ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ, at this saying) when he heard this saying.—πάροικος, a stranger, sojourner) In Egypt, as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he had begun to be at home: now, as a stranger, he wanders abroad from that country also.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 29. - And Moses fled for then fled Moses, A.V.; became a sojourner for was a stranger, A.V.; Midian for Madian, A.V. Acts 7:29