The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 223

puroho.ee, than tbo.t St.ophen, who shows The exaot meo.ning aeems to be " when he Buch thorough knowl,,dge of the Bible was in the act of completing forty years." history, 11hould hnve me.de e. gross mistake The account in Exod. ii. 11 only ee.ys," When in such a well-known and famone circum- Moses wa11 grown" (µl-yas -y,voµ.vos, LXX.); stance as the purchnse of the field of Mo.ch- the age of forty ye,ns, and the number of pelab, or thnt Luke should have perprtuated years, forty, that ho sojourned in lllidian, as it hnd he ma.de it in the hurry of speeoh. given below, Yer. 80, are traditional. "There It cannot be affirmed with certainty that are that so.y that Moses was forty rears in Stephen oonfinns the story of the other Pha.rnoh's palace, forty years in Mid1an, o.nd patr!archs being buried at Shechem, though forty years in the wilderness'' (To.nohum, in poas1hly he alludes to the tradition. The Exod. ii.). " Moses was forty years in l'hn- plural, " tbey were oa1Ti~" etc., might be raoh's court, and forty years in Midian, and put generally, though only Joseph wa11 meant forty years he served lsro.el" (Beresh. Rabb.), (o.s Mutt. x:iaii. 44; xxvi. 8 compared with both quoted by Lightfoot (' Commont. an,! Luke xxiii. 39; John xii. 4), or "the bones Exeroitations upon the Acts'). The sum of Joseph" might possibly be the subject, toto.l of the three periods of forty years is though not expressed. Lightfoot-followed given a11 the length of Moses' life, viz. a by Bishop Wordsworth, who thinks that hundred and twenty years (Dent. xxxiv. 7). Abraham really did buy a field of Ephron Ver. 24.-Smiting for and smote, A.V. in Sychem, when he Wall there (Gen. xii. 6)- Ver. 25.-.And he supposed that his brethren would thus be right in supposing that the understood for /or he supposed that his bre• point of Stephen's remark was that the thren would ha,t,e understooil, A.V.; was giving patriarchs were buried in Shechem. tJuim deliflerance for would deliver them, A. V. Ver. 17.-~B for when, A.V.; roucluafed Ver. 26.-The day following for the nezt unroforhadnoom to,A.V.and T.R. Vouch- day, A.V.; he appeared for he showed him• safed; liµ.o>,.o-y,;.,, in the senseof"topromise," self, A.V. a.s in Matt. xiv. 7, o.nd not unfrequently in Ver. 28.-Wouldest for wiU, A.V.; killedat Greek writers, for dµv6•w, to swear. for diddest, A.V. Ver. 18.-0uer Egypt., R.T.; there a,ro,e Ver. 29.-.And Moses fled for then fled another king for anotller king arose, A.V. Moses, A.V.; became a sojourner for was a Ver. 19.-Buce for kindred, A.V., as in stranger, A.V.; Midian for Madia.11, A.V. ver. 13 ; that they shou14 oast out for eo Ver. 30.-Fuijilled for npired, A.V.; that they oast out, A. V. ; babes for fJOUng an angel appeared for there appeared . . • children, A. V. an angel, A.V.; an angel for an angel of the Ver. 20.-...U which sea.son for in which Lord, A. V. and T .R. ; Sinai for Sina, A. V. time, A. V.; lie was nourished tliree months Ver. 31.-And when for when, A. V.; behold in hi.8 fath.er's liouse for nourished up in liis for behold it, A.V.; there came a voice of father's house three months, A. V. Exoeeding the Lord for the voice of the Lord came unto fair ( c'ta-,-•ws ,-,;; e.r;;). In Exod. ii 2 it is him, A.V. There came e. voice. The A.V. simply lr.u,-•i'os, "a goodly child.," A. V., and i~ surely right. The Lord ho.a only one so iu Heb. x:i 23, rendered "a goodly child," voice ; and </)ow¾, Kvplov is that voice. 'fhe "a proper child.," A.V. Joeephns (' Ant. gmmwatical effect of Kvp(ov upon 'I>"'"~ is to Jnd.,' ii. ix. 5, 7) describes Phare.oil's daugh- make it definite, as in li;ry•'A•s Kvp!ov (see ter as captivated by the size and beauty of eh. v. 19, note). the child., and as speaking of him to Pharaoh Ver. 32.-Saying, A.V., is omitted; of 8S of Divine beauty. And Justin (quoted Iaaac and of Jacob for the God of Isaac and by Whitby) says that the beo.uty of his the God of Jacob, A.V. e.nd T.R.; and for person was greatly in his favour. tlien, A.V. Ver. 22.-I1u;tructed for l.earned, A. V.; he Ver. 33.-.A.nd tlie Lord said unto him for wtu mighty for wtu mighty, A. V.; in his tluin said the Lord to him, A. V. ; loose the words and works for in words and in deeds, sAOee for put off thy shoes, A.V. Loose the A. V. and T.R. The statement of Moses ahoea, etc. In Exod. iii. 5 it is 'Jl.6rrrz1 • • • bcino- i.n.Btructed in all the wisdom of the '"' ,-r;,., 1roa&11 rrav. Ie.mblichus, quoted by EgyptianB, thongh not found in Exodus, Meyer, refers the Pythagorean precept, was doubtless true. Josephus makes Ther- "Sacrifice and worship witil thy shoes oll;" mea.tis speak of him as "of a noble under• to au Egyptian custom. The custom of a,tan<ling;" and says that he was "brought Orientals to to.kc off their sandals on enter- up with much Clll'e and diligence." And ing mosques or other sacred plo.ces, WI Philo,inhis lifeofMoses(quoted by Whitby), exiHtiog to the present de.y, is noticed by says he was skilled in music, geometry, many travellers (see u lso Josh. v. 15). arithmc:tic, and hieroglyphics, and the whole Ver. 34.-Ihave surely seen (lit.era.lly, Bell- circle of arl.s rmd sciences. ing I have seen--the well-known Hebrew Vtl'. 23.-Well-nigh for full, A.V. When idiom for emphatic s.ffirma.tion) for I have be wu precillely forty years old (Meyer). seen, I have seen,A.V.; have heard for fhat,e on. VIL 1-60,] THE AOTB OF THE APOSTLES. 219