Faith gives a glimpse into the invisible reality. We hope for these invisible things. By faith we are assured that those things exist. This definition should be connected with 11:6. Faith is also telling us that God exists and rewards those who draw close to him
Such faith was a characteristic of our forefathers and for this faith they are till now remembered.
11:3 - Gen 1–2 (1:20) - If we interpret it in the line of Ex 25:40 - Hebr 8:5 - then, we have here a possibility that our world is made after a pattern of another world - the real one.
11:4 - Gen 4:4.10 - the list of witnesses begins with Abel. Why was Adam omitted? Because he sinned?
The blood of Able calls for vengeance, the blood of Christ forgives.
By the way, what made Abel’s offering superior to Cain’s was evidently its being an offering of the “firstlings” (first-born) and its including the “fat” (Gen. 4:4). Ancient Near Easterners commonly held that a deity deserved the first of whatever man, beast, or crop brought forth. The fat likewise represented the best part of an animal offering. Abel’s offering shows the respect he gave God as worthy of the best whereas Cain’s offering, as Moses described it in Genesis 4, indicates that he did not so reverence God.[381]
11:5 - Gen 5:22–24
Whereas Abel suffered murder, Enoch never died, and both demonstrated faith. Enoch set an example of walking by faith all his life that readers would do well to follow.[384] The Lord may return at any time to take modern Enoch’s into His presence just as He took that great saint.
11:6 - Ex 3:14–15; Jer 29:12–14;
Walking by faith involves not only believing that God exists but also believing that he will reward the faithful. The original readers faced temptation to abandon that hope, as we do. Note that those He will reward are those who “are seeking after Him” (present tense in Greek), not believers who have stopped seeking after Him. Ultimately we know God’s will by faith.
11:7 - Gen 6:8–22; Matt 24:37–39; 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5
Noah prepared for things to come. He did not live for the present. By continuing to believe the promises of God, even when everyone else disbelieved them, Noah inherited a new world after the Flood. The writer had promised the readers “the world to come” (2:5–8). Noah’s faith led to the preservation of his family. Likewise as we continue to trust God we will encourage others to do so and they will also enter into their inheritance if they follow our example of faithful perseverance.
11:8–10 - Gen 12:1–5; Rev 21:10–20
Like Abraham we should look forward to our inheritance in the coming world and should live as strangers and pilgrims in this world (1 Pet. 1:1).[387] Abraham demonstrated faith in three phases: when God called him to leave Mesopotamia (v. 8), when he reached the Promised Land but still had to live in it as a foreigner (vv. 9–10), and when God called him to sacrifice Isaac (vv. 17–19).
“Abraham’s faith accepted God’s promises and acted on them even though there was nothing to indicate that they would be fulfilled.”[388]
As Abraham later received the land he formerly lived in as a stranger, so we will, too. The city Abraham looked for was a city God would provide for him. A city with foundations offered a permanent, established home in contrast to the transient existence of a tent-encampment.
We look for such a habitation as well, namely, the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:1, 9–27).
This writer referred to Abraham 10 times; his example is especially helpful for those tempted to abandon faith in God. Only two other books mention him more: Luke (15 times) and John (11 times).
11:11–12 - Gen 17:19; 21:2
Sarah believed God would fulfill His promise and provide something (a child) totally beyond the realm of natural possibility. According to Gen 18:12–15 - Sarah was doubting God’s promise.
11:13–16
“All these” probably refers to Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob (vv. 8–9, 11) who lived as exiled strangers by faith, not all whom the writer had listed to this point. “Strangers and exiles” is probably a hendiadys meaning “exiled strangers.”
These patriarchs all continued to live by faith, and they died believing God would fulfill His promises to them eventually. They looked forward to possessing a land that God promised to give them. They did not turn back to what they had left, which might have encouraged them to apostatize.
In the same way we should not abandon our hope. God was not ashamed of them because they were not ashamed to believe Him and to remain faithful to Him. Likewise we will not shame Him if we resist the temptation to turn from Him in shame (1 Sam. 2:30; 2 Tim. 2:12). God prepared a heavenly habitation for them, and He has done so for us (John 14:1–3).
Each example of faith that the writer cited so far is a positive one involving a believer who kept on trusting God and His promises in spite of temptation to stop trusting. That is what the writer was urging his readers to do throughout this epistle. In every case God approved and rewarded the continuing faith of the faithful.
11:17–19 - Gen 22:1–14; James 2:21–22
It is the belief that God could and would raise the dead that is the key element in these verses. From Abraham’s perspective God’s promise and His command seemed to conflict.
“We are apt to see this as a conflict between Abraham’s love for his son and his duty to God. But for the author the problem was Abraham’s difficulty in reconciling the different revelations made to him.”[391]
Abraham was willing to continue to trust and obey God because He believed God could even raise Isaac, his unique (Gr. monogenes) son, from the dead to fulfill His promises of an heir. Similarly we need to continue to trust and obey God even though He may have to raise us from the dead to fulfill His promises to us. Isaac’s restoration was a type (Gr. parabole, parable, figure, illustration) of the fact that God will give us what He has promised if we continue to trust and obey Him. When Isaac arose from the altar, it was as though he had risen from the dead.
11:20–22 - Gen 27:22–23.39–40; 47:31; 48:15–16
Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph all demonstrated confidence in God’s word in the ways mentioned. They believed He would provide for them what He had promised. We should do the same. The faith of all three of these patriarchs affected their descendants. Ours should as well.
“With all three the significant thing was their firm conviction that death cannot frustrate God’s purposes.”[392]
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.”[393]
11:23 - Ex 2:2; Acts 7:20
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. Acts 4:19). God honored their faith.
11:24–26 - Ex 2:11
Moses had a true appreciation for the promises of God. This led him to choose the reward associated with Israel’s promised Messiah over the temporary material wealth he could have enjoyed had he stayed in Egypt. We should also be willing to suffer temporary disgrace, reproach, and loss as we continue to cast our lot with God’s faithful disciples.
“As with Abraham and Moses of old, the decisions we make today will determine the rewards tomorrow. More than this, our decisions should be motivated by the expectation of receiving rewards… . The emphasis in the Epistle to the Hebrews is: ‘Don’t live for what the world will promise you today! Live for what God has promised you in the future! …’’“[394]
27 - Ex 2:15
Moses persevered in spite of the king’s wrath, and so should we in spite of the wrath we may experience from ungodly opponents. Probably Moses’ departure for Midian 40 years before the Exodus is in view here. This seems likely in view of the chronological sequence the writer followed in this passage. The reference to the king’s wrath is appropriate because Moses left Egypt then because Pharaoh sought to kill him (Exod. 2:15).
“From the pastoral perspective of the writer, the firmly entrenched habit of Moses in keeping God continually in view establishes a standard for imitation by the community in its experience of fear and governmental oppression.”[395], p. 376.
“‘The courage to abandon work on which one’s heart is set, and accept inaction cheerfully as the will of God, is of the rarest and highest kind, and can be created and sustained only by the clearest spiritual vision’ (Peake).”[396]
11:28 - Ex 12:11.22–23
Furthermore, as Moses continued to demonstrate confidence in the blood of the lamb that God provided, so should we. He avoided and we avoid God’s judgment by doing so.
In this verse there is a subtle transition from emphasis on exemplary persons to exemplary events (cf. vv. 29–30, 33–38).
11:29–30 - Ex 14:22–27
The people of Israel experienced victory over their enemies as they trusted God, and we can, too. At the Red Sea the Israelites willingly went forward at God’s word rather than turning back. Trust and obedience resulted in the Israelites’ preservation and eventual entrance into their inheritance. The believing community that originally received this homily could identify with a group of people who persevered, not just individuals who did.
11:31 - Joshua 2:1–2; 6:17
Even though Rahab was a Gentile sinner (i.e., a secular prostitute), God spared her when he destroyed all those around her. Likewise God will preserve the faithful, not because they are personally worthy, but because of their faith in Him.
“Although a foreigner to the covenant people, she manifested a faith that was oriented toward the future and that found specific content in the acts of the God of Israel (Josh 2:11). She was prepared to assume present peril for the sake of future preservation (Josh 2:12–16).”[397]
11:32 The rhetorical question, “And what more shall I say?” suggests that the writer did not consider that there was much point in citing more examples.[398]
This is the only New Testament reference to Gideon (Judges 6–8), Barak (Judges 4–5), Samson (Judges 13–16), and Jephthah 11–12).
“The order of names here may be understood if they are read as three pairs, Gideon-Barak, Samson-Jephthah, David-Samuel, the more important member of each pair being named first.”[399].
11:33–35a Joshua conquered kingdoms. Daniel shut the lions’ mouths (Dan. 6:17–22), as did Samson (Judg. 14:5–6), David (1 Sam. 17:34–37), and Benaiah (1 Chron. 11:22). Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego escaped fiery deaths (Dan. 3:23–27). David, Elijah, Elisha, and Jeremiah avoided execution. Women even received their dead back because they believed God could and would do what He had promised (cf. 1 Kings 17:17–24; 2 Kings 4:17–37).
Some commentators have seen allusions in verses 34 and 35 to experiences that the Israelites underwent during the Maccabean struggle (1 Macc. 2:7; 3:15; et al.).[400]
11:35b–38
Faith does not result in deliverance in every case, however. These verses refer to many different forms of persecution, which would have been particularly comforting to the original distressed readers. Traditionally Isaiah suffered death at King Manasseh’s hand by being sawn in two.[401].
Sometimes the faithful person’s reward comes on the other side of the grave. Some of the readers, and we, might have to endure death. Those who accept death without apostatizing are those the world is not worthy of because they do not turn from following the Lord even under the most severe pressure.
11:39–40
Those faithful believers who died in Old Testament times have not yet entered into their inheritances. This awaits the future, Their perfection refers to their entering into their final rest (inheritance) and rests, as ours does, on the sacrificial death of Christ (cf. 9:15).
Verses 39–40 summarize the chapter by relating the list of exemplary witnesses to the audience’s experience, and they provide a transition to the argument of 12:1–13.
God intended this inspiring chapter to encourage us to continue to trust and obey Him in the midst of temptations to turn away from following Him faithfully. The implication is that our reward, as theirs, is eschatological.
“… it is the future, and not the past, that molds the present… .
“The men and women celebrated in the catalogue of attested exemplars all directed the capacity of faith to realities which for them lay in the future (cf. 11:7, 10, 13, 27, 31, 35–38). They found in faith a reliable guide to the future, even though they died without experiencing the fulfillment of God’s promise (11:23, 39)… .