Acts 7:21Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

If it is wonderful that Joseph was sold by his brothers, it is still more wonderful that the king himself raised the one who would later overthrow his kingdom, the very one who was to perish by him. Do you see how in Scripture the resurrection of the dead is prefigured almost everywhere? Truly, it is not the same whether something is accomplished by God Himself or comes from human will. This did not come from human will. When all human hopes were exhausted, and when he had been cast out, then the divine economy of God appeared in full light. "And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him and brought him up as her own son." As yet there was no temple anywhere, nor any sacrifice, though so many works of God's providence had already been accomplished. And he was raised in a pagan house.

Pharaoh's daughter took up the cast-out child, Moses. His parents begot him and saw that the child was beautiful, for grace flourished in him. Seeing that he was beautiful, they spared him. But when they feared the command, they hid him. Fear prevailed, and because of fear they resolved to cast out the child. Yet from parental compassion they used cunning in this matter, and found a way to evade the command. They made an ark in imitation of the ark of Noah, and called upon the God of Noah. Then they cast the child with the ark into the river, so that they might both appear to obey the command and save the child. And behold, they cast him out, while God inspires Pharaoh's daughter, who knew nothing of this, to go out to the river.

Then, in order to defend himself against the charge of insulting Moses and his law, Stephen dwells at length on this great Old Testament figure (vv. 20-43). He strives to show all his reverence both for Moses and for the law given through him. In God's special providence over the salvation and destiny of Moses, his particular calling is already revealed (vv. 20-22). Stephen shows that Moses, even while at Pharaoh's court, already foresaw his vocation. No doubt, he did so by reflecting on the extraordinary circumstances of his life. This vocation was to be the deliverer of his people from the Egyptian yoke (v. 25). Then the person of Moses is fully assessed in his dignity and significance. This begins with the depiction of his calling by God to the work of delivering Israel (vv. 30-35).

"He was beautiful before God": in the Book of Exodus (Ex 3:2) it simply says "beautiful." Stephen adds, "before God." The infant's natural beauty expressed the perfection of God's creation to such a degree that, being considered beautiful by his mother, he was especially beautiful before God above other men. The accounts preserved by Philo in vita Mos. and Josephus in Antt. 11, 9.7 speak of the infant Moses' beauty even more strongly than the Bible. "And when he was cast out": see verse 19.

Archdeacon Stephen devotes comparatively much attention to Moses. He speaks of the great danger to which Moses was exposed in infancy, when he was cast into the Nile. He speaks also of his upbringing, instruction, flight, his vision of the bush, his bringing the Hebrews out of Egypt, his receiving of the law, and so forth (vv. 20-44). But first of all, he testifies that Moses was beautiful before God, that is, pleasing to Him. This was not according to outward appearance, as it was for his mother (see Ex 3:2), but according to those spiritual gifts expressed in his outward appearance. His appearance was undoubtedly pleasing also to Pharaoh's daughter. Later she valued much else in him, for which she raised him as a son.