What is the context?
The promise to Abraham remains in view as the people multiply in Egypt. A new king oppresses them and threatens their children. Moses is born under that threat, is cared for in his father’s house, and is then brought up by Pharaoh’s daughter.
Stephen describes his Egyptian education and ability before turning to his concern for his own people. At forty, Moses intervenes when he sees an Israelite mistreated. He expects his brothers to understand that God is using him for their deliverance, but they do not.
The next day his attempt to reconcile two Israelites is rejected with a challenge to his authority. Moses flees to Midian and becomes a foreign resident with a family of his own. The following passage will show God sending back the man whose leadership had been refused.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Christians commonly read this section as preparation for Moses’s calling and as another instance of God’s chosen servant being misunderstood or rejected. Wesley’s notes on verses 20–29 follow the movement from his preservation and upbringing to his rejected intervention and flight; the speech will return explicitly to that rejection in verse 35.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
Hebrews 11:23–26 also places Moses’s preservation and identification with God’s people within the story of faith. It connects his choice to share their mistreatment with valuing disgrace for Christ above Egypt’s treasures. The New Testament itself brings Moses’s costly identification with his people into the story centered on Christ.
In Stephen’s speech, the early rejection does not end Moses’s part in God’s purpose. God will send him as a deliverer in the next section. That repeated contrast helps prepare the council to consider its own response to the One God has sent.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.