Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 7:29
Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons.
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 Exo 3:1).
where he begat two sons ] Gershom and Eliezer; their mother was Zipporah the daughter of Jethro (Exo 18:2-4).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Then fled Moses … – Moses fled because he now ascertained that what he had done was known. He supposed that it had been unobserved, Exo 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, Exo 2:15.
Was a stranger – Or became a sojourner 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 Exo 2:18, or Jethro Num 10:29; Exo 3:1, a priest of Midian. The names of the two sons were Gershom and Eliezer, Exo 18:3-4.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
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, Abrahams son by Keturah, Gen 25:1,2. Moses was forty years in Egypt, forty years in Midian, with Jethro or Jether, who was called also Reuel, Exo 2:18, and Hobab, Num 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. Stephens 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.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
29. Then fled Moses, &c.for”when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses”(Ex 2:15).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole 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, Ex 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, Ex 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.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Sojourner (). Temporary dweller (cf. Abraham in verse 6) in Midian though for forty years.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Then fled Moses at this saying,” (ephugen de Mouses en to logo touto) “Then at this word Moses fled,” when the word got out or the report became known to the Egyptians and Pharaoh’s house. And Pharaoh sought to apprehend (arrest) him and slay him, Exo 2:15. He had perhaps been represented to Pharaoh by the Egyptians as a seditious man.
2) “And was a stranger,” (kai egeneto paroikos) “And he became a sojourner,” a temporary dweller, an itinerant.
3) “In the land of Midian,” (en ge Madian) “In the land (called) Midian,” the peninsular desert of Sinai, Exo 3:1. It was a general desert, wilderness or uninhabited area. The Midianites came from Keturah, the fourth son of Abraham; They were Nomadic and mercantile people, Exo 2:15.
4) “Where he begat two sons,” (hou egennesen huious duo) “Where he begat two sons,” became the natural father of two sons, by his wife Zipporah, daughter of Jethro (also known as Reuel) priest of Midian, Exo 2:22; Exo 18:3-4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(29) Then fled Moses at this saying.The rapid survey of the history passes over the intermediate link of Pharaohs knowledge of the murder of the Egyptian, and his search for Moses.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
29. Land of Midian The Madianites, or rather Midianites were a people who dwelt upon the territory bordering westward of the eastern arm (Gulf of Akabah) of the Red sea.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
29. The Spirit said Philip subsequently had four daughters all prophetesses, so that the prophetic impulse was familiar perhaps to his interior consciousness.
Go near Probably Philip encountered the eunuch at the point where his Samaritan road fell into the Gaza road. Both the angel and the Spirit give the briefest possible directions, and in the order of climax.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And Moses fled at this saying, and became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons.’
The result was that the deliverer had fled and became a sojourner in Midian. Having rejected their deliverer they had lost him. Note that the place to which he fled was the place where the mountain of God was, ‘in this place’ (Act 7:7). (In the same way his hearers should recognise that they too had lost sight of their prospective Saviour (Joh 8:21-22) and that He too had gone to where God was).
And there in the wilderness Moses begat two sons. Even though he had been rejected he was not totally without children (as Jesus already had children in those who had believed – Joh 13:33).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Act 7:29-30 . See Exo 2:15-22 ; Exo 3:2 .
] on account of this word , denoting the reason which occasioned his flight. Winer, p. 362 [E. T. 484].
] , 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, Act 7:30 ! On , comp. Act 7:6 .
. .] traditionally (but comp. also Exo 7:7 ): “Moses in palatio Pharaonis degit XL annos, in Mediane XL annos, et ministravit Israeli annos XL.” Beresh. Rabb. f. 115. 3.
. .] in the desert, in which Mount Sinai is situated, , Exo 19:1-2 ; Lev 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 Exo 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 Deu 33:2 , where only Horeb is mentioned, as also in Mal 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 Exo 19:2 .
] 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 , comp. 2Th 1:8 , Lachmann; Heb 1:7 ; Rev 1:14 ; Rev 2:18 ; Rev 19:12 ; Isa 29:6 ; Isa 56:12 ; Pind. Pyth. iv. 400.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.
Ver. 29. Then fled Moses ] And by being banished, was the better fitted to be king in Jeshurun.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
29. ] So LXX, Exo 2:15 , for . Winer (Realw. ‘Midian’) supposes this Madian to have been a nomad detachment of the more settled Midianites, which at that time was encamped in the neighbourhood of Sinai and Horeb. For Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, is not found there, in Exo 18:1 ff., but comes to visit Moses from a distance. See also Num 10:29 ff.
] Exo 2:22 ; Exo 4:20 ; Exo 18:3 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 7:29 . 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. : generally taken to mean or to include the peninsula of Sinai (Exo 2:15 ; Exo 3:1 ), and thus agrees with the natural supposition that his flight did not carry Moses far beyond the territory of Egypt ( cf. Exo 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-Encyclopdie des Judentums , i., 5, 755. Hackett, Acts , p. 104, “Midian,” B.D. 1 . ., cf. Exo 2:22 ; Exo 4:20 ; Exo 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.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
saying. Greek. logos, as in Act 7:22.
stranger. Greek. paroikos. Same as “sojourn” in Act 7:6.
Madian = Midian. See Exo 2:15; Exo 3:1.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
29. ] So LXX, Exo 2:15, for . Winer (Realw. Midian) supposes this Madian to have been a nomad detachment of the more settled Midianites,-which at that time was encamped in the neighbourhood of Sinai and Horeb. For Jethro, Moses father-in-law, is not found there, in Exo 18:1 ff., but comes to visit Moses from a distance. See also Num 10:29 ff.
] Exo 2:22; Exo 4:20; Exo 18:3.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 7:29. , at this saying) when he heard this saying.-, a stranger, sojourner) In Egypt, as the son of Pharaohs daughter, he had begun to be at home: now, as a stranger, he wanders abroad from that country also.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Exo 2:14-22, Exo 4:19, Exo 4:20
Madian: Exo 18:2-4
Reciprocal: Exo 2:15 – fled Exo 2:22 – for he said Exo 18:3 – two sons Deu 31:2 – I am an
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
9
Act 7:29. Exo 2:15 tells us that Pharoah heard about the deed of Moses and tried to have him slain. That caused him to flee the country in fear, and go into the land of Midian, a country lying between the two arms of the Red Sea. Where he begat two sons condenses the history in Exo 2:15-22.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
See notes on verse 17