Acts 7:37Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet from your brethren, like me; Him you shall hear." That is, One whom they too will despise and persecute. For Herod also wanted to kill Christ, but He was saved in Egypt, just as Moses was persecuted in childhood. But let us return to what was said above. "This is that Moses," he says, "who said: The Lord God will raise up for you a Prophet like me." It seems to me that Christ also pointed to this saying when He said, "For salvation is from the Jews" (Jn 4:22), meaning Himself.

"This is the Moses who said to the children of Israel: The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet from your brethren, like me." That is, like me, counted as nothing for the very thing for which he should much rather have been honored. Pharaoh wanted to kill Moses, and Moses fled. Herod also wanted to kill the Lord, and the Lord was saved in Egypt. Both Pharaoh and Herod plotted against an infant. Both issued a command, and neither command found obedience.

"A Prophet like me": visible in the flesh, yet more fearful than I by His majesty. So that they might not say that Christ's teaching is new and comes from outside, Moses himself, whom your fathers did not wish to obey, foretells that He would have the appearance of man and would give the words of life to all people (Deut 18:15-18).

In order afterward to defend himself against the charge of insulting Moses and his law, he 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 Moses' salvation and destiny, his particular calling is already revealed (vv. 20-22). Stephen indicates that Moses, while still at Pharaoh's court, already foresaw this calling. He did so, of course, by reflecting on the extraordinary circumstances of his life. His calling was to be the deliverer of his people from the Egyptian yoke (v. 25).

Having thus shown from history that they, his accusers, were precisely the ones who had constantly proved violators and opponents of the divine Law, Saint Stephen set forth the history of their fathers' resistance to Moses himself. At the same time he prophetically indicated the possibility of their resistance to that higher Prophet whose appearing Moses had foretold.

This is he, and so forth: by this trait Stephen confesses his faith in Moses as a prophet, and precisely as the greatest of the prophets, like the Messiah, “like me.” On the prophetic meaning of this saying, see the note on Acts 3:22-23. In this prophecy God Himself points to Moses as a type of the Messiah. This alone already gives some understanding of the whole greatness of his person, especially when compared with the preceding and following traits.

Cf. Deut 18:15.

Archdeacon Stephen's citation of Moses' prophecy concerning Christ the Savior is especially significant, since it had so recently been cited by the Apostle Peter (Acts 3:22-23). Evidently this prophecy had great significance in the eyes of the Jews.

At the same time, citing it showed that Stephen honored Moses not only as a prophet, but as one of the very greatest prophets. The Messiah foretold here had to be likened to him.

The prophetic word about the Messiah's brotherhood with the Jews is significant. Especially significant is Moses' exhortation that they should listen to Him.

They were not to listen as many contemporaries listened to Jesus Christ, departing from Him with hardened hearts. They were to have the fullest possible obedience to Him.

Since Moses was often not listened to, he exhorted all his brotherhood to obey at least the Messiah.