A common misinterpretation of this passage is to see it as diminishing Moses' initial legitimacy or portraying God as forcing an unpopular leader upon reluctant people, suggesting divine afterthought or coercion; in reality, Stephen uses this to expose Israel's pattern of rejecting God's chosen servants from Moses onward, paralleling their treatment of Jesus, rather than critiquing leadership itself or implying Moses lacked early divine backing.
Acts 7:35
King James Version (1769)
35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.
Stephen, in his defense before the Sanhedrin, highlights the irony of Israel's history by noting that the same Moses whom the people rejected, questioning his authority as ruler and judge, was divinely appointed by God as their deliverer through the angel at the burning bush. This underscores God's sovereign choice and empowerment of leaders despite human opposition, foreshadowing the rejection of Jesus as the ultimate deliverer and emphasizing faithfulness amid unbelief.