Acts 7:35

This Moses. This passage is phrased to emphasize that it was Moses who was the honored one to whom the Lord had appeared.

Whom they refused. Here again is emphasis upon the rejection of Moses by the Hebrew people, although he was so well attested as a messenger of God. Perhaps Stephen implied that his hearers were acting similarly in rejecting Jesus Christ.

Deliverer. Gr. lutrotes, “liberator,” “redeemer.” This word is not found elsewhere in the NT, but it appears in the LXX as a translation of the Hebrew term go’el (see on Ps. 19:14; cf. on Ruth 2:20). Thus, while it has the basic sense of “liberator,” in Biblical usage it carries the overtones of meaning associated with the Hebrew idea of the kinsman-redeemer. Moses liberated, and so redeemed, his people from Egypt, but Christ liberates, redeems, His people from sin and death.

By the hand of the angel. Literally, “with the hand of an angel.” The word “with” stresses that Moses’ work was done in cooperation with the heavenly powers. For the identity of the angel see on Ex. 3:2; cf. on Acts 7:30.