Stephen said that “He
(Moses) supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them
salvation by his hand, but they did not understand” (7:25). Though Moses
had grown up in Pharaoh’s house, and though “Moses was instructed in all the
wisdom of the Egyptians” (7:22), he was also, quite obviously, aware of his
lineage and aware of the prophecy and promises of redemption and deliverance
from the bondage of Egypt, that had been made to the people of Israel (thus his
desire to visit his people). Though Moses could be said to have been
acting ahead of God’s timing in attempting to take matters into his own hand
and stir a revolution through his actions, he did believe that his brothers
would comprehend what he was doing and would rally to his side. However,
as was said, it is reported as part of Israel’s understanding of the Moses
narrative, they did not understand.
All too
unfortunately, we recognize that, according to the Gospel narratives about Him,
Jesus received much the same response. Everywhere Jesus went, and in all
that He did and said, He showed His brethren, God’s people, the salvation of
their God. He showed them renewal and restoration and healing and power,
demonstrating God’s return to His people and its Temple by being the place of
the forgiveness of sins. He showed them all of those things that
constitute God’s promised salvation. He consistently showed them, as He worked
out His vocation and presented Himself as the Messiah, that He was the One that
was fulfilling the promise of God’s covenant faithfulness to His people, which
was to give them a Redeemer and to deliver them from the curse of oppression
and domination by foreign rulers of all kinds, be they temporal kings,
spiritual forces, or the ravages of disease and death---the corruptions of a
created world afflicted with the effects of man’s rejection of the charge to
bear the divine image.
As it was said of
Moses, so it can too be said of Jesus, that His people did not
understand. Not only did most not recognize Him as the prophet like
Moses, but their history was littered with stories of the rejection of
prophets. Jesus laments His own rejection by His brethren, saying “O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are
sent to it!” (Luke 13:34a). Alas, it would seem that Jesus was well aware
of the possibility that many, for one reason or another, would have eyes that
could not see and ears that could not hear.
Stephen continues on
with his dissertation, staying focused on Moses and his belief that his
brethren would understand that he was attempting to bring them their
long-hoped-for rescue from foreign subjugation (part of salvation), he says,
“And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and
tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong
each other?’” (Acts 7:26) One of the men quickly stands up to Moses and
references the act of killing the Egyptian, which Moses thought had gone
un-witnessed. The man said to Moses, “Who made you a ruler and a judge
over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?”
(7:27b-28)
How does this relate
to Jesus? Where do we find this paralleled? Well, it could easily
be said that at the time of Jesus there was much quarreling taking place in
Israel, brother against brother. This, of course, is no different than
the situation in which we find ourselves in our own day. There were
various factions pitted against each other in politics and religion.
There were Roman government appeasers, along with zealots who desired to throw
off the Roman yoke by violent means. There were Sadducees who argued
against the Pharisees. There were different schools for the
interpretation of the law. There were separatist groups such as the
Essenes, who had retired into the desert in an isolated community. There
was much quarreling among brothers.
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