Sermon Tone Analysis
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*HEBREWS 11:23-27*
Divisions of exemplary witnesses: “received a good report” [11:2].
§ Antediluvian period [11:1-7]; Patriarchal period [11:8-22];
§ The triumphs of perseverance in faith in the Mosaic era [11:23-31].
! A. MOSES – THE faith of HIS parents
#. *The Biblical Background *
The biblical background of the narrative is the oppression of the children of Israel in Egypt.
* The covenant-blessing of God: “/the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew/” [Exo.1:12].
* The decree of Pharaoh: “/Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born you shall cast him into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive/” [Exo.1:22].
* The action of Moses’ mother: “/a man of the house of Levi took to wife a daughter of Levi.
The woman conceived and bore a son: when she saw that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months/” [Exo.2:2].
#. *The Faith *
Example of faith: “/by faith Moses/…” [11:23].
*a. **Moses’ Parents*
The faith of the parents: “/Moses was hid three months by his parents/…” [11:23].
§ ἐκρύβη - “/hid/” [11:23], passive, ‘protect’; ‘make invisible’;
§ διότι - “/because/” [11:23], ‘introducing causal clause’;
*b. **The Motivation *
The motivation: “/because they saw he was a proper child/…” [11:23].
* εἶδον - “/saw/” [11:23], ‘understand as a result of a perception’; !
§ avstei~/on – “/proper child/” [11:23], literally ‘strikingly beautiful’; ‘not ordinary’; ‘chosen for a special mission’;
* i.
**The Old Testament *
The Old Testament reference: “/when she saw that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months/” [Exo.2:2].
§ ט֣וֹב - “/goodly/” [Exo.2:2],
‘morally good’; ‘pleasing’; ‘beautiful’;
§ The idea of ט֣וֹב in the Hebrew is applied to every thing that is on any account approvable and excellent in its kind.
§ God approved of all his works of creation, and declared their perfection: “/it was all very good/” [Gen.1:31].
* ii.
**The New Testament *
Stephen’s defence: “/In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months/” [Acts 7:20].
§ avstei~/oj - “/exceeding fair/” [7:20],
§ The phrase reads - h=n avstei~/oj tw~/| qew~/; the words tw~/| qew are missing from the AV~/KJV.
§ The ESV translation: “/he was beautiful in God’s sight/” [7:20].
*Application*
The parents saw in Moses ‘a visible sign of God’s elective favour.
§ They saw 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 favour and protection.
#.
*The Decision of Faith *
*a. **The King of Egypt*
The king of Egypt: “/they were not afraid of the king’s commandment/” [11:23].
§ διάταγμα - “/commandment/” [11:23], ‘to arrange in its proper order’; ‘order or mandate’; ‘decree of a king’;
§ The decree: “/Every son that is born you shall cast him into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive/” [Exo.1:22].
*b. **The Fearlessness of Faith *
The decision of faith: “/they were not afraid/…” [11:23].
§ evfobh,qhsan – “/afraid/” [11:23], ‘panic, fear’; ‘state of fear, phobia’; ‘obsessive and persistent fear of’.
* i.
**The Fear of God *
Deduction from the text: ‘they chose to fear God rather than the might of the Pharaoh.
§ The command of Pharaoh to the Hebrew midwives: “/if it be a son then you shall kill him/” [Exo.1:16].
§ The Hebrew midwives: “/but the midwives feared God and did not as the king commanded/” [Exo.1:17].
* ii.
**Covenant Revelation *
God’s revelation of his covenant purposes so far:
§ Covenant of Abraham: “/seed shall be a stranger… and shall serve them/” [Gen.15:13].
§ Promise to Jacob: “/Fear not to go down to Egypt…I will make of you a great nation; I will go down with you; I will surely bring you up again/” [Gen.46:3].
*Application*
The writer found in the conduct of Moses’ parents a paradigm for the capacity of faith to overcome fear.
§ Their confidence in God’s power to accomplish his sovereign purposes more than outweighed their fear of reprisals because they had defied the royal decree.
!
B. THE Faith of Moses
The section 11:24–26 we see that Moses shows his faith by solidarity with the people of God.
The first episode [11:24-26] directs our attention to Moses’ decisive renunciation of privilege and power in determination to identify himself with his own people who were enslaved in Egypt.
#. *The Occasion * The occasion: “/by faith Moses, when he was come of years/…” [11:24].
* γενόμενος - “/come/” [11:24], aorist middle participle, ‘to come into being’; * μέγας - “/to years/” [11:24], basic meaning ‘great’; ‘measure of age’; ‘maturity’;
*a. **The Old Testament *
The phrase constitutes an allusion to Exodus 2: “/And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown/…” [Exo.2:11].
* The occasion: “/that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens…/” [Exo.2:11].
* The observation: “/he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren/” [Exo.2:11].
*b. **The Narrative *
* i.
**The Greatness *
The mature Moses: “/Moses was grown/…” [Exo.2:11].
* וַיִּגְדַּ֤ל - “/grown/” [2:11], ‘to be great’; ‘having high status’; ‘to grow up’;
* The greatness of Abraham: “/Abraham’s servant…the Lord has blessed my master greatly; and he is become great: and he has given him flocks/…” [Gen.24:35].
* The greatness of Isaac: “/the Lord blessed Isaac…and the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew and became very great/” [Gen.26:13].
* ii.
**The Renunciation *
The renunciation: “/went out and looked upon/…” [Exo.2:11].
* וַיֵּצֵ֣א - “/went/ /out/” [2:11], ‘leave an area with linear movement’;
* אֶל־אֶחָ֔יו - “/brethren/” [2:11], ‘brother’; ‘person of the same clan, family’;
* וַיַּ֖רְא - “/looked/” [2:11], ‘to see’; ‘to find out’; ‘to consider’;
* בְּסִבְלֹתָ֑ם - “/burdens/” [2:11], ‘forced labour’; ‘hard common labour with a focus on the difficulty’;
*Application*
The expression “/went out unto his brethren/” [2:11] was understood traditionally to mean that Moses chose to dissociate himself from the Egyptian court.
* The reference “/was come to years/” [11:24] could refer to his age of maturity or to his status in Egypt.
* The age of Moses: “/when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren/…” [Acts 7:23].
#.
*The Choice *
*a. **The Status *
The status possessed by Moses in God’s providence: “/called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter/” [11:24].
§ le,gesqai – “/be called/” [11:24], ‘to be spoken of as’; ‘referred’
§ The story of Moses: “/the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son/” [Exo.2:10].
* i.
**The Roman Practice *
The statement may reflect the Roman practice of adoption, which conferred upon the adopted son the legal status of a natural son in the family.
§ Moses had the legal status of a natural son in the family of Pharaoh’s daughter.
This legal status in which Moses stood made him pharaoh’s heir.
§ The Roman practice of adoption also abolished the status of the adopted son in his natural family.
*b. **The Renunciation *
Moses’ choice: “/refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter/” [11:24].
§ hvrnh,sato – “/refused/” [11:24], primary meaning is ‘to deny’; ‘to disown’ and ‘renounce’; ‘to deny knowledge of or relationship with’.
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