Acts 7:23

In Act 7:23, Act 7:30, Act 7:36, the life of Moses is represented as embracing three periods, of forty years each; the Jewish writers say the same; and though this is not expressly stated in the Old Testament, his age at death, one hundred twenty years (Deu 34:7), agrees with it.

it came into his heart to visit his brethren--his heart yearning with love to them as God's chosen people, and heaving with the consciousness of a divine vocation to set them free.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Act_7:23-30

And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren.

The patriotism of Moses

I. Long nursed--forty years.

1. Inspired by his mother. The precious time during which he was entrusted by the princess to the care of his nurse, Jochebed, would, we may be sure, be well employed, and subsequent opportunities would be utilised for reminding him of who he was, and of his possible destiny as the leader of his race. No throne in the universe is so potent as the mothers knee for good or evil.

2. Cherished among smothering influences.

(1) Gratitude to his deliverer.

(2) Egyptian learning and court training.

(3) Prospects of advancement, even to the throne of Egypt. It must have required a very deep-seated patriotic instinct to have resisted all this.

II. Prematurely exhibited.

1. Without a Divine call. Moses acted on the spasmodic impulse of the moment. Here was a palpable opportunity--the first which presented itself--of showing his long-nursed patriotism, and the ill-usage of his brethren acted like a spark on a train of gunpowder. Many men call themselves to rectify certain evils, and mistake a seeming opportunity for the voice of God. Passion, however noble, is not inspiration. This is seen in its effects. That which leads to murder, however great the provocation, as in the case of Moses and the French Revolution, is manifestly not from heaven. When the hour comes the man will be inspired; let the man, then, wait for the hour.

2. Without the least chance of success. What was one man, even suppose that he was sure of the loyalty of the unorganised slaves, against the disciplined might of Egypt? This has been the mistake of well-meaning but impulsive patriots all through history, and the results have ever been fatal to the interests of those whom they would have served.

III. Eventually rectified. Moses soon saw that force was no remedy, and that his people were hardly fit for immediate emancipation. What chance of liberation for a people divided amongst themselves? Union is strength; and Moses began to educate the people in the two great unifying principles--

1. Fraternity. Sirs, ye are brethren. Moses saw that the only hope for Israel was the cultivation of brotherly feeling. Other ties without this are ropes of sand.

2. Justice. Why do ye wrong? The fetters of internal wrong-doing are far stronger than those imposed from without. Tyrants are safe when their subjects are depraved. If a community would successfully resist the iniquities of the powers that be, they must be law-abiding themselves. Agitators are at length recognising this principle, and passionately appeal to their followers not to break the law.

IV. Ungratefully repudiated. When Moses smote the Egyptian no protest was raised; but on attempting to sow the seeds of self-deliverance he met with the fate of many reformers. Most people are willing to be helped; but when urged to help themselves, the whole situation is often changed. They had no objection to Moses being a ruler and a judge when he assailed the oppressor; but when he advised the oppressed to follow a more successful but prosaic and unromantic course, the worst feelings of jealousy were aroused. The public sentiment towards Cromwell was very different when he was driving out the Stuarts from that which was expressed when reducing the chaotic national elements to order.

V. Suddenly abandoned. Then fled Moses.

1. Not, we may well believe, through sheer cowardice. Fear of Pharaoh had something to do with it, no doubt; but this was the fear of a man who felt that he would have to encounter the monarch alone. The cause was hopeless; he would have no following; it was useless to throw his life away.

2. Disgust, we may believe, had something to do with it. Why should he sacrifice himself for a people who would not even treat him with common gratitude. Those who would be free must themselves strike the blow. Moses adopted the right course. He accepted the inevitable. The time was not ripe, nor was he--a lesson for all would-be patriots and reformers.

VI. Divinely revived. That his patriotism died out in Midian is obvious from his reluctance to embark on the mission when the time had come. By minding other peoples business he had lost everything; henceforth he would mind his own, And he did so for forty years. But all this time he was being Divinely qualified. His character matured, his old impulsiveness was gone. Cool reason took the place of spasmodic passion. He became familiar with habits and scenes which stood him in good stead for the next forty years. The time came, and when it came the fire of the bush laid hold of his soul, and the Divinely-inspired leader went to beard Pharaoh and to lead his brethren out of the house of bondage. (J. W. Burn.)

A true leader of the people

These words were spoken by the Christian martyr, Stephen, when he was standing before the Jewish council. He was accused of seeking to overthrow the institutions of Moses, and his mind not unnaturally reverted to the time when Moses himself was an innovator, and repelled by the ancestors of the very men who now taxed Stephen with seeking to change the customs which he had delivered to them. The passage in the life of Moses which Stephen relates gives us an example of--

I. The true leaders instinct. He went to see his brethren, and to look on their burdens. This is the instinct of a true leader. He does it from policy; for how can the general regulate the marches unless he knows how much the soldier has to carry? Or how can he prescribe methods of lightening burdens unless he knows of what they consist? But not only from policy; from piety and humanity. The true leaders nature comprises the true shepherds nature--not the robbers or the mere hirelings.

II. The true leaders mistake. He supposed the people would understand. A superiorly-gifted mind often finds a peculiar difficulty in judging of average human nature, and its calculations may prove to be ill-founded.

III. The true leaders aim. It is to cause unity to be recognised; for what but unity can give the power which it is his nature and his function to wield? Here there was no absence of natural grounds of union. They had two of the strongest--oneness of race and a common oppressor.

IV. The true leaders disappointment. That his efforts to promote union were in vain. But in the case of the Israelites, blindness was combined with jealousy. They saw in Moses only a man of their own order. His own received him not. Stephen might well recall these circumstances when he was standing before that tribunal of his countrymen, which was perpetrating a still greater refusal. The repulse was a personal one; but the disappointment was far from being merely personal. (Homilist.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 7:23-25. When he was forty years old — So long he continued in Pharaoh’s court; it came into his heart — Probably by an impulse from God; to visit his brethren — He having been instructed, it appears, in the knowledge of his real descent, and in the principles of the Jewish religion; and it is likely his spirit was so impressed with a concern for their welfare, that all the pleasure and grandeur at the court of Egypt could not make him easy, without going in person to take a view of their state. And seeing one of them suffer wrong — Probably by one of the task-masters; he defended him — And smiting the Egyptian with a mortal wound, he at once rescued and avenged him that was oppressed — See note on Exo 2:11-12. For he supposed his brethren would have understood, &c. — The manner in which Stephen expresses himself, seems to imply, that he considered Moses as doing this action in consequence of a special impression from God on his mind, intimating to him the important work for which he was intended, that God by his hands would deliver them — Two things are here proper to be inquired into, namely, 1st, By what authority or right Moses slew the Egyptian. 2d, What reason he had to expect the people should understand that God designed him for their deliverer? “The Jewish historians,” says Whitby, “give us a very easy solution of these difficulties; for, according to Clemens Alexandrinus, their priests declare that Moses slew the Egyptian with a word, and so gave them a miracle to prove his mission: and Josephus assures us, that ‘God appeared to Amram, the father of Moses, as he was praying to him for the afflicted Jews, and said to him, Thy son, now in the womb of thy wife, shall escape the hand of the Egyptians, and shall deliver the Hebrews from the afflictions of Egypt; and that, to confirm this vision, his wife brought him forth without any pain.’ The Jerusalem Talmud likewise declares that Moses slew the Egyptian by the spirit of prophecy, or by an extraordinary impulse from God; and Maimonides makes this action one degree of prophecy. And thus, as Stephen here says: it came into his heart, namely, from God, to visit his brethren: and indeed otherwise he could not have justified this fact to God and his own conscience. Now Moses, knowing what had been declared of him to his father, and by this action working deliverance to one of them, might justly hope they would look upon him as one appointed by God to be their deliverer.” Dr. Benson, however, not crediting these stories, thinks “it does not appear that Moses had as yet any prophecy to assure him that he was the person who should deliver Israel; but, knowing there was a divine promise of deliverance made to, and retained in the house of Israel; that he himself had been extraordinarily preserved and educated, and that the time of their deliverance was approaching, he showed himself willing to run all hazards and dangers with the people of God, rather than continue in the splendour of the Egyptian court; and that when the time should be fully come, he would cheerfully join and head them, in order to rescue them from their bondage and cruel slavery.” But it seems there is more than this implied in the verse; and though we may have no certain information of any prophecy that Moses had yet received, it does not follow but he might have received some private revelation from God, that he was the person appointed by him to deliver the Israelites. But they understood not — Such was their stupidity and sloth, which made him afterward unwilling to go to them.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23. Full forty years—By a comparison with Act_7:23; Act_7:30; Act_7:36, it appears that Moses was forty years in the house of Pharaoh, forty years with Jethro waiting for his divine commission, and forty years leading Israel through the wilderness; being thus at his death one hundred and twenty years old, (Deu_24:7.)

Came into his heart—Though enjoying a royal dignity, there came into his heart a tender desire to become the deliverer of his oppressed race. His first action betokening this desire was the slaying of one of their oppressors, Act_7:24; the second was an effort to unite the hearts of the oppressed, Act_7:26. He did these things, for he had hoped that they would appreciate his condescension to them and recognise in him a divinely intended deliverer, Act_7:25. But, like the Jesus whom Stephen would represent as typified by him, he was slighted and rejected, Act_7:27-28.

23. Gall of bitterness—Bitterness is depravity; true hatred and malignity against holiness and God. But in Simon the apostle sees the very gall of such bitterness, the very quintessence of depravity.

Bond of iniquity— Hemmed around by habits and principles of iniquity, as if bound fast by a fetter or bond, from which he cannot energetically even will to escape. Such are all men by nature without Christ and Spirit and Gospel. To such a condition do men tend by habits and principles of profligacy, even in spite of Christ and his provisions. Simon was none the less guilty for these bonds, for his own free will had fastened them about himself.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 7:23. Ἐπληροῦτο, was fulfilled) There is a ripe time in all things. Before that time we ought to undertake nothing.—τεσσαρακονταετὴς χρόνος, the age of forty years) Moses’ life was thrice forty years: Act 7:30; Act 7:36.—ἀνέβη ἐπὶ τὴν καρδίαν αὐτοῦ, it came up into his heart) A very appropriate phrase. There may be something in the depth of the soul, which afterwards emerges and ascends (comes up) from that sea into the heart, as into an island. It might seem to have come into the mind of Moses at random: and yet Moses was acted on by Divine impulse.—ἐπισκέψασθαι, to visit) although he himself was happy and they wretched. He was not able to have exact knowledge in the palace of the sorrows of his brethren; therefore he went forth to them.—τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς, his brethren) A motive of love which Moses also employed to others: Act 7:26.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act_7:23. But when a period of forty years became full to him,i.e. when he was precisely 40 years old. This exact specification of age is not found in the O. T. (Exo_2:11), but is traditional (Beresh. f. 115. 3; Schemoth Rabb. f. 118. 3). See Lightfoot in loc. Bengel says: Mosis vita ter 40 anni, Act_7:30; Act_7:36.

ἀνέβη ἐπὶ τὴν καρδίαν αὐτοῦ] it arose into his heart, i.e. came into his mind, to visit (to see how it went with them), etc. The expression (comp. 1Co_2:9) is adopted from the LXX., where it is an imitation of the Hebrew עָלָה עַל לֵב, Jer_3:16; Jer_32:35; Isa_65:17.[205] Neither is Ὁ ΔΙΑΛΟΓΙΣΜΌς (for which Luk_24:38 is erroneously appealed to) nor Ἡ ΒΟΥΛΉ to be supplied.

ἘΠΙΣΚΈΨ.] invisere (Mat_25:36, often also in Greek writers). He had hitherto been aloof from them, in the higher circles of Egyptian society and culture.

τοὺς ἀδελφούς] motivum amoris, Bengel. Comp. Act_7:26.

[205] Potest aliquid esse in profundo animae, quod postea emergit, et in cor … ascendit, Bengel.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 7:23 . ὡς , cf. Act 1:10 , Lucan. The exact age is not mentioned in O.T., but it was traditional (Weiss refers its mention to the reviser, perhaps introduced as a parallel to Act 7:30 ). According to the tradition, which Stephen apparently followed, Moses lived forty years in Pharaoh’s palace, but some accounts give twenty years; his dwelling in Midian occupied forty years, and he governed Israel for the same period, Act 13:18 . See Midrash Tanchuma on Exo 2:6 (Wetstein, with other references, so too Lumby). ἐπληροῦτο , “but when he was well-nigh,” etc., R.V., lit [204] “when the age of forty years was being fulfilled to him” (imperf. tense), cf. Luk 21:24 , Act 2:1 ; Act 9:23 ; Act 24:27 , and Act 7:30 below; so repeatedly in LXX. ἀνέβη ἐπὶ τὴν καρδίαν αὐτοῦ , cf. 1Co 2:9 for the expression, probably taken from LXX, Isa 65:17 , cf. Jer 3:16 ; Jer 32:35 , Eze 38:10 , and 2Ki 12:4 . The phrase is an imitation of the Hebrew. Gesenius compares the phrase before us with Heb., Eze 14:3-4 ; see also Viteau, Le Grec du N. T. , p. 66 (1896). ἐπισκέψασθαι , cf. Luk 1:68 ; Luk 1:78 ; Luk 7:16 , cf. Exo 4:31 , of God visiting His people by Moses and Aaron (Act 15:14 ). In each of these passages the verb is used of a divine visitation, and it is so used by St. Luke only amongst N.T. writers, except Heb 2:6 = Psa 8:5 , LXX. It is used elsewhere in Mat 25:36 ; Mat 25:43 , Jas 1:27 , Act 6:3 ; Act 15:36 ( cf. Jdg 15:1 ). The word is used of visits paid to the sick, cf. Sir 7:35 , and so in classical Greek (see Mayor on Jas 1:27 ), often in medical writings and in Plutarch (Grimm, sub v. , and Kennedy, Sources of N. T. Greek , p. 105); mostly in the LXX, as always in the N.T., in good sense (Gen 21:1 , Psa 8:4 , 79:14, Sir 46:14 , Jdt 8:33 , but also with reference to divine punishment, Ps. 88:31, 32, Jer 9:9 ; Jer 9:25 ; Jer 11:22 ; Jer 34:8 , etc.), cf. its use in Psalms of Solomon , where it is generally employed with reference to divine visitation, either for purposes of punishment or deliverance. In modern Greek = to visit , same sense as in LXX and N.T.; Kennedy, u. s. , p. 155. For its old English sense of visit , as looking upon with kindness, Lumby compares Shaks., Rich. II. , i., 3, 275: “All places that the eye of heaven visits ”. τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς αὐτοῦ : though in a king’s palace, and far removed in one sense from his people, Moses remembers that he is an Israelite, and that he has brethren; while others forgot their brotherhood he reminded them of it: “motivum amoris quod Moses etiam aliis adhibuit Act 7:26 ,” Bengel, cf. Exo 2:10 , and Heb 11:24-25 .

[204] literal, literally.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 23. When he was full forty years old] This was a general tradition among the Jews: "Moses was forty years in Pharaoh's court, forty years in Midian, and forty years he served Israel."

To visit his brethren] Probably on the ground of trying to deliver them from their oppressive bondage. This desire seems to have been early infused into his mind by the Spirit of God; and the effect of this desire to deliver his oppressed countrymen was his refusing to be called the son of Pharoah's daughter-see Heb 11:24, and thus renouncing all right to the Egyptian crown, choosing rather to endure addiction with the people of God than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

23. When the time was fulfilled. Many gather by this that Moses was never estranged in mind from his nation; but the words of Stephen incline rather toward the contrary, to wit, that the Spirit of God did at length awake his mind, as it were out of sleep, that he might at length go visit his brethren, whom he had long time neglected. It is to be thought that he was not ignorant of what stock he came, seeing he had some token thereof in his flesh, and seeing the rumor thereof was spread abroad in the court, because the king’s daughter could not adopt him to be her son without some suspicion of wickedness, unless his kindred had been known; yet was it long before he was of such courage that he durst make known the love which he bare toward his kindred. And this serveth not a little to set forth the glory of God, that Moses, being ignorant of his calling, doth remain a long time idle in the king’s court, and is afterward called of the Lord contrary to the hope of all men, and his own also. Therefore, this new care for his brethren which came into his mind, proceeded from a new and unwonted motion of God’s Spirit.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(23) It came into his heart.—The distinct purpose in going out to look after his brethren is stated somewhat more emphatically than in Exo_2:11.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23. And when he was full forty years old] Better, But when he was well-nigh forty years old. The verb in the original intimates that the forty years were just being completed. For the fixing of this time we have no authority in the Old Testament. We learn thence that Moses was eighty years old when he was sent to speak before Pharaoh for the deliverance of the Israelites (Exo_7:7), and that he was a hundred and twenty years old when he died (Deu_34:7). In Midrash Tanchuma on Exo_2:6, we are told “Moses was in the palace of Pharaoh twenty years, but some say forty years, and forty years in Midian, and forty years in the wilderness.” Stephen’s words agree with this tradition.

it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel] The verb in the original, which is here rendered visit, is the same as in Luk_7:16, “God hath visited his people,” and means to look upon (generally with kindness, Jas_1:27), and this was the old sense of the English visit. Cf. Shaks. Rich. II. 1. 3. 275:

“All places that the eye of heaven visits.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when he was full forty years old,.... This Stephen had from tradition, and not from Scripture, which is silent about the age of Moses at this time, and only says, "it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown", Exo 2:11 but that he was at this time at such an age, is the general sense of the Jews. Upon the above mentioned passage they have this note (h).

"twenty years old was Moses at that time; and there are that say, that he was forty years old. And (i) elsewhere still more particularly; Moses was "forty" years in the palace of Pharaoh, forty years in Midian, (the Amsterdam edition reads, "in the wilderness", wrongly,) and he served Israel forty years.''

Indeed, the fabulous history of his life makes him to be but fifteen years of age at this time (k); but Stephen's account is undoubtedly right, and which is confirmed by the above testimonies.

It came into his heart; by the Spirit of God, under a more than ordinary impulse of which he now was:

to visit his brethren, the children of Israel; whom he knew to be his brethren, partly from the common report in Pharaoh's court concerning him, and partly from the mark of circumcision in his flesh, and chiefly from divine revelation: for some years he had lived a courtly and military life, and had took no notice of the Israelites in their oppressions; but now the Lord laid it upon his heart to visit them, and observe how things were with them; and though he could not use any public and open authority, yet Philo the Jew says (l), that he exhorted the officers to use mildness and moderation with them, and comforted and encouraged the Israelites to bear their burdens with patience and constancy, and not sink under them; suggesting, that things would take another turn, and would change for the better in time.

(h) Shemot Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 91. 3. (i) Bereshit Rabba, sect. 100, fol. 88. 4. (k) Chronicon Mosis, fol. 5. 2. (l) De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 608, 609.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.

Ver. 23. See Heb 11:24. {See Trapp on "Heb 11:24"}

It came into his heart] sc. By an impulse of the Holy Spirit; for till then it seems he had slighted them; but now he began to be sick of the affliction of Joseph, whereby he was even broken to shivers, as the Hebrew word Shevarim signifies, Amo 6:6.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Full forty years old - This is not recorded in the Old Testament; but it is a constant tradition of the Jews that Moses was 40 years of age when he undertook to deliver them. Thus, it is said, “Moses lived in the palace of Pharaoh forty years; he was forty years in Midian; and he ministered to Israel forty years” (Kuinoel).

To visit ... - Probably with a view of delivering them from their oppressive bondage. Compare Act 7:25.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Forty years old; this age of Moses is not set down in his history, but they might have it by tradition, which is here confirmed unto us by the holy penman: these forty years Moses spent in Pharaoh’s court.

It came into his heart; it speaks these thoughts and resolutions to have been from God, that such a great courtier should so far debase himself; therefore this is deservedly attributed unto his faith, Heb 11:24, which is the gift of God, Eph 2:8.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Well-nigh for full, A.V. When he was precisely forty years old (Meyer) The exact meaning seems to be "when he was in the act of completing forty years." The account in Exo_2:11 only says, "When Moses was grown" (me genomenov, LXX); the age of forty years, and the number of years, forty, that he sojourned in Midian, as given below, ver. 30, are traditional. "There are that say that Moses was forty years in Pharaoh"s palace, forty years in Midian, and forty years in the wilderness" (Tauchum, in Exodus it.). "Moses was forty years in Pharaoh"s court, and forty years in Midian, and forty years he served Israel" (Beresh. Rabb.), both quoted by Lightfoot ("Comment. and Exercitations upon the Acts"). The sum total of the three periods of forty years is given as the length of Moses" life, viz. a hundred and twenty years. (Deu_34:7)

Vers. 23-29. Marks of the born reformer.

Conversion does not by any means purport to create new powers of mind or to substitute new qualities of heart, but to direct aright the powers which are already the gifts of nature or creation to direct them to right and worthy objects, and to fill them with right and worthy energy. So also inspiration does not purport to override natural sources of knowledge and natural gifts, so as to obliterate the prevailing marks of individual character and even individual peculiarity. So neither, once more, do what we often call special providences purport to make the forces of native character hide themselves, and supersede them by what is artificial and in a sense even superficial, though it comes from heaven. It is, indeed, doubtful whether we have a very happy phrase in the expression "special providence. Perhaps we rather mean that providence occasionally strikes us more because it does what is unexpected or what seems to us specially remarkable for some reason or another. In any other sense, there certainly was a time when the most "special" providence might have seemed to be found in the fact that "not a sparrow falleth to the ground without" God"s "notice," or in the fact that all the hairs of our head are numbered" of God. While, therefore, we may believe readily that Moses was "raised up" of God, "called of God," watched over and graciously trained by the providence of God, this will none the less yield us the opportunity of observing the illustrations of the born reformer which he affords, and of noticing, for important uses, how parallel they run to those of one whom we might hesitate to describe as in any similar sense at all events "raised" or "called of God." That we may, therefore, the more clearly feel how little of the mere made and artificial there was in Moses, we may stop and note how the very brief sketch before us reveals some of the plain marks of the born reformer, whether for the better or the less good.

I A MOMENT ARRIVES, CHARGED WITH A STRONG IMPULSE TO FIND A NEW POINT OF DEPARTURE FOR LIFE AND WHATEVER IS ITS CHIEF MEANING.

1. The impulse comes. It came into his heart." It comes, and it comes very much as matter of feeling out of his heart as surely as into it.

2. It comes under some comparatively unpretentious guise. Moses has a prompting to "visit his brethren the children of Israel." Out of sight is not out of mind with him, where it would have been so in a million of cases to one. He does not despise, forget, or ignore as much as possible poor relations. His heart is toward them, and perhaps at the time conscious of nothing else, he will "visit" them and throw in his lot with them.

3. The impulse is of uncommon strength.

(1) It asked for the decision of a moral question, and "refusing to be called" what he was not; (Heb_11:24) he quickly settled that.

(2) It encountered the adopting of a lot of "affliction," and a share of suffering, in place of pride, wealth, luxury, and power; (Heb_11:25) and the choice was unhesitatingly made.

(3) It asked force and perspicuity of spiritual vision, and that far sight that can not merely see afar, but that will find "a hand to reach through time," to catch the "far-off interest of tears "- that genuine,"recompense of reward". (Heb_11:26)

(4) Lastly, it dares to face the wrath of a foster father king, a despot, whose will, whose whim, whose passion, whose cruelty would not stop at anything that crossed his purposes; but "they feared not", (Heb_11:27) for "he endured as seeing" the King eternal, immortal, and "invisible." These things all help to speak a reality and a strength in the impulse, which promise well to make the prophet master of the man, and which will fit the theory of a born reformer, while yet it is matter of theory.

II TWO SUCCEEDING DAYS REVEAL MOSES THE ONE IN THE CAPACITY OF A WRESTLER, AND VERY SUCCESSFUL ONE; THE OTHER CLOTHING HIMSELF IN THE AUTHORITY OF A JUDGE AND ARBITER; IN BOTH CASES UNSOLICITED. His action on either day is spontaneous. It was doubtless as great a surprise to the brother he would befriend as to his adversary for the time. Yet in either case Moses steps into the various arena, as though to the manner born.

1. This stepping boldly into action is very noticeable. How wide often the gulf that separates thought, feeling, wish, conviction, and even resolution from action itself!

2. Much more significant is the stepping from Egypt"s court and palace and lap of luxury into practical conflict of this kind. It meant something unusual, and something unworldly and of the right sort unusual. It was the kind of thing to hold men who didn"t like it spell-bound for at all events twenty-four hours. It provoked the question, "From whence hath this man" this authority and these mighty deeds (vers. 22, 28)? It meant a "new man" (Luther"s hymn) on the spot.

III A GREAT MARK OF A BORN REFORMER APPEARS NOW IN MOSES, IN THE ABSENCE OF SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS WHICH HE BETRAYS. What he did, what he said, what he tried to work, all came to thought, heart, and hand, as things under existing circumstances the most natural in the world. He saw himself only in the light of an instrument in the hand of God, and took for granted that his brethren would see him and all else in the same light. Probably his eye did not look on himself at all at the time; probably at the time, even what "he supposed" about his brethren understanding his mission on their behalf, was an utterly unconscious supposing. For it is the historian afterwards whose language is here read, and it was probably when Moses first received a check, and was taken aback by it, that his "supposing" precipitated itself. Circumstances, opposition, persecution, do not fail soon to open the eyes of almost any reformer, specially of any reformer in matter moral, but it is of the born reformer to plunge prompt, fearless, nothing hesitating, in medias res. And Moses did just this. The pain and the smart and their useful lessons were yet to come.

IV IT REMAINS NO POOR SIGN OF THE BORN REFORMER THAT AT FIRST MOSES OVERSTEPS THE MARK. For exceptions to this experience are few. Even in a delicious unconsciousness and simplicity and naturalness lurks that very thing nature, human nature, and too much of it; self, and too much of it. God would not have overstepped the mark never does. All his work fits perfectly to time, to place, to issue. Yet hewho holds the threads of all human things in his fingers, and rules the mysterious vicissitude of human history, makes allowance beforehand for their error in his most faithful, most willing servants. Their pace must be moderated, and his purpose will not be lost, nor so much as suffer. More haste, worse speed for Moses for the precipitancy of two days relegates him to forty years" absence from the scene and the holy enterprise into which he had flung himself with zeal so passionate. What will forty years do for him? What will they make of him? They will temper him, subdue much the confidence of self, and will make him more meet for the Master"s service, at the very time that he shall appear less zealous for it. B.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

It came into his heart - Probably by an impulse from God.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Moses attempts to deliver his people:

v. 23. And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.

v. 24. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian;

v. 25. for he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them; but they understood not.

v. 26. And the next day he showed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?

v. 27. But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?

v. 28. Wilt thou kill me as thou didest the Egyptian yesterday?

v. 29. Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons.

The events narrated in Exo 2:1-25 are here briefly reviewed. The entire training of Moses under the direction of his foster-mother may well have taken until he was almost forty years old, since many years were devoted to the study of mathematics, natural philosophy, and medicine, in all of which branches the advance made by the Egyptians is little short of remarkable. But he must have been fully aware of his parentage during this whole time, for his own mother had been his nurse and had undoubtedly imparted to him the promises of the Lord and the prophecy concerning the deliverance of His people from the bondage of Egypt. When Moses therefore had turned forty, the thought arose in his, heart to look upon, to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. It can hardly be assumed that he had at that time received any revelation from the Lord as to his future position among his enslaved brethren, although there was a Jewish tradition which stated that Amram, the father of Moses, had received some intimation from God that his son would be the leader in the deliverance of the Jews. Upon this occasion, Moses saw that one of his brethren was being ill-treated, and he promptly sprang to his defense. He wrought speedy justice and revenge for the oppressed by killing the Egyptian that had transgressed his authority. Note: The act of Moses in this instance was not a murder, for he was an Egyptian prince with absolute power over life and death, and he is nowhere in Scriptures censured for it, but it was a rash act, since he had no right to anticipate the providence of God simply because of his personal belief in the divine destiny of Israel. The effort of Moses was premature and unauthorized. He supposed that his brethren understood that God was giving them salvation, deliverance through his hand, but they did not understand; they resented the interference of the prince of Egypt as unwarranted officiousness. When he therefore tried to reconcile two quarreling Israelites the next day and attempted to establish peace by gently rebuking them: Men, you are brethren, why do you wrong each other? he was met by a decided rebuff: Who has established thee as a ruler and judge over us? Far from rising under his leadership and striking for liberty, his countrymen rejected all his offers with vehemence and even aided in making public his effort in their behalf. So Moses fled and became a stranger in the land of Midian, out in the wilderness, where he was married to a native girl and became the father of two sons, Exo 2:22; Exo 4:25; Exo 18:3-5. Moses fled from Egypt because he had nothing to hope for from his own people and also because his life was no longer safe. Many a matter which in itself is altogether praiseworthy is undertaken upon man’s own initiative without success, but the same thing is afterward, at God’s time, carried to a successful conclusion. Zeal not according to knowledge may do almost as much harm as dilatoriness and procrastination.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23. “And when the time of the fortieth year was being fulfilled to him, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel.” Here culminates a crisis, more copiously revealed in Heb 11:24-28, where it is said that he

“refused to be called the son of Pharaoh, preferring to suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt.”

This clearly confirms and corroborates the preceding. As Egypt was an absolute monarchy, the king owned the country, all the people and all the money. Thus, in the capacity of king, Moses had it in his power to own all the “treasures of Egypt.” History says that after be had passed his thirty- fifth year, having for many years, in the capacity of royal regent, relieved his queenly mother of governmental burden and responsibility, now that she is venerable with years, knowing the political intrigue on all sides among the consanguinity of the blood-royal, and so anxious to carry out the cherished enterprise of her life, i. e., to transmit the kingdom to her son Moses, at the same time in constant fear lest something might happen and prevent his receiving the crown, she resolves, though out of harmony with royal precedent, to have Moses crowned king before she passes out of life. With great reluctance he finally yields to her importunity, and, pursuant to Egyptian custom, is passing through a whole lunar month of preparatory disciplines and vigils, conducted by the magicians in the secret orgies of their subterranean chambers, beneath the great pyramids. The time of inauguration is drawing nigh, he sees a vision at the third watch of the night, in the subterranean chamber of the magician; behold! he sees the soldiers dashing hither and thither ransacking the mud-tenements of the Hebrew slaves, hunting up every boy baby and knocking his brains out. He sees a father and mother with all expedition fixing up a bulrush ark, putting their baby in it, committing it to the waves. It floats down the Nile, pursued by the little sister on the bank, is picked up by the maid-servants at day- dawn, brought to the queen in her bathing-house, adopted, mother and father called to nurse. Then it is revealed to him that he is that baby.

Besides, a supernatural voice rings out, “Thou art not an Egyptian; thou art a Hebrew, a son of the despised race of slaves.” Then Moses, responsive to the heavenly vision and the divine voice, to his unutterable surprise for the first time in life finds out his mistake, that he is not the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, but the son of his faithful Hebrew nurse and the pious old gardener, who all their lives had showed him so much kindness, but of course never intimating to him his Hebrew origen, as this would have blighted all the hope of his future kingdom. Now arriving at day-dawn, entering the royal palace he runs to his venerable queenly mother: “Oh, mother; though you are not my mother, yet I love you with all the possible love of a mother’s son; yet you are not my mother, but I am the son of that Hebrew nurse and belong to that race of slaves.” This to his royal mother is a thunderbolt from a cloudless sky crushing all her hopes. Verily, the trouble she had feared all her life has come like a flood. Now arises the crisis mentioned in the above quotation. She importunes him to keep the whole matter thus revealed in the heavenly vision a secret, with her and him alone, go on with the inauguration and be crowned king. “Oh, mother, in that case I would reign under a falsehood, as you know that the Egyptians would never tolerate a Hebrew on the throne. They would hurl me down and elevate the nearest of the blood-royal.” “Why? Joseph, the Hebrew, was king of Egypt.” “Yes, but he reigned as a Hebrew and not as an Egyptian, which will never again be tolerated since the degradation of the Hebrews in disgraceful bondage. Oh, mother, you know I can never reign under a falsehood. I must be true and cast my fortunes with those despised slaves.” History says when Moses thus refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, receive the crown of Egypt, bade his royal mother adieu and hastened away to join the toiling slaves, that she quickly died of a broken heart, succeeded in the throne by the nearest of the blood-royal, unfortunately very profligate. How wonderfully God maketh the wrath of man to praise Him! While Pharaoh was doing his utmost to prevent the insurgency of Israel by killing their leader, of course making sure of it by killing all the boy babies, behold! the very one he was ransacking all the land to kill he is keeping in his own palace, feeding him on the fat of the land, paying his own father and mother enormous wages to nurse him, and bestowing a million of dollars on the magicians, priests and philosophers to give him the finest education ever received by a mortal man, thus conferring on him every qualification needed for the very work he had turned loose his whole army to prevent by killing the babies. We have myriads of historic repetitions of this same folly this day. The very sons and daughters cultured by the opposition to fight the holiness movement are everywhere getting sanctified and leading the embattled host to victory. The life of Moses, one hundred and twenty years, is divided into three periods of forty years each, so wonderfully contrastive either with other. The first forty years in the royal palace of the proudest kingdom beneath the skies, actually living at the top of creation, emblemating the mediatorial Christ on the throne of heaven before He condescended to become “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” to redeem the world from sin, death and hell. We now reach the second period of Moses’ wonderful life.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

See notes on verse 17

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

23–29. For the accounts here given, see Exod. 2:11–15. Compare Heb. 11:24. Observe the point of Stephen, that Israel rejected Moses as “a ruler and judge over them,” as they had rejected Joseph and Jesus. Yet God chose both Joseph and Moses to be their saviors and rulers.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

23. ὡς δὲ ἐπληροῦτο … χρόνος. Render, but when he was well-nigh forty years old. The verb intimates that the forty years were just being completed. For the fixing of this time we have no authority in the Old Testament. We learn thence that Moses was eighty years old when he was sent to speak before Pharaoh for the deliverance of the Israelites (Exo 7:7), and that he was a hundred and twenty years old when he died (Deu 34:7). In Midrash Tanchuma on Exo 2:6, we are told ‘Moses was in the palace of Pharaoh twenty years, but some say forty years, and forty years in Midian, and forty years in the wilderness.’ Stephen’s words agree with this tradition, which no doubt was known in his day to every Jew.

ἀνέβη ἐπὶ τὴν καρδίαν. The phrase is not classical, but is found in the LXX. frequently, as 2Ki 12:4; Isa 65:16; Jer 3:16 and Eze 38:10, ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἀναβήσεται ῥήματα ἐπὶ τὴν καρδίαν σου, ‘in that day shall things come into thy heart.’

ἐπισκέψασθαι, to visit. The same verb is used in Luk 7:16, ‘God hath visited His people,’ and means to look upon generally with kindness (cf. ἐπισκέπτεσθαι, Jas 1:27), and this is the old sense of the English visit. See Shaksp. Rich. II. I. 3. 275:

‘All places that the eye of heaven visits.’

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23. τεσσερακονταετὴς χρ.] μέγας γενόμενος , Exo 2:11, LXX. The exact age was traditional, see Lightf.

ἀνέβη] No nominative (as διαλογισμός, Kuin.) must be supplied: it is impersonal; see reff.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

It came into his heart [ανεβη επι την καρδιαν] . Lit., "it arose into his heart." " There may be something in the depth of the soul which afterward emerges and ascends from that sea into the heart as into an island "(Bengel). The expression is imitated from the Hebrew, and occurs in the Septuagint :" The ark shall not come to mind; " lit., go up into the heart (Jer 3:16). See, also, Jer 32:35; Isa 65:17.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.