Hebrews 11:23-31

The writer passes from the patriarchal age to the times of Moses and the Judges.

First the faith of the parents of Moses (τῶν πατέρων αὐτοῦ, in Stephanus' Thesaur, several examples are given of the use of πατέρες for “father and mother,” parents; and consider Ephesians 6:4 and Colossians 3:21) is celebrated. This faith was shown in their concealing Moses for three months after his birth and thus evading the law that male children were to be killed, called in Wis 11:7 νηπιοκτόνον διάταγμα. They did not fear this commandment of the king. It did not weigh against the child's beauty which betokened that he was destined for something great. Their faith consisted in their confidence that God had in store for so handsome a child an exceptional career and would save him to fulfil his destiny. In Acts 7:20 Stephen calls him ἀστεῖος τῷ f1θεῷ, extraordinarily beautiful (cf. Jonah 3:3) or as Philo, De Mos., p. 82, ὄψιν ἀστειοτέραν ἢ κατʼ ἰδιώτην, indicating that he had a corresponding destiny. Moses himself when he had grown up (μέγας γενόμενος, as in Exodus 2:11 paraphrased by Stephen (Acts 7:23) ὡς δὲ ἐπληροῦτο αὐτῷ τεσσαρακονταετὴς χρόνος.) refused to be called a son of a daughter of Pharaoh. The significance and source of this refusal lay in his preferring to suffer ill-usage with God's people rather than to have a short-lived enjoyment of sin. συνκακ., the simple verb in Hebrews 11:37, also Hebrews 13:3; the compound here only. τῷ λαῷ τοῦ θεοῦ, it was because they were God's people, not solely because they were of his blood, that Moses threw in his lot with them. It was this which illustrated his faith. He believed that God would fulfil His promise to His people, little likelihood as at present there seemed to be of any great future for his race. On the other hand there was the ἁμαρτίας ἀπόλαυσις, the enjoyment which was within his reach if only he committed the sin of denying his people and renouncing their future as promised by God. For “the enjoyment to be reaped from sin” does not refer to the pleasure of gratifying sensual appetite and so forth, but to the satisfaction of a high ambition and the gratification of his finer tastes which he might have had by remaining in the Egyptian court. Very similarly Philo interprets the action of Moses, who, he says, “esteemed the good things of those who had adopted him, although more splendid for a season, to be in reality spurious, but those of his natural parents, although for a little while less conspicuous, to be true and genuine” (De Mose, p. 86). That which influenced Moses to make this choice was his estimate of the comparative value of the outcome of suffering with God's people and of the happiness offered in Egypt. μείζονα πλοῦτον … εἰς τὴν μισθαποδοσίαν, “since he considered the reproach of the Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he steadily kept in view the reward”. The reproach or obloquy and disgrace, which Moses experienced is called “the reproach of the Christ” because it was on account of his belief in God's saving purpose that he suffered. The expression is interpreted by our Lord's statement that Abraham saw his day. It does not imply that Moses believed that a personal Christ was to come, but only that God would fulfil that promise which in point of fact was fulfilled in the coming of Christ. The writer uses the expression rather with a view to his readers who were shrinking from the reproach of Christ (Hebrews 13:13), than from the point of view of Moses. Several interpreters (Delitzsch, etc.) suppose that in virtue of the mystical union Christ suffered in his people. But, as Davidson says, “this mystical union cannot be shown to be an idea belonging to the Epistle, nor is this sense pertinent to the connection.” (So Weiss, “die vorstellung liegt unserem Briefe fern”.) Weiss' own interpretation is ingenious: “The O.T. church was created by the pre-existent Messiah to be the people who were destined to introduce through Him perfect salvation; therefore each maltreatment of this people was contempt of Him as unable to avenge and deliver His people”. To say that it means merely “the same reproach that Christ bore” scarcely satisfies the expression. The “treasures of Egypt” must be supposed to include all that had been accumulated during centuries of civilisation. ἀπέβλεπεν, he habitually kept in view the reward. Cf. Xen., Hist., vi. 1, 8 ἡ σὴ πατρὶς εἰς σὲ ἀποβλέπει, also Psalms 11:4, Philo, De Opif., p. 4. κατέλιπεν Αἴγυπτον, “he forsook Egypt,” and fled to Midian. That this flight and not the Exodus is meant appears from the connection of the clause both with what precedes and with what follows. It exhibits the result of his choice (Hebrews 11:26), and it alludes to what preceded the Passover (Hebrews 11:28). The word ἐκαρτέρησεν, denoting long continued endurance also suits better this reference. The only difficulty in the way of accepting this interpretation is found in the words μὴ φοβηθεὶς τὸν θυμὸν τοῦ βασιλέως, because, according to Exodus 2:15, the motive of his flight was fear of the king. ἐφοβήθη δὲ Μωυσῆς. But what is in the writer's mind is not Pharaoh's wrath as cause but as consequence of Moses' abandonment of Egypt. His flight showed that he had finally renounced life at court, and in thus indicating by this decisive action that he was an Israelite, and meant to share with his people, he braved the king's wrath. This he was strengthened to do because he saw an invisible monarch greater than Pharaoh. Vaughan seems the only interpreter who has precisely hit the writer's meaning: “the two fears are different, the one is the fear arising from the discovery of his slaying the Egyptian, the other is the fear of Pharaoh's anger on discovering his flight. He feared and therefore fled: he feared not, and therefore fled.” Having fled and so cutting himself off from all immediate opportunity of helping his people, ἐκαρτέρησεν, “he steadfastly bided his time,” because he saw the Invisible, being thus an eminent illustration of faith as ἔλεγχος οὐ βλεπομένων. The aorist gathers the forty years in Midian into one exhibition of wonderful perseverance in faith. It was the upper form of the school which disciplined Moses and wrought him to the mould of a hero. Another point in his career at which faith manifested itself was the Exodus, πεποίηκεν τὸ πάσχα, “he hath celebrated the Passover”. Alford says the perfect is used on account of the Passover being “a still enduring Feast”. But it is Moses' celebration of it that the perfect represents as enduring. The classical treatment of the question, Has ποιεῖν a sacrificial meaning in the N.T.? will be found in Prof. T. K. Abbott's Essays. ποιεῖν is regularly used of “keeping” a feast; and this is a classical usage as well. Cf. Exodus 12:48; Exodus 23:16; Exodus 34:22; 2 Chronicles 35:17-19. τὸ πάσχα originally the paschal lamb, Exodus 12:21, καὶ θύσατε τὸ πάσχα, Mark 14:12 τὸ πάσχα ἔθυον, hence the feast of Passover as in Luke 22:1. It is written φασέκ throughout 2 Chronicles 30, 35, also in Jeremiah 38:8. καὶ τὴν πρόσχυσιν τοῦ αἵματος, “and the affusion of the blood” the sprinkling of the blood on the door posts as commanded in Exodus 12:7; Exodus 12:22, the object being that the destroyers of the first-borns might not touch them. As θιγγάνω is followed by a genitive in Hebrews 12:20 it is probable that the writer here also meant it to govern αὐτῶν while πρωτότοκα follows ὀλοθρεύων. So R.V. ὁ ὀλοθρεύων is taken from Exodus 12:23. πρωτότοκα, first-borns of man and also of beasts, Exodus 12:12. αὐτῶν is naturally referred to “the people of God,” Hebrews 11:25. It was a noteworthy faith which enabled Moses confidently to promise the people protection from the general destruction. On their part also there was the manifestation of a strong faith. διέβησαν τὴν ἐρυθρὰν θάλασσαν … “they passed through the Red sea as if on dry land”. The nominative must be taken out of αὐτῶν. διέβησαν, the usual term for crossing a river or a space. The Red sea is in Hebrew “the Sea of [red] weeds”. διὰ ξηρᾶς γῆς as in Exodus 14:29 ἐπορεύθησαν διὰ ξηρᾶς ἐν μέσῳ τῆς θαλάσσης, also Exodus 15:19; and cf. the various impressions in the Psalms which celebrate the great deliverance. The greatness of the people's faith is accentuated by the fate of the Egyptians, whose attempt to follow was audacity and presumption not faith. ἧς πεῖραν λαβόντες … “of which [i.e., of the sea] making trial the Egyptians were swallowed up,” Exodus 15:4 κατεπόθησαν ἐν ἐρυθρᾷ θαλάσσῃ. Another instance of the faith of the people and its effects is found in the fall of the walls of Jericho. The greatness of the faith may be measured by the difficulty we now have in believing that the walls fell without the application of any visible force. God's promise was, πεσεῖται αὐτόματα τὰ τείχη, and believing this promise the people compassed the city seven days. The greatness of their faith was further exhibited in their continuing to compass the city day after day, for in the promise (Joshua 6:1-5) no mention is made of any delay in its fulfilment and the natural inference would be that the walls would fall on the first day. That none should have felt foolish marching day after day round the solid walls is beyond nature, κυκλωθέντα, see Joshua 6:6; Joshua 6:14 and for ἐπὶ ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας, Joshua 6:14. “When applied to time, ἐπί denotes the period over which something extends, as Luke 4:25, ἐπὶ ἔτη τρία, during three years” (Winer, p. 508). The fall of Jericho and the extermination of its inhabitants suggest the escape of Rahab. ἡ πόρνη, in its strict meaning (“ista meretrix” (Origen), “fornicaria” (Irenaeus), is introduced to emphasise the power of faith; she did not perish along with the disobedient (Hebrews 3:18); ἀπειθήσασιν, they knew that the Lord had given the land to Israel (Joshua 2:9-10) but did not submit themselves to the acknowledged purpose of Jehovah. Rahab acted upon her belief in this purpose and instead of delivering up the spies as enemies of her country “received them with peace,” that is, as friends, risking her life because of her faith.