Acts 7:20

ἐν ᾧ καιρῷ, cf. Acts 1:7; Acts 3:19, characterising the time, comp. Bengel, tristi, opportuno : on the name Μωυσῆς see Blass, Grammatik. p. 10, and Hamburger, Real-Encyclopâdie des Judentums, i., 5, p. 768, and critical notes. ἀστεῖος τῷ Θεῷ : if we render the expression as in A. and R.V., “exceeding fair,” the dative τῷ Θεῷ is used as an equivalent of the Hebrew expression employed almost in a superlative sense, לֵאלהִים, Jonah 3:3. πόλις μεγ. τῷ Θεῷ. Or the expression may be rendered “fair to God,” i.e., in the judgment of God; cf. δυνατὰ τῷ Θεῷ, 2 Corinthians 10:4 and James 2:5, τοὺς πτωχοὺς τῷ κόσμῳ. Page and Wendt compare Æsch., Agam., 352, and see also Simcox, Language of the N. T., p. 81. ἀστεῖος, lit [201], belonging to the city (opposite to ἄγροικος), witty, clever; then, elegant, pretty; Vulgate, elegans, used as a general word of praise: applied to Moses here, in Exodus 2:2, and Hebrews 11:23, and also by Philo, cf. also Jos., Ant., ii., 97, and see Hamburger, u. s., i., 5, p. 773; Jalkut Rubeni, f. 75, 4. For other instances of the use of the word see LXX, Numbers 22:32; Judges 3:17, and Jdt 11:23, Sus annah, ver 7; in the last two passages used of physical fairness, prettiness (cf. Arist., Eth. Nic., iv., 3, 5, and instances in Wetstein). In 2Ma 6:23 it is also used, and ἀστείως in 2Ma 12:43 in the general sense of right and good, honestly. ἀνετράφη μῆνας τρεῖς, cf. Exodus 2:2, verb used only by St. Luke, twice in this chapter, and in Acts 20:3, once in Luke 4:16, but cf. margin, W.H [202] not used in LXX, but in Wis 7:4 (where A has ἀνεστρ.), and see also 4Ma 10:2; 4Ma 11:15 (but A.R., τραφ.). The word is used in classical Greek, as in Wis 7:4 and here, of a child nourished to promote its growth (although sometimes with the idea of improving the mind, cf. Acts 20:3). In the N.T. it is peculiar to St. Luke, and it is just the word which a medical man would use, frequently found in medical writings, opposed to ἰσχναίνω; see L. and., sub v., and Hobart, Medical Language, p. 207.

[201] literal, literally.

[202] Westcott and Hort's The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.