Today’s Scripture Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. – Acts 7:21

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 3, 2014): Acts 7

Artapanus of Alexandria, a Jewish historian who lived during the latter half of 3^rd Century B.C.E., argued for a very elevated of history of Moses. According to Artapanus, Moses was highly educated and one of the authors of Egyptian culture. Moses was credited with the building of cities and Artapanus argued that it was Moses, and not the Egyptian folk hero Sesostris, that was responsible for the administrative dividing of Egypt and as well as the successful conquering of Ethiopia – and the latter he accomplished while commanding an unskilled army.  As a result of these actions, Moses was the victim of jealousy from other officers. And it was as a result of this jealousy that Moses was sent into exile.  

Just over 200 years after Artapanus, Stephen provides his own history of Moses. It is very probable that Stephen was aware of the writing of Artapanus, and yet he refuses to follow all of Artapanus’ arguments. Instead, Stephen is simply willing to argue that Moses was well educated within the Egyptian system, which was the premier educational system of its day. But he makes no other mention of the Artapanus history of Moses. But one place where Stephen seems to depart from the Exodus account, an account that is traditionally thought to have been written by or at the very least under the direct observation of Moses himself, was in the area Moses powerful ability “in speech and action.” Moses own evaluation of his abilities was significantly different. Moses describes his abilities this way - “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue” (Exodus 4:10).

Yet, despite Moses objections, there is a logic in Stephen’s view of history. As a boy being raised within the household of the Pharaoh, a high level of education would have been an automatic right and expectation, and that education would most likely include an early form of rhetoric, or lessons centered on how to talk or have discourse with others. But one thing that Moses, Stephen and Artapanus all seem to agree with is that Moses spent time in exile. It might that Moses blamed his lack of ability to speak and act as the reason why he went into exile – a cause that both Artapanus and Stephen discounted.

The bottom line is that there is no real reason to doubt Moses education – or his training in the art of conversation. But even though Moses had both education and ability, he was still set aside for the middle part of his life. The problem was that to accomplish the things of God, Moses talent and education were simply not enough. And God would not end up calling Moses and augmenting Moses’ education with his power – and his purpose - until much later in his life. Without God, Moses human education was simply not enough, leaving him feeling that he was “slow of speech and tongue.”

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Acts 8