Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 7:27
But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
But he that did … – Intent on his purpose, filled with rage and passion, he rejected all interference, and all attempts at peace. It is usually the man that does the injury that is unwilling to be reconciled; and when we find a man that regards the entreaties of his friends as improper interference, when he becomes increasingly angry when we exhort him to peace, it is usually a strong evidence that he is conscious that he has been at fault. If we wish to reconcile parties, we should go first to the man that has been injured. In the controversy between God and man, it is the sinner who has done the wrong that is unwilling to be reconciled, and not God.
His neighbour – The Jew with whom he was contending.
Who made thee … – What right have you to interfere in this matter? The usual salutation with which a man is greeted who attempts to prevent quarrels.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
The injurious are most averse from peace, and one sin makes way for another. This was a causeless cavil, especially from such a one as had known what Moses had done, as an essay of his being the deliverer of Gods Israel.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23-27. In Act 7:23;Act 7:30; Act 7:36,the life of Moses is represented as embracing three periods, of fortyyears each; the Jewish writers say the same; and though this is notexpressly stated in the Old Testament, his age at death, one hundredtwenty years (De 34:7), agreeswith it.
it came into his heart tovisit his brethrenhis heart yearning with love to them asGod’s chosen people, and heaving with the consciousness of a divinevocation to set them free.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But he that did his neighbour wrong,…. Who seems to be the same person whom Moses had defended the day before; and, according to the Jews, must be Dathan a: the same
thrust him away; from them, when he went to part them, and persuade them to be good friends:
saying, who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? which was very ungrateful, if he was the man he had delivered the day before; and very impertinent, since he did not take upon him to rule and judge, but only to exhort and persuade to peace and brotherly love: the language suits with the spirit of Dathan or Abiram; Nu 16:3 This is thought to be said to him by way of contempt of him, as being a very young man: the words are thus commented on in one of the ancient commentaries of the Jews b,
“R. Judah says, Moses was twenty years of age at that time: wherefore it was said to him, thou art not yet fit to be a prince and a judge over us, seeing one of forty years of age is a man of understanding. And R. Nehemiah says, he was forty years of age; [See comments on Ac 7:23] and it was said to him, truly thou art a man, but thou art not fit to be a prince and a judge over us: and the Rabbans say, he said to him, art thou not the son of Jochebed, though they call thee the son of Bithiah? and dost thou seek to be a prince and a judge over us? it is known concerning thee what thou didst to the Egyptian.”
a Targum Jon. in Exod. ii. 14. Debarim Rabba, sect. 2. fol. 237. 1. b Shemot Rabba, ib.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Thrust him away ( ). First aorist middle indicative (Koine for Attic ) of , to push away from oneself in middle voice as here, common in old Greek. Again in verse Acts 7:39; Acts 13:46; Rom 11:1; 1Tim 1:19. It is always the man who is doing the wrong who is hard to reconcile.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “But he that did his neighbor wrong,” (ho de adikon ton plesion) “But the one who was injuring the neighbor,” beating him up, inflicting injury, the stronger of the two with inflamed passion, tasting carnal victory.
2) “Thrust him away, saying,” (aposato auton eipon) “Pushed (thrust) him away, saying,” with sarcasm and derision to Moses who tried to intercede as a peacemaker, Mat 5:9; Mat 5:11-12.
3) “Who made thee a ruler,” (tes se katestesen archonta) “Who appointed you (to be) a ruler,” just as Jesus was long years later despised and rejected of men, by His own countrymen, Isa 53:3; Mat 27:30-31.
4) “And a judge over us?” (kai dikasten eph’ hemon) “And (to be) a judge over us?” How carnal it is for one in or doing wrong to seek to justify his wrong by deriding or cutting another down, even as the enemies of Christ on the cross, Mat 27:39-44.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(27) Who made thee a ruler and a judge?The stress laid on this afterwards, in Act. 7:35, shows that it took its place in the induction which was to show that the whole history of Israel had been marked by the rejection of those who were, at each successive stage, Gods ministers and messengers for its good, and that the rejection of Jesus was therefore a presumptive proof that He, too, was sent from God.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
27. Went Dr. Thomson thinks that Philip intercepted the eunuch somewhere southwest of Latron.
Behold The desert is just now not wholly desert, for the chariot of a princely negro is rolling by, giving it a rare life.
Ethiopia Is a country south of Egypt, including the modern Abyssinia. The word Ethiopia is derived from the Greek , burn, and , face, and alludes, of course, to the negro colour.
Eunuch The word etymologically signifies a couch-keeper or chamberlain, and designates a class of mutilated men who are in the East employed to guard the harems. But as in the palaces of princes such persons often gained the personal confidence of the despot, and became his chief adviser, so the very word eunuch was often used of officers of state who belonged not to this injured class. Yet the Greek for of great authority, , a dynast or potentate, seems to express the official power, and leaves the term eunuch to its natural meaning.
Candace A name, like Pharaoh, designating not a single individual, but each one of the line of queens by which the country was ruled. Candace was queen of Meroe, (near the modern Sennaar,) an island, or rather peninsula, termed by two arms of the river, a thousand miles up the Nile from Alexandria; to which city the eunuch is on his way to take his upward-sailing Nile-boat, made perhaps of papyrus and acacia. The name of Candace (spelled Kandakatis) is still found on her palace walls in Meroe, as in the cut, in hieroglyphical characters. Her buildings are in Egyptian style, varied with modern, perhaps Roman, elements.
Come to Jerusalem Most probably to the feast of Tabernacles, the festival most visited by far distant residents.
Come to worship He was probably a pagan proselyte, converted from the worship of the ram-headed Ammon by the influence of some of the many Jews residing in Meroe.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
Ver. 27. He that did the wrong ] None so ready to except and exclaim, as the wrong doer; the patient replies not.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
27. ] The further progress of resistance to the Spirit on the part of Israel.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 7:27 . for Attic (see also Act 7:45 ), not found in the O.T. parallel, but added by Stephen, cf. Act 7:38 , compare LXX, Jer 4:30 . The word may be introduced to emphasize the contumaciousness of the people, which in Stephen’s narrative is the motive of the flight of Moses; in Exodus, Moses flees from fear of Pharaoh, and the answer of the Hebrew demonstrates to him that his deed of yesterday was known but there is no contradiction in the two narratives. The matter would become known to Pharaoh, as the words of the Hebrew intimated; it could not be hidden; and in spite of the attempt at concealment on the part of Moses by hiding the body in the sand, his life was no longer safe, and so he fled because he had nothing to hope for from his people. Stephen’s words would be quite consistent with the narrative in Exodus (Nsgen, Apostelgeschichte , p. 163, as against Overbeck).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
thrust him away. Greek. apotheomai. Only here. Act 7:39; Act 13:46. Rom 11:1, Rom 11:2; 1Ti 1:19.
judge. Greek. dikastes. Only here, Act 7:35. Luk 12:14. Compare App-177.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
27.] The further progress of resistance to the Spirit on the part of Israel.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 7:27. , thrust him away) adding sin to sin.–) So the LXX. Exo 2:14. Hebr., a man a prince and a judge.-, who) The instruments of GOD are often repelled under the pretext of a defect of the human call.-, a prince) They seem not to have known how great a man Moses was in the palace. It is the province of a prince to judge.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
he that: Act 7:54, Act 5:33, Gen 19:19, 1Sa 25:14, 1Sa 25:15, Pro 9:7, Pro 9:8
Who: Act 7:35, Act 7:39, Act 3:13-15, Act 4:7, Act 4:11, Act 4:12, Mat 21:23, Luk 12:14, Joh 18:36, Joh 18:37, Joh 19:12-15
Reciprocal: Gen 26:27 – seeing Mar 11:28 – General Luk 20:2 – who Act 7:51 – as
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
7
Act 7:27. The one who objected to the attempt of Moses was the one who was in the wrong. That is frequently the case today, for when a man is doing what is wrong he will resent any interference with what he says is “his business.” However, Moses could not have given a satisfactory answer to the question asked by this Hebrew.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 7:27. Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? The words of these Israelites evidently express the general feelings of all the people toward Moses at this juncture, and so he understood them.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
See notes on verse 17