IV. His acting in pursuance of this commission, wherein he was a figure of the Messiah. And Stephen takes notice here again of the slights they had put upon him, the affronts they had given him, and their refusal to have him to reign over them, as tending very much to magnify his agency in their deliverance.
1. God put honour upon him, whom they put contempt upon; (v. 35.) This Moses whom they refused, whose kind offers, and good offices they rejected with scorn, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? Thou takest too much upon thee, thou son of Levi; (Numb. 16. 3.) that same Moses did God send to be a ruler, and a deliverer, by the hands of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. It may be understood, either that God sent to him by the hand of the angel; or, that by the hand of the angel going along with him, he became a complete deliverer. Now, by this example, Stephen would intimate to the council, That this Jesus whom they now refused, as their fathers did Moses, saying, Who made thee a Prophet and a King? Who gave thee this authority? Even this same has God advanced to be a Prince and a Saviour, a Ruler and a Deliverer; as the apostles had told them a while ago, (ch. 5. 30.) that the Stone which the builders refused, was become the head-stone in the corner, ch. 4. 11.
2. God shewed favour to them by him, and he was very forward to serve them, though they had thrust him away. God might justly have refused them his service, and he might justly have declined it; but it is all forgotten, they are not so much as upbraided with it, v. 36. He brought them out, notwithstanding, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt; which were afterward continued for the completing their deliverance, according as the case called for it, in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years. So far is he from blaspheming Moses, that he admires him as a glorious instrument in the hand of God, for the forming of the Old Testament church. But it does not at all derogate from his just honour to say, that he was but an instrument, and that he is outshone by this Jesus, whom he encourages these Jews yet to close with, and to come into his interest, not fearing but that then they should be received into his favour, and receive benefit by him, as the people of Israel were delivered by Moses, though they had once refused him.
V. His prophecy of Christ and his grace, v. 37. He not only was a type of Christ, (many were so, that perhaps had not an actual foresight of his day,) but Moses spake of him; (v. 37.) This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren. This is spoken of as one of the greatest honours God put upon him, (nay as that which exceeded all the rest,) that by him he gave notice to the children of Israel of the great Prophet that should come into the world, raised their expectation of him, and obliged them to receive him. When his bringing of them out of Egypt is spoken of, it is with an emphasis of honour, This is that Moses! (Exod. 6. 26.) And so it is here, This is that Moses! Now this is very full to Stephen's purpose; in asserting that Jesus should change the customs of the ceremonial law, he was so far from blaspheming Moses, that really he did him the greatest honour imaginable, by shewing how the prophecy of Moses was accomplished, which was so clear, that, as Christ told them himself, If they had believed Moses, they would have believed him, John 5. 46.
1. Moses, in God's name, told them, that, in the fulness of time, they should have a Prophet raised up among them, one of their own nation, that should be like unto him, (ch. 18. 15, 18.) a Ruler and a Deliverer, a Judge and a Lawgiver, like him; who should therefore have authority to change the customs that he had delivered, and to bring in a better hope, as the Mediator of a better testament.
2. He charged them to hear that Prophet, to receive his dictates, to admit the change he would make in their customs, and to submit to him in every thing; and this will be the greatest honour you can do to Moses and to his law, who said, Hear ye him; and came to be a witness to the repetition of this charge by a voice from heaven, at the transfiguration of Christ, and by his silence he gave consent to it, Matt. 17. 5.
VI. The eminent services which Moses continued to do to the people of Israel, after he had been instrumental to bring them out of Egypt, v. 38. And herein also he was a type pf Christ, who yet so far exceeds him, that it is no blasphemy to say, "He has authority to change the customs that Moses delivered." It was the honour of Moses,
1. That he was in the church in the wilderness; he presided in all the affairs of it for forty years; was king in Jeshurun, Deut. 33. 5. The camp of Israel is here called the church in the wilderness; for it was a sacred society, incorporated by a divine charter under a divine government, and blessed with divine revelation. The church in the wilderness was a church, though it was not yet perfectly formed as it was to be when they came to Canaan, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes, Deut. 12. 8, 9. It was the honour of Moses, that he was in that church, and many a time it had been destroyed if Moses had not been in it to intercede for it. But Christ is the President and Guide of a more excellent and glorious church than that in the wilderness was, and is more in it, as the life and soul of it, than Moses could be in that.
2. That he was with the angel that spake to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers; was with him in the holy mount twice forty days, with the angel of the covenant, Michael, our Prince. Moses was immediately conversant with God, but never lay in his bosom as Christ did from eternity. Or, these words may be taken thus; Moses was in the church in the wilderness, but it was with the angel that spake to him in mount Sinai, that is, at the burning bush; for that was said to be at mount Sinai, (v. 30.) that angel went before him, and was guide to him, else he could not have been a guide to Israel; of this God speaks, (Exod. 23. 20.) I send an angel before thee, and Exod. 33. 2. And see Numb. 20. 16. He was in the church with the angel, without whom he could have done no service to the church; but Christ is himself that angel, which was with the church in the wilderness, and therefore has an authority above Moses.
3. That he received the lively oracles to give unto them; not only the ten commandments, but the other instructions which the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak them to the children of Israel. (1.) The words of God are oracles, certain and infallible, and of unquestionable authority and obligation; they are to be consulted as oracles, and by them all controversies must be determined. (2.) They are lively oracles, for they are the oracles of the living God, not of the dumb and dead idols of the heathens; the word that God speaks, is spirit and life; not that the law of Moses could give life, but it shewed the way to life; If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. (3.) Moses received them from God, and delivered nothing as an oracle to the people but what he had first received from God. (4.) The lively oracles which he received from God, he faithfully gave to the people, to be observed and preserved. It was the principal privilege of the Jews, that to them were committed the oracles of God: and it was by the hand of Moses
