Moses (Hebrews 11:23–26)
BIG IDEA: Faith that pleases God… rejects temporary pleasures for eternal treasures.
1. Faith values life over law. v. 23
The evidence indicates a well-established tradition of interpretation that found in the word ἀστεῖος an indication that the infant possessed a visible sign of God’s elective favor. According to v 23, Moses’ parents found in the extraordinary appearance of their son a basis for faith in the as yet unseen purposes of God; his unusual attractiveness was to them a visible sign that he enjoyed God’s favor and protection.
He found in the conduct of Moses’ parents a paradigm for the capacity of faith to overcome fear, and this was of immediate pastoral significance to the community he addressed
2. Faith values over leisure vv. 24–26
This synopsis recounts the narrative of
The deeper significance of his choice was that he was deliberately rejecting the wealth of Egypt in order to identify himself with Christ in his humiliation (v. 26a). He did so, believing that he would ultimately receive a (greater) reward.
Thus Moses experienced the same kind of reproach experienced later by Christ—rejection faced by a prophet standing on the side of God, proclaiming the word of the Lord in boldness against an ungodly generation.
Moses’ decisive action in choosing hardship with God’s people distinguishes him sharply from certain members of the house church, whose decision to abandon the community of faith is sadly acknowledged in 10:25.
The reproach he incurred was abuse endured for the cause of Christ, in the specific sense that he identified himself with God’s people, sharing their hardship and contempt
Moses deliberately turned his attention away from the present suffering to the future reward. His faith consisted in an emphatic refusal of the present, visible rewards of status and privilege in the certain expectation of the as yet unseen, but enduring, reward bestowed by God, to which he could only look ahead
Moses’ action was regulated by a perspective on the future which found its ground in a vibrant faith in God and in the reward he confers upon those who please him. His faith thus bears witness to the reality of God as the rewarder of those who earnestly seek him. The perspective of faith enabled Moses to make the appropriate moral choice and freed him from a debilitating fear of identifying himself with the people of God
With vocabulary recalling that report, Moses is described as choosing to suffer hardship with the people of God, a choice that entails loss and abuse for the sake of the Christ. The congregation could identify with the experience of a suffering Moses because he had endured what they had experienced.
The continuity in experience between Moses and the house church functions to reinforce a pattern of fidelity to God and the community that the writer wishes to promote in the congregation as belonging to the very nature of Christian faith
Rather than laying claim to stature, he aligned himself with Israel because he trusted the Lord and knew Egypt was not his home. Moses recognized the vanity of Pharaoh’s house and the all-surpassing worth of obedience to God.
By faith Moses abandoned social honours, physical satisfaction and material gain.
3. v. 27
If the verse refers to the departure for Midian the difficulty lies in the phrase not being afraid of the king’s anger,” because
The conclusion, however, is open to serious objections. It requires some explanation for the disarrangement in sequence between v 27 and v 28, for the institution of the Passover (v 28) should logically have been mentioned prior to the exodus from Egypt (v 27). The pattern discerned in vv 23–27 is at best implicit in the text and is not clearly specified, as it is in
Moses did express fear when he knew his violent action had become public knowledge (
The emphasis, however, falls not on endurance but on continually seeing, as it were, the unseen God (BAGD 405). The reference is not to the awesome event at the burning bush (as urged by Spicq, 2:359; Héring, 105; F. F. Bruce, 320; among others), as if to say that Moses saw one who is invisible, but to a fixed habit of spiritual perception. Once that is recognized, it is clear that the explanatory clause in v 27b is a parallel comment to v 26b and must be interpreted in the light of that earlier statement. Moses’ departure was an act of faith motivated by the vision of God, which faith invested with a substantial reality. In conjunction with v 26b, the explanation of Moses’ lack of fear in v 27b testifies to an eschatological faith oriented to the future because it seized upon the reality of God and of the reward he bestows in response to active faith
Verse 27 is a reminder of a basic biblical principle: we must decide whose anger we fear more—the anger of the world and its governing authorities, or the anger of the Lord, the One who will judge the living and the dead. Moses clearly understands who God is: the Lord, sovereign over all. Thus, Moses did not fear Pharaoh. Instead, he followed God.
Though it may seem odd, the author’s point that God is invisible is very important. Recall the first verse of this chapter: “Faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen” (emphasis added). Not only is this truth—God is invisible—the essence of theism (we do not look to an idol), it is also connected to the trust displayed by those mentioned in this chapter. Their trust in promises was intimately connected to their trust in God. As they trusted in the unseen God, so they trusted in the unseen fulfillment of his promises. This is the very essence of faith.
