Acts 7:20-43
“At that time Moses was born. He was not an ordinary child. For three months he was taken care of by his family. Then he was placed outside. But Pharaoh’s daughter took him home. She brought him up as her own son. Moses was taught all the knowledge of the people of Egypt. He became a powerful speaker and a man of action.
“When Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit the people of Israel. They were his own people. He saw one of them being treated badly by an Egyptian. So he went to help him. He got even by killing the man. Moses thought his own people would realize that God was using him to save them. But they didn’t. The next day Moses saw two Israelites fighting. He tried to make peace between them. ‘Men, you are both Israelites,’ he said. ‘Why do you want to hurt each other?’
“But the man who was treating the other one badly pushed Moses to one side. He said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ (Exodus 2:14) When Moses heard this, he escaped to Midian. He lived there as an outsider. He became the father of two sons there.
“Forty years passed. Then an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush. This happened in the desert near Mount Sinai. When Moses saw the bush, he was amazed. He went over for a closer look. There he heard the Lord say, ‘I am the God of your fathers. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ (Exodus 3:6) Moses shook with fear. He didn’t dare to look.
“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals. You must do this because the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have seen my people beaten down in Egypt. I have heard their groans. I have come down to set them free. Now come. I will send you back to Egypt.’ (Exodus 3:5,7,8,10)
“This is the same Moses the two men of Israel would not accept. They had said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ But God himself sent Moses to rule the people of Israel and set them free. He spoke to Moses through an angel. The angel had appeared to him in the bush. So Moses led them out of Egypt. He did wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for 40 years in the desert.
“This is the same Moses who spoke to the Israelites. ‘God will send you a prophet,’ he said. ‘He will be like me. He will come from your own people.’ (Deuteronomy 18:15) Moses was with the Israelites in the desert. He was with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai. Moses was with our people of long ago. He received living words to pass on to us.
“But our people refused to obey Moses. They would not accept him. In their hearts, they wished they were back in Egypt. They told Aaron, ‘Make us a god who will lead us. This fellow Moses brought us up out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him!’ (Exodus 32:1) That was the time they made a statue to be their god. It was shaped like a calf. They brought sacrifices to it. They even enjoyed what they had made with their own hands. But God turned away from them. He let them go on worshiping the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets. There it says,
“ ‘People of Israel, did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
for 40 years in the desert?
You have taken with you the shrine of your false god Molek.
You have taken with you the star of your false god Rephan.
You made statues of those gods to worship.
So I will send you away from your country.’ (Amos 5:25–27)
God sent them to Babylon and even farther.
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