Acts 7:36

He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(36) After that he had shewed wonders and signs.—The two nouns are joined together, as in Deuteronomy 6:22, Matthew 24:24. The words express different relations, it may be, of the same phenomena, rather than phenomena specifically different;—the first emphasising the wonder which the miracle produces, and therefore answering more strictly to that word; the latter, the fact that the miracle is a token or evidence of something beyond itself. (See also Acts 2:22; Acts 6:8.)

In the Red sea.—It may be worth while noting that the familiar name comes to us, not from the Hebrew word, which means, literally, the Weed Sea, but from the LXX. version, which Stephen, as a Hellenistic Jew, used, and which gave the word Erythræan, or red, which had been used by Greek travellers from Herodotus onward. Why the name was given is an unsolved problem. Some have referred it to the colour of the coast; some to that of the sea-weed; some to an attempt to give an etymological translation of its name as the Sea of Edom (Edom, meaning “red,” as in Genesis 25:25; Genesis 36:1); some to a supposed connection with an early settlement of Phœnicians, whose name had, with the Greeks, the same significance.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:30-41 Men deceive themselves, if they think God cannot do what he sees to be good any where; he can bring his people into a wilderness, and there speak comfortably to them. He appeared to Moses in a flame of fire, yet the bush was not consumed; which represented the state of Israel in Egypt, where, though they were in the fire of affliction, yet they were not consumed. It may also be looked upon as a type of Christ's taking upon him the nature of man, and the union between the Divine and human nature. The death of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, cannot break the covenant relation between God and them. Our Saviour by this proves the future state, Mt 22:31. Abraham is dead, yet God is still his God, therefore Abraham is still alive. Now, this is that life and immortality which are brought to light by the gospel. Stephen here shows that Moses was an eminent type of Christ, as he was Israel's deliverer. God has compassion for the troubles of his church, and the groans of his persecuted people; and their deliverance takes rise from his pity. And that deliverance was typical of what Christ did, when, for us men, and for our salvation, he came down from heaven. This Jesus, whom they now refused, as their fathers did Moses, even this same has God advanced to be a Prince and Saviour. It does not at all take from the just honour of Moses to say, that he was but an instrument, and that he is infinitely outshone by Jesus. In asserting that Jesus should change the customs of the ceremonial law. Stephen was so far from blaspheming Moses, that really he honoured him, by showing how the prophecy of Moses was come to pass, which was so clear. God who gave them those customs by his servant Moses, might, no doubt, change the custom by his Son Jesus. But Israel thrust Moses from them, and would have returned to their bondage; so men in general will not obey Jesus, because they love this present evil world, and rejoice in their own works and devices.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Wonders and signs - Miracles, and remarkable interpositions of God. See the notes on Acts 2:22.

In the land of Egypt - By the ten plagues. Exodus 4-12.

In the Red sea - Dividing it, and conducting the Israelites in safety, and overthrowing the Egyptians, Exodus 14.

In the wilderness - During their forty years' journey to the promised land. The wonders or miracles were, providing them with manna daily; with flesh in a miraculous manner; with water from the rock, etc., Exodus 16; Exodus 17; etc.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

35-41. This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge, &c.—Here, again, "the stone which the builders refused is made the head of the corner" (Ps 118:22).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

After that he had showed wonders and signs: God could with the least word or motion of his will save his people; but he chooseth so to do his wonderful works, that they may be had in remembrance.

In the Red sea; it is not agreed why it is so called; but this name of that sea is mentioned in profane authors. This whole verse, as divers others, refer to the history of it in Exodus, from Exodus 1:1-14:31.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He brought them out,.... Of Egypt, and delivered them from all their oppressions in it:

after that he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt; by turning his rod into a serpent, and by his rod swallowing up the rods of the Egyptians, and by the ten plagues, which were inflicted on Pharaoh, and his people, for not letting the children of Israel go:

and in the Red sea; by dividing the waters of it, so that the people of Israel went through it as on dry ground, which Pharaoh and his army attempting to do, were drowned. This sea is called the Red sea, not from the natural colour of the water, which is the same with that of other seas; nor from the appearance of it through the rays of the sun upon it, or the shade of the red mountains near it; but from Erythrus, to whom it formerly belonged, and whose name signifies red; and is no other than Esau, whose name was Edom, which signifies the same; it lay near his country: it is called in the Hebrew tongue the sea of Suph, from the weeds that grew in it; and so it is in the Syriac version here:

and in the wilderness forty years; where wonders were wrought for the people in providing food for them, and in preserving them from their enemies, when at last they were brought out of it into Canaan's land, by Joshua. This exactly agrees with what has been before observed on Acts 7:23 from the Jewish writings, that Moses was forty years in Pharaoh's court, forty years in Midian, and forty years in the wilderness.

Geneva Study Bible

He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Acts 7:36. On οὗτος see Acts 7:35.—ἐξήγαγεν, Exodus 3:10, καὶ ἐξάξεις τὸν λαόν μου.—Ἐρυθρᾷ θαλάσσῃ in LXX frequent, יָם סוּף sometimes with, sometimes without the article, here as in the Heb. without: cf. the parallel in Assumption of Moses, iii., 11 (ed. Charles), and see below on Acts 7:38.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

36. He brought [led] them out] Having God’s power with him in all these wanderings.

after that he had skewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt] The oldest MSS. omit “the land of.” Read, having wrought wonders and signs in Egypt.

and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years] The Jewish traditions make the plagues sent on the Egyptians at the Red Sea more than those which had been sent to them in Egypt. Thus in the Mechilta (ed. Weiss, p. 41) the Egyptians are said to have received ten plagues in Egypt, but fifty at the Red Sea, because the magicians speak of the afflictions in Egypt (Exodus 8:19) as “the finger of God,” while at the Red Sea it is said (Exodus 14:31) “And Israel saw that great work [Heb. hand] which the Lord did upon the Egyptians.”

Bengel's Gnomen

Acts 7:36. Γῇ—θαλάσσῃ) The mention of the land and sea makes the language august.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 36. - This man for he, A.V.; led them forth for brought them out, A.V. ; having wrought for after that he had showed, A.V. ; Egypt for the land of Egypt, A.V. and T.R. Acts 7:36