Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hebrews 11:23

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw [he was] a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.

23. Moses was hid ] The “faith” is of course that of his parents, Amram and Jochebed.

of his parents ] This is implied in the LXX. of Exo 2:2, but the Hebrew only says that his mother concealed him.

a proper child ] In Act 7:20 he is called “fair to God.” In his marvellous beauty (see Philo, Vit. Mos.) they saw a promise of some future blessing, and braved the peril involved in breaking the king’s decree.

the king’s commandment ] To drown all male children (Exo 1:22; Exo 2:2).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

By faith Moses, when he was born – That is, by the faith of his parents. The faith of Moses himself is commended in the following verses. The statement of the apostle here is, that his parents were led to preserve his life by their confidence in God. They believed that he was destined to some great purpose, and that he would be spared, notwithstanding all the probabilities against it, and all the difficulties in the case.

Was hid three months of his parents – By his parents. In Exo 2:2, it is said that it was done by his mother. The truth doubtless was, that the mother was the agent in doing it – since the concealment, probably, could be better effected by one than where two were employed – but that the father also concurred in it is morally certain. The concealment was, at first, probably in their own house. The command seems to have been Exo 1:22, that the child should be cast into the river as soon as born. This child was concealed in the hope that some way might be found out by which his life might be spared.

Because they saw he was a proper child – A fair, or beautiful child – asteion. The word properly means pertaining to a city – (from astu, a city); then urbane, polished, elegant; then fair, beautiful. In Act 7:20, it is said that he was fair to God, (Margin,); that is, exceedingly fair, or very handsome. His extraordinary beauty seems to have been the reason which particularly influenced his parents to attempt to preserve him. It is not impossible that they supposed that his uncommon beauty indicated that he was destined to some important service in life, and that they were on that account the more anxious to save him.

And they were not afraid of the kings commandment – Requiring that all male children should be given up to be thrown into the Nile. That is, they were not so alarmed, or did not so dread the king, as to be induced to comply with the command. The strength of the faith of the parents of Moses, appears:

(1)Because the command of Pharaoh to destroy all the male children was positive, but they had so much confidence in God as to disregard it.

(2)Because there was a strong improbability that their child could be saved. They themselves found it impossible to conceal him longer than three months, and when it was discovered, there was every probability that the law would be enforced and that the child would be put to death. Perhaps there was reason also to apprehend that the parents would be punished for disregarding the authority of the king.

(3)Because they probably believed that their child was destined to some important work. They thus committed him to God instead of complying with the command of an earthly monarch, and against strong probabilities in the ease, they believed that it was possible that in some way he might be preserved alive. The remarkable result showed that their faith was not unfounded.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Heb 11:23

Moses was hid.

., of his parents

The faith of Moses parents

I. WHAT IS COMMENDED. Faith. Natural affections sanctified are subservient and useful to faith; grace cloth not abolish nature, but perfect it. We are to obey God against our natural affections; as by faith Abraham offered his son Isaac; nature was against it. And we are to obey God with natural affection: by faith Moses was hid of his parents; there nature was for it. Many times Gods interests and ours are twisted together, and then nature is allowed to work, but grace must bear sway; sometimes they are severed, and then we must leave nature to keep company with God. Use

1. It informeth us, that to strengthen faith we may and must take in the help of nature; it is Gods allowance, that we may be carried out more cheerfully in the work of God (Phm 1:16).

2. That their wickedness is very great that sin against nature.

3. In all these mixed actions look to your principles, what beareth sway and worketh most–faith or natural affection. But wherein lay the faith of this action? Chiefly in overcoming fear, in trusting Gods protection for the preservation of the child; and possibly there might be something of a public regard and consideration, in believing the future deliverance of the Church and people of God out of Egypt.

II. WHO ARE COMMENDED. His parents. Husband and wife should go hand in hand to the throne of grace, and join together in every good thing; they should agree together in the worship of God, and promoting the good of their children. When the will of the wife and the will of the husband fall in, like the tenon and the mortise, the building goes on; but when one draws one way, and another the other way, like untamed heifers in the yoke, all cometh to ruin.

III. THE COMMENDATION ITSELF.

1. The action, where

(1) The time–When he was born.

(2) The action itself–He was hid.

(3) The duration–Three months.

2. I come now to the considerations on which it was done.

(1) The external impulsive cause–Because they saw he was a proper child, , comely, and fair (Act 7:20). Beauty is not always a sure sign of excellency–there is no trust to the brow; but they saw special lineaments of majesty, and of a heroical disposition in his countenance, which, being accompanied with some secret instinct, moved them to think that God had designed him to some eminent work, probably to the deliverance of his people.

(2) The internal moving cause–And they not afraid of the kings commandment, that bloody law of destroying their children. Here are three points

(a) Princes must not be obeyed in things contrary to the Word of God.

(b) The commands of kings and princes have been a usual trial of Gods children, as Nebuchadnezzars command was to fall down and worship the golden image.

Use: This should draw us off from men. To this end consider

1. We are bound to God more than to men.

2. None can reward us as God can.

3. None can punish our disobedience as God can (Mt

10:28).

4. We live longer with God than we do with men; therefore if a man would study to please, he should rather please God than men. God is eternal, man is but mortal (Isa 51:12).

5. God can make others our friends (Pro 16:7).

6. They that please men shall have enough of it (Hos 5:12).

(c) In such cases carnal fear doth betray us, and faith carries us through Isa 8:12-13). (T. Manton, D. D.)

The childhood of Moses

I. WHERE THERE IS AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE IN FAITH AND FEAR OF THE LORD, IT MAKES WAY UNTO A BLESSED SUCCESS IN ALL THEIR DUTIES: when it is otherwise, nothing succeeds unto their comfort.

II. WHEN DIFFICULT DUTIES BEFAL PERSONS IN THAT RELATION, IT IS THEIR WISDOM EACH TO APPLY THEMSELVES UNTO THAT PART AND SHARE OF IT WHICH THEY ARE BEST SUITED FOR. So was it in this case; Amram, no doubt, was the principal in the advice and contrivance, as his wife was in its actual execution.

III. THIS IS THE HEIGHT OF PERSECUTION, WHEN PRIVATE HOUSES ARE SEARCHED BY BLOODY OFFICERS, TO EXECUTE TYRANNICAL LAWS–when the last and utmost retreat of innocence, for that protection which is due unto it by the law of God and nature, with the common rules of human society, cannot be a shelter against wicked rage and fury. No doubt but during this season their diligence was accompanied with fervent cries unto God, and the exercise of trust in Him. The occasion was great on all hands, and they were not wanting unto any part of their duty. The outward act of hiding the child was but an indication of the internal working of their faith.

IV. IT IS WELL WHEN ANYTHING OF EMINENCE IN OUR CHILDREN DOTH SO ENGAGE OUR AFFECTIONS UNTO THEM, AS TO MAKE THEM USEFUL AND SUBSERVIENT UNTO DILIGENCE IN DISPOSING OF THEM UNTO THE GLORY OF GOD. Otherwise a fondness in parents, arising from the natural endowments of children, is usually hurtful, and oftentimes ruinous unto the one and other.

V. THE RAGE OF MEN AND THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH SHALL WORK OUT THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF GODS COUNSELS AND PROMISES, UNTO HIS GLORY, FROM UNDER ALL PERPLEXITIES AND DIFFICULTIES THAT MAY ARISE IN OPPOSITION UNTO IT. So they did in this instance in an eminent manner. (J. Owen, D. D.)

Faith the ground of parental courage:

I. A BELOVED CHILD IN GREAT DANGER. Children are always in danger.

1. There are the perils connected with physical well-being.

2. Those which come from the hardening influence of resistance of Divine grace. What if the child should steadfastly persist in evil habits which already show themselves!

3. Those which come through the malice of Satan. Satan is on the track of the children.

II. THE PARENTS FEARLESS FAITH. Parents. The strength of the faith may have been due to that; it was the joint faith of two. This faith showed itself

1. In a quiet confidence that God would protect their child.

2. In the adoption of all possible means to the right end.

III. THIS FEARLESS FAITH RESTING ON SUFFICIENT GROUNDS. What are they?

1. The intrinsic worth of a child. Who can tell what any child may become?

2. The fact that the child is fair to God. (See margin of Act 7:20).

3. The distinct promises of Gods Word. (C. New.)

The hiding of Moses by faith:

I. IT IS A GREAT BLESSING WHEN IN A FAMILY BOTH THE PARENTS HAVE FAITH. By faith he was hid three months of his parents. Moses himself (Exo 2:1-25.) ascribes this to his mother–When she saw that he was a goodly child she hid him three months. Stephen (Act 7:1-60.). says, In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his fathers house three months: thus mentioning rather his father than his mother. No doubt the apostle combined the two other inspired utterances. Do you wonder that Moses chiefly mentions his mother, Joehebed? I do not. What man is there among us but always delights to mention his godly mother, and though we would have no partialities about our parents, yet without controversy great is the mystery of a mothers love, and there are some points about it in which it makes a deeper impression upon the memory than a fathers care. Prize fathers as you may, and should, yet there is a tender touch that comes home to every mans heart when he thinks of his mother. It seems natural that Moses should, when he wrote the account, mention most of all his mother; and indeed a mother has more to do with a babe than a father can have: in its tender infancy she is naturally its chief guardian. Perhaps, too, though we cannot be sure, Jochebed may have been the stronger believer of the two, and may have been the main instigator of the childs preservation.

II. TRUE AND EVEN REMARKABLE FAITH MAY ACT IN A VERY COMMONPLACE WAY. What do we read? By faith they subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, and so on. Why these are great things, worthy of mention. Yes, but this also is great in its ways–By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents. It has no trumpet ring about it like stopping lions mouths and quenching fires, and subduing kingdoms, but in Gods point of view, the hiding of a little baby three months, may be as great an instance of acceptable faith as any of them: even turning to flight the armies of the alien may not be greater than defeating the malice of a king by saving a little child. But you say, Was it not natural enough that a mother should try to preserve her childs life? Can a woman forget her suckling child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, I know all that; but still the Lord is not praising the natural affections but the supernatural faith. We should say, Nature led them to conceal the babe, but God says, Faith led them to do it, and, in their degree, both are true. Nature prompted, but faith constrained, and enabled them to do what else their timidity would not have ventured upon.

III. FAITH WILL ACT WITH A VERY SLENDER ENCOURAGEMENT. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child. Stephen says in his speech that the child was exceeding fair; and if you look at Stephens speech you will see that the translators have put in the margin, fair to God. So it may run, when they saw that the child was fair to God. Now, I gather from that expression that the child was beautiful beyond the common run of children; that there was a charm about its features, and something superhuman, probably, since it was fair to God. In the babes face there were prophecies of the man of God. Surely among them that have been born of woman there has not been born a greater than Moses; and about him as a child there was a something so marvellously beautiful, that his parents were fascinated by him.

IV. FAITH HAS GREAT POWER IN OVERCOMING FEAR. There was, no doubt, appended to Pharaohs statute a punishment for anybody who should not obey the law. Perhaps four lives were in danger for the sake of that one little life–her husband, herself, Aaron, and Miriam, her daughter. Yet through faith she will run all risks, and so will all her family, that this promising child whom they believe God has sent to them for a noble purpose may still live. Now, if you have faith in Christ manifest it by overcoming all fear of the consequences of doing right. It is right to obey God rather than man.

V. FAITH IS OFTEN DRIVEN TO GREAT SHIFTS. The mother was put to great shifts to hide her child, and she used all her wits and common-sense. She did not put her child in the front room, or carry it into the street or sit at the open door and nurse it, but she was prudent, and acted as if all depended upon her concealing the babe. Some people suppose that if you have faith you may act like a fool. But faith makes a person wise. It is one of the notable points about faith that it is sanctified common-sense. It is not fanaticism, it is not absurdity; it is making God the grandest asset in our account, and then reckoning according to the soundest logic.

VI. FAITHS SIMPLE ACTS OFTEN LEAD ON TO THE GRANDEST RESULTS. Great wheels turn on little axles. There is a tiny part to each machine of unutterable importance. You never know the infinity of the influence of a word. To the wise man nothing is little; to the fool nothing is truly great. Make all things great by doing them by faith. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Potentialities in the life of a child

Who can say how vast are the potentialities involved in the life of a young child? More than nineteen hundred years ago, in the civil wars of Rome, the life of a beautiful child was again and again saved from the extremest peril. That child grew up to be a heavy curse to himself, a heavy curse to others; he grew up to be one of the worst men who ever lived; the Emperor Tiberius, in whose reign Christ was crucified. Again, some hundred and fifty years ago, a house in an English village was found to be in flames. The clergyman and his family–for it was the vicarage–were roused, and when they had escaped, itwas found that one little boy was still in the burning house. A ladder was placed to the window, he was rescued, and handed unhurt into his fathers arms. What would the world have lost had that little boy perished? For his name was John Wesley, and by his piety and zeal he fanned into flame once more the dead white embers of Christian faith. Now, who can tell what a little child may be! He may grow up, as has been said, like Beethoven, to lift the soul by the magic of Divine melody into the seventh heaven of ineffable vision and incommensurable hope; or like Newton, to weigh the far-off stars in the balance, and measure the heavings of the eternal flow; or like Luther, to scorch up what is cruel and false by a word, as by a flame; or like Milton and Burke, to awake mens hearts with the note of an organ trumpet; or like the great saints of the Churches and the great sages of the Schools, to add to those acquisitions of spiritual beauty and intellectual mastery which have, one by one, and little by little, raised men from being no higher than the brute to be only a little lower than the angels. You never know but what the child, in rags and pitiful squalor, that meets you in the streets, may have in him the germ of gilts that might add new treasure to the storehouse of beautiful things or noble acts. In that great storm of terror which swept over France in 1793, a certain man who was every hour expecting to be led off to the guillotine uttered this memorable sentiment: Even at this incomprehensible moment, he said, when morality, enlightenment, love of country, all of them only make death at the prison door or on the scaffold more certain–yes, on the fatal tumbril itself, with nothing free but my voice, I could still cry Take care to a child that should come too near the wheel. Perhaps I may save his life; perhaps he may one day save his country. (Archdeacon Farrar.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 23. By faith Moses, c.] See the notes on “Ex 2:2“, and See “Ac 7:20“. We know that Moses was bred up at the Egyptian court, and there was considered to be the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and probably might have succeeded to the throne of Egypt: but, finding that God had visited his people, and given them a promise of spiritual and eternal blessings, he chose rather to take the lot of this people, i.e. God as his portion for ever, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin, which, however gratifying to the animal senses, could only be , temporary.

After the 23d verse, there is a whole clause added by DE, two copies of the Itala, and some copies of the Vulgate. The clause is the following: , . By faith Moses, when he was grown up, slew the Egyptian, considering the oppression of his own brethren. This is a remarkable addition, and one of the largest in the whole New Testament. It seems to have been collected from the history of Moses as given in Exodus, and to have been put originally into the margin of some MS., from which it afterwards crept into the text.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents: the parents of Moses were as eminent in this faith as their progenitors; for by it Amram and Jochebed, both of them of the tribe of Levi, Exo 6:20, () here put by a metaphrase for , and though in the history ascribed to the mother only, yet it was by the fathers direction, as Exo 2:2; compare Act 7:20), hid Moses, born under the bloody edict of a tyrant for drowning all the Hebrew males in the Nile. He was born three years after Aaron, and sixty-five after Josephs death. They kept him three months from the destroyers, and they adventured the penalties threatened by the edict, Exo 2:2,3; faith overcoming their fears and difficulties about it, and, in all probabililly, ordered their fitting the ark, and disposal of it for his preservation, with the other acts attending it.

Because they saw he was a proper child: the reason of faiths work was their seeing of him to be , fair, beautiful, proper; and this not in himself only, but, as Stephen interprets it, , fair to God, Act 7:20. Some glorious aspect was by God put upon him as a signal of some great person, and of great use in Gods design to his church; some extraordinary stamp of God on his countenance, which faith could discern there, and so influence them to conceal and preserve him.

And they were not afraid of the kings commandment; faith made them fearless; for they were not afraid that the kings edict should frustrate Gods purpose concerning the child, or keep him from its service to the church, wherein God would employ him, and of which he had given them a signal in that lustre cast on his person; and therefore they used means to preserve him, even when they exposed him, and which had a suitable success, Exo 2:3-10.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

23. parentsSo the Septuaginthas the plural, namely, Amram and Jochebed (Nu26:59); but in Ex 2:2, themother alone is mentioned; but doubtless Amram sanctioned all shedid, and secrecy. being their object, he did not appear prominent inwhat was done.

a proper childGreek,“a comely child.” Ac7:20, “exceeding fair,” Greek, “fair toGod.” The “faith” of his parents in saving the childmust have had some divine revelation to rest on (probably at the timeof his birth), which marked their “exceeding fair” babe asone whom God designed to do a great work by. His beauty wasprobably “the sign” appointed by God to assure their faith.

the king’s commandmenttoslay all the males (Ex 1:22).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

By faith Moses, when he was born,…. Which is to be understood, not of the faith of Moses, but of the faith of his parents, at the time of his birth; which was when Pharaoh had published an edict, ordering every male child to be cast into the river; but instead of obeying this order, Moses was hid three months of his parents; that is, in his father’s house, as it is said in Ac 7:20 and is here expressed in the Ethiopic version. According to the Targumist k, his mother went with him but six months, at the end of which he was born, and that she hid him three months, which made up the nine, the time in which a woman usually goes with child; and after that she could conceal him no longer: the hiding of him is here ascribed to both his parents, though in Ex 2:2 it is represented as the act of his mother; which, no doubt, was done, with the knowledge, advice, and consent of his father; and the Septuagint there renders it, , “they hid him”; though the order of the history makes it necessary that it should be read in the singular. Parents ought to take care of their children; and persons may lawfully hide themselves, or others, from the cruelty of tyrants, and that as long as they can, for their safety; and this was so far from being wrong in the parents of Moses, that it is commended, as an instance of faith: they believed the promise in general, that God would deliver the people of Israel; they believed this to be about the time of their deliverance, and had some intimation, that this child in particular would be the deliverer, because they saw he was a proper child; not only of a goodly and beautiful countenance, but that he was peculiarly grateful and acceptable to God; they perceived something remarkable in him, which to them was a token that he would be the deliverer of God’s people, and therefore they hid him; [See comments on Ac 7:20].

And they were not afraid of the king’s commandment; nor did they observe it, for it was contrary to nature, and to the laws of God, and to the promise of God’s multiplying of that people, and to their hopes of deliverance: there is a great deal of courage and boldness in faith; and though faith may be weakened, it cannot be lost; and a weak faith is taken notice of, as here; for though they feared not at first, they seem to be afraid afterwards; but when God designs to work deliverance, nothing shall prevent.

k Jonathan ben Uzziel in Exod. ii. 2.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Was hid (). Second aorist passive indicative of , to hide, as in Mt 5:14.

Three months (). Old adjective used as neuter substantive in accusative case for extent of time, here only in N.T.

A goodly child ( ). Literally, “the child was goodly” (predicate adjective). Old adjective from (city), “of the city” (“citified”), of polished manners, genteel. In N.T. only here and Ac 7:20, about Moses both times. Quoted from Ex 2:2f. The king’s commandment ( ). Late compound for injunction from , only here in the N.T.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Of his parents [ ] . Lit. by his fathers. Comp. Exo 2:2. Paterev fathers, according to a late Greek usage, is employed like goneiv parents. Similarly the Lat. patres and soceri, including both parents, or father and mother in law.

Proper [] . Only here and Act 7:20, on which see note. Rend. “comely.”

Commandment [] . N. T. o. Rend. “mandate.”

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “By faith Moses, when he was born,” (pistei Mouses gennetheis) “By faith Moses having been born,” or after his birth, by or in the faith of his Godly Hebrew parents, who believed that children were “an heritage of the Lord,” to be a divine blessing to parents, not a curse to be aborted or put to death, Psa 127:3; Gen 33:5; Deu 28:4.

2) “Was hid three month of his parents,” (ekrube trimenon hupo ton pateron autou) Was hidden for a period of three months by his parents; indicating their moral convictions regarding the value of human life; These parents of Moses showed their faith in God and his promises by caring for the child, shielding him from being killed by decree of Pharaoh, Eph 6:4; Col 3:21.

3) “Because they saw he was a proper child,” (dioti eidon asteion to paidion) “By reason of the fact that they perceived him to be a fine, alert (astute) child,” a beautiful Hebrew child, an heritage from their God, Psa 127:3; Act 7:20.

4) “And they were not afraid,” (kai ouk ephobethesan) and they did not fear,” were not afraid or subdued by fear. They believed that they were to preserve, not consent to destroy their son, Moses, and that they were to bring him up in the Lord, Eph 6:4; Mat 10:28.

5) “Of the king’s commandment,” (to diatagma tou basileos) “The decree of the king,” who was also known as Pharaoh, Exo 1:16; Exo 2:2; When a king’s decree is directly against the word, will, and command of God to men on moral, ethical, and spiritual matters, the Christian must make delay and redress of grievance for repeal or reverse of such decree. God commands, bring up children – not kill them, as an heritage of his, see? Col 3:20-21.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

23. By faith Moses, etc. There have been others, and those heathens, who from no fear of God, but only from a desire of propagating an offspring, preserved their own children at the peril of life; but the Apostle shows that the parents of Moses were inducted to save him for another reason, even for this, — that as God had promised to them, under their oppression, that there would come some time a deliverer, they relied confidently on that promise, and preferred the safety of the infant to their own.

But he seems to say what is contrary to the character of faith, when he says that they were induced to do this by the beauty of the child; for we know that Jesse was reproved, when he brought his sons to Samuel as each excelled in personal appearance; and doubtless God would not have us to regard what is externally attractive. To this I answer, that the parents of Moses were not charmed with beauty, so as to be induced by pity to save him, as the case is commonly with men; but that there was some mark, as it were, of future excellency imprinted on the child, which gave promise of something extraordinary. There is, then, no doubt but that by his very appearance they were inspired with the hope of an approaching deliverance; for they considered that the child was destined for the performance of great things.

Moreover, it ought to have had a great weight with the Jews, to hear that Moses, the minister of their redemption, had been in an extraordinary manner rescued from death by means of faith. We must, however, remark, that the faith here praised was very weak; for after having disregarded the fear of death, they ought to have brought up Moses; instead of doing so, they exposed him. It is hence evident that their faith in a short time not only wavered, but wholly failed; at least they neglected their duty when they cast forth the infant on the bank of the river. But it behaves us to be more encouraged when we hear that their faith, though weak, was yet so approved by God as to secure that life to Moses, on which depended the deliverance of the Church.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

Heb. 11:23. Proper child.Goodly child; unusual for beauty and signs of intelligence; , goodly, fair, beautiful (Act. 7:20, fair to God).

Heb. 11:24. Refused to be called.This is based wholly on Jewish legends.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Heb. 11:23-29

The Faith of Moses.These verses cover and include all the references which this writer thinks it necessary to make to Moses. In comparison with the notices of other great men the reference to Moses is long and various, and this would be regarded as befitting by those who held Moses in almost supreme honour. There are illustrations of the practical power of faith in four distinct sets of relations.

I. The faith that could be disobedient.Not to God, but to man, in loyalty to God. Often in life the expedient becomes a temptation to us. The will of those in authority over us may conflict with the will of God. Then the expedient is to keep straight with the human authority and risk offending God. In presence of that conflict faith gives the man power to disobey the local authority in order to obey the supreme Authority. This conflict appears

1. In the case of the parents of Moses. Faith enabled them to disobey the command of the Pharaoh, and scheme to secure the life of their child. It is plain that there was more than parental love guiding their conduct. There was some inward witness, some word of God which they recognised as such, indicating that the child was sent for some Divine mission. Only motherly faith could persistently, and heedless of all peril, carry through such a scheme of disobedience.
2. In the case of Moses disobedience to his foster-mother. He refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter. What but faith in Gods mission for him could have led to such a resolvea resolve which, from all human points of view, was utterly unreasonable! It costs a man much to break away from the destiny that is arranged for him; he never can do it save as he believes in some other destiny that God has for him. Why it should be said that Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ does not readily appear. What the writer had in mind is difficult to trace. Perhaps he meant the same reproach that Christ enduredthe reproach that comes when a man persists in doing the will of God as he knows it. That certainly was the mind of Moses at this time. He was quite sure that it was not the will of God that he should become an Egyptian prince, and his faith enabled him to bear the reproach of disobedience. It may be a power to help us in some of the grave perplexities of life to remember that faith in God can beit has beenan inspiration of disobedience to man. Illustrate the martyrs.

II. Faith that can endure.It is hardly possible to conceive a more burdened and anxious life than that which Moses lived. He had times of personal peril, but they are of far less importance than the constant strain upon feeling involved in leading the people, and mediating between them and God. The word endure is admirably chosen. Faith enabled Moses to keep on, and push through, and bear allfaith the inspiration of patient continuance in well-doing.

III. Faith that can meet great occasions.Life is mainly commonplace and routine; but every life has its surprises, and occasions when supreme demands are made upon it. Such times came to Moses at the burning bush, Mount Sinai, and when smiting the rock for water. Faith helped; lost faith meant failure. The writer here mentions the climax of the visitation on Egypt, when with the unquestioning faith of an immediate deliverance, Moses made the people keep the Passover.

IV. Faith that can do the seemingly impossible.Moses believed the word of God which ordered him to turn out of the route toward Canaan, and go down by the shores of the Red Sea. It was a strange command, wholly beyond mans comprehension. That way they could neither get to Canaan, nor get to the desert of Sinai. Every step put a wider stretch of water between them and the land where they would be. Faith triumphed unto obedience, and faith was vindicated by so glorious a Divine deliverance as stamped once and for ever the supreme relations of Jehovah as God of the people Israel. That which is impossible with men is possible with God; and possible it becomes to man when he has such faith in God as Moses had.

SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES

Heb. 11:24. Choice revealing Character.There is no better sign of character than the manner in which a man makes a serious decision. It is something that

(1) he estimates the seriousness;
(2) that he considers before deciding;
(3) that he is capable of judging the value of considerations;
(4) that he judges in the light of duty rather than of pleasure, and of the future rather than the present.

Heb. 11:24-26. The Choice of Moses.It has been said: Biography is a feeble struggle with death. It is an attempt to retain something of the man, his spirit and manner of thinking and feeling, that he being dead may yet speak. In this temple of Jewish worthies, whose faith is recorded for our example, Moses occupies a conspicuous niche.

I. The choice of Moses.The world placed before him its very best, and religion placed before him its very worst; and between the best of the world and the worst of religion he was called upon to make his choice.

1. What the world placed before him.
(1) Honourthat of being the son of Pharaohs daughter.
(2) Pleasuresthe pleasures of sin, sensational and unhealthy mental excitement. Such pleasures of sin are, however, only for a season; and there are pains of sin as well as pleasures.
(3) Wealththe treasures of Egypt. The three things which men so eagerly pursue, any one of which is deemed by the world a great inheritance, were all placed at the feet of Jesus.
2. What religion set before him. It came to him in its meekest, saddest guise, and placed before him(a) Affliction. If Moses espoused the cause of the people of God, he must be prepared to share their burdens and endure their trials. (b) The reproach of Christ; or such reproach as Christ endured, such as always attaches to spiritual religion.

II. There is a sense in which we may have to make a choice as Moses had.

1. In relation to our position in life.
2. In relation to companions and society.
3. In relation to the concerns, and some of the minutest acts, of our daily life. What was it that influenced Moses in making his good choicefaith. Such a choice has its reward in this world. A mind conscious of rectitude is its own reward. Our religion brings to us now its own reward. And it has also a recompense in the world to come.Absalom Clark.

Heb. 11:27. The Endurance of Faith.This verse gives the key to the long, anxious, heroic life that Moses lived. Endured is the proper word. His life was full of difficulties. Circumstances seemed to be always against him, and he could not do the things that he would. He was always set under limitations; and out of the constant bearing and enduring of his daily life he came to be the meekest, most self-denying, least personally ambitious of all men who have ever lived. The secret of his wonderful power of endurance was his seeing the invisiblea vision which, in his earlier days, was simply the sight of the soul-eyes which we call faith. Afterwards it gained surprising help through symbols, and the sound of a heavenly voice. But, better than all visions, there was a heart-realisation, a soul-vision, which kept the invisible God ever closely near, and made him regard as an agony unspeakable the bare possibility that Gods presence would not go with him. What can we learn from the secret of Moses?

I. Life for us all is enduring.It is for all who feel their nobility, who cannot regard life as mans play-hour, who understand that man is set in the midst of disability, because the supreme purpose of God concerning him is his moral culture. It is for all who feel themselves to be above circumstances, and refuse to be mere waifs and strays, driven hither and thither with every wind, and tossed. In the morning outlook of life it seems to be all enjoying. Wonderful is the hopefulness of youth. But as years pass on the reality proves other than our dream. Soon we have to say that life is not all enjoying; it is enduring. Things will not be according to our mind. Circumstances are against us. Relationships are trying. And yet we know that we are bigger than life.

1. Can we endure the things that are, just as they exactly are?
2. Can we endure that which we ourselves are?
3. Can we endure those precise conditions under which God deals with us? It is not, Can we submit? It is, Can we endure? Can we keep on through it all, holding fast faith, never faltering, hoping on, working on, making love and loyalty master all disasters, all disabilities, and winning virtue out of woe. The endurance of Moses was self-restraint to win power to serve God and man.

II. Life for us all may have a Divine presence.Man, and God with him, is the great mystery of the Creation. This is the idea of the theocracya nation, and God with it. Prophets spoke with authority, because they were men having God with them. Jesus Christ is Emmanuel, God with us. The Holy Ghost is God making His abode in man.

1. There is the presence of God as providence.

2. There is the thought of Gods fatherly care.
3. But there is something higher and betterthe sense of Gods presence, which is a special revelation to the Christian heart. Do men say of the Christian, He is only a man? He should let them know, he should make them feel, that he is not just a man, but a man having God with hima man who has the invisible One so near that he can always see Him.

III. Life for us all may be glorified by this Divine presence.

1. It makes life very serious. It is a solemnising influence. We have One with us everywhere who is grieved with wrong, who wants everything to bear the stamp of the holy.
2. It keeps before us high aims: not merely human ones, but those that God has for us, such as God may inspire us to attain.
3. It brings a consciousness of ability, so that we say with St. Paul, I can do all things through Him which strengtheneth me.
4. And it satisfies us concerning the future. It is enough; here God is with us; then surely there we shall be with God. This verse has been rendered, He was stedfast towards Him who is invisible, as if seeing Him.

The Invisible God.Note

1. The God with whom we have to do is an invisible God. He is so to our senses, to the eye of the body; and this shows the folly of those who pretend to make images of God, whom no man hath seen, nor can see.
2. By faith we may see the invisible God. We may be fully assured of His existence, of His providence, and of His gracious and powerful presence with us.
3. Such a sight will enable believers to endure to the end whatever they may meet with in the way.Matthew Henry.

Seeing the Invisible God.

I. Consider the invisibility of God.This is one of the negative attributes of God. Unchangeableness, unsearchableness, irresistibleness, invisibility, are all negative attributes of God. And we require such negative conceptions to assist our idea of an absolute, infinite, all-perfect Being. Jobs familiar words really mean this: I cannot in any way penetrate the dark mantle of His invisibility (Job. 11:7). See also Deu. 4:12; Deu. 4:15; 1Ti. 6:15-16. The same truth is implied when our Saviour teaches that God is a spirit. We are perfect, in relative creature perfection, with our bodies, not without them. But the perfection of a creature must be, in some points (and this is one of them), in direct contrast with the perfection of the Creator. He is not seen, because He is perfect. Because He will always be perfect, He will never be seen. Ten thousand happy souls do indeed see His face day by day. But what soul has ever seen His form? What form hath He to be seen? The fruits and traces of His perfections are seen in all His works, but He Himself is seen nowhere. In saying this we are of course remembering God manifest in the flesh, and the elevation of the visible humanity into the heavens in the person of Jesus Christ. But if it should be that our Lord will always, through eternity, retain His glorified humanity in heaven, and be seen in that, and beloved and worshipped in that, the question still is, What will be seen? The spiritual essence, the infinite power and presence of God, will still be deep within, quite beyond, high above, far away. What I can see can never be a portion to my immortal soul; a spiritual substance requires a spiritual portion; the child-spirits need the Father of spirits. It is the grand discovery of the Scriptures, and the good message of salvation, that God only is good enough for man. Spirit for spiritCreator for creaturethe Invisible for the visible. We have never seen our own souls; we shall never see their portion.

II. The seeing of the invisible God.Moses really did see God by soul-sight, or, as we say, by faith. He believed in His actual presence in the world, in human life, in human affairs. He believed that He would be with him, according to His express promise, to cheer his heart, to guide his way, and to confirm his work to the end. He not only believed in Gods presence with him, but he relied on His strength. Gods presence was to him an actual power, on which he could lean. There is no use to us in this example of Moses if it is exceptional. His duties and his whole career were high and singular, but his sight of the invisible God was the same act of the soul by which all the faithful in the camp, however humble, were sustained, by which the faithful in every age have lived and triumphed. And at this day what we have to do is just to observe the Presence that is always near, and lean upon the arm that never faints. Then we shall endure.

(1) We shall endure when all that is visible threatens;

(2) when all that is visible allures;

(3) when everything visible decays, changes, passes away.Alexander Raleigh, D.D.

The Christian Way of seeing God.It is a full and exhaustive definition of Christs salvation to designate itthe Christian way of seeing God. For what is religious salvation but the perfect vision of God, the perfect restoration of man to God, the perfect enjoyment by man of God? We will come to him, and make Our abode with him. Not a distant glimpse of God, a trembling touch, a casual break in the dark firmament of life; but a full, unclouded manifestation, a Divine Pleroma, the true Pantheism. Not the old Oriental Nirvna, our human personality lost in Deity, put out like a flame in the light of the meridian sun; but our true and perfect spiritual individuality, filled with the light, the life, the inspiration, of God.H. Allon, D.D.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 11

Heb. 11:24-25. Decision of Character.The man will not re-examine his conclusions with endless repetition, and he will not be delayed long by consulting other persons, after he has ceased to consult himself. He cannot bear to sit still among unexecuted decisions and unattempted projects. We wait to hear of his achievements, and are confident we shall not wait long. The possibility or the means may not be obvious to us, but we know that everything will be attempted, and that a spirit of such determined will is like a river, which, in whatever manner it may be obstructed, will make its way somewhere. It must have cost Csar many anxious hours of deliberation before he decided to pass the Rubicon; but it is probable he suffered but few to elapse between the decision and the execution. And any one of his friends who should have been apprised of his determination, and understood his character, would have smiled contemptuously to hear it insinuated that, though Csar had resolved, Csar would not dare; or that though he might cross the Rubicon, whose opposite bank presented to him no hostile legions, he might come to other rivers which he would not cross; or that either rivers or any other obstacles would deter him from prosecuting his determination from this ominous commencement to its very last consequence.John Foster.

Heb. 11:26. The Reproach of Christ.A curious discovery has been made in Rome. It is a rude caricature scratched on the ruined wall of the Prtorian barracks, representing a man worshipping another man hanging on a cross, the crucified figure being drawn with the head of an ass, and the words roughly written beneath, Alexamenos worships God, i.e. in effect, See what a god Alexamenos worships! Revolting and hideous as this caricature is, it is deeply interesting as a specimen of the ribald jests to which a Christian soldier was exposed, and also most valuable as a proof that the early Church believed in the Deity of Christ. A woodcut copy of this strange drawing will be found in Macduffs St. Paul at Rome, p. 225. Genuine faith influences us to deny ourselves, to renounce the world, to cherish holiness, to bear reproach, and to look beyond the present scene to the world of light and eternal glory. Such an effect will be produced, more or less, on all who possess this Divine grace. The Marquis of Vico, in Italy, when he was come to years, and to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, refused to be called the son and heir to a marquis, a cupbearer to an emperor, and nephew to a pope, and chose rather to suffer affliction, persecution, banishment, loss of lands, living, wife, children, honours, and preferments, than to enjoy the sinful pleasures of Italy for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the honours of the most brilliant connection, and all the enjoyments of the most ample fortune; for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.

The True Riches.Elizabeth Christina, Queen of Prussia, was speaking one day to the little daughter of her gardener, and was greatly pleased with the wisdom and gentleness of the child. Some time after, as the queen was about to sit down with her ladies at table, the child was brought in, and the queen ordered her to sit beside her. The queen was curious to see what impression the gold and silver and bright ornaments would make on the little girl. She looked round in silence and astonishment; at last she folded her tiny hands, and said, with a clear voice,

Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are, and glorious dress;
Midst flaming worlds in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.

The ladies were deeply moved. Oh the happy child! one of them exclaimed to the queen, how high she is above us!

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

(23) Because they saw he was a proper child.Proper has its now obsolete sense of handsome, comely, a meaning not uncommon in Shakespeare. The word used in the Greek translation of Exo. 2:2 is preserved both in Act. 7:20 (see the Note) and in this place. It would seem that the remarkable beauty of the infant was understood by his parents as a divine sign given for the guidance of their conduct. The next clause should probably be closely connected with thisbecause they saw . . . and were not afraid of the kings commandment (Exo. 1:16). Their reliance on the protection of God enabled them to brave the anger of the king.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

23-29. Example of Moses. An age of prophetic silence and national suffering intervenes, when faith again revives in Moses, initiated by the faith of his parents. And this was a new era of faith, when, from merely predicting, the illustrious leader, Moses, proceeded to take possession of the Palestinian inheritance. Faith went forth in heroic enterprise, and a new dispensation was founded, second in greatness only to the advent of the Messiah. And, as it were in one list, our author gathers under Moses all the heroic examples until the conquest of Canaan.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

23. Parents The word is literally in the masculine fathers: and Bengel conjectures that the hiding was really done by his father Amram, and his paternal grandfather, (not his maternal, who was Levi himself, but his paternal,) Kohath: and Kohath was living at Moses’s birth. But Wetstein has abundantly shown that fathers was often a Greek term for parents.

Were not afraid So but that they braved the king’s commandment to destroy all the male children.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a goodly child, and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.’

First was revealed the faith of his parents (the Hebrew text in Exo 2:2 stresses the mother’s part, but LXX refers to both parents). He came of believing stock. They saw in him someone for whom God had a purpose, ‘a goodly child’, one whose very appearance promised great things in the future, and so they hid him for three months before finally leaving him prayerfully by the river to be found by the Egyptian princess. In all this they defied the kings’ commandment, being unafraid because of their faith. There was great danger for them but their faith overcame their fears because they believed that God was in it. In their faith they looked forward to the future hope.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Faith As Revealed In Connection With The Life of Moses ( Heb 11:23-28 ).

But then after a gap in time arose the one who would begin to solidify the promises. He would establish the nation of Israel and return them to their promised land. His name was Moses, and the life of Moses revealed his steadfast faith in a variety of ways.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Testimony of Moses as Recorded in Exodus Heb 11:23-29 gives us the testimony of Moses as a man who persevered in faith and fulfilled his divine commission. His parents hid him as a baby (Heb 11:23); he suffered with the Israelites rather than enjoy the luxuries of the king (Heb 11:24-26); he took the Israelites out of Egypt (Heb 11:27); he kept the Passover (Heb 11:28); and he took the Israelites through the Red Sea. All of these acts of obedience were demonstrations of his faith in God. Heb 11:23-28 reflects the theme of Heb 10:19 to Heb 11:40, which is perseverance in our divine service.

Heb 11:23 Hidden as a baby

Heb 11:24-26 Chose to suffer affliction with Israel

Heb 11:27 Left Egypt

Heb 11:28 Kept the first Passover and sprinkling of blood

Heb 11:29 He took the Israelites through the Red Sea

Heb 11:25 Comments – Pro 20:17 says that the bread of deceit is sweet at first, but brings its bitter rewards at a later date.

Pro 20:17, “Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.”

This is what Heb 11:25 implies by saying that sin brings pleasure for a season, but implies that judgment comes afterwards. It is interesting to note that Satan is constantly trying to get mankind to seek things without following the divine laws of sowing and reaping. Satan makes people think that they can violate God’s laws and get by with it. But God’s laws work to being judgment as well as blessings. The phrase “sin for a season” refers to the fact that it takes a seed sown a season of time before producing a harvest. But rest sure, a harvest will come.

Heb 11:27 “as seeing him who is invisible” Comments – Note verse 1, “things not seen.”

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The example of Moses:

v. 23. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.

v. 24. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,

v. 25. choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

v. 26. esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.

v. 27. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible.

v. 28. Through faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the first-born should touch them.

v. 29. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land; which the Egyptians as saying to do, were drowned.

The first incident from the history of Moses is that which illustrates the faith of his parents: By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was well formed, and they did not fear the order of the king. Exo 2:2. Moses was born at the time when a new dynasty had arisen in Egypt, and Pharaoh the king had, for political reasons, given orders that all male children among the children of Israel should be thrown into the Nile to die. But the parents of Moses, having in mind always the promise of deliverance out of Egypt, which was connected with the Messianic promise, and seeing that their new-born son seemed to be intelligent as well as well formed, defied the command of the king, Jochebed, the mother of Moses, therefore kept him at home for three months, managing to conceal him from the many spies of Pharaoh. Eventually the life of Moses was preserved in a miraculous manner. But this act of the parents of Moses was an act of faith and a fine example for all times.

Moses proved himself worthy of such parents: By faith Moses, when he had reached adult age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, preferring rather to suffer with the people of God than to have the enjoyment of sin for a time, since he considered the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he steadily kept in view the reward. Exo 2:3-10. When the daughter of Pharaoh found the child Moses at the river’s brink, his own mother became his nurse, thus receiving an opportunity to instruct him as to his descent. The instruction which Moses received in his early years was not driven out of his heart by all the subsequent studies which he took up as the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter. When he had grown up, at about the age of forty years, Act 7:23, he renounced his adoption as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He preferred to suffer ill usage and persecution with his countrymen rather than to have a short-lived enjoyment of sin. In his position as the adopted prince of the land he could have satisfied his highest ambitions and gratified all his finer tastes. But his stay at the Egyptian court brought him into daily contact with idolatry and sins of every description. His faith, which had been implanted in his heart through the teaching of his mother, caused him to hold that God would surely fulfill His promise to His people, even though the outlook at that time was rather gloomy. It would mean disgrace for him, so far as this world was concerned, but he was willing to bear this scorn, this reproach, since it came upon him for the sake of the Messiah, in whose coming he believed. Although he saw Christ only in hope, yet the riches which his faith brought him even so were immeasurably greater than everything that the civilization of Egypt was able to offer him instead. So he resolutely turned away from the glittering promises of this reward and steadfastly fixed his eyes upon, constantly directed them to, the reward which the promise of God held out to him. Such an action, to forsake an apparently certain enjoyment of all that this world has to offer for an uncertain and hazy promise, as the children of unbelief see it, that is the characteristic of faith to this day.

A second incident from the life of Moses is held up as an example: By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he bided his time as seeing Him who is invisible. What Moses had openly confessed in renouncing his adoption as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter he just as openly carried into execution by casting his lot with his own people. He not only left the court of Pharaoh and Egypt proper, but he also made his home in Goshen, where his countrymen lived. By faith he braved the king’s wrath, because he saw an invisible monarch greater than Pharaoh on his side. He could afford, then, to bide his time, to wait till the Lord would show him what step to take next. That opportunity came after his flight to, and sojourn in, Midian: Through faith he celebrated the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer might not touch their first-born sons. Here again it required simple faith and trust in the word of the Lord to make all the necessary preparations for the first Passover in the history of Israel. It was a case of simply obeying the order of the Lord concerning the lamb and the entire Passover meal, and especially the act of painting the door-posts and the upper lintel of the doors with the blood of the slaughtered animal, Exo 12:7-22. The Lord had stated that the object of this sprinkling, or painting, of blood was to keep the great destroying angel, the angel who, by God’s command, went through the land of Egypt and slew the first-horn in every family, from the houses of the children of Israel. It certainly was no small act of faith which caused Moses confidently to promise the people security in the midst of the general destruction.

But just as the people, as a whole, had joined Moses in the keeping of the first Passover in the manner enjoined by God, so the Israelites showed their faith soon after: By faith they passed through the Red Sea as if on dry land, of which the Egyptians, making trial, were swallowed up, Exo 14:22-23; Exo 15:4. The Red Sea proved the first hard test of the faith of the Israelites after they had left Egypt. Before them was the sea, behind them was the army of Pharaoh; they seemed doomed to extinction. It was then that the Lord commanded the people through Moses to keep their peace, since they were going forward. In this promise they trusted, and when the sea opened up before them, the water forming solid walls on the right and on the left, they forgot the doubt and distrust with which they had been battling and boldly went forward under God’s protecting arm, passing over to the other side in safety. The Egyptians, however, that had no such trust, but were enemies of the true God, challenged the sea by their pursuit of the Israelites, the result being that they all perished, being swallowed up as the water once more followed the law of nature. Again a victory of faith.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Heb 11:23. By faith Moses, &c. The instance of faith here, is that of Moses’s parents. It is not improbable, that Moses’s father knew what had been promised to Abraham, Gen 13:16. Now reckon by the generations, and by the series of years passed from the covenant with Abraham, and it is plain that the time of servitude was then drawing toward its end. Moses’s parents therefore, believing the promises made to Abraham, and seeing the infant a comely fine child, they concealed his birth, and did not make away with him, as Pharaoh had commanded. However, the sacred historyitself takes no notice of anyother reason for their preserving the child, but only his exceeding comeliness or fairness. See Act 7:20.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Heb 11:23 he points to the faith manifested by the relatives of Moses at the time of his birth. Comp. Exo 2:2 . The special beauty of the new-born child awakened in them the belief [110] that God had chosen him for great things and would be able to preserve his life, and in this belief they hid the child in opposition to the commandment of the Egyptian king.

] i.e. by his parents . For this elsewhere unusual employment of , Wetstein aptly directs the reader to Parthenius, Erot . 10 : , , as well as to the Latin patres , Stat. Theb. vi. 464: Incertique patrum thalami. Bengel understands of the still living ancestors of Moses (“a patribus, id est a patre [Amram] et ab avo paterno, qui erat Kahath”), and he is followed by Chr. Fr. Schmid, Bhme (yet with wavering), and others; while Stein, who expressly rejects both explanations, wonderfully supposes “the mother,” together with “a few concurring friends, who as it were took the place of parents,” to be intended. In the Hebrew, Exo 2:2 , the is predicated only of the mother; the LXX., however, with whom the author agrees, have: ,

] fair and graceful in form . Theophylact: , . In the Hebrew stands .

] might, on account of the plural , be considered, together with , in opposition to the passive , as still dependent upon . But more logically exact is the taking of the words, as also is mostly done, as a parallel to ). For much more natural does it appear that the author wished to represent that as an act from the accomplishment of which fear did not deter, than that he should think of fearlessness as the motive cause of that action.

] the command of Pharaoh , to drown all new-born male children of the Israelites. Comp. Exo 1:22 .

[110] Kurtz is in a position to add further particulars on this point, inasmuch as he supposes the “presupposition” is to be derived from the state of things narrated, “that a special divine admonition spoke to the parents out of the eyes of the child.”

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

Heb 11:23-29 the author passes over from the patriarchs to Moses, dwelling upon a series of facts in the history of the latter which bear a typical character. First

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

V
The example of Moses

Heb 11:23-29

23By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of [by] his parents, because they saw he was a proper child [that the child was beautiful]; and they were not afraid of the kings commandment. 24By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter; 25Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season [to have a transient enjoyment from sin]; 26Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt;16 for he had respect [for, he was looking away] unto the recompense of the reward. 27By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. 28Through faith he kept [he has celebrated] the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest [in order that] he that destroyed.17 the first-born should [may not] touch them. 29By faith they passed through the Red Sea, as by dry land;18 which the Egyptians assaying to do, were drowned.

[Heb 11:23., on being born=when he was born., they saw the child (to be)fair, comely; , predicate.

Heb 11:24. , on becoming large, on being grown up., of a daughter, without the Art.

Heb 11:25. , a temporary enjoyment from sin; being here not the Gen. object., denoting sin as that which is enjoyed, but Gen. subject., denoting sin as conferring the enjoyment, or that from which the enjoyment comes. Here, as at Hebrews 3., the sin of apostasy. So Bl., Del., and Moll. Alf. denies, and makes it the Gen. obj.; but unnecessarily, and with much less force in the train of thought of the Epistle.

Heb 11:26., he was looking away, as , so as to be waiting for it, or by regard for it determined or strengthened in a course of action (Bl.), Heb 12:2., the rendering of the reward (Heb 2:2).

Heb 11:27. ( intensive), abandoned, forsook., seeing the unseen, scil., perhaps ; a paronomasia, as Rom 1:20, .

Heb 11:28., he has made; either instituted, or, in conformity with the common use of the word in such connections, celebrated. The Perf. indicates it as a thing standing recorded in history as done (Heb 11:17, ). , not strictly the sprinkling, but the pouring on (Angiessung) of blood.

Heb 11:29. , of which, scil., either or . The former preferred by Kuin., Bhm., Klee, Del.; the latter by Bl., Ln., Alf. Moll does not decide, but apparently inclines to ., were drunk up, swallowed up, drowned.K.].

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Heb 11:23. Inasmuch as in Greek sometimes has the same signification as (examples in Wets. and Del.), and the mother of Moses is expressly mentioned in the original, we must refer the term to Jochebed and Amram, and not (with Beng., Menk., Stier, and others,) put in place of the mother of Moses, her father, Kohath.

Heb 11:24. Come to years (become large) .Schultz and Bretschn. refer the to worldly power and honor; but the contrast is between the child and the grown up man, who has reached the period of independent choice and decision.

Heb 11:25. To have enjoyment from sin.The is not the enjoyment of sin (Theoph. Schlicht, Ln., Alf., etc.), but the enjoyment to which sin opens the way; for this enjoyment, indicated as for a season, stands in the same relation to apostasy from God and from His people (as that which we are to shun mentioned, Heb 3:13; Heb 10:26), as the suffering of affliction bears to fellowship with the covenant people of God.

Heb 11:26. The reproach of Christ.Ln. understands by the , the reproach which Christ bore; Ebr. (after the older interpp.), the reproach for the sake of Christ which Moses endured by virtue of his hope in the Messiah; Bl., Del., and others, correctly, the reproach which Christ had to endure in His own person, and has to endure in His members. The authors warrant for ascribing to Moses a participation in this reproach is found by Hofm. in the typical connection, by virtue of which, the Old Testament people of God bear in themselves the impress of Christ, inasmuch as Christ is He whom the Old Testament history, in advance, represents, and whom the Old Testament Word promises. Stier finds this warrant in the mystical unity of Christ and His church; De W. and Thol., in the pre-existent presence of Christ as the Logos, in the Old Testament Israel (1Co 10:4; 1Pe 1:10 ff.); Baumg., (Theol. comm. on the Pent.) citing the authority of Augustine, in that preparation for Christs appearance in the flesh which runs through the entire history of Israel. Delitzsch unites the various explanations, and says: The reproach of Christ is, to our author, the reproach of the Christ who was present as Logos in His people made one with Him, and there typically announcing His incarnation which was yet to take place.

Heb 11:27. Forsook Egypt.All the Greek and Latin intpp., except Nich. Lyra, refer this to the flight of Moses to Midian, Exo 2:15; but since, in that case, the flight was occasioned by fear of the kings wrath (Heb 11:14), but here, on the contrary, is ascribed to Moses fearlessness, very weighty interpreters since Lyra (as Calv., Schlicht., Grot., Calov, Bhme, Bl., etc., and recently Ebr. and Bisp.) have referred it to the Exodus of Moses with the collected people. Justly, however, Zeger, Calmet, Bengel, De Wette, Tholuck, Lnemann, Delitzsch, and others, have adhered to the earlier view. In favor of this is the succession of events here recounted; the expression , abandoned, forsook, which, indeed, might possibly be referred to the Exodus, (Joseph., Antt., II. 15, 2), but in the present connection points to something personally, and exclusively pertaining to Moses; and finally, the circumstance that the Exodus (Exo 12:31) took place with the consent of Pharaoh. Nor is it necessary to the solution of the above mentioned contradiction, to assume, with De Wette, a decided failure of memory on the part of the author, or, with Ln., to distinguish a fear, taken objectively, from fearlessness as a purely subjective emotion. We might ask, with Tholuck, could not the author, without forgetting the fear inspired in Moses by the first rumor of the kings wrath, wish to express that his faith had nevertheless overcome that fear? or we can say, with Del., that he, the son of Pharaohs daughter, quitted Egypt without consulting the king; that he did this without fearing the heightened wrath which he incurred by this voluntary sundering of his relation to the Egyptian court. Both interpreters appeal in support of their view to the reason stated in the following clause, he endured, etc.[It seems to me that this is a case in which it is equally gratuitous to suppose, with De Wette, a failure in the authors memory; and, with Alford and others, to feel any serious difficulty in the explanation. Looking at the withdrawal of Moses from Egypt, it seems to me that one might, with nearly equal truth, say that he left fearing, or, not fearing the wrath of the king; and that which one would be likely to say would depend simply on his point of view and immediate purpose in recurring to the event. That, in his earlier withdrawal, Moses did fear the wrath of the king is certain, and this was the immediate occasion of his flight as such. But, on the other hand, that his entire course at this time, alike in the act which occasioned his flight, and his general choice and state of mind, arose above considerations of fear, and were determined by a practical defiance of the wrath of the king, is equally certain. According, therefore, as the writer had his mind on the one or the other of these facts, the passing fear that dictated the flight, or the higher courage and trust in God which prevented that fear from being controlling, and which, in fact, led him to provoke the wrath of the king, he might use one representation or the other. Here it better suits his purpose to present the spiritual fearlessness which dictated his whole course of conduct, in connection with its ground, viz: his faith in Him who is unseen. I think that is to be understood with . The author puts the unseen heavenly King, whom Moses saw with the vision of his faith, over against the seen king, at whom, without this vision, he would have trembled.K.].

He endured.It is grammatically unallowable to make (with Luth., Beng., Schultz, Paul., Ebr.) dependent on . For the transitive signification of this verb is not to adhere to something, but to endure something, e.g.: hunger and thirst. Here the intransitive signification alone is possible.

Heb 11:28. Hath celebrated the Passover.Since uniformly appears along with , only of the celebration of the Passover (Exodus 9; Exo 12:48; Num 9:2; Jos 5:10; Mat 26:18), the assumption that here the significations of founding and celebrating are united (Bhm., Bl., Ln.), is not merely uncertain (De W.), but false: yet the perfect may suggest the idea that the Egyptian passover, which stands before us as an accomplished fact, has become the foundation for the celebration of the Passover in subsequent times (Del.).

Destroyer, etc.The Heb. =destruction, the Sept. translates by , and certainly (as Asaph, Psa 78:49) conceives as an angelic minister of divine justice (comp. 1Ch 21:12; 1Ch 21:15; 2Ch 32:21; Sir 48:21; 1Co 10:10). It is grammatically impossible to connect with (Klee, Paul., Ebr.). This verb governs the Gen. (here and is dependent on . Of course, in the connection their first-born, is readily understood to refer to the first-born of the Israelites, though the latter are not expressly named.

Heb 11:29. Of which the Egyptians making trial.The relative can be equally well referred to the dry land immediately preceding (Bhm., Kuin., Klee, Del.), or to the Red Sea. may mean to make trial of something, or, to make an attempt at something, as here and Heb 11:36.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. When we believe that God has special purposes regarding a man, we not merely hope for his preservation, but we acquire courage in coperating for his deliverance; and we rely on Gods assistance in deeds of daring, and amidst circumstances of peril.

2. Worldly greatness, honor, power, and pleasure, have, indeed, a splendid appearance, and exercise a power of temptation by which many are led astray; but the believer recognizes the perishable and dangerous character of these possessions and enjoyments. He looks to the future, the divine judgments, and the recompense of reward; and allows himself to be influenced neither by the allurements nor by the threats of the world; is seduced neither by the fear nor the favor of man, but remains steadfast in his vocation, having God before his eyes and in his heart.

3. The power to deliver and to destroy, lies not in outward things and events, but, on the one hand, in the favor and in the wrath of God, who employs them as means and instruments; on the other, in the faith and the unbelief of men, who use these means for salvation, or abuse them to their ruin.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Faith looks to the purposes of God regarding the children of men, and to the means of their accomplishment.The believer fears neither to encounter the wrath of men, nor to endure the reproach of Christ.That which brings salvation to the believer, brings the unbeliever to destruction.The believer looks, 1, not upon the outward appearance, but upon the inward form; 2, not upon perishable riches, but upon the eternal possessions; 3, not upon the visible world, but upon the invisible God.

Starke:The world abuses in many ways the outward form and condition of men; but God frequently employs them as a means or occasion for great good. To many a one they serve as a means of trial.Governments are in Gods stead, and are to be honored; but when they give ungodly commands, these are to be given to the winds, Act 5:29.The friendship of God and the world cannot be enjoyed together (Jam 4:4).The temporal afflictions of the pious are followed by eternal joy; the temporal joy of the ungodly by eternal affliction; consider well to which thou wilt devote thyself.In sufferings and afflictions we must look to the gracious reward in heaven; this can alleviate and sweeten all (Psa 94:19).To be despised and persecuted for Christs sake, is an honor and a token of our attaining to the heavenly glory (Mat 5:11-12).Let the enemy continue to rage; ho cannot overpass the limits which God has fixed. When God chooses to bear with him no longer, He strikes him to the ground (Isa 41:10; Isa 43:16-17; Isa 51:9-10).

Rieger:O how many of our natural impulses lack that right direction which faith would give to them! how often do we yield ourselves and our children to the disposal of men, and faith should strengthen us to yield them up at the good pleasure of God!Faith frequently receives guidance and direction from the visible; but it transforms the visible not into food for vanity, but into nourishment for its trust.One may, even out of the delicate and beautiful, weave subtle snares for his own children, and for the innocence of others.Faith and foolhardiness are widely separated from each other.Faith admits the judicious employment of all means of security.

Heubner:Fellowship with the people of God leads to suffering, but apostasy brings after temporal gain eternal shame.Faith is the spiritual eye which recognizes the nothingness of earthly treasures, and the value of the heavenly.Faith at once foregoes and preserves.

Burckhardt (Ohly, 1862, II. 2):The believing spirit of the Christian: 1. In its nature; it regards the reproach of Christ, spurned and contemned Christianity, more highly than, a, earthly life, Heb 11:23; b, worldly honor, Heb 11:24; c, sinful pleasure, Heb 11:25; d, temporal riches, Heb 11:26. 2. In its reward: a, it brings out of Egypt, the house of bondage of sin, Heb 11:27; b, secures against temporal death by the blood of Christ, Heb 11:28; c, goes confidently through death into the heavenly Canaan, Heb 11:29.

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.

Ver. 23. Hid three months of his parents ] That they hid him no longer argued weakness of their faith, which yet is both commended and rewarded.

He was a proper child ] , fair to God, Act 7:20 , having a divine beauty and comeliness. Special endowments are a foretoken of special employment. The very heathen in choosing their kings had a special eye to bodily beauty. See 1Sa 10:23 ; 1Sa 16:19 ; 1Sa 17:42 .

Not afraid of the king’s commandment ] Because unjust and impious. See Trapp on “ Act 4:19 “

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

23 .] Now the writer passes on to Exodus, and its chief example, Moses, who even in his preservation by his parents was the child of faith. By faith Moses when born was hidden three months ( is probably feminine, see ref. Herod., and cf. , Polyb. xxvii. 6. 2: , schin. Ctes. p. 63. 34. is also in use: Polyb. i. 38. 6; v. 1. 12, and in Plut. and Ptolemy: and we have , Xen. Hell. ii. 3. 9) by his parents ( is explained by Bengel, al., “Occultatus est Moses a patribus , id est a patre (Amram) et ab avo, non materno, qui erat ipse Levi, sed paterno, qui erat Kohath. Vixit ergo Kohath, nascente Mose. Magnus loci hujus recte explicati usus est in chronologia sacra.” But whatever inferences are deduced from it rest, it is to be feared, on a very slender foundation: for there can be no doubt that does signify parents . In a passage of Parthenius, Erot. 10, cited by Wetst., we have , . See other Greek and Latin examples in Wetst. The instance given by Delitzsch from Plato, Legg. vi. p. 772 end, is not decisive, . In the Hebrew text of Exo 2:2 , it is his mother only who does the whole: but the LXX have the plural as here), because they saw the child was comely (so in Exod. , , , Thl.: , Jdt 11:23 . Thdrt. says, , ): and they feared not the command of the king (to destroy all the male children, Exo 1:22 . So Philo, Vita Mos. i. 3, vol. ii. p. 82, , . Their faith was, loving trust in God who had given them so fair a child, which led them to perform as far as in them lay, the duties of parents to it, and not the cruel part which the tyrant prescribed. is a word of later Greek: see reff., and Philo de Decal. 4, p. 183).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Heb 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 ( , in Stephanus’ Thesaur , several examples are given of the use of for “father and mother,” parents; and consider Eph 6:4 and Col 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 . 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 Act 7:20 Stephen calls him f1 , extraordinarily beautiful ( cf. Jon 3:3 ) or as Philo, De Mos. , p. 82, , indicating that he had a corresponding destiny. Moses himself when he had grown up ( , as in Exo 2:11 paraphrased by Stephen (Act 7:23 ) .) 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. ., the simple verb in Heb 11:37 , also Heb 13:3 ; the compound here only. , 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 , 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. , “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 (Heb 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. , he habitually kept in view the reward. Cf. Xen., Hist. , vi. 1, 8 , also Psa 11:4 , Philo, De Opif. , p. 4. , “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 (Heb 11:26 ), and it alludes to what preceded the Passover (Heb 11:28 ). The word , denoting long continued endurance also suits better this reference. The only difficulty in the way of accepting this interpretation is found in the words , because, according to Exo 2:15 , the motive of his flight was fear of the king. . 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, , “he steadfastly bided his time,” because he saw the Invisible, being thus an eminent illustration of faith as . 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, , “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 a sacrificial meaning in the N.T.? will be found in Prof. T. K. Abbott’s Essays . is regularly used of “keeping” a feast; and this is a classical usage as well. Cf. Exo 12:48 ; Exo 23:16 ; Exo 34:22 ; 2Ch 35:17-19 . originally the paschal lamb, Exo 12:21 , , Mar 14:12 , hence the feast of Passover as in Luk 22:1 . It is written throughout 2 Chronicles 30, 35, also in Jer 38:8 . , “and the affusion of the blood” the sprinkling of the blood on the door posts as commanded in Exo 12:7 ; Exo 12:22 , the object being that the destroyers of the first-borns might not touch them. As is followed by a genitive in Heb 12:20 it is probable that the writer here also meant it to govern while follows . So R.V. is taken from Exo 12:23 . , first-borns of man and also of beasts, Exo 12:12 . is naturally referred to “the people of God,” Heb 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. “they passed through the Red sea as if on dry land”. The nominative must be taken out of . , the usual term for crossing a river or a space. The Red sea is in Hebrew “the Sea of [red] weeds”. as in Exo 14:29 , also Exo 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. “of which [ i.e. , of the sea] making trial the Egyptians were swallowed up,” Exo 15:4 . 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, , 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 (Jos 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, , see Jos 6:6 ; Jos 6:14 and for , Jos 6:14 . “When applied to time, denotes the period over which something extends, as Luk 4:25 , , during three years” (Winer, p. 508). The fall of Jericho and the extermination of its inhabitants suggest the escape of Rahab. , 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 (Heb 3:18 ); , they knew that the Lord had given the land to Israel (Jos 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.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Heb 11:23-29

23By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. 27By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen. 28By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them. 29By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned.

Heb 11:23 “His parents” The Septuagint has “parents,” while the Hebrew Masoretic Text has only “mother.”

“because they saw he was a beautiful child” Jewish tradition says Moses was a physically beautiful child. What parent does not think their child is beautiful? But this is not the theological point. This was a special, God-sent child.

“they were not afraid of the king’s edict” The author mentions this phrase with an eye toward his current readers (cf. Heb 11:27).

Heb 11:24 “son of Pharaoh’s daughter” This was an official Egyptian designation and title of authority.

Heb 11:25-26 Again the author makes a connection to the temptation facing his readers. They must keep their eyes on the future, sure promises of God, not on current circumstances. Loyalty to Christ is ultimate!

Heb 11:27 “left Egypt” This seems to refer to Moses’ flight to Midian, not the Exodus (cf. Exo 2:14-15). Again the author is drawing a rather idealized picture of Moses’ purpose.

“as seeing Him who is unseen” The Israelites believed that to see YHWH caused death, because of His holiness (cf. Gen 16:13; Gen 32:30; Exo 3:6; Exo 33:17-23; Jdg 6:22-23; Jdg 13:22; 1Ki 19:11-13; Act 7:32).

Heb 11:28 This is an allusion to Exodus 12. This last plague affected all of Egypt including the land of Goshen. Even the Hebrews had to obey God’s instructions and act in faith in order to be spared the visitation of the death angel.

“firstborn” See Special Topic at Heb 1:6.

“he who destroyed” This refers to the Death Angel (cf. LXX, Exo 12:23; 2Sa 24:16-17).

Heb 11:29 This is a summary of the account found in Exo 14:21 ff..

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Moses. See Heb 3:2.

three months. Greek. trimenon. Only here.

of = by. Greek. hupo. App-104.

proper. Greek. asteios. See Act 7:20.

child. Greek. paidion. App-108.

commandment. Greek. diatagma. Only here. Compare Rom 13:2. Moses’ parents must have had some revelation from God, on which their faith could act.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

23.] Now the writer passes on to Exodus, and its chief example, Moses, who even in his preservation by his parents was the child of faith. By faith Moses when born was hidden three months ( is probably feminine, see ref. Herod., and cf. , Polyb. xxvii. 6. 2: , schin. Ctes. p. 63. 34. is also in use: Polyb. i. 38. 6; v. 1. 12, and in Plut. and Ptolemy: and we have , Xen. Hell. ii. 3. 9) by his parents ( is explained by Bengel, al., Occultatus est Moses a patribus, id est a patre (Amram) et ab avo, non materno, qui erat ipse Levi, sed paterno, qui erat Kohath. Vixit ergo Kohath, nascente Mose. Magnus loci hujus recte explicati usus est in chronologia sacra. But whatever inferences are deduced from it rest, it is to be feared, on a very slender foundation: for there can be no doubt that does signify parents. In a passage of Parthenius, Erot. 10, cited by Wetst., we have , . See other Greek and Latin examples in Wetst. The instance given by Delitzsch from Plato, Legg. vi. p. 772 end, is not decisive, . In the Hebrew text of Exo 2:2, it is his mother only who does the whole: but the LXX have the plural as here), because they saw the child was comely (so in Exod. , , , Thl.: , Jdt 11:23. Thdrt. says, , ): and they feared not the command of the king (to destroy all the male children, Exo 1:22. So Philo, Vita Mos. i. 3, vol. ii. p. 82, , . Their faith was, loving trust in God who had given them so fair a child, which led them to perform as far as in them lay, the duties of parents to it, and not the cruel part which the tyrant prescribed. is a word of later Greek: see reff., and Philo de Decal. 4, p. 183).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Heb 11:23. , by faith) It is not the faith of Moses that is referred to in this verse, but that of his parents; as in Heb 11:30 it is not the faith of the citizens of Jericho, but that of the Israelites.-, of his fathers) In Exo 2:2, the LXX. relate the fact as follows: and seeing that he was a goodly () child, they [not she, as in the Hebrew] hid him three months; and when they could no longer hide him, the mother took to him an ark or wicker-basket. In the Hebrew, the whole is ascribed to the mother; by the apostle, to the fathers. By the term, fathers, the Syrians understand father and mother; but we can scarcely prove that this was the case among the Hebrews and Greeks. Chrys. on this passage remarks, , : he begins with the parents () of Moses, some undistinguished MEN. Hesychius explains as , wealthy [men of note], or ancestors. So , Heb 1:1, Heb 3:9, Heb 8:9; Eph 6:4, note. The LXX. never use for , nor will it be found in the New Testament that can be appropriately substituted for the word , which so often occurs. Moses was concealed by his fathers, that is, by his father (Amram) and by his grandfather, not the maternal grandfather, who was Levi himself, but by the paternal grandfather, who was (Kohath) Kahath. Therefore Kahath (Kohath) was alive when Moses was born. We find great advantage in the right explanation of this passage with respect to sacred chronology. See Ord. Temp., p. 68 [Ed. ii. p. 58].-, they saw) with a kind of presage of great events.-, beautiful) Act 7:20, note.- , they were not afraid) The mental feeling is put for the effect, Heb 11:27, note.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

In searching the sacred records for eminent examples of the power and efficacy of faith, the apostle is arrived unto that of Moses. And because this is the greatest instance, next to that of Abraham, he insists on sundry acts and fruits thereof. And indeed, if we consider aright his person and his circumstances; the work which he was called unto; the trials, difficulties, and temptations he had to conflict withal; the concernment of the glory of God and of the whole church in him; the illustrious representation of the redemption and deliverance of the church by Christ in what he did; with his success and victory over all opposition; we must acknowledge that there cannot be a more excellent exemplification of the power of faith than what was given in him. For this cause the apostle takes one step backward, to declare the faith of his parents in his preservation in his infancy, whereon his future life and all that he was called unto did depend. For ofttimes, when God designeth persons to a great work, he giveth some previous indication of it, in or about their nativity: not by a fictitious horoscope, or the position and aspect of planets, a thing common to all born at the same time unto the most different events; but by some peculiar work and divine warning of his own. So was it in the birth of Samson, of Samuel, John the Baptist, and others. And so was it in the birth and preservation of this Moses, as it is declared in this verse.

Heb 11:23. , , .

Heb 11:23. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw [he was] a proper child; and they were not afraid of the kings commandment.

It is the faith of the parents of Moses that is here celebrated. But because it is mentioned principally to introduce the discourse of himself and his faith, and also that what is spoken belongs unto his honor, it is thus peculiarly expressed. He saith not, By faith the parents of Moses, when he was born, hid him;but, By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid; that is, by the faith of his parents, who hid him. This birth of Moses fell out in the very height and fury of the persecution. After that Pharaoh failed in his design of destroying the male children of the Hebrews by the midwives, he gave the execution of it in charge unto all the people, that is, the officers among them; who no doubt were sufficiently diligent and officious in the work committed unto them. About the very entrance of this new, effectual way of the destruction of the male children, when their rage was most fierce, no way abated by compassion, nor wearied by long continuance, nor weakened by any conviction of want of success, which use to abate the edge of persecution, in the wise disposal of divine Providence, Moses is born and preserved, who was to be the deliverer of the whole people out of all their misery.

How blind are poor, sinful mortals, in all their contrivances against the church of God! When they think all things secure, and that they shall not fail of their end; that their counsels are laid so deep as not to be blown up; their power so uncontrollable, and the way wherein they are engaged so effectual, as that God himself can hardly deliver it out of their hands; He that sits on high laughs them to scorn, and with an almighty facility lays in provision for the deliverance of his church, and their utter ruin.

Josephus, giving an account of the nativity of Moses, tells us that Amram his father had a revelation from God, or a divine oracle, that of him and his wife Jochebed he should proceed and be born by whom the people should be delivered out of bondage. And that hereon, seeing the eminent beauty of this child when it was born, he and his wife used the utmost of their industry, with the venture of their lives, for his preservation; for they firmly believed that the divine oracle should be accomplished. And because it is said that they hid him by faith, some expositors do judge that in their faith they had respect unto some immediate divine revelation. But we shall see that they had a sufficient ground of faith for what they did without any such immediate revelation, which is not necessary unto the exercise of faith on all occasions And as for Josephus, it is manifest that in the account he gives of the life of Moses, before his flight out of Egypt, he records many things without sufficient warrant, and some of them inconsistent with the Scripture.

There are five things to be considered in the exposition of the words:

1. Who they were whose faith is here commended; the parents of Moses.

2. Wherein they acted and manifested their faith; they hid him three months.

3. What was their motive hereunto; they saw he was a proper child.

4. How they did this; by faith.

5. What was the power of that faith enabling them unto this duty; they were not afraid of the kings commandment.

1. The persons intended were the parents of Moses. fathers, is sometimes used in the common gender for , parents, as it is here. In the story there is mention only of his mother, Exo 2:2. And that was because the execution of the counsel or advice was committed unto her; wherein she used also the help of her daughter, as verse 4. But it is plain in this place, that his father was no less engaged in this work and duty than his mother. He was in the advice and counsel, as also in the hazard of what was done, no less than she. And this had an influence into the success. For,

Obs. 1. Where there is an agreement between husband and wife, in faith and the fear of the Lord, it makes way unto a blessed success in all their duties: when it is otherwise, nothing succeeds unto their comfort. And,

Obs. 2. When difficult duties befall persons in that relation, it is their wisdom each to apply themselves unto that part and share of it which they are best suited for. So was it in this case; Amram no doubt was the principal in the advice and contrivance, as his wife was in its actual execution.

2. They hid him three months: He was hid by them three months. Herein they acted and exercised their faith. And this they seem to have done two ways:

(1.) They concealed his birth as much as they were able, and did not let it be known that a male child was born in the family.

(2.) They kept him not in the usual place where children were disposed of, but hid him in some secret part of the house. Here he abode three months; about the end of which time probably the report began to grow that there was a male child born there; which would have occasioned an immediate strict search and scrutiny, from which they could not have preserved him. And,

Obs. 3. This is the height of persecution, when private houses are searched by bloody officers, to execute tyrannical laws; when the last and utmost retreat of innocency, for that protection which is due unto it by the law of God and nature, with the common rules of human society, cannot be a shelter against wicked rage and fury.

No doubt but during this season their diligence was accompanied with fervent cries unto God, and the exercise of trust in him. The occasion was great on all hands, and they were not wanting unto any part of their duty. The outward act of hiding the child wan but an indication of the internal working of their faith.

3. That which was their motive and encouragement to the exercise of their faith in this way of hiding the child, is, Because they saw he was a proper child. , some render quia or quoniam, some quum; because they saw, or when, or whereas they saw. It doth not include the whole cause of what they did, as though this were the only reason or ground whereon they did it; but it respects that impression on their minds which the sight of the child gave unto them, exciting them unto that duty which they had other grounds and reasons for, as we shall see immediately. It is granted, therefore, that the sight of the child (whose countenance was twice instrumental in the saving of its life, first by the smiles of its beauty, and then by its weeping, Exo 2:2; Exo 2:6) did greatly excite their natural affections, by which their minds were made the more ready to engage in the hazard which faith called them unto for his preservation.

They saw that he was a proper child. Heb., . Tob, in the Hebrew, is applied to every thing that is on any account approvable and excellent in its kind. The word it is whereby God approved of all his works of creation, and declared their perfection, Gen 1:31. And it is applied in particular unto beauty of countenance: Gen 24:16, Rebekah was good of countenance. It is in this place rendered by the LXX. , that is, elegans, venustus, festivus, scitus, bellus, pulcher. We render it here proper, a proper child; whether properly or no, the use of our language and custom in speaking must determine. The word signifies comely, beautiful, goodly; , . Holy Stephen expresseth the force of the Hebrew word by , fair to God, or in the sight of God, Act 7:20; which we render exceeding fair. No doubt but an unusual natural elegancy, sweetness, and beauty of countenance are intended. And not only so, but I am persuaded, from that expression of Stephen, that there was , an appearance of somewhat divine and supernatural, which drew the thoughts and minds of the parents unto a deep consideration of the child. They quickly thought it was not for nothing that God had given such a peculiarly gracious, promising countenance unto the infant. This not only drew their affections, and engaged them, but moved their minds and judgments to endeavor all lawful ways for its preservation. And,

Obs. 4. It is well when any thing of eminency in our children doth so engage our affections unto them, as to make them useful and subservient unto diligence in disposing of them unto the glory of God. Otherwise a fondness in parents, arising from the natural endowments of children, is usually hurtful, and oftentimes ruinous unto the one and other.

4. The principle of their actings for his preservation, in hiding of him, as also in the means afterwards used, was their faith. But how and on what grounds they acted faith herein, must be inquired into. And,

(1.) I take it for granted that they had no especial, particular revelation concerning the life and work of this child. None such is mentioned, no such was needed for the acting of faith in this matter; and the manner of their deportment in the whole manifests that no such they had.

(2.) They had a firm faith of the deliverance of the people out of bondage in the appointed season. This they had an express promise for, and were newly engaged in the belief of it by the witness given unto it by Joseph, and his charge on them to carry his bones with them. And with respect hereunto it is that they are said in the close of the verse not to fear the kings command, which is the effect of their faith; which may now be spoken unto.

It was a , an ordinance, a statute, an edict, which had the force of a standing law; and that established by the king, with the counsel of the kingdom, as is declared, Exo 1:9-11. And this law lay directly against the accomplishment of the promise; for it aimed at the extirpation of the whole race, so as that there should have remained none to be delivered. As the historian says of that company of men who founded Rome, Res unius aetatis respublica virorum, A commonwealth of men only, without women, would have been but the matter of one age, it must have expired for want of posterity; so if all the male children of the Hebrews had perished, according to this law, in one age more the nation would have been extinct. This the parents of Moses feared not: they knew the promise of God for their preservation, multiplication, and deliverance, should take place notwithstanding all the laws of men, and the highest rage in their execution. And so they shall be at this day, let men make what laws they please, and execute them with all the subtilty and rage they think meet. This counsel of Pharaoh and his people is reported for a wise and subtile contrivance, with respect unto the end aimed at, Exo 1:9-10; Act 7:17-19. However, they put one word into their law that made it ipso facto null and ineffectual. This was, that they should not multiply in Egypt. For God having promised unto Abraham that he would multiply his seed, and expressly unto Jacob, that he would do it in Egypt, Gen 46:3, it utterly made void this law from its first enacting, whereby it became successless. And so it is with all laws, and so shall it finally be with them, that are made against any of the promises of God unto the church.

Yea, it is probable that about this time, or not long after, when God had fulfilled his design in this law, which was in part the disposal of Moses unto such an education as might prepare him, and make him, as unto natural qualifications, meet for the work he would call him unto, that there was some remission of bloody cruelty in the execution of it. For it was eighty years after the birth of Moses before the deliverance of the people, in which time they multiplied exceedingly, so as that this law could not have been executed. The force of it probably was broken in this preservation of Moses, God having in his miraculous deliverance given a pledge of what he would do in the whole people.

(3.) They had also a persuasion that God would provide a person who should be the means of their deliverance, and who should conduct them from their bondage. This Moses himself apprehended when he slew the Egyptian, and began to judge that he himself might be the person, Act 7:24-25. And although afterwards he judged himself unmeet for to be employed in that work, yet still he retained his persuasion that God had designed some certain person unto that employment, and that he would send him in his appointed time. Hence was that prayer of his, when God began to call him unto his work, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send, Exo 4:13. One he was sure he would send, but prayed that he might not be the man. Now, the parents of Moses having this persuasion deeply fixed in them, and being raised by their distresses unto desires and expectations of his coming, beholding the unusual, divine beauty of their child, might well be raised unto some just hopes that God had designed him unto that great work. They had no especial revelation of it, but they had such an intimation of some great end God had designed him unto, as that they could not but say, Who knows but that God may have prepared this child for that end?And sometimes, as unto the event of things, faith riseth no higher but unto such an interrogation; as Joe 2:13-14.

5. Their faith was eminent in this, that in the discharge of their duty they feared not the kings edict. There is no mention of any thing in the order, but that every male child should be cast into the river, Exo 1:22. But it is generally and rationally apprehended that they were forbid to conceal their children, on the pain of death. This they were not so afraid of as to neglect their duty. And the fear which they had was not from their own danger, which faith carried them above, but only as to the life of the child. This made them change their method, and, when they could no longer conceal him in the house, to commit him unto the providence of God in an ark, and to wait what would be the event thereof. And the issue did quickly manifest that they were led therein by a secret instinct and conduct of divine Providence.

There is no ground, therefore, to charge the parents of Moses herein with either undue fear or failing in faith. For as unto what concerned themselves or their own lives in the kings edict, they feared it not, as the apostle affirms. And such a fear as a solicitous care about the childs life must needs produce, is inseparable from our nature in such cases, and not blamable. Neither was their change of method from want of faith: but rather an effect and fruit of it. For when one lawful way of preservation from persecution, oppression, and cruelty, will not secure us any longer, it is our duty to betake ourselves unto some other which is more likely so to do. For faith worketh by trust in God, whilst we are in the use of lawful means. And we have here an evident testimony that,

Obs. 5. The rage of men and the faith of the church shall work out the accomplishment of Gods counsels and promises, unto his glory, from under all perplexities and difficulties that may arise in opposition unto it. So they did in this instance in an eminent manner.

Fuente: An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews

Making the Far-Seeing Choice

Heb 11:23-31

Faith-we cannot say it too often-is the direct vision of the soul. It doesnt reason, it doesnt ask for evidences, it doesnt seek the corroboration of spies sent forward to explore the land. It is to the spiritual world what the five senses are to things around us. It is even more than this; it is our power of deriving the help of the Unseen to carry out and complete the work of our life.

Moses saw Him who is invisible, and drew on God with a mighty faith that reckoned on Him as being more real than Pharaoh, and secured His divine cooperation. First, he ascertained Gods will at the place where the bush burned with fire; and then set about doing his part, depending upon God to do His. Of course, it brought him into collision with the whole might of Pharaoh and Egypt, but he didnt even fear it. The destroying Angel had no terrors for the blood-sheltered people. The waters lined up on each side to let them pass. Strongly built walls fell to the ground. Let us be sure that we are on the line of Gods purposes, then trust Him and fear naught.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Hidden In The Ark

“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.” Heb 11:23

There are three arks mentioned in the Word of God. Each was a place of refuge, shelter, and safety. Each of these three arks was typical of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Gods salvation in and by him.

Noahs Ark

The ark that Noah built secured those who were in it from the vengeance and violent wrath of an angry God. That is Christ our Substitute. All the terror of Gods wrath fell on Noah and his family in the ark; but no wrath touched them. The ark absorbed all. So, too, all the fury of Gods wrath fell on his elect in Christ; but no wrath can ever touch us. Christ absorbed it all. Noah and his family were saved when all the world was drowned in the wrath of God. In Christ all Gods elect shall be eternally saved when all the world is drowned forever.

The Ark of the Covenant

The ark of the covenant sheltered the two tables of Gods holy law, and, being covered with blood, was the place of atonement, mercy, and acceptance with God for sinners. Where the ark went God went. That ark is Christ our Mercy-Seat. In him we have perfect righteousness and complete atonement. He kept the law for us in his life of obedience to God as our Substitute, and satisfied its justice by his death in our place at Calvary. If we are in the Ark, Christ Jesus, God is reconciled to us and we are reconciled to him. The holy Lord God bids needy sinners to come to him at the Mercy-Seat, Christ Jesus, and promises to meet all who come to him upon the Mercy-Seat, by faith in Christ, with mercy!

Moses Ark

Moses parents hid him for three months in an ark (a basket) made of bulrushes. That ark protected one of Gods chosen ones, Moses, from the murderous designs of a wicked ruler, Pharaoh. That ark, too, was a picture of Christ, into whom chosen sinners were placed by our loving, heavenly Father from eternity. As that ark of bulrushes was the means by which Moses was saved from drowning in the Eygptians river, Gods elect are saved from drowning in that infernal lake of his wrath, which burns forever with fire and brimstone.

From the beginning there has been but one place of refuge for sinners, only one way of salvation. That refuge, that way, that salvation is Christ! If we would be saved, we must be robed in Christs righteousness and washed in his blood. We must be in Christ by faith. Only Christ can bear our souls above the flood of Gods wrath. Only Christ can save us.

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

faith: Exo 2:2-10, Act 7:20

a proper child: That is, a fine, beautiful, or fair child, as our translators render [Strong’s G791] in Act 7:20; which was in their time the sense of proper, from the French propre.

and they: Heb 13:6, Psa 56:4, Psa 118:6, Isa 8:12, Isa 8:13, Isa 41:10, Isa 41:14, Isa 51:7, Isa 51:12, Dan 3:16-18, Dan 6:10, Mat 10:28, Luk 12:4, Luk 12:5

the king’s: Exo 1:16, Exo 1:22

Reciprocal: Jos 2:6 – hid them 1Sa 16:12 – ruddy Act 4:19 – to hearken

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Moses Faithful in All His House

Heb 11:23-30

INTRODUCTORY WORDS

There are seven things which Moses did, as outlined in Heb 11:24-28, which we want to notice.

1. Moses refused. The first great step in Moses’ maturity, as he turned his back upon Egypt, was his power to say, No. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. It is this spirit of positive rejection of sin and of Satan which must precede every forward step.

2. Moses chose. Moses’ choice was to suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. There are some who would assert that Moses’ choice was a very foolish one, but today as we think of Moses with the Lord, we cannot but feel that he chose right.

3. Moses esteemed. Moses’ reason for esteeming the reproach of Christ as greater riches than the treasures of Egypt was that he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. Moses believed that the Lord would come and bring His rewards with Him. In the light of time it may seem to some better to serve for the things which are seen, even for worldly honor and glory. In the light of eternity, Moses’ choice stands forth as the wise one.

4. Moses forsook Egypt. Moses did not only decide in his mind, but he put his decisions into action. He left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king.

5. Moses endured. Moses did not only take a stand, but he stood. He did not only start, but he continued. If ever a man had enough to crush his faith, and hinder his onward march with God, Moses had. Yet, through it all, he pressed his way.

6. Moses saw Christ. Here is the key to it all. The One who was invisible to the natural eye, was beheld with the eye of faith. At the burning bush Moses met the Lord. From that day on he never lived without having Christ steadfastly before him.

7. Moses kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood. He knew that his deliverance, and that of his people Israel, was by the way of the Cross.

We who live centuries after Moses should never forget the Cross, which has also been our deliverance.

I. THE PROTECTED BABE (Heb 11:23)

1. Moses was a babe born at a time of stress and strife. It was into a world rent and torn with sin and strife that Moses came. Egypt stands for the world and all of its tyranny against the Son of God. In Moses’ day, Egypt was fighting against the Lord with a desperate struggle. A Pharaoh had arisen that knew not Joseph. The Children of Israel had grown into a mighty people. For four hundred years they had dwelt in Egypt, and now their numbers and increasing power made the king of Egypt fear for his kingdom. The result was that all the male children, born to the Israelites, were ordered to be slain; while harsh taskmasters, with whip and cursings, pressed the men of Israel into slavish fear.

2. Moses was a babe shielded from the wrath of the king. His parents had successfully hidden their infant child for three months, then the child had been put into a small ark and placed in the brink of the river where the princess came to bathe. There the king’s daughter heard the cry of the baby boy, she sent for him to be brought to her. She took him into her arms, and he became her boy. Miriam, Moses’ sister, suggested that she find a nurse for the babe; and Moses’ mother became his nurse.

Thus, the king himself became involved in raising up, and training the babe whom he, himself, had ordered to be slain. Thus, too, the king reared the youth in all the wisdom of the Egyptians-the youth that was destined to be God’s deliverer of His people, from the tyranny of the king.

3. Moses a babe of Divine destiny. Jochebed had sent her daughter to watch the babe, and to see what would become of him, while she tarried at home, borne down by a mother’s fear, and praying to the God of Israel to protect her child.

This God did, for Moses was a vessel chosen of God to deliver His people Israel. Paul was chosen of God from his mother’s womb; so also was Moses.

II. MOSES TAUGHT AND TRAINED IN EGYPT (Act 7:22-23)

Moses was taught in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in word and deed.

1. Early years of training. We would like to slip in behind the scenes and read the inner thoughts of Moses in those days of preparation. Moses had been taught by Pharaoh’s greatest teachers. Another, however, had had a part in his training. His nurse-mother had done her part. She had taught the lad in the things of Jehovah. He knew he was a Hebrew. He knew he was a favored and protected son of a despised and hated people.

The effect of a mother’s faith was not lost upon the young and budding life of the foster son of Pharaoh’s daughter. The unfeigned faith that was in him had dwelt first in his mother, Jochebed.

2. Early deeds of valor. Moses early proved his leadership. He became mighty, both in words and deeds. Pharaoh knew his wisdom and his power. During those early years, Moses, no doubt, was sent forth on many a commission from the crown, which called forth his greatest skill in statesmanship, and in soldierhood. He had not been trained in vain.

During all of this time, however, Moses was inwardly waiting the hour when he might become the saviour of his people. Their sorrows were his; their bitter cup was the cup from which he drank. As the Israelites saw Moses moving about under the power and patronage of royalty, they knew nothing of the inner longings of his spirit. No doubt they only cursed him in their hearts, because of his affluence, and seeming freedom from the burdens that bore them to the ground.

III. THE ALIGNMENT (Act 7:24-25)

1. Moses thought the hour had struck. With one great strategic step Moses pressed his way from the throne of Egypt, from the riches of Egypt, from its fame, and pleasures, down, down, down to the level of a hated and slave-driven, entangled people.

We cannot but stand and look on with admiration and wonder. Our minds go to another One, who left His Father’s throne, and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death. What a self-humbling was that step of our Lord’s? From riches to poverty; from the joys of His Father’s face to the sorrows of sin’s wreckage-down, down, down He came.

2. Moses thought that the people would receive him. Stephen said, “And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the Children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian: for he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would have delivered them: but they understood not.” That must have been a sore trial to Moses. An unrequited love; an unwelcomed service-that is the hardest of all griefs to bear.

Such was also the lot of our Lord. He came down to His own, but His own received Him not. Christ was rejected by His own town of Nazareth; He was exiled from His own Father’s House; He was slain by His own people, whom He had come to save. He died for those who would not have Him to reign over them.

3. Moses in exile. Filled with fear, Moses fled. For forty years he was a stranger in the land of Midian.

At this moment our Lord is still in Heaven, whither He went as an exiled Son of Man. Despised and rejected of men, but received and exalted of the Father.

IV. RUNNING BEFORE YOU ARE SENT (Act 7:27)

1. Israel was not yet ripe for Moses’ leadership. The people of God had not come yet to their full end. Moses had not yet been fully prepared. He had gone through the school of the Egyptians, but he had not yet graduated from the school of the backside of the desert, where he was destined to come to the end of his own self life, and to the fullness of the knowledge of God.

2. Moses had to learn to wait patiently until God had spoken. We are prone to run ahead of God. We get in a hurry to accomplish our task. We want to reap our harvest before it is ripe. The husbandman hath long patience, until he receives the early and the latter rain. We lack in patience.

3. Moses, perhaps, felt the power of his own strength. He knew how to fight; he was skilled in generalship. He felt that he could accomplish his dreams of deliverance by his own prowess. Moses had not yet learned that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. We war not after the flesh.

4. Moses, no doubt, allowed his sentiment to run away with him. He saw the pitiable condition of his brethren, and, moved with sympathy, he leaped to their aid, with his eyes closed. All of this was noble, but not wise. Moses was borne on by a chivalry full of pity. However, Moses was as yet wholly unprepared to carry a weak and vacillating people in his heart.

V. SENT FORTH BY THE ALMIGHTY (Exo 3:8-10)

1. At the mountain of God in Horeb. As Moses led his flock he came to the mountain of God, at the backside of mount Horeb. It was not in the schools of Egypt, nor in the rush of the pleasures of Pharaoh’s worldly court; nor was it on the battlefield as Moses demonstrated his valor with arms, that God spoke to him.

Moses, the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, had now become Moses, the keeper of Jethro’s sheep. There, in the quiet of the hidden recesses of Mount Horeb, Moses met with God.

He saw a bush burning, but not consumed. He turned aside to see so great a sight. There God met him. Out of the bush, God spoke, saying, “Moses, Moses.” And Moses said, “Here am I.”

2. God shows Moses His inner heart toward Israel. God said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry * * and I am come down to deliver them.”

3. God commandeers Moses. To Moses God said, “I will send thee unto Pharaoh.” This was quite a different plan from that which Moses had at first conceived. God would go to the fountain-head of Israel’s difficulty. He would not endeavor to better Israel’s condition under Pharaoh, but he would demand that Pharaoh should let His people go.

4. Moses’ temerity. How different was the Moses of God’s choice, than the Moses of forty years before, when, in his own strength, he sought to undertake for Israel. Moses pled God to send by another. He pled his own inability, his utter nothingness. God found Moses in weakness, a fit channel for His strength, and He said, “I have sent thee”; “I will be with thee.”

VI. MOSES BEFORE PHARAOH (Exo 5:1-2)

1. To be forewarned, is to be forearmed. God plainly told Moses that Pharaoh would not, at the first let the people go. Thus, Moses was prepared for difficulties by the way. However, Moses knew that God was with him, and he started on his way as Israel’s deliverer.

2. The wisdom of God’s order of approach. The command of God was to go to Pharaoh, but the first step on the way was the gathering together of all Israel, that they might be prepared to receive Moses as their deliverer.

First of all, God sent Aaron to meet Moses, as he came toward Egypt. Secondly, Aaron and Moses called all the elders of Israel together, and Moses showed them all that the Lord had spoken, and all of the signs which the Lord had given. Then, hope was born in the hearts of Israel, and they rejoiced that the time of their defense had come.

3. The hardened heart of Pharaoh. Pharaoh showed no sign of submission. He coveted the work of the men, who made his bricks; and he would not easily allow them to depart from their servitude to the crown. Blatantly Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?”

4. God’s dealing with Pharaoh and with the Egyptians. Plague after plague befell the Egyptians. So much as they had tormented Israel, so much did God mete unto them.

Finally with the tenth plague, the slaughter of the firstborn sons of Egypt, Pharaoh was not only willing for Israel to go, but he hastened their departure. The Egyptians also sent Israel out with a high hand, giving them a great store of jewels of silver, and of gold. God seemed to be forcing the Egyptians to pay to Israel much of the wages which they had kept back by fraud.

Out they went, with the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night marking their way.

VII. THE EXODUS (Exo 12:41-42)

1. Delivered as God had said to Abraham. Abraham had been forewarned of Israel’s bondage in Egypt. However, when the time-four hundred and thirty years-had passed, on the very day that God had promised, Israel went out of Egypt with a high hand. It must have been a marvelous sight. More than one million souls, their bag and baggage: their cattle, flocks and herds; all en route in one night toward the promised land. What a shout of joy must have been lifted, what praise must have filled the air as they went on their way!

2. Pursued by Pharaoh’s hosts. Scarce had the Children of Israel been gone than Pharaoh repented himself of his seeming folly in loosing so great an asset to his kingdom. With his armies he followed hard after the slow-moving hordes of Israel.

He came upon them as they were hedged in by the mountains on the one hand, and by the Red Sea on the other. Israel, unarmed, seemed a helpless prey to Pharaoh’s wrath. But God said, “Speak unto the Children of Israel, that they go forward.” Forward they went, and, as they came to the sea, it parted from before them, and they went through by dry land.

Pharaoh’s armies followed after them into the sea. However, with Israel safe on the farther shore, the Lord caused the waters to return, and the Egyptians were overthrown.

3. The song of Moses. Then sang Moses and the Children of Israel a song unto the Lord. Never was such soulful music sent Heavenward. Moses did not receive praise, but strength, and honor, and salvation, was given unto God. They sang-“Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: Thy right hand, O Lord, has dashed in pieces the enemy.” Even so shall it be to every soul who puts his trust in God.

AN ILLUSTRATION

THE FOOT-RACE

“‘A true racer does not stand still, or look behind him, to see how much of the way is already past, or to see how much the other runners come short of him, but he sets to his business to get through the remainder of the race.’ The claim to perfection, which some have started, raises a serious question as to whether they have ever entered that race, of which the Apostle Paul said, ‘Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.’ Surely these men must be of another order to Paul, or must be upon another race course. He saw much which he had not attained, and they see nothing; he was all for pressing on, and they are at the mark already. They speak fluently of their perfection, and he groaned over his imperfection.

“As for us, we have no belief in these pretenders, nor do we wish to think about them. We would have nothing to consider but the goal and the prize. We may not rest in what we are, we must hasten on to what we ought to be. Attainments and successes will breed no pride if we treat them as Paul did, when he regarded them as ‘things which are behind,’ and therefore forgot them. ‘Onward’ be our watchword. Satisfaction, glorying, ease,-these are not to be mentioned among us. Swift as arrows from the bow we would speed towards the mark of our high calling. The last thing that a man may utter is that fatal ‘Rest and be thankful;’ for it marks the end of a progress which ought to last through life.

“Lord, if I am ever tempted to be satisfied, scourge me into a holy restlessness, and make the very ground beneath me burning to my feet With my Lord before me, I am a traitor to Him if I chink the pieces of silver in my hand, and accept a present satisfaction in barter for higher things.”

Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water

Heb 11:23. It should be understood that it was the parents of Moses who had the faith. They were true servants of God and believed that He would protect their child if they did what they could to help him live. Not afraid means they were not frightened by what the king of Egypt had ordered to be done to the infants.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Heb 11:23. Thus far the writer has been dealing with examples of faith in Genesis alone. The examples are few compared with all recorded in that book, but they are very striking and noble. The history and character of Moses naturally occupy a chief place in the following verses. From the first he was a child of faith. His parents hid him three months, noting his comeliness (Act 7:20), and hoping apparently that God might use him as He had used Joseph, to be the deliverer of their people. They therefore disregarded the kings ordinance, and did their duty, looking for Divine succour.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

In these words the faith of Moses’s parents is celebrated: the birth of Moses fell out in the very height and fury of Pharaoh’s persecution, when the king had given commandment to destroy all the male children; Moses was then born and hid by his parents, and preserved as a deliverer of the church of God.

Oh! how blind are all the persecutors and opposers of the church of God! When they think all things secure, and their counsels so deeply laid that God himself cannot deliver out of their hands, then doth the Almighty lay in provision for his church’s deliverance, and their destruction. Now was Moses, a deliverer, born and hid.

But observe a double cause of Moses’ hiding: the first external, they saw he was a proper child; they had a persuasion that God would provide a person to be their deliverer; and they saw something divine in Moses to stir up their faith, and raise their expectation, that he might be the person.

The second, the internal and moving cause: They were not afraid of the kings’ commandment, or bloody decree.

Learn hence, 1. That the commands of kings and princes have oft-times been a very great trial to the children of God; so was Nebuchadnezzar’s command to worship the golden image, and such was Pharaoh’s command here.

Learn, 2. That kings and princes must not be obeyed in things contrary to the word of God: obedience without reserve is to be paid to none but God. They were not afraid of the king’s commandment.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Heb 11:23. By faith Moses As if he had said, The parents of Moses believing, when he was a child, that God would make use of him at a future period, for some extraordinary service to his people; hid him three months In their own house, to preserve him from falling a sacrifice to the cruelty of Pharaoh. It appears by this, that both his parents were engaged in the work of concealing him, although his mother only is mentioned, Exo 2:2; because they saw he was a proper child Greek, , they saw the child beautiful; and doubtless through a divine presage of things to come, and not merely from his beauty, believed that God had designed him for some singular usefulness. And they were not afraid of the kings commandment Requiring all Israelitish parents, on pain of death, to give up their male children that they might be thrown into the river. Of Mosess beauty, see note on Act 7:20.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Heb 11:23-31. The survey now passes from the age of the patriarchs to that of Moses and the Judges. It was the faith of his parents that saved Moses in his infancy; and his life, when he grew to manhood, had faith as its one motive. He turned from the pleasures of this world and shared in the hardships of his countrymen, believing that they were the people of God, and that through their apparent weakness God was working towards that end which has now been realised in Christ. He forgot mere present advantage in the thought of the great ultimate reward (Heb 11:24 ff.). His flight from Egypt, in defiance of the kings will, was the result of faith in the invisible King; and a like faith found expression in his keeping of the Passover, and his leading of the people through the Red Sea.

Heb 11:26. the reproach of Christ: something more is meant than that Moses, in his day, submitted to the worlds scorn as Jesus was to do afterwards. It is indicated that Moses consciously looked forward to the coming of Christ. The Christian cause had its preliminary phase in the life of Israel, and the heroes of the past were already under Christs banner.

Heb 11:27. not fearing the wrath of the king: this is not strictly correct, for it was fear of the kings wrath that impelled Moses to flee to Midian. The reference may be to the later story of the Exodus, but is due more probably to a confusion in the writers mind between the later events and the earlier.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

Verse 23

Hebrews 11:23; Exodus 2:2.–The king’s commandment; Exodus 1:16,22.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

11:23 {11} By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw [he was] a proper child; and they were not {o} afraid of the king’s commandment.

(11) Moses.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

3. Faith in the Mosaic Era 11:23-31

Here the writer began to focus on the way faith deals with hostility and persecution, a subject of special interest to his audience, which was facing opposition from Jewish brethren.

"Moses and Abraham hold the most prominent places in the roll of faith; and the central event of both their lives, as Hebrews presents them, is a journey." [Note: Ellingworth, p. 608.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Faith confronts hostility in a characteristic way that the writer began to emphasize in this verse. We see Amram and Jochebed’s faith in God in their placing His will above Pharaoh’s command. Moses was no ordinary child among other ways in that His parents saved his life even though Pharaoh had ordered all Jewish male babies killed. The writer mentioned Moses 11 times, more than in any other New Testament book except for John and Acts. Amram and Jochebed regarded God’s will concerning the sanctity of life as more important than obedience to the state when national law required disobeying God’s will (cf. Act 4:19). God honored their faith.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

CHAPTER XII.

THE FAITH OF MOSES.

“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw he was a goodly child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to be evil entreated with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he looked unto the recompense of reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing Him Who is invisible. By faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the first-born should not touch them.”– Heb 11:23-28 (R.V.).

One difference between the Old Testament and the New is the comparative silence of the former respecting Moses and the frequent mention of him in the latter. When he has brought the children of Israel through the wilderness to the borders of the promised land, their great leader is seldom mentioned by historian, psalmist, or prophet. We might be tempted to imagine that the national life of Israel had outgrown his influence. It would without question be in a measure true. We may state the same thing on its religious side by saying that God hid the memory as well as the body of his servant, in the spirit of John Wesley’s words, happily chosen for his and his brother’s epitaph in Westminster Abbey, “God buries His workmen and carries on His work.” But in the New Testament it is quite otherwise. No man is so frequently mentioned. Sometimes when he is not named it is easy to see that the sacred writers have him in their minds.

One reason for this remarkable difference between the two Testaments in reference to Moses is to be sought in the contrast between the earlier and later Judaism. During the ages of the old covenant Judaism was a living moral force. It gave birth to a peculiar type of heroes and saints. Speaking of Judaism in the widest possible meaning, David and Isaiah, as well as Samuel and Elijah, are its children. These men were such heroes of religion that the saints of the Christian Church have not dwarfed their greatness. But it is one of the traits of a living religion to forget the past, or rather to use it only as a stepping-stone to better things. It forgets the past in the sense in which St. Paul urges the Philippians to count what things were gain a loss, and to press on, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before. Religion lives in its conscious, exultant power to create spiritual heroes, not in looking back to admire its own handiwork. The only religion among men that lives in its founder is Christianity. Forget Christ, and Christianity ceases to be. But the life of Mosaism was not bound up with the memory of Moses. Otherwise we may well suppose that idolatry would have crept in, even before Hezekiah found it necessary to destroy the brazen serpent.

When we come down to the times of John the Baptist and our Lord, Mosaism is to all practical ends a dead religion. The great movers of men’s souls came down upon the age, and were not developed out of it. The product of Judaism at this time was Pharisaism, which had quite as little true faith as Sadduceeism. But when a religion has lost its power to create saints, men turn their faces to the great ones of olden times. They raise the fallen tombstones of the prophets, and religion is identical with hero-worship. An instance of this very thing may be seen in England today, where Atheists have discovered how to be devout, and Agnostics go on a pilgrimage! “We are the disciples of Moses,” cried the Pharisees. Can any one conceive of David or Samuel calling himself a disciple of Moses? The notion of discipleship to Moses does not occur in the Old Testament. Men never thought of such a relation. But it is the dominant idea of Judaism in the time of Christ. Hence it was brought about that he who was the servant and friend appears in the New Testament as the antagonist. “For the Law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”[281] This is opposition and rivalry. Yet “this is that Moses which said unto the children of Israel, A Prophet shall God raise up unto you from among your brethren, like unto me.”[282]

The notable difference between the Moses of New Testament times and the Moses delineated in the ancient narrative renders it especially interesting to study a passage in which the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews takes us back to the living man, and describes the attitude of Moses himself towards Jesus Christ. Stephen told his persecutors that the founder of the Aaronic priesthood had spoken of a great Prophet to come, and Christ said that Moses wrote of Him.[283] But it is with joyous surprise we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews that the legislator was a believer in the same sense in which Abraham was a believer. The founder of the old covenant himself walked by faith in the new covenant.

The references to Moses made by our Lord and by Stephen sufficiently describe his mission. The special work of Moses in the history of religion was to prepare the way of the Lord Jesus Christ and make His paths straight. He was commissioned to familiarise men with the wondrous, stupendous idea of the appearing of God in human nature,–a conception almost too vast to grasp, too difficult to believe. To render it not impossible for men to accept the truth, he was instructed to create a historical type of the Incarnation. He called into being a spiritual people. He realised the magnificent idea of a Divine nation. If we may use the term, he showed to the world God appearing in the life of a nation, in order to teach them the higher truth that the Word would at the remote end of the ages appear in the flesh. The nation was the Church; the Church was the State. The King would be God. The court of the King would be the temple. The ministers of the court would be the priests. The law of the State would have equal authority with the moral requirements of God’s nature. For Moses apparently knew nothing of the distinction made by theologians between the civil, the ceremonial, and the moral law.

But in the passage before us we have something quite different from this. The Apostle says nothing about the creation of the covenant people out of the abject slaves of the brick-kilns. He is silent concerning the giving of the Law amid the fire and tempest of Sinai. It is plain that he wishes to tell us about the man’s inner life. He represents Moses as a man of faith.

Even of his faith the apparently greatest achievements are passed over. Nothing is said of his appearances before Pharaoh; nothing of the wonderful faith that enabled him to pray with uplifted hands on the brow of the hill whilst the people were fighting God’s battle in the valley; nothing of the faith with which, on the top of Pisgah, Moses died without receiving the promise. Evidently it is not the Apostle’s purpose to write the panegyric of a hero.

Closer examination of the verses brings out the thought that the Apostle is tracing the growth and formation of the man’s spiritual character. He means to show that faith has in it the making of a man of God. Moses became the leader of the Lord’s redeemed people, the founder of the national covenant, the legislator and prophet, because he believed in God, in the future of Israel, and in the coming of the Christ. The subject of the passage is faith as the power that creates a great spiritual leader. But what is true of leaders is true also of every strong spiritual nature. No lesson can be more timely in our days. Not learning, not culture, not even genius, makes a strong doer, but faith.

The contents of the verses may be classified under four remarks:–

1. Faith gropes at first in the dark for the work of life.

2. Faith chooses the work of life.

3. Faith is a discipline of the man for the work of life.

4. Faith renders the man’s life and work sacramental.

1. The initial stage in forming the servant of God is always the same,–a vague, restless, eager groping in the dark, a putting forth feelers for the light of revelation. This is often a time of childish mistakes and follies, of which he is afterwards keenly ashamed, and at which he can sometimes afford to smile. It often happens, if the man of God is to spring from a religious family, that his parents undergo, in a measure, this first discipline for him. So it was in the case of Moses. The child was hid three months of his parents. Why did they hide him? Was it because they feared the king? It was because they did not fear the king. They hid their child by faith. But what had faith to do with the hiding of him? Had they received an announcement from an inspired seer that their child would deliver Israel, or that he would stand with God on the top of Sinai and receive the Law for the people, or that he would lead the redeemed of the Lord to the borders of a rich land and large? None of these sufficient grounds for defying the king’s authority are mentioned. The reason given in the narrative and as well by Stephen[284] and the writer of this Epistle sounds quaint, if not childish. They hid him because he was comely. Yet they hid him by faith. The beauty of a sleeping babe was to them a revelation, as truly a revelation as if they had heard the voice of the angel that spoke to Manoah or to Zacharias. The Scripture narrative contains no hint that the child’s beauty was miraculous, and, what is more to the purpose, we are not told that God had given it as the token of His covenant. It is an instance of faith making a sacrament of its own, and seeking in what is natural its warrant for believing in the supernatural. Nothing is easier, and perhaps nothing would be more rational, than to dismiss the entire story with a contemptuous smile.

The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews must admit that Jochebed’s faith was unauthorised. But does not faith always begin in folly? Is it not at first a blind instinct, fastening on what is nearest to hand? Has not our belief in God sprung out of trust in human goodness or in nature’s loveliness? To many a father has not the birth of his first-born been a revelation of Heaven? Is not such faith as Jochebed’s the true explanation of the instinctive rise and wonderful vitality of infant baptism in the Christian Church? If Abraham’s faith dared to look for the city which hath the foundations when God had promised only the wealth of a tented nomad, was not the mother of Moses justified, since God had given her faith, in letting the heaven-born instinct entwine with her earth-born love of her offspring? It grew with its growth, and rejoiced with its joy; but it also endured and triumphed in its sore distress, and justified its presence by saving the child. Faith is God’s gift, no less than the testimony which faith accepts. Sometimes the faith is implanted when no fitting revelation is vouchsafed. But faith will live on in the darkness, until the day dawn and the day-star arise in the heart.

A wise teacher has warned us against phantom notions and bidden us interpret rather than anticipate nature. But another great thinker demonstrated that the clearest vision begins in mere groping. Anticipations of God precede the interpretation of His message. The immense space between instinct and genius is in religion traversed by faith, which starts with mera palpatio, but at last attains to the beatific vision of God.

2. Faith chooses the work of life. The Apostle has spoken of the faith that induced the parents of Moses to hide their child three months. Some theologians have set much value on what they term “an implicit faith.” The faith of Moses himself would be said by them to be “enwrapped” in that of his parents. Whatever we may think of this doctrine, there can be no question that the New Testament recognises the idea of representation. The Church has always upheld the unity, the solidarity, of the family. It sprang itself out of the family. Perhaps its consummation on earth will be a return into the family relation. It retains the likeness throughout its long history. It acknowledges that a believing husband sanctifies the unbelieving wife, and a believing wife sanctifies the unbelieving husband. In like manner, a believing parent sanctifies the children, and no one but themselves can deprive them of their privileges. But they can do it. The time comes when they must choose for themselves. Hitherto led gently on by loving hands, they must now think and act for themselves, or be content to lose the power of independent action, and remain always children. The risk is sometimes great. But it cannot be evaded. It oftentimes happens that the irrevocable step is taken unobserved by others, almost unconsciously to the man himself. The decision has been taken in silence; the even tenor of life is not disturbed. The world little weens that a soul has determined its own eternity in one strong resolve.

But in the case of a man destined to be a leader of his fellows, whether in thought or in action, a crisis occurs. We use the word in its correct meaning of judgment. It is more than a transition, more than a conversion. He judges, and is conscious that as he judges he will be judged. If God has any great work for the man to do, the command comes sooner or later, as if it descended audibly from heaven, that he stand alone and, in that first terrible solitariness, choose and reject. In an educational age we may often be tempted to sneer at the doctrine of immediate conversion. It is true, nevertheless. A man has come to the parting of the two ways, and choice must be made, because they are two ways. To no living man is it given to walk the broad and the narrow ways. Entrance is by different gates. The history of some of the most saintly men presents an entire change of motive, of character even, and of general life, as produced through one strong act of faith.

When the Apostle wrote to the Hebrew Christians, the time was critical. The question of Christian or not Christian brooked no delay. The Son of man was nigh, at the doors. Even after swift vengeance had overtaken the doomed city of Jerusalem, the urgent cry was still the same. In the so-called “Epistle of Barnabas,” in the “Pastor of Hermas,” and in the priceless treasure recently brought to light, “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,” the two ways are described: the way of life and the way of death. Those who professed and called themselves Christians were warned to make the right choice. It was no time for facing both ways, and halting between two opinions.

Moses too refused and chose. This is the second scene in the history of the man. Standing as he did at the fountain-head of nationalism, the prominence assigned to his act of individual choice and rejection is very significant. Before his days the heirs of the promise were in the bond of God’s covenant in virtue of their birth. They were members of the elect family. After the days of Moses every Israelite enjoyed the privileges of the covenant by right of national descent. They were the elect nation. Moses stands at the turning point. The nation now absorbs the family, which becomes henceforth part of the larger conception. In the critical moment between the two, a great personality emerges above the confusion. The patriarchal Church of the family comes to a dispensational end in giving birth to a great man. That man’s personal act of refusing the broad and choosing the narrow way marks the birth of the theocratic Church of nationalism. Before and after, personality is of secondary importance. In Moses for a moment it is everything.

Do we seek the motives that determined his choice? The Apostle mentions two, and they are really two sides of the same conception.

First, he chose to be evil-entreated with the people of God. The work of his life was to create a spiritual nation. This idea had already been presented to his mind before he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. “He was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; and he was mighty in his words and works.”[285] But an idea had taken possession of him. That idea had already invested the miserable and despised bondsmen with glory. Truly no man will achieve great things who does not pay homage to an idea, and is not ready to sacrifice wealth and position for the sake of what is as yet only a thought. He who sells the world for an idea is not far from the kingdom of heaven. He will be prepared to forfeit all that the world can give him for the sake of Him in Whom truth eternally dwells in fulness and perfection. Such a man was Moses. Had not his parents often told him, when his mother was nourishing the child for Pharaoh’s daughter, of the wonderful story of their hiding him by faith and afterwards putting him in an ark of bulrushes by the river’s brim? Did not his mother bring him up to be at once the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and the deliverer of Israel? Was the boy not living a double life? He was gradually coming to understand that he was to be the heir of the throne, and that he would or might be the destroyer of that throne. May we not, with profoundest reverence, liken it to the twofold inner life of the Child Jesus when at Nazareth He came to know that He, the Child of Mary, was the Son of the Highest?

Stephen continues the story: “When he was well-nigh forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.” “He went out unto his brethren,” we are told in the narrative, “and looked on their burdens.”[286] But the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews perceives in the act of Moses more than love of kindred. The slaves of Pharaoh were, in the eyes of Moses, the people of God. The national consecration had already taken place; he himself was already swayed by the glorious hope of delivering his brethren, the covenant people of God, from the hands of their oppressors. This is the explanation which Stephen gives of his conduct in slaying the Egyptian. When he saw one of the children of Israel suffer wrong, he defended him and smote the Egyptian, supposing that his brethren understood how that God by his hand was giving them deliverance. The deed was, in fact, intended to be a call to united effort. He was throwing the gauntlet. He was deliberately making it impossible for him to return to the former life of pomp and courtly worship. He wished the Hebrews to understand his decision, and accept at once his leadership. “But they understood not.”

Our author pierces still deeper into the motives that swayed his spirit. It was not a selfish ambition, nor merely a patriotic desire to put himself at the head of a host of slaves bent on asserting their rights. Simultaneous with the social movement there was a spiritual work accomplished in the personal, inner life of Moses himself. All true, heaven-inspired revolutions in society are accompanied by a personal discipline and trial of the leaders. This is the infallible test of the movement itself. If the men who control it do not become themselves more profound, more pure, more spiritual, they are counterfeit leaders, and the movement they advocate is not of God. The writer of the Epistle argues from the decision of Moses to deliver his brethren that his own spiritual life was become deeper and holier. When he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he also rejected the pleasures of sin. He took his stand resolutely on the side of goodness. The example of Joseph was before him, of whom the same words are said: “he refused” to sin against God.

As the crisis in his own spiritual life fitted him to be the leader of a great national movement, so also his conception of that movement became a help to him to overcome the sinful temptations of Egypt. He saw that the pleasures of sin were but for a season. It is easy to supply the other side of this thought. The joy of delivering his brethren would never pass away. He welcomed the undying joy of self-sacrifice, and repudiated the momentary pleasures of self-gratification.

Second, he accounted the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. Not only the people of God, but also the Christ of God, determined his choice. An idea is not enough. It must rest on a person, and that person must be greater than the idea. He may be himself but an idea. But, even when it is so, he is the glorious thought in which all the other hopes and imaginations of faith centre and merge. If he is more than an idea, if it is a living person that controls the man’s thoughts and becomes the motive of his life, a new quality will then enter into that life. Conscience will awake. The question of doing what is right will control ambition, if it will not quite absorb it. Treachery to the idea of life will now be felt to be a sin, if conscience has pronounced that the idea itself is not immoral, but good and noble. For, when conscience permits, faith will not lag behind, and will proclaim that the moral is also spiritual, that the spiritual is an ever-abiding possession.

Many expositors strive hard to make the words mean something else than the reproach which Christ Himself suffered. It is marvellous that the great doctrine of Christ’s personal activity in the Church before His incarnation should have so entirely escaped the notice of the older school of English theology. On this passage, for instance, such commentators as Macknight, Whitby, Scott, explain the words to mean that Moses esteemed the scoffs cast on the Israelites for expecting the Christ to arise from among them greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. The more profound exegesis of Germany has made the truth of Christ’s pre-existence essential to the theology of the New Testament. Far from being an innovation, it has brought us back to the view of the greater theologians in every age of the Church.

We cannot enter into the general question. Confining ourselves to the subject in hand, the faith of Moses, why may we not suppose that he had heard of the patriarch Jacob’s blessing on Judah? It had been uttered in the land of Egypt, where Moses was brought up. It spoke of a Lawgiver. Did not the consciousness of his own mission lead Moses to apply the reference to the long succession of leaders, whether judges or kings or prophets, who would follow in his wake? If so, could he have altogether misunderstood the promise of the Shiloh? Jacob had spoken of a personal King, Whom the people would obey. But nowhere in the Old Testament, not once in the history of Moses, is the coming of Messiah represented as the goal of the national development. Christ is not the flowering of Judaism. On the contrary, the Angel of the covenant established through Moses is not a ministering servant, sent forth to minister on the chosen people. He is the Lord Jehovah Himself. Christ was with Israel, and Moses knew it. We may admit the vagueness of his conception, but we cannot deny the conception. To Moses, as to the Psalmist, the reproaches of them that reproached Israel fell on the Christ. Community in suffering was enough to ensure community in the glory to be revealed. Suffering with Christ, they would also be glorified with Christ. This was the recompense of reward to which Moses looked.

The lesson taught to the Hebrew Christians by the decision of Moses is loyalty to truth and loyalty to Jesus Christ.

3. Faith is a discipline for the work of life. Moses has made his final choice. Conscience is thoroughly awake, and eager aspirations fill his soul. But he is not yet strong. Men of large ideas are often found to be lacking in courage. A cloistered is often a fugitive virtue. But, apart from want of practical resolution to face the difficulties of the situation, special training is needed for special work. Israel had come into Egypt to endure chastening and be made fit for national independence. But in Egypt Moses was a courtier, perhaps heir to the throne. That he may be chastened and fitted for his share of the work which God was about to accomplish towards His people, he must be driven out of Egypt into the wilderness. Every servant of God is sent into the wilderness. St. Paul was three years in Arabia between his conversion and his entrance on the work of the ministry. Jesus Himself was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness. He learned endurance in forty days, Moses in forty years.

It will be seen that we accept the explanation of the twenty-seventh verse given by all expositors down to the time of De Lyra and Calvin. But in modern times it has been customary to say that the Apostle refers to the final departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt with a strong hand and outstretched arm. Our reasons for preferring the other view are these. The departure of the Israelites through the Red Sea is mentioned subsequently; an event that occurred before the people left Egypt is mentioned in the next verse, and it is very improbable that the writer would refer to their departure first, then to the events that preceded, then once more speak of their departure. Further, the word well rendered by the Old and the Revised Versions “forsook” expresses precisely the notion of going out alone, in despondency, as if Moses had abandoned the hope of being the deliverer of Israel. If we have correctly understood the Apostle’s purpose in the entire passage, this is the very notion which we should expect him to introduce. Moses forsakes Egypt, deserts his brethren, abandons his work. He flees from the vengeance of Pharaoh. Yet all this fear, hopelessness, and unbelief is only the partial aspect of what, taken as a whole, is the action of faith. He still believes in his glorious idea, and is still willing to bear the reproach of Christ. He will not return to the court and make his submission to the king. But the time is not come, he thinks, or he is not the man to deliver Israel. Forty years afterwards he is still loath to be sent. He forsook Egypt because the people did not believe him; after forty years he asks the Lord to send another for the very same reason; “Behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice.” But we should be obtuse indeed if we failed to recognise the faith that underlies his despondency. Doubt is oftentimes partial faith.

Let us place ourselves in his position. He refuses the selfish luxury and worldly glory of Pharaoh’s court, that he may rush to deliver his brethren. He brings with him the consciousness of superiority, and at once assumes the duty of composing their quarrels. Evidently he is a believer in God, but a believer also in himself. Such men are not God’s instruments. He will have a man be the one thing or the other. If the man is self-confident, conscious of his own prowess, oblivious of God or a denier of Him, the Most High can use him to do His work, to his own destruction. If the man has no confidence in the flesh, knows his utter weakness and very nothingness, and yields himself to God’s hand entirely, with no by-ends to seek, him too God uses to do His work, to the man’s own salvation. But Moses strove to combine faith in God and in himself. He was at once thwarted. His brethren taunted him, when he expected to be trusted and honoured. Despondency takes possession of his spirit. But his trepidation is on the surface. Beneath it is a great deep of faith. What he now needs is discipline. God leads him to the back of the wilderness. The courtier serves as a herdsman. Far removed from the monumental literature of Egypt, he communes with himself, and with nature’s mighty visions. He gazes upon the dread and silent mountain, hallowed of old as the habitation of God. He had already, in Egypt, learned the faith of Joseph and of Jacob. Now, in Midian, he will imbibe the faith of Isaac and of Abraham. Far from the busy haunts of men, the din of cities, the stir of the market-place, he will learn how to pray, how to divest himself of all confidence in the flesh, and how to worship the Invisible alone. For “he endured as seeing Him Who is invisible.” Do not paraphrase it “the invisible King.” That is too narrow. It was not Pharaoh only that had vanished out of his sight and out of his thoughts. Moses himself had disappeared. He had broken down when he trusted himself. He now endures, because he sees nought but God. Surely he was in the same blessed state of mind in which St. Paul was when he said, “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” When Moses and when Paul ceased to be anything, and God was to them everything, they were strong to endure.[287]

4. Faith renders the work of life sacramental. The long period of discipline has drawn to a close. The self-confidence of Moses has been fully subdued. “He supposed that his brethren understood how that God by his hand was giving them deliverance.” These, says Stephen, were his thoughts before he fled from Egypt. Very different is his language after the probation of the wilderness: “Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?” Four times he pleads and deprecates. Not until the anger of the Lord is kindled against him does he take heart to attempt the formidable task.

The Hebrews had been more than two hundred years in the house of bondage. So far as we know, the Lord had not once appeared or spoken to men for six generations. No revelation was given between Jacob’s vision at Beersheba[288] and the vision of the burning bush. We may well believe that there were in those days mockers, saying, The age of miracles is past; the supernatural is played out. But Moses henceforth lives in a veritable world of miracles. The supernatural came with a rush, like the waking of a sleeping volcano. Signs and wonders encompass him on every side. The bush burns unconsumed; the rod in his hand is cast on the ground, and becomes a serpent; he takes the serpent in his hand again, and it becomes a rod; he puts his hand into his bosom, and it is leprous; he puts the leprous hand into his bosom, and it is as his other flesh. When he returns into Egypt, signs vie with signs, God with demons. Plague follows plague. Moses lifts up his rod over the sea, and the children of Israel go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. At last he stands once more on Horeb. But in the short interval between the day when one poor thorn-bush of the desert glowed with flame and the day on which Sinai was altogether on a smoke and the whole mountain quaked, a religious revolution had occurred second only to one in the history of the race. At the touch of their leader’s wand a nation was born in a day. The immense transition from the Church in a family to a holy nation was brought about suddenly, but effectively, when the people were hopeless outcasts and Moses himself had lost heart.

Such a revolution must be inaugurated with sacrifice and with sacrament. The sins of the past must be expiated and forgiven, and the people, cleansed from the guilt of their too frequent apostasy from the God of their fathers, must be dedicated anew to the service of Jehovah. The patriarchal dispensation expired in the birth of a holy nation. The Passover was both a sacrifice and a sacrament, an expiation and a consecration. It retained its sacrificial character till Christ, the true Paschal Lamb, was slain. As a sacrifice it then ceased. But sacrament continues, and will continue as long as the Church exists on earth.

Moses had seen the invisible God. The burning bush had symbolized the sacramental nature of the work which he had been called to do. God would be in Israel as He was in the bush, and Israel would not be consumed. He Who is to His foes a consuming fire dwells among His people, as the vital heat and glow of their national life. The eye that can see Him is faith. This is the power that can transform the whole life of man, and make it sacramental. Too long has man’s earthly existence been divided into two separate spheres. On the one side and for a stated time he lives to God; on the other side he relinquishes himself for a period to the pursuits of the world. We seem to think that the secular cannot be religious, and, consequently, that the religiousness of one day or of one place will make amends for the irreligion of the rest of life. The Passover consecrated a nation. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper have, times without number, consecrated the individual. The true Christian life draws its vital sap from God. It is not cleverness and worldly success, but unselfish loyalty to the supernatural, and incessant prayer, that marks the man who lives by faith.

FOOTNOTES:

[281] Joh 1:17.

[282] Act 7:37.

[283] Joh 5:46.

[284] Exo 2:2; Act 7:20.

[285] Act 7:22.

[286] Exo 2:11.

[287] After penning the above the writer of these pages saw that, in his view of the purpose of the sojourn in Midian, he had been anticipated by Kurtz (History of the Old Covenant).

[288] Gen 46:2.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary