@Heb 11:1-40. DEFINITION OF THE FAITH JUST SPOKEN OF (@Heb 10:39): EXAMPLES FROM THE OLD COVENANT FOR OUR PERSEVERANCE IN FAITH.
1. Description of the great things which faith (in its widest
sense: not here restricted to faith in the Gospel sense) does for
us. Not a full definition of faith in its whole nature, but a
description of its great characteristics in relation to the subject of
Paul's exhortation here, namely, to perseverance.
substance, &c.--It substantiates promises of God which we hope for,
as future in fulfilment, making them present realities to us. However,
the Greek is translated in @Heb 3:14, "confidence"; and it also
here may mean "sure confidence." So ALFORD
translates. THOMAS
MAGISTER
supports English Version, "The whole thing that follows is virtually
contained in the first principle; now the first commencement of the
things hoped for is in us through the assent of faith, which virtually
contains all the things hoped for." Compare Note,
see on Heb 6:5,
"tasted . . . powers of the world to come." Through faith, the future
object of Christian hope, in its beginning, is already present. True
faith infers the reality of the objects believed in and honed for
(@Heb 11:6).
HUGO DE
ST.
VICTOR distinguished faith from
hope. By faith alone we are sure of eternal things that they
ARE: but by hope we are confident that
WE SHALL HAVE them. All hope
presupposes faith (@Ro 8:25).
evidence--"demonstration": convincing proof to the believer: the soul
thereby seeing what the eye cannot see.
things not seen--the whole invisible and spiritual world: not things
future and things pleasant, as the "things hoped for," but also the past
and present, and those the reverse of pleasant. "Eternal life is
promised to us, but it is when we are dead: we are told of a blessed
resurrection, but meanwhile we moulder in the dust; we are declared to
be justified, and sin dwells in us; we hear that we are blessed,
meantime we are overwhelmed in endless miseries: we are promised
abundance of all goods, but we still endure hunger and thirst; God
declares He will immediately come to our help, but He seems deaf to our
cries. What should we do if we had not faith and hope to lean on, and if
our mind did not emerge amidst the darkness above the world by the
shining of the Word and Spirit of God?" [CALVIN]. Faith is an assent
unto truths credible upon the testimony of God (not on the
reasonableness of the thing revealed, though by this we may judge as
to whether it be what it professes, a genuine revelation), delivered
unto us in the writings of the apostles and prophets. Thus Christ's
ascension is the cause, and His absence the crown, of our faith: because
He ascended, we the more believe, and because we believe in Him who hath
ascended, our faith is the more accepted [BISHOP
PEARSON]. Faith
believes what it sees not; for if thou seest there is no faith; the Lord
has gone away so as not to be seen: He is hidden that He may be
believed; the yearning desire by faith after Him who is unseen is the
preparation of a heavenly mansion for us; when He shall be seen it shall
be given to us as the reward of faith [AUGUSTINE]. As Revelation deals
with spiritual and invisible things exclusively, faith is the faculty
needed by us, since it is the evidence of things not seen. By faith we
venture our eternal interests on the bare word of God, and this is
altogether reasonable.
2. For--So high a description of faith is not undeserved; for . . .
[ALFORD].
by it--Greek, "in it": in respect to . . . in the matter of,"
it, "or, as Greek more emphatically, "this."
the elders--as though still living and giving their powerful
testimony to the reasonableness and excellence of faith (@Heb 12:1).
Not merely the ancients, as though they were people solely of the
past; nay, they belong to the one and the same blessed family as
ourselves (@Heb 11:39,40). "The elders," whom we all revere so
highly. "Paul shows how we ought to seek in all its fulness, under the
veil of history, the essential substance of the doctrine sometimes
briefly indicated" [BENGEL]. "The elders," as "the fathers," is a
title of honor given on the ground of their bright faith and practice.
obtained a good report--Greek, "were testified of," namely,
favorably (compare @Heb 7:8). It is a phrase of Luke, Paul's
companion. Not only men, but God, gave testimony to their faith
(@Heb 11:4,5,39). Thus they being testified of themselves have
become "witnesses" to all others (@Heb 12:1). The earlier elders had
their patience exercised for a long period of life: those later, in
sharper afflictions. Many things which they hoped for and did not see,
subsequently came to pass and were conspicuously seen, the event
confirming faith [BENGEL].
3. we understand--We perceive with our spiritual intelligence the
fact of the world's creation by God, though we see neither Him nor the
act of creation as described in @Ge 1:1-31. The natural world could
not, without revelation, teach us this truth, though it confirms the
truth when apprehended by faith (@Ro 1:20). Adam is passed over in
silence here as to his faith, perhaps as being the first who fell and
brought sin on us all; though it does not follow that he did not repent
and believe the promise.
worlds--literally, "ages"; all that exists in time and space, visible
and invisible, present and eternal.
framed--"fitly formed and consolidated"; including the creation of
the single parts and the harmonious organization of the whole, and the
continual providence which maintains the whole throughout all ages. As
creation is the foundation and a specimen of the whole divine economy,
so faith in creation is the foundation and a specimen of all faith
[BENGEL].
by the word of God--not here, the personal word (Greek,
"logos," @Joh 1:1) but the spoken word
(Greek,
"rhema"); though by the instrumentality of the personal word
(@Heb 1:2).
not made, &c.--Translate as Greek, "so that not out of things
which appear hath that which is seen been made"; not as in the case of
all things which we see reproduced from previously existing and visible
materials, as, for instance, the plant from the seed, the animal from
the parent, &c., has the visible world sprung into being from apparent
materials. So also it is implied in the first clause of the verse that
the invisible spiritual worlds were framed not from previously existing
materials. BENGEL explains it by distinguishing "appear," that is,
begin to be seen (namely, at creation), from that which is seen
as already in existence, not merely beginning to be seen; so that
the things seen were not made of the things which appear," that is,
which begin to be seen by us in the act of creation. We were not
spectators of creation; it is by faith we perceive it.
4. more excellent sacrifice--because offered in faith. Now
faith must have some revelation of God on which it fastens. The
revelation in this case was doubtless God's command to sacrifice
animals ("the firstlings of the flock") in token of the forfeiture
of men's life by sin, and as a type of the promised bruiser of the
serpent's head (@Ge 3:15), the one coming sacrifice: this command is
implied in God's having made coats of skin for Adam and Eve
(@Ge 3:21): for these skins must have been taken from animals slain
in sacrifice: inasmuch as it was not for food they were slain,
animal food not being permitted till after the flood; nor for mere
clothing, as, were it so, clothes might have been made of the
fleeces without the needless cruelty of killing the animal; but a coat
of skin put on Adam from a sacrificed animal typified the covering or
atonement (the Hebrew for atone means to cover) resulting
from Christ's sacrifice. The Greek is more literally rendered
[KENNICOTT] by
WYCLIFFE, "a much more sacrifice"; and by Queen
Elizabeth's version "a greater sacrifice." A fuller, more ample
sacrifice, that which partook more largely and essentially of the true
nature and virtue of sacrifice [ARCHBISHOP
MAGEE]. It was not any
intrinsic merit in "the firstling of the flock" above "the fruit of the
ground." It was God's appointment that gave it all its excellency as a
sacrifice; if it had not been so, it would have been a presumptuous act
of will-worship (@Col 2:23), and taking of a life which man had
no right over before the flood (@Ge 9:1-6). The sacrifice seems to
have been a holocaust, and the sign of the divine acceptance of it was
probably the consumption of it by fire from heaven (@Ge 15:17).
Hence, "to accept" a burnt sacrifice is in Hebrew "to turn it to
ashes" (@Ps 20:3, Margin). A flame seems to have issued from the
Shekinah, or flaming cherubim, east of Eden ("the presence of the Lord,"
@Ge 4:16), where the first sacrifices were offered. Cain, in
unbelieving self-righteousness, presented merely a thank offering,
not like Abel feeling his need of the propitiatory sacrifice appointed
on account of sin. God "had respect (first) unto Abel, and (then) to his
offering" (@Ge 4:4). Faith causes the believer's person to be
accepted, and then his offering. Even an animal sacrifice, though of
God's appointment, would not have been accepted, had it not been offered
in faith.
he obtained witness--God by fire attesting His acceptance of him
as "righteous by faith."
his gifts--the common term for sacrifices, implying that they must
be freely given.
by it--by faith exhibited in his animal sacrifice.
dead, yet speaketh--His blood crying front the ground to God, shows
how precious, because of his "faith," he was still in God's sight, even
when dead. So he becomes a witness to us of the blessed effects of
faith.
5. Faith was the ground of his pleasing God; and his
pleasing God was the ground of his translation.
translated--(@Ge 5:22,24). Implying a sudden removal
(the same Greek as in @Ga 1:6) from mortality without death to
immortality: such a CHANGE as shall pass over the living at Christ's
coming (@1Co 15:51,52).
had this testimony--namely of Scripture; the Greek perfect implies
that this testimony continues still: "he has been testified of."
pleased God--The Scripture testimony virtually expresses that he
pleased God, namely, "Enoch walked with God." The Septuagint
translates the Hebrew for "walked with God," @Ge 6:9,
pleased God.
6. without--Greek, "apart from faith": if one be destitute
of faith (compare @Ro 14:23).
to please--Translate, as ALFORD
does, the Greek aorist, "It is
impossible to please God at all" (@Ro 8:8). Natural amiabilities
and "works done before the grace of Christ are not pleasant to God,
forasmuch as they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ; yea, rather, for
that they are not done as God hath willed them to be done, we doubt not
but they have the nature of sin" [Article XIII, Book of Common Prayer].
Works not rooted in God are splendid sins [AUGUSTINE].
he that cometh to God--as a worshipper (@Heb 7:19).
must believe--once for all: Greek aorist tense.
that God is--is the true self-existing Jehovah (as contrasted with
all so-called gods, not gods, @Ga 4:8), the source of all being,
though he sees Him not (@Heb 11:1) as being "invisible"
(@Heb 11:27). So Enoch; this passage implies that he had not been
favored with visible appearances of God, yet he believed in
God's being, and in God's moral government, as the Rewarder of
His diligent worshippers, in opposition to antediluvian skepticism. Also
Moses was not so favored before he left Egypt the first time
(@Heb 11:27); still he believed.
and . . . is--a different Greek verb from the former "is."
Translate, "is eventually"; proves to be; literally, "becomes."
rewarder--renderer of reward [ALFORD].
So God proved to be to Enoch.
The reward is God Himself diligently "sought" and "walked with" in
partial communion here, and to be fully enjoyed hereafter. Compare
@Ge 15:1, "I am thy exceeding great reward."
of them--and them only.
diligently seek--Greek, "seek out" God. Compare "seek early,"
@Pr 8:17. Not only "ask" and "seek," but "knock," @Mt 7:7; compare
@Heb 11:12 Lu 13:24, "Strive" as in an agony of contest.
7. warned of God--The same Greek, @Heb 8:5, "admonished of
God."
moved with fear--not mere slavish fear, but as in @Heb 5:7;
see on Heb 5:7; Greek, "reverential fear": opposed to the
world's sneering disbelief of the revelation, and self-deceiving
security. Join "by faith" with "prepared an ark" (@1Pe 3:20).
by the which--faith.
condemned the world--For since he believed and was saved, so might
they have believed and been saved, so that their condemnation by God is
by his case shown to be just.
righteousness which is by faith--Greek, "according to faith." A
Pauline thought. Noah is first called "righteous" in @Ge 6:9. Christ
calls Abel so, @Mt 23:35. Compare as to Noah's righteousness,
@Eze 14:14,20 2Pe 2:5, "a preacher of righteousness." Paul here
makes faith the principle and ground of his righteousness.
heir--the consequence of sonship which flows from faith.
8. From the antediluvian saints he passes to the patriarchs of
Israel, to whom "the promises" belonged.
called--by God (@Ge 12:1). The oldest manuscripts and Vulgate read, "He that was called Abraham," his
name being changed from Abram to
Abraham, on the occasion of God's making with him and his seed a
covenant sealed by circumcision, many years after his call out of Ur.
"By faith, he who was (afterwards) called Abraham
(father of nations, @Ge 17:5, in order to become which was
the design of God's bringing him out of Ur) obeyed
(the command of God: to be understood in this reading),
so as to go out," &c.
which he should after receive--He had not fully received even this
promise when he went out, for it was not explicitly given him till
he had reached Canaan (@Ge 12:1,6,7). When the promise of the land
was given him the Canaanite was still in the land, and himself a
stranger; it is in the new heaven and new earth that he shall receive
his personal inheritance promised him; so believers sojourn on earth as
strangers, while the ungodly and Satan lord it over the earth; but at
Christ's coming that same earth which was the scene of the believer's
conflict shall be the inheritance of Christ and His saints.
9. sojourned--as a "stranger and pilgrim."
in--Greek, "into," that is, he went into it and sojourned
there.
as in a strange country--a country not belonging to him, but to
others (so the Greek), @Ac 7:5,6.
dwelling in tabernacles--tents: as strangers and
sojourners do: moving from place to place, as having
no fixed possession of their
own. In contrast to the abiding "city" (@Heb 11:10).
with--Their kind of dwelling being the same is a proof that their
faith was the same. They all alike were content to wait for their good
things hereafter (@Lu 16:25). Jacob was fifteen years old at the
death of Abraham.
heirs with him of the same promise--Isaac did not inherit it from
Abraham, nor Jacob from Isaac, but they all inherited it from God
directly as "fellow heirs." In @Heb 6:12,15,17, "the promise" means
the thing promised as a thing in part already attained; but in
this chapter "the promise" is of something still future. However,
see on Heb 6:12.
10. looked for--Greek, "he was expecting"; waiting for with
eager expectation (@Ro 8:19).
a city--Greek, "the city," already alluded to. Worldly
Enoch, son of the murderer Cain, was the first to build his city here:
the godly patriarchs waited for their city hereafter
(@Heb 11:16 12:22 13:14).
foundations--Greek, "the foundations" which the tents had not, nor even men's present cities have.
whose builder and maker--Greek, "designer
[@Eph 1:4,11]
and master-builder," or executor of the design. The city is worthy
of its Framer and Builder (compare @Heb 11:16 Heb 8:2).
Compare Note,
see on Heb 9:12," on "found."
11. also Sara herself--though being the weaker vessel, and though at
first she doubted.
was delivered of a child--omitted in the oldest manuscripts: then
translate, "and that when she was past age" (@Ro 4:19).
she judged him faithful who had promised--after she had ceased to
doubt, being instructed by the angel that it was no jest, but a matter
in serious earnest.
12. as good as dead--literally, "deadened"; no longer having, as in
youth, energetic vital powers.
stars . . . sand--(@Ge 22:17).
13-16. Summary of the characteristic excellencies of the patriarchs'
faith
died in faith--died as believers, waiting for, not actually
seeing as yet their good things promised to them. They were true to
this principle of faith even unto, and especially in, their dying
hour (compare @Heb 11:20).
These all--beginning with "Abraham" (@Heb 11:8), to whom
the promises were made (@Ga 3:16), and who is alluded to in the
end of @Heb 11:13 and in @Heb 11:15
[BENGEL and
ALFORD]. But
the "ALL"
can hardly but include Abel, Enoch, and Noah. Now as these did
not receive the promise of entering literal Canaan,
some other promise made in the first ages, and often repeated, must
be that meant, namely, the promise of a coming Redeemer made to Adam,
namely, "the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." Thus
the promises cannot have been merely temporal, for Abel and Enoch
mentioned here received no temporal promise [ARCHBISHOP
MAGEE]. This
promise of eternal redemption is the inner essence of the promises made
to Abraham (@Ga 3:16).
not having received--It was this that constituted their "faith." If
they had "received" THE THING PROMISED
(so "the promises" here mean: the
plural is used because of the frequent renewal of the promise to the
patriarchs: @Heb 11:17 says he did receive the promises, but
not the thing promised), it would have been sight, not
faith.
seen them afar off--(@Joh 8:56). Christ, as the Word, was preached
to the Old Testament believers, and so became the seed of life to their
souls, as He is to ours.
and were persuaded of them--The oldest manuscripts omit this clause.
embraced them--as though they were not "afar off," but within reach,
so as to draw them to themselves and clasp them in their embrace.
TRENCH denies that the
Old Testament believers embraced them, for
they only saw them afar off: he translates, "saluted them," as the
homeward-bound mariner, recognizing from afar the well-known
promontories of his native land. ALFORD
translates, "greeted them."
Jacob's exclamation, "I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord"
(@Ge 49:18) is such a greeting of salvation from afar
[DELITZSCH].
confessed . . . were strangers--so Abraham to the children of Heth
(@Ge 23:4); and Jacob to Pharaoh (@Ge 47:9 Ps 119:19). Worldly
men hold fast the world; believers sit loose to it.
Citizens of the world do not confess themselves "strangers on the
earth."
pilgrims--Greek, "temporary (literally, 'by the way')
sojourners."
on the earth--contrasted with "an heavenly" (@Heb 11:16): "our
citizenship is in heaven" (Greek: @Heb 10:34 Ps 119:54 Php 3:20). "Whosoever professes that he has a
Father in heaven, confesses himself a stranger on earth; hence there is
in the heart an ardent longing, like that of a child living among
strangers, in want and grief, far from his fatherland"
[LUTHER]. "Like
ships in seas while in, above the world."
14. For--proof that "faith" (@Heb 11:13) was their actuating
principle.
declare plainly--make it plainly evident.
seek--Greek, "seek after"; implying the direction towards
which their desires ever tend.
a country--rather as Greek, "a fatherland." In confessing
themselves strangers here, they evidently imply that they regard not
this as their home or fatherland, but seek after another and a better.
15. As Abraham, had he desired to leave his pilgrim life in Canaan, and resume his former fixed habitation in Ur, among the carnal and worldly, had in his long life ample opportunities to have done so; and so spiritually, as to all believers who came out from the world to become God's people, they might, if they had been so minded, have easily gone back.
16. Proving the truth that the old fathers did not, as some assert,
"look only for transitory promises" [Article VII,
Book of Common Prayer].
now--as the case is.
is not ashamed--Greek, "Is not ashamed of them." Not merely once
did God call himself their God, but He is NOW not ashamed to have
Himself called so, they being alive and abiding with Him where He
is. For, by the law, God cannot come into contact with anything dead.
None remained dead in Christ's presence (@Lu 20:37,38). He who is
Lord and Maker of heaven and earth, and all things therein, when asked,
What is Thy name? said, omitting all His other titles, "I am the God of
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob"
[THEODORET]. Not
only is He not ashamed, but glories in the name and relation to His
people. The "wherefore" does not mean that God's good pleasure is
the meritorious, but the gracious, consequence of their obedience
(that obedience being the result of His Spirit's work in them in the
first instance). He first so "called" Himself, then they so called Him.
for--proof of His being "their God," namely, "He hath prepared
(in His eternal counsels, @Mt 20:23 25:34, and by the progressive acts
of redemption, @Joh 14:2) for them a city," the city in which He
Himself reigns, so that their yearning desires shall not be
disappointed (@Heb 11:14,16).
a city--on its garniture by God (compare @Re 21:10-27).
17. offered up--literally, "hath offered up," as if the work and its
praise were yet enduring [ALFORD]. As far as His intention was
concerned, he did sacrifice Isaac; and in actual fact "he offered him,"
as far as the presentation of him on the altar as an offering to God is
concerned.
tried--Greek, "tempted," as in @Ge 22:1.
Put to the proof of his faith. Not that God "tempts"
to sin, but God "tempts" in the sense of
proving or trying (@Jas 1:13-15).
and--and so.
he that had received--rather as Greek, "accepted," that is,
welcomed and embraced by faith, not merely "had the promises," as in
@Heb 7:6. This added to the difficulty in the way of his faith, that
it was in Isaac's posterity the promises were to be fulfilled; how then
could they be fulfilled if Isaac were sacrificed?
offered up--rather as Greek, "was offering up"; he was in the
act of offering.
his only-begotten son--Compare @Ge 22:2, "Take now thy son, thine
only son." EUSEBIUS
[The Preparation of the Gospel, 1.10, and 4.16],
has preserved a fragment of a Greek translation of Sanchoniatho,
which mentions a mystical sacrifice of the Phoenicians, wherein a prince
in royal robes was the offerer, and his only son was to be the victim:
this evidently was a tradition derived from Abraham's offering, and
handed down through Esau or Edom, Isaac's son. Isaac was Abraham's
"only-begotten son" in respect of Sarah and the promises: he sent away
his other sons, by other wives (@Ge 25:6). Abraham is a type of the
Father not sparing His only-begotten Son to fulfil the divine purpose of
love. God nowhere in the Mosaic law allowed human sacrifices, though He
claimed the first-born of Israel as His.
18. Of whom--rather as Greek "He (Abraham, not Isaac) TO whom
it was said" [ALFORD].
BENGEL supports English Version. So @Heb 1:7
uses the same Greek preposition, "unto," for "in respect to," or "of."
This verse gives a definition of the "only-begotten Son" (@Heb 11:17).
in Isaac shall thy seed be called--(@Ge 21:12). The posterity of
Isaac alone shall be accounted as the seed of Abraham, which is the heir
of the promises (@Ro 9:7).
19. Faith answered the objections which reason brought against God's
command to Abraham to offer Isaac, by suggesting that what God had
promised He both could and would perform, however impossible the
performance might seem (@Ro 4:20,21).
able to raise him--rather, in general, "able to raise from the
dead." Compare @Ro 4:17, "God who quickeneth the dead." The
quickening Of Sarah's dead womb suggested the thought of God's power to
raise even the dead, though no instance of it had as yet occurred.
he received him--"received him back" [ALFORD].
in a figure--Greek, "in a parable."
ALFORD explains, "Received
him back, risen from that death which he had undergone in, under,
the figure of the ram." I prefer with BISHOP
PEARSON,
ESTIUS, and
GREGORY OF
NYSSA, understanding the figure to be the representation
which the whole scene gave to Abraham of Christ in His death (typified
by Isaac's offering in intention, and the ram's actual substitution
answering to Christ's vicarious death), and in His resurrection
(typified by Abraham's receiving him back alive from the jaws of death,
compare @2Co 1:9,10); just as on the day of atonement the slain goat
and the scapegoat together formed one joint rite representing Christ's
death and resurrection. It was then that Abraham saw Christ's day
(@Joh 8:56): accounting God was able to raise even from the dead:
from which state of the dead he received him back
as a type of the resurrection in Christ.
20. Jacob is put before Esau, as heir of the chief, namely, the
spiritual blessing.
concerning things to come--Greek, "even concerning things to
come": not only concerning things present. Isaac, by faith, assigned
to his sons things future, as if they were present.
21. both the sons--Greek, "each of the sons"
(@Ge 47:29,48:8-20). He knew not Joseph's sons, and could not
distinguish them by sight, yet he did distinguish them by faith,
transposing his hands intentionally, so as to lay his right hand on the
younger, Ephraim, whose posterity was to be greater than that of
Manasseh: he also adopted these grandchildren as his own sons, after
having transferred the right of primogeniture to Joseph (@Ge 48:22).
and worshipped--This did not take place in immediate connection with
the foregoing, but before it, when Jacob made Joseph swear that he would
bury him with his fathers in Canaan, not in Egypt. The assurance that
Joseph would do so filled him with pious gratitude to God, which he
expressed by raising himself on his bed to an attitude of worship.
His faith, as Joseph's (@Heb 11:22), consisted in his so
confidentially anticipating the fulfilment of God's promise of Canaan to
his descendants, as to desire to be buried there as his proper
possession.
leaning upon the top of his staff--@Ge 47:31, Hebrew and
English Version, "upon the bed's head." The Septuagint
translates as Paul here. JEROME justly reprobates the notion of modern
Rome, that Jacob worshipped the top of Joseph's staff, having on it
an image of Joseph's power, to which Jacob bowed in recognition of the
future sovereignty of his son's tribe, the father bowing to the son! The
Hebrew, as translated in English Version, sets it aside:
the bed is alluded to afterwards (@Ge 48:2 49:33), and it is likely
that Jacob turned himself in his bed so as to have his face toward
the pillow, @Isa 38:2 (there were no bedsteads in the East).
Paul by adopting the Septuagint version, brings out, under the
Spirit, an additional fact, namely, that the aged patriarch used
his own (not Joseph's) staff to lean on in worshipping on his
bed. The staff, too, was the emblem of his pilgrim state here
on his way to his heavenly city (@Heb 11:13,14), wherein God had so
wonderfully supported him. @Ge 32:10, "With my staff I passed over
Jordan, and now I am become," &c. (compare @Ex 12:11 Mr 6:8). In
@1Ki 1:47, the same thing is said of David's "bowing on his bed," an
act of adoring thanksgiving to God for God's favor to his son before
death. He omits the more leading blessing of the twelve sons of Jacob;
because "he plucks only the flowers which stand by his way, and leaves
the whole meadow full to his readers" [DELITZSCH in
ALFORD].
22. when he died--"when dying."
the departing--"the exodus" (@Ge 50:24,25). Joseph's
eminent position in Egypt did not make him regard it as his home: in faith he
looked to God's promise of Canaan being fulfilled and desired that his
bones should rest there: testifying thus: (1) that he had no doubt of
his posterity obtaining the promised land: and (2) that he believed in
the resurrection of the body, and the enjoyment in it of the heavenly
Canaan. His wish was fulfilled (@Jos 24:32 Ac 4:16).
23. parents--So the Septuagint has the plural, namely, Amram and
Jochebed (@Nu 26:59); but in @Ex 2:2, the mother alone is
mentioned; but doubtless Amram sanctioned all she did, and secrecy.
being their object, he did not appear prominent in what was done.
a proper child--Greek, "a comely child." @Ac 7:20, "exceeding
fair," Greek, "fair to God." The "faith" of his parents in saving
the child must have had some divine revelation to rest on (probably at
the time of his birth), which marked their "exceeding fair" babe as one
whom God designed to do a great work by. His beauty was probably
"the sign" appointed by God to assure their faith.
the king's commandment--to slay all the males (@Ex 1:22).
24. So far from faith being opposed to Moses, he was an
eminent example of it [BENGEL].
refused--in believing self-denial, when he might possibly have
succeeded at last to the throne of Egypt. Thermutis, Pharaoh's daughter,
according to the tradition which Paul under the Spirit sanctions,
adopted him, as JOSEPHUS says, with the consent of the king. JOSEPHUS
states that when a child, he threw on the ground the diadem put on him
in jest, a presage of his subsequent formal rejection of Thermutis'
adoption of him. Faith made him to prefer the adoption of the King of
kings, unseen, and so to choose (@Heb 11:25,26) things, the very
last which flesh and blood relish.
25. He balanced the best of the world with the worst of religion, and
decidedly chose the latter. "Choosing" implies a deliberate resolution,
not a hasty impulse. He was forty years old, a time when the judgment is
matured.
for a season--If the world has "pleasure" (Greek, "enjoyment") to
offer, it is but "for a season." If religion bring with it "affliction,"
it too is but for a season; whereas its "pleasures are for evermore."
26. Esteeming--Inasmuch as he esteemed.
the reproach of Christ--that is, the reproach which falls on the
Church, and which Christ regards as His own reproach, He being the Head,
and the Church (both of the Old and New Testament) His body. Israel
typified Christ; Israel's sufferings were Christ's sufferings (compare
@2Co 1:5 Col 1:24). As uncircumcision was Egypt's reproach, so
circumcision was the badge of Israel's expectation of Christ, which
Moses especially cherished, and which the Gentiles reproached Israel on
account of. Christ's people's reproach will ere long be their great
glory.
had respect unto, &c.--Greek, "turning his eyes away from
other considerations, he fixed them on the (eternal) recompense"
(@Heb 11:39,40).
27. not fearing the wrath of the king--But in @Ex 2:14 it is said,
"Moses feared, and fled from the face of Pharaoh." He was afraid, and fled
from the danger where no duty called him to stay (to have
stayed without call of duty would have been to tempt Providence, and
to sacrifice his hope of being Israel's future deliverer according to the
divine intimations; his great aim,
see on Heb 11:23). He
did not fear the king so as to neglect his duty and not return when
God called him. It was
in spite of the king's prohibition he left Egypt, not fearing the
consequences which were likely to overtake him if he should be caught,
after having, in defiance of the king, left Egypt. If he had stayed and
resumed his position as adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter, his
slaughter of the Egyptian would doubtless have been connived at; but
his resolution to take his portion with oppressed Israel, which he
could not have done had he stayed, was the motive of his flight, and
constituted the "faith" of this act, according to the express statement
here. The exodus of Moses with Israel cannot be meant here, for it was
made, not in defiance, but by the desire, of the king. Besides, the
chronological order would be broken thus, the next particular specified
here, namely, the institution of the Passover, having taken place
before the exodus. Besides, it is Moses' personal history and
faith which are here described. The faith of the people
("THEY passed")
is not introduced till @Heb 11:29.
endured--steadfast in faith amidst trials. He had fled, not so much
from fear of Pharaoh, as from a revulsion of feeling in finding God's
people insensible to their high destiny, and from disappointment at not
having been able to inspire them with those hopes for which he had
sacrificed all his earthly prospects. This accounts for his strange
reluctance and despondency when commissioned by God to go and arouse the
people (@Ex 3:15 4:1,10-12).
seeing him . . . invisible--as though he had not to do with men, but
only with God, ever before his eyes by faith, though invisible to
the bodily eye (@Ro 1:20 1Ti 1:17 6:16). Hence he feared not the
wrath of visible man; the characteristic of faith
(@Heb 11:1 Lu 12:4,5).
28. kept--Greek, "hath kept," the Passover being, in Paul's
day, still observed. His faith here was his belief in the invisible
God's promise that the destroying angel should pass over, and not
touch the inmates of the blood-sprinkled houses (@Ex 12:23). "He
acquiesced in the bare word of God where the thing itself was not
apparent" [CALVIN].
the first-born--Greek neuter; both of man and beast.
29. they--Moses and Israel.
Red Sea--called so from its red seaweed, or rather from Edom (meaning
"red"), whose country adjoined it.
which . . . assaying to do--Greek, "of which (Red Sea) the
Egyptians having made experiment." Rashness and presumption
mistaken by many for faith; with similar rash presumption many rush
into eternity. The same thing when done by the believer, and when done
by the unbeliever, is not the same thing [BENGEL].
What was faith in
Israel, was presumption in the Egyptians.
were drowned--Greek, "were swallowed up," or "engulfed." They
sank in the sands as much as in the waves of the Red Sea. Compare
@Ex 15:12, "the earth swallowed them."
30. The soundings of trumpets, though one were to sound for ten
thousand years, cannot throw down walls, but faith can do all things
[CHRYSOSTOM].
seven days--whereas sieges often lasted for years.
31. Rahab showed her "faith" in her confession, @Jos 2:9,11, "I
know that Jehovah hath given you the land; Jehovah your God, is God in
heaven above, and in earth beneath."
the harlot--Her former life adds to the marvel of her repentance,
faith, and preservation (@Mt 21:31-32).
believed not--Greek, "were disobedient," namely, to the will of
God manifested by the miracles wrought in behalf of Israel
(@Jos 2:8-11).
received--in her house (@Jos 2:1,4,6).
with peace--peaceably; so that they had nothing to fear in her house.
Thus Paul, quoting the same examples (@Heb 11:17,31) for the power of
faith, as James (@Jas 2:21,25;
see on Jas 2:21;
Jas 2:25) does for
justification by works evidentially, shows that in
maintaining justification by faith alone,
he means not a dead faith, but "faith which worketh by love"
(@Ga 5:6).
32. the time--suitable for the length of an Epistle. He accumulates
collectively some out of many examples of faith.
Gideon--put before Barak, not chronologically, but as being more
celebrated. Just as Samson for the same reason is put before Jephthæ.
The mention of Jephthæ as an example of "faith," makes it unlikely he
sacrificed the life of his daughter for a rash vow. David, the
warrior king and prophet, forms the transition from warrior chiefs to
the "prophets," of whom "Samuel" is mentioned as the first.
33. subdued kingdoms--as David did (@2Sa 8:1, &c.); so also
Gideon subdued Midian (@Jud 7:1-25).
wrought righteousness--as Samuel did (@1Sa 8:9 12:3-23 15:33);
and David (@2Sa 8:15).
obtained promises--as "the prophets" (@Heb 11:32) did; for through
them the promises were given (compare @Da 9:21)
[BENGEL]. Rather,
"obtained the fulfilment of promises," which had been previously the
object of their faith (@Jos 21:45 1Ki 8:56). Indeed, Gideon, Barak,
&c., also obtained the things which God promised. Not "the
promises," which are still future (@Heb 11:13,39).
stopped the mouths of lions--Note the words, "because he believed
in his God." Also Samson (@Jud 14:6), David
(@1Sa 17:34-37),
Benaiah (@2Sa 23:20).
34. Quenched the violence of fire--(@Da 3:27). Not merely
"quenched the fire," but "quenched the power (so the Greek) of the
fire." @Da 3:19-30 and @Da 6:12-23 record the last miracles of
the Old Testament. So the martyrs of the Reformation, though not
escaping the fire, were delivered from its having power really
or lastingly to hurt them.
escaped . . . sword--So Jephthah (@Jud 12:3); and so David
escaped Saul's sword (@1Sa 18:11 19:10,12); Elijah
(@1Ki 19:1, &c. @2Ki 6:14).
out of weakness . . . made strong--Samson (@Jud 16:28 15:19).
Hezekiah (@Isa 37:1-38:22).
MILTON says of the martyrs, "They shook
the powers of darkness with the irresistible power of weakness."
valiant in fight--Barak (@Jud 4:14,15). And the Maccabees, the
sons of Matthias, Judas, Jonathan, and Simon, who delivered the Jews
from their cruel oppressor, Antiochus of Syria.
armies--literally, "camps" referring to @Jud 7:21. But the
reference may be to the Maccabees having put to flight the Syrians and
other foes.
35. Women received their dead raised--as the widow of Zarephath
(@1Ki 17:17-24). The Shunammite (@2Ki 4:17-35). The two oldest
manuscripts read. "They received women of aliens by raising their dead."
@1Ki 17:24 shows that the raising of the widow's son by Elijah led
her to the faith, so that he thus took her into fellowship, an
alien though she was. Christ, in @Lu 4:26, makes especial
mention of the fact that Elijah was sent to an alien from Israel, a
woman of Sarepta. Thus Paul may quote this as an instance of Elijah's
faith, that at God's command he went to a Gentile city of Sidonia
(contrary to Jewish prejudices), and there, as the fruit of faith, not
only raised her dead son, but received her as a convert into the
family of God, as Vulgate reads. Still, English Version may be
the right reading.
and--Greek, "but"; in contrast to those raised again to life.
tortured--"broken on the wheel." Eleazar (2 Maccabees 6:18, end;
2 Maccabees 19:20,30). The sufferer was stretched on an instrument
like a drumhead and scourged to death.
not accepting deliverance--when offered to them. So the seven
brothers, 2 Maccabees 7:9,11,14,29,36; and Eleazar,
2 Maccabees 6:21,28,30, "Though I might have been delivered from
death, I endure these severe pains, being beaten."
a better resurrection--than that of the women's children "raised to
life again"; or, than the resurrection which their foes could give them
by delivering them from death (@Da 12:2 Lu 20:35 Php 3:11). The
fourth of the brethren (referring to @Da 12:2) said to King
Antiochus, "To be put to death by men, is to be chosen to look onward
for the hopes which are of God, to be raised up again by Him; but for
thee there is no resurrection to life." The writer of Second Maccabees
expressly disclaims inspiration, which prevents our mistaking Paul's
allusion here to it as if it sanctioned the Apocrypha as inspired. In
quoting Daniel, he quotes a book claiming inspiration, and so
tacitly sanctions that claim.
36. others--of a different class of confessors for the truth
(the Greek is different from that for "others," @Heb 11:35,
alloi, heteroi).
trial--testing their faith.
imprisonment--as Hanani (@2Ch 16:10), imprisoned by Asa. Micaiah,
the son of Imlah, by Ahab (@1Ki 22:26,27).
37. stoned--as Zechariah, son of Jehoiada (@2Ch 24:20-22 Mt 23:35).
sawn asunder--as Isaiah was said to have been by Manasseh; but
see my Introduction to Isaiah.
tempted--by their foes, in the midst of their tortures, to
renounce their faith; the most bitter aggravation of them. Or else,
by those of their own household, as Job was
[ESTIUS]; or by the
fiery darts of Satan, as Jesus was in His last trials [GLASSIUS].
Probably it included all three; they were tempted in every possible
way, by friends and foes, by human and satanic agents, by caresses and
afflictions, by words and deeds, to forsake God, but in vain, through
the power of faith.
sword--literally, "they died in the murder of the sword." In
@Heb 11:34 the contrary is given as an effect of faith, "they
escaped the edge of the sword." Both alike are marvellous effects of
faith. In both accomplishes great things and suffers great things,
without counting it suffering [CHRYSOSTOM]. Urijah was so slain by
Jehoiakim (@Jer 26:23); and the prophets in Israel
(@1Ki 19:10).
in sheepskins--as Elijah (@1Ki 19:13, Septuagint). They were
white; as the "goat-skins" were black (compare @Zec 13:4).
tormented--Greek, "in evil state."
38. Of whom the world was not worthy--So far from their being unworthy
of living in the world, as their exile in deserts, &c., might seem to
imply, "the world was not worthy of them." The world, in shutting them
out, shut out from itself a source of blessing; such as Joseph proved to
Potiphar (@Ge 39:5), and Jacob to Laban (@Ge 30:27). In condemning
them, the world condemned itself.
caves--literally, "chinks." Palestine, from its hilly character,
abounds in fissures and caves, affording shelter to the persecuted,
as the fifty hid by Obadiah (@1Ki 18:4,13) and Elijah
(@1Ki 19:8,13); and Mattathias and his sons
(1 Maccabees 2:28,29); and Judas Maccabeus (2 Maccabees 5:27).
39. having obtained a good report--Greek, "being borne witness of." Though they were so, yet "they received not the promise," that is, the final completion of "salvation" promised at Christ's coming again (@Heb 9:28); "the eternal inheritance" (@Heb 9:15). Abraham did obtain the very thing promised (@Heb 6:15) in part, namely, blessedness in soul after death, by virtue of faith in Christ about to come. The full blessedness of body and soul shall not be till the full number of the elect shall be accomplished, and all together, no one preceding the other, shall enter on the full glory and bliss. Moreover, in another point of view, "It is probable that some accumulation of blessedness was added to holy souls, when Christ came and fulfilled all things even as at His burial many rose from the dead, who doubtless ascended to heaven with Him" [FLACIUS in BENGEL]. (Compare Note, see on Eph 4:8). The perfecting of believers in title, and in respect to conscience, took place once for all, at the death of Christ, by virtue of His being made by death perfect as Saviour. Their perfecting in soul at, and ever after Christ's death, took place, and takes place at their death. But the universal and final perfecting will not take place till Christ's coming.
40. provided--with divine forethought from eternity (compare
@Ge 22:8,14).
some better thing for us--(@Heb 7:19); than they had here. They
had not in this world, "apart from us" (so the Greek is for "without
us," that is, they had to wait for us for), the clear revelation of the
promised salvation actually accomplished, as we now have it in Christ;
in their state, beyond the grave their souls also seem to have
attained an increase of heavenly bliss on the death and ascension of
Christ; and they shall not attain the full and final
glory in body and soul (the regeneration of the creature), until
the full number of the elect (including us with them) is completed. The
Fathers, CHRYSOSTOM, &c., restricted the meaning of @Heb 11:39,40
to this last truth, and I incline to this view. "The connection is,
You, Hebrews, may far more easily exercise patience than Old Testament
believers; for they had much longer to wait, and are still waiting
until the elect are all gathered in; you, on the contrary, have not to
wait for them" [ESTIUS]. I think his object in these verses
(@Heb 11:39,40) is to warn Hebrew Christians against their tendency
to relapse into Judaism. "Though the Old Testament worthies
attained such eminence by faith, they are not above us in privileges,
but the reverse." It is not we who are perfected with them, but
rather they with us. They waited for His coming; we enjoy Him
as having come (@Heb 1:1 2:3). Christ's death, the means of
perfecting what the Jewish law could not perfect, was reserved
for our time. Compare @Heb 12:2, "perfecter (Greek) of our
faith." Now that Christ is come, they in soul share our blessedness,
being "the spirits of the just made perfect" (@Heb 12:23); so
ALFORD; however,
see on Heb 12:23.
@Heb 9:12 shows that
the blood of Christ, brought into the heavenly holy place by Him, first
opened an entrance into heaven (compare @Joh 3:13). Still, the
fathers were in blessedness by faith in the Saviour to come, at death
(@Heb 6:15 Lu 16:22).