Acts 7:29Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

When you see how the persecuted become the causes of salvation for their persecutors, marvel at the wisdom and understanding of God. If the former had not been persecuted, the latter would not have been saved. A famine came, and they did not perish. Not only did they not perish, but they were saved by the very one whom they had wished to destroy. A royal command went forth, and it did not destroy them. Rather, they multiplied all the more when the king who knew them died. They wished to destroy their deliverer, and they did not succeed in this. Do you see how, through the very thing by which the devil tried to make God's promise vain, it was fulfilled still more? He fled, yet his flight did not hinder the divine economy, just as the death that threatened him did not hinder it.

Licentiousness contends with chastity, righteousness with injustice, arrogance with modesty, and, in general, everything considered contrary with its opposite. By his own example Moses teaches us to stand on the side of virtue, as on the side of a fellow countryman. He teaches us to destroy the adversary who rises against it. For the victory of virtue becomes the ruin and disappearance of idolatry. In the same way, injustice is destroyed by righteousness, and arrogance is slain by modesty. But there is also in us a struggle between those of the same race. We would not have dogmas invented by evil heresies if a structure of erroneous reasonings did not contend against sounder reasonings. If we are weak and unable to strengthen the right side, because evil has prevailed by its devices and the authority of truth has been overthrown, then we must flee away as quickly as possible. The example of Moses proposes this flight toward the better and higher teaching concerning the mysteries. And if it is again necessary to dwell with a foreigner, that is, if we are compelled to turn to pagan philosophy, we may do this only after driving away the evil shepherds. They unlawfully use the well. That is, we must first expose false teachers in their evil use of external learning. Thus we shall live by ourselves, not getting involved in the quarrel and not acting as mediators in it. We shall dwell among those of one mind, whose will agrees with ours, together with our own flock. And all the movements of our soul will follow the guiding Word, like sheep following a shepherd.

It continues with the deliverance itself and his leading of Israel into the promised land, with many signs and wonders (v. 36). To express the dignity of Moses still more, Stephen points to him as a type of the Messiah, as one who conversed with angels, and as mediator between God and Israel (vv. 37-38). By this alone Stephen's reverence for the law of Moses is fully expressed. Yet it is expressed still more in his calling this law "living words" (v. 38). At the same time, this speech is also a rebuke. In reading it, one cannot fail to notice that Stephen strives, wherever possible, to contrast the benefactions of the saving God with the ingratitude and unbelief of the Israelites. Thus, already in the life of the patriarchs, he points to Joseph's suffering from the envy of his brothers, the forefathers of the Israelite people (v. 9). In Egypt, the descendants of these sons of Jacob reject the saving hand of Moses (vv. 25-28, 35). In the wilderness they reject Moses and God (vv. 39-43).

He thought that he was doing this work and had to accomplish it, though perhaps not in this way, but as it would be pleasing to God. Thus in his flight one may see hope for God's special help and His guidance in the difficult work of freeing his kinsmen. He had been separated from them for so long, and twice over, so that he might love them more. Had he seen them often, he might even have turned away from them, as the hard experiences of only two days' acquaintance with them showed. The land of Midian lies in rocky Arabia. There were Egyptian quarries there. The road there was well known, but difficult. It could be traveled only on certain days of the year when it was not so hot, and by night. For a man of great strength, all this could not be an obstacle. The remoteness of the place could fully serve as a strong protection for the stranger and sojourner from every watch and pursuit. "He fled, yet his flight did not hinder the divine economy, just as the death that threatened him did not hinder it. Do you see," says St. John Chrysostom, "how this divine economy is not checked by time? When he was a fugitive and a stranger, when he already had two children and did not hope to return from there, then the Angel appears to him."