SEV Biblia, Chapter 7:30
¶ Y cumplidos cuarenta aos, el ngel del Seor le apareci en el desierto del monte de Sinaí, en fuego de llama de una zarza.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Acts 7:30
Verse 30. In a flame of fire in a bush.] See this and the following verses largely explained in the notes on Exod. iii. 1-8.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 30. And when forty years were expired , etc.] Forty other years the Arabic version reads; for so long the Jews say Moses kept Jethros flock, and so many years he lived in Midian; and so the Syriac version, when then he had filled up forty years; which agrees exactly with the account of the Jewish writers observed on ( Acts 7:23) who say, that he was forty years in Pharaohs court, and forty years in Midian; so that he was now, as they elsewhere justly observe, fourscore years of age: there appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai ; the same with Horeb, ( Exodus 3:1) where it is said, Moses came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb; where he saw the sight of the burning bush, and out of which the angel appeared to him: and Stephen is to be justified in calling it Mount Sinai; the account which Jerom gives of it is this; Horeb is the Mount of God in the land of Midian, by Mount Sinai, above Arabia, in the desert, to which is joined the mountain and desert of the Saracenes, called Pharan: but to me it seems, that the same mountain was called by two names, sometimes Sinai, and sometimes Horeb; and in which he was right. Some think the same mountain had two tops, and one went by one name, and the other by another; or one side of the mountain was called Horeb, from its being dry and desolate; and the other Sinai, from the bushes and brambles which grew upon it. So ynys , Sinin, in the Misna f346 , signifies the thin barks of bramble bushes; and the bush hereafter mentioned, in the Hebrew language, is called hns , Seneh; from whence, with the Jews, it is said to have its name. Says R. Eliezer, from the day the heavens and the earth were created, the name of this mountain was called Horeb; but after the holy blessed God appeared to Moses out of the midst of the bush, from the name of the bush (Seneh), Horeb was called Sinai. Some say the stones of this mountain, when broken, had the resemblance of bramble bushes in them. Add to this, that Josephus calls this mountain by the same name as Stephen does, when he is reciting the same history. Moses, he says, led the flock to the Sinaean mountain, as it is called: this is the highest mountain in that country, and best for pasture, abounding in good herbage; and because it was commonly believed the Divine Being dwelt there, it was not before fed upon, the shepherds not daring to go up to it.
Here Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law; for to such a life did he condescend, who for forty years had been brought up in the court of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Here appeared to him an angel of the Lord , and who was no other than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as appears from ( Acts 7:32) and was the second person in the Trinity, the Son of God, the angel of the divine presence, and of the covenant, an uncreated angel. And this is the sense of many of the Jewish writers, who interpret it of the angel the Redeemer, the God of Bethel f350 ; though Jonathan the paraphrast seems to understand it of a created angel, whose name he calls Zagnugael f351 , and some say it was Michael, and some Gabriel f352 . In a flame of fire in a bush ; and which yet was not consumed by it. This bush was a bramble bush, or thorn; so Aben Ezra says it was a kind of thorn, and observes, that in the Ishmaelitish or Turkish language, the word signifies a kind of dry thorn; and so Philo the Jew says f354 , it was a thorny plant, and very weak; and therefore it was the more wonderful, that it should be on fire, and not consumed. Josephus affirms, that neither its verdure, nor its flowers were hurt, nor any of its fruitful branches consumed, though the flame was exceeding fierce. The Jerusalem Targum of ( Exodus 3:2) is, and he saw and beheld the bush burned with fire, and the bush byjrm : became green; or, as Buxtorf renders it, emitted a moisture, and was not burnt.
This sight, the Arabic writers say, Moses saw at noon day. Artapanus f357 , an ancient writer, makes mention of this burning, but takes no notice of the bush; yea, denies that there was anything woody in the place, and represents it only as a stream of fire issuing out of the earth: his words are, as he (Moses) was praying, suddenly fire broke out of the earth, and burned, when there was nothing woody, nor any matter fit for burning in the place.
But Philo better describes it; speaking of the bush, he says f358 , no one bringing fire to it, suddenly it burned, and was all in a flame from the root to the top, as if it was from a flowing fountain, and remained whole and unhurt, as if it was no fuel for the fire, but was nourished by it.
The Jews allegorize this vision different ways: sometimes they say f359 , the fire designs the Israelites, who are compared to fire, as it is said, (Obidiah 1:18) the house of Jacob shall be a fire; and the bush denotes the nations of the world, which are compared to thorns and thistles; so shall the Israelites be among the people, their fire shall not consume the people, who are like to thorns and briers; nor shall the nations of the world extinguish their flame, which is the words of the law: but in the world to come, the fire of the Israelites shall consume all people, who are compared to thorns and thistles, according to ( Isaiah 33:12) But it is much better observed in the same place; the bush pricks, afflicts, and gives pain, why does he (the Lord) dwell in affliction and anguish? because he saw the Israelites in great affliction, he also dwelt with them in affliction, as it is said, ( Isaiah 63:9) in all their affliction he was afflicted And very appropriately is it remarked by Philo f360 ; the burning bush (says he) is a symbol of the oppressed, the flaming fire, of the oppressors; and whereas that which was burning was not burnt, it shows, that they that are oppressed shall not perish by those who attempt it; and that their attempt shall be in vain, and they shall escape safe.
And so Aben Ezra has this note on ( Exodus 3:2). the enemy is compared to fire, and Israel to the bush, wherefore it was not burnt: this may be very well considered as an emblem of the state of the Jewish people in fiery trials, and very severe afflictions; who were like a bush for the number of its twigs and branches, they being many, and for its weakness and liableness to be consumed by fire, and yet wonderfully preserved by the power and presence of God among them.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 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 ther speak comfortably to them. He appeared to Moses in a flame of fire, ye the bush was not consumed; which represented the state of Israel i Egypt, where, though they were in the fire of affliction, yet they wer not consumed. It may also be looked upon as a type of Christ's takin upon him the nature of man, and the union between the Divine and huma 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 an immortality which are brought to light by the gospel. Stephen her shows that Moses was an eminent type of Christ, as he was Israel' 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. Thi Jesus, whom they now refused, as their fathers did Moses, even thi 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 a instrument, and that he is infinitely outshone by Jesus. In assertin that Jesus should change the customs of the ceremonial law. Stephen wa so far from blaspheming Moses, that really he honoured him, by showin how the prophecy of Moses was come to pass, which was so clear. God wh gave them those customs by his servant Moses, might, no doubt, chang the custom by his Son Jesus. But Israel thrust Moses from them, an would have returned to their bondage; so men in general will not obe Jesus, because they love this present evil world, and rejoice in their own works and devices.
Greek Textus Receptus
και 2532 CONJ πληρωθεντων 4137 5685 V-APP-GPN ετων 2094 N-GPN τεσσαρακοντα 5062 A-NUI ωφθη 3700 5681 V-API-3S αυτω 846 P-DSM εν 1722 PREP τη 3588 T-DSF ερημω 2048 A-DSF του 3588 T-GSN ορους 3735 N-GSN σινα 4614 N-PRI αγγελος 32 N-NSM κυριου 2962 N-GSM εν 1722 PREP φλογι 5395 N-DSF πυρος 4442 N-GSN βατου 942 N-GSM
Robertson's NT Word Studies
7:30 Sentence begins with genitive absolute again. {In a flame of fire in a bush} (en flogi puros batou). Horeb in #Ex 3:1; but Sinai and Horeb were "probably peaks of one mountain range" (Page), Horeb "the mountain of the dried-up ground," Sinai "the mountain of the thorns." Literally, "in the flame of fire of a bush" (two genitives, puros and batou dependent on flogi, flame). Descriptive genitives as in #9:15; 2Th 1:8. batos (bush) is the wild acacia (_mimosa nilotica_). In #Ex 3:20 it is Jehovah who speaks. Hence "angel" here with Stephen is understood to be the Angel of the Presence, the Eternal logos of the Father, the Angel of Jehovah.
