Acts 7:28

28 You do not want to do away with me {the same way} you did away with the Egyptian yesterday, [do you]?'

Acts 7:28 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 7:28

Wilt thou kill me as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday?
] That is, is it thy will? dost thou design to kill me? or, as in ( Exodus 2:14 ) "intendest" thou to kill me? In the Hebrew text it is, "wilt thou kill me, dost thou say?" that is, as Aben Ezra rightly interprets it, dost thou say so "in thine heart?" which is a much better observation than that of Jarchi's;

``from hence we learn, says he, that he slew him by the ineffable name:''

though this is the sense of some of their ancient doctors F3;

``"to kill me dost thou say?" it is not said, "dost thou seek?" but "dost thou say?" from whence you may learn, that the ineffable name was made mention of over the Egyptian, and he slew him.''

The word "yesterday" is added by Stephen, but with great truth and propriety, and is in the Septuagint version of ( Exodus 2:14 ) . The "as" here does not intend the manner of killing, whether by the fist or sword, or by pronouncing the word Jehovah, as Jarchi thinks, but killing itself, by whatsoever way; and the words were very spitefully said, on purpose to publish the thing, and to expose Moses to danger of life, as it did.


FOOTNOTES:

F3 Shemot Rabba, ib.

Acts 7:28 In-Context

26 And on the following day, he made an appearance to them [while they] were fighting and was attempting to reconcile them in peace, saying, 'Men [and] brothers, why are you doing wrong to one another?'
27 But the one who was doing wrong to [his] neighbor pushed him aside, saying, 'Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us?
28 You do not want to do away with me {the same way} you did away with the Egyptian yesterday, [do you]?'
29 And at this statement, Moses fled and became a foreigner in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
30 "And [when] forty years had been completed, an angel appeared to him in the desert of Mount Sinai in the flame of a burning bush.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Literally "in the manner in which"
  • [b]. A quotation from Exod 2:14; the negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated by "[do you]"
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