Moses Part 2
Faith as “defined” by Hebrews 11. As portrayed in the lives of God’s faithful through the ages, (1) faith involves confident action. Most of the examples delineated in Hebrews 11 involve a person acting confidently in accordance with what God says. By faith Abel offered to God a superior sacrifice, Noah built an ark, Abraham obeyed by leaving familiar territory and later by offering Isaac, Isaac blessed his sons, and one of those sons blessed Isaac’s great-grandsons, and on the list goes. The author spits out action words in rapid succession in verses 32–34: they conquered, administered, gained, shut, quenched, escaped, became powerful, and routed. Faith acts out a bold confidence.
Both parents were from the tribe of Levi (cf. Exodus 2:1), and Exodus 6:20 tells us that their names were Aniram and Jochebed and that they also had another son—Aaron, who would be high priest. They also had a daughter—Miriam, the prophetess.
The couple’s marriage came at a dark time for Israel—when the oppression of the Egyptians had become utterly diabolical. First, Pharaoh had commanded the Hebrew midwives to murder all males immediately upon birth. When that plan failed, his command became more crude and effective—all newborn baby boys were to be tossed into the Nile as food for the crocodiles (cf. Exodus 1:15–22).
Nevertheless, Jochebed conceived. Interestingly, Josephus says the pregnancy was accomplished by Amram’s obedience to a vision in which God told him he would have a son who would deliver his people. Says Josephus:
These things revealed to him in vision, Amram on awaking disclosed to Jochabel(e), his wife; and their fears were only the more intensified by the prediction in the dream. For it was not merely for a child that they were anxious, but for that high felicity for which he was destined.
Josephus’ account is not inspired revelation, though some respected commentators believe something like this may have led to their faith.
Moses looked forward to the “reward.” He bore in mind the just consequences of his actions and was not deceived by the glitter of the Egyptian court. History, of course, has vindicated him.
This chapter introduces the final section of the epistle (Heb. 11–13) which I have called “A Superior Principle—Faith.” The fact that Christ is a superior Person (Heb. 1–6) and that He exercises a superior Priesthood (Heb. 7–10) ought to encourage us to put our trust in Him. The readers of this epistle were being tempted to go back into Judaism and put their faith in Moses. Their confidence was in the visible things of this world, not the invisible realities of God. Instead of going on to perfection (maturity), they were going “back to perdition [waste]” (Heb. 6:1; 10:39).
In Hebrews 11 all Christians are called to live by faith. In it, the writer discusses two important topics relating to faith.
The Description of Faith (Heb. 11:1–3)
In concluding the previous warning section, the writer touched on the theme of living by faith (cf. 10:37–39). What this really means he then expounded in terms his readers could fully appreciate, because it is faith that underlies the experience of the heroes of Old Testament history. Since these people experienced faith, so could his readers.
Faith gives reality to things that cannot be seen. By this faith the Old Testament believers received a positive witness from God (11:1–2). In the generations before the flood, Abel, Enoch, and Noah all responded by faith to demonstrate obedience to God.
Abraham demonstrated his faith by forsaking the comforts of Ur and Haran to follow God to the promised land. By faith Abraham and Sarah bore Isaac as a child of their old age (11:8–12).
Moses—faith warring (vv. 23–29). Moses was fortunate to have believing parents. For them to hide their baby son from the authorities was certainly an act of faith. The account is given in Exodus 2:1–10. Moses’ parents were named Amram and Jochebed (Ex. 6:20). Though godly parents cannot pass on their faith as they do family traits, they can certainly create an atmosphere of faith at home and be examples to their children. A home should be the first school of faith for a child.
Exodus 2:14–15 indicates that Moses was afraid of the king; if this text refers to Moses’ first flight from Egypt after slaying the Egyptian, perhaps the writer means a particular kind of fear (i.e., Moses was not afraid enough to deny his people), or perhaps he relativizes that fear by emphasizing Moses’ faith in the unseen God (other writers, like Philo and Josephus, minimize or eliminate fear as the cause of Moses’ escape). But he may refer to Moses’ second departure from Egypt, with Israel following him; verse 28 also speaks of him (singular) keeping the Passover, although it is clear that all Israel kept it. Diaspora Judaism often called God “the Invisible.”
11:29 Red Sea. See Ex. 14, 15. When they first reached the shores of the Red Sea, the people feared for their lives (Ex. 14:11, 21). But upon hearing Moses’ pronouncement of God’s protection (Ex. 14:13, 14), they went forward in faith.
11:27 forsook Egypt. Moses left Egypt for the first time when he fled for his life after killing the Egyptian slave master (Ex. 2:14, 15). That time he did fear Pharaoh’s wrath. On the second occasion, he turned his back on Egypt and all that it represented. This leaving was not for fear of Pharoah, so it is the one in view here. seeing Him. Moses’ faith was such that he responded to God’s commands as though God were standing visibly before him. This was the basis for his loyalty to God, and it should be a believer’s example for loyalty (cf. 2 Cor. 4:16–18).
Often their faith is directed to the future, which is unseen: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (v. 1).
Because the original readers of Hebrews would not receive the full benefits of their faith in this life, the author focuses on heroes whose lives highlighted the future dimension of faith. Abraham, for example, “was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (v. 10). In fact, the writer summarizes the witnesses to faith up to and including Abraham in this way: “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth” (v. 13).
The paradoxical phrase “he saw him who is invisible” does not mean he saw God with the naked eye. Faith’s eye saw what the physical eye is incapable of seeing. But there did also come a time when God was so pleased with Moses’ spiritual vision that he graced him with physical vision of a part of God’s glory (cf. Exodus 33:18–23) and spoke to him face to face (cf. Exodus 33:9–11; Numbers 12:7, 8).
I personally believe that seeing “him who is invisible” is not extraordinary. Rather, it is ordinary, normal Christianity. In fact, if you do not see the unseen, you are abnormal and below the divinely ordained norm.
Christianity is supernatural, and it is to be lived supernaturally. Elisha’s prayer is just as relevant today for the church as it was when he prayed it over his anxious servant: “And Elisha prayed, ‘O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.’ Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17).
(2) True faith is action taken in response to the unseen God and his promises. Faith, rather than merely static belief or cognitive assent, spurs one to act in accordance with God’s truth. Its boldness, however, seems especially to do with the fact that these great people of faith are backed up by the Unseen. They step forward with eyebrow-raising tenacity and confidence and with no perceptible reason for doing so. But God has spoken. God has manifested himself, and this is reason enough. Therefore, we too are called to an active, confident faith that finds its reason in the unseen God. If we have faith of another stripe, we need to reevaluate our “faith.”
Compare Exodus 14:29 and Nehemiah 9:11. Exodus reports the completion of Israel’s faith after the miracle (Ex 14:31), but Moses and his people had to act in some faith to enter the basin (cf. Ex 14:10–22). Jewish teachers debated the immediate cause of the exodus, some affirming Israel’s faith but many attributing the miracle to the faith or merit of their ancestors.
The crossing of the Red Sea is attributed to God (Exod 14:14) and to the east wind that God sent (Exod 14:21); but the author prefers to concentrate on the faith that enabled the people to respond to what God had done. That their faith and not merely their courage was important is shown by the fate of the Egyptians. The Egyptians were just as courageous as the Israelites, for they attempted to cross in the same way. But they lacked faith, and the result was disaster. Their fate shows that the faith of Moses and his followers was real and not just a formality.
Next, the author explains that Moses’ forty-year separation from Egypt in the land of Midian was also a result of faith: “By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible” (v. 27). Here again, the author references the second half of his essential definition of faith in verse 1: “Faith is being… certain of what we do not see”—visual certitude.
The last of the ten plagues that secured Israel’s exodus from Egypt was the destruction of all the male firstborn of both man and beast (cf. Exodus 12:12). But God provided a way of salvation for his people. They were directed through Moses to slaughter a lamb, take some hyssop and dip it in the lamb’s blood, and daub the blood on the top and sides of the doorways of their homes. Homes so anointed would be under God’s protection, and the destroyer would not be permitted to enter (cf. Exodus 12:21–23). So our text reads, “By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel” (11:28).
Their faithlessness is corroborated by the fact that all of them later died in the desert because of their lack of faith, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb.
Actually, it was Moses’ faith that rallied them and secured their deliverance: “Moses answered the people, ‘Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still’ ” (Exodus 14:13, 14). This eventuated in Moses’ preeminent display of faith when he stretched his hand out over the Red Sea, and the Lord drove back the waters with a strong east wind, and Israel passed through as on dry land (cf. Exodus 14:21, 22).
(2) By faith Moses left Egypt and persevered in the mission given him by God (11:27). This verse seems to discount Exodus 2:14, which says that Moses was afraid concerning the consequences of his act of killing the Egyptian. But the author of Hebrews wishes to emphasize the boldness of Moses’ actions rather than his negative emotion of dread. He made a decision to leave Egypt, and that step the writer understands as a step of faith. In line with his larger emphasis on endurance (e.g., 10:32, 36; 12:1–3, 7), the author notes that Moses persevered because he paid attention to the unseen God rather than to a visible king.
(3) By faith Moses led the Israelites in the observance of the Passover ordinance (11:28). The mention of “the sprinkling of blood” calls to mind the author’s earlier references to Christ’s sacrifice as paralleling the old covenant sacrificial rituals (9:12–14, 18–22). Here, however, he specifically has in mind the smearing of blood on the Israelites’ door posts to avoid the death angel’s work. This act was an act of faith since Moses led the Israelites in obedience to God’s command with regard to an as-yet-unseen event.