I love how this chapter re-frames old testament stories that we’re so familiar with and gives us insight into the characters’ motivations from the perspective of Yahweh!
I think verses 13-16 are a big piece of what keeps people coming back- these figures did not receive the things promised, but died in faith knowing that Yahweh would keep His promise. That’s life-fuel.
I think another piece that keeps people coming back is the summary. These figures have been commended for their great lives of faith, but we have received a gift greater than theirs- a new covenant in Christ.
Reading chapter 11 feels like reaching for a “greatest hits” album. Just one knock out example of faith after another, all lined up. The people in this chapter mastered the tension of navigating their circumstances while keeping an eternal perspective. I also think we come back to it a lot because it covers so many different kinds of people and is so inclusive (men, women, royalty, sex worker, soldiers, etc).
I printed out this chapter and left lots of room in the margins, thank you for that suggestion!
Yes! And, for me, it's like a really worn and oft-played greatest hits albums. I LOVE these songs! They're my favorites. And that makes me feel like I know these people, too. Like their songs are my songs. Or maybe, like their songs have been influences on the song I'm writing (subtext and soil). :)
This is what stood out to me too. So many different people and experiences, but all woven together with the thread of faith. A good reminder that God’s kingdom is so diverse.
I believe many keep coming back to the faith examples in Hebrews 11 because it shows perseverance. That encourages me in my walk. Even if I don't see clear answers to my prayers and in what I bear, I know faith will be rewarded.
It's such a strange thing--that another person's perseverance could magically enable mine. But it's undeniably true. The more people I see walking "by faith" the easier it is for me.
Just sharing a few reflections and questions... one, the phrasing from the CEB of "even the dead can speak through faith" really resonated with me and reminded me of Jesus's response to the Sadducees that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and is the God of the living.
Another question I had related to the phrase "...so that they would not be made perfect without us." How are WE involved in helping make THEM perfect? I have usually read this from a Western individualistic perspective, so I think I thought of it more like "they're helping US be perfect through their witness" but this was written the other way around. I'm still processing this one.
Great thoughts here! We'll spend a day thinking about this and its implications later in the study, but for now, I think it's worth spending some time meditating on that word "perfect." In Greek it's "teleioó"-- To complete, to perfect, to accomplish, to bring to an end. So it's less about us as individuals having an impact on them as individuals. And it's more about our mutual participation in God's good ending. We get to be a part of God accomplishing what He set out to accomplish. The story isn't complete without us!
Yep, this was a question that popped up for me, too. I wonder if it speaks to God’s fatherly joy in all of His children sharing His glory together. Like…I’m on my way home right now from a Christmas vacation with my dad, stepmom, and all my siblings and their families. My dad foots the bill for a trip like this every year, which is incredibly generous, but he could also show his generosity by writing us all a check and we could all travel individually to wherever we wanted to go (which would be great, and probably more convenient!) But instead, he wants us to enjoy the gift together, which inevitably multiplies the gift beyond anything that could be valued in terms of dollars and cents.
Maybe our glory, and whatever happens to us after we die, will be like that…a reflection and culmination of all the other times Jesus emphasized our mutual connectedness (like the Eucharist, for example, not to mention all the feast language in Revelation - feasts where everyone sits at the same table). My glory tied to your glory. The dead reaching back and sharing some of their hope with us from beyond the grave, while the living capture the attention of the dead, inspiring them to cheer us on (Heb 12:1-2) because our successes of faith, which are often pathetically invisible to the world here, are playing out on the Jumbotron of heaven and those who have gone before are seated in the stands, arms full with medals and wreaths and ribbons to shower on us when we finally cross our own finish lines.
I don’t know 🙃 but maybe it’s something like that. I sure hope it is, anyway.
This was also one of my questions. The ESV says, "...that apart from us they should not be made perfect." At first, I read that to mean that something we do or are is helping to make them perfect. And I jotted down "why isn't it 'apart from God' instead of 'apart from us'?" But reading it in several different translations makes me think that maybe it just means that both groups (those under the old covenant and those under the new) get to receive the promise, together.
This is something that's caught my interest lately too, David. Definitely points to a cross-continental, cross-generational sharing of destiny that challenges our modern, Western sense of individuality, right? Reminds me of the souls under the altar in Rev 6:9-11, whose longed-for reckoning was contingent upon still others dying as they did. Does that Heb 11:40 reality have to do with the bride being presented spotless to Christ in the end? Those who've gone before us have to wait until our perfection (as we'll have to wait for those who come after us)?
I love the word "wait." They wait for us. We wait for Jesus. It reminds me of the way you hate it when I jump the gun while you're telling a story and spoil the ending. Timing matters in a story. And we are definitely living a story. (These people in Hebrews do get a good ending at their death, but it's incomplete until the second coming of Jesus. And Jesus is waiting to give US time. Because the ending will be better with us.)
This was also one of my questions. I don’t really have any insight yet, but I did think that it’s telling of the kindness of God that he is putting similar questions among our group to help us grow.
I picture in my mind the author of Hebrews describing enthusiastically the faith journeys of those from creation onward. Most of the chapter covers Adam through Joseph, then Moses, then ends with a list of others (verse 32). The writer states that he (or she) would "run out of time" (CEB) if the stories of those listed in verse 32 were detailed. Instead, the result of their faith was summarized. To me, this became a model of thinking more deeply about the characters in scripture and why their stories are told and then thinking of my own story and how my faith might be told by my everyday actions and resolves. The verbs used to describe faith are convicting to me: offered, having pleased God, believed, responded, obeyed, looking forward - all things I can be doing daily. When I "run out of time" in my daily enthusiastic endeavors, I pray that I will pause, take a breath, and focus on the intent of my actions. I, too, will "run out of time" before things I'd like to see to completion are done.
My question to research is in verse 22 "By faith Joseph "recalled" (CEB) "made mention" (ESV) the exodus of the Israelites..." but he died before the exodus.
My thinking on this is just a little different - when Joseph first revealed himself to his brothers, he told them that God had sent him to Egypt to preserve a remnant for them and later told them that what they had meant for evil God had meant for good. And he went to a whole lot of trouble to fulfill his vow to take his father back to Canaan for burial, And it was a big deal for people to be buried with their families. And Joseph clearly had developed not only a strong faith but a keen perception of God's ways. He may have been given a prophetic knowledge that his people would return to Canaan, and he may just have had faith that God would eventually return them to their promised land, which would mean he could eventually be laid to rest with his fathers as was the custom and desire for all. Just my 2¢.
Hebrews 11 intrigues me because it offers a different (God-eye) version of the Old Testament stories than we see in the original telling. Did Sarah really consider that the one who had promised was faithful? Did Moses really know that reproach for the sake of Christ was wealth better than the treasures of Egypt? YES!!! And that makes me wonder what the God-eyed view of MY story is.
The faithful people of the Old Testament were faithful because they believed God was who He said He was and that He would do what He said He would do. And everything was pointing to the future reality of the Savior! And we somehow play a part in that (verse 40)!
Oh yes, I agree that it’s like a peek behind the scenes! I love knowing that Abraham reasoned that God would bring Isaac back from the dead. That helps very much when I’m reading the original account in Genesis.
Hebrews 11 is popular as the "faith hall of fame." It is enlightening to read about how our spiritual ancestors' stories demonstrate their "commendation." (I'm also thinking about what "commendation" or "approval" mean; how do they differ from "salvation," if at all?). It encourages me to follow their examples. I jotted down lots of questions. One relates to how Hebrews 11 defines "faith" versus Webster's dictionary. The latter says "firm belief in something for which there is no proof." But Heb 11:1 (CSB) says that faith is "the proof of what is not seen." I am pondering this tension. One other thing I jotted down is that it would be cool if the writer HAD taken time to write all those other stories (v. 32). I wonder what they would have said.
You know, part of what my husband Justin is up to with Holy Ghost Stories (and really, what I'm interested in as a writer and teacher of testimony) is the creation of an exhaustive collection of faith stories. You can't have enough. Let's tell them all.
(On the faith definition--THIS is where I think most of us need to really dig in. Our definitions of faith are often a bit too simplistic or vague. I'm excited to work together over the coming weeks to reach for something more concrete and substantive.)
There are a few things that stood out to me when I read Hebrews 11 this morning.
I will share more later but one thing is how in a few verses you see By Faith repeated in the beginning. By Faith then it says the person and the story.
That is one of the things I love because it starts by saying By Faith first!
That is the same thing for us: By Faith first then our story. Will share more later of what else stood out to me.
Before I dove into chapter 11, I spent a little time in chapter 10. The writer ends 10 talking about being in need of endurance, and how we are *not* those who shrink back and are destroyed, but have faith and preserve our souls.
I think we come back to 11 because we need the jolt of endurance that comes from repeating again the big picture of what God is up to, of how he works. It’s extremely important to ground ourselves within this grand story, to fend off the temptation toward novelty. From the beginning, the story seems to be: God exists, he made the universe by his very word, we can draw near to him, and he rewards those who seek him. He gives power to endure suffering until we reach our true homeland.
I found deep comfort in the phrase from v. 13 “these all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar”…
I also noted the mentions of Christ in the chapter. Felt to me like Moses knew Jesus? Excited to meditate on this more and dig in.
Oh, also--you need to talk to Justin about whether Moses met Jesus in his lifetime. He has some ideas about what happened on the Mount of Transfiguration and the limits of linear time.
I think one reason people come back to Hebrews 11 is that it ties together OT stories that we tend to view separately. It provides a common theme and unifies seemingly disparate characters.
I had several questions after reading but one was from verse 23 - I was curious about the word “afraid”. They hid Moses but were not afraid of the king’s edict. Those seem to be in contradiction.
In case it’s helpful to others, I like the resource blueletterbible.org. You can look up the Hebrew and Greek words to see their definition and usage. It says “afraid” in verse 23 means “to put to flight by terrifying”. It made me think of a fight or flight response. Perhaps Moses’ parents did experience fear but their response was to fight (rather than flight) by hiding him?
Yeah--I think it's response to fear that matters. Fear itself is neutral. It's not always sinful or even cowardly. Sometimes it's the appropriate reaction to stimuli. If you see a shark and feel afraid, that's good. It will motivate you to flee the ocean. Similarly here, I think Moses' parents are appropriately afraid for their child's life so they hide him. If they didn't hide him, he would have been killed. I think of Corrie Ten Boom's family hiding Jews in their house or later, Corrie hiding a Bible in the barracks of her concentration camp. Sometimes hiding in the face of danger is brave and faithful!
I agree wholeheartedly! I was more so hung up on the first glance contradiction when the verse said they weren’t afraid but then took an action seeming to indicate fear. It was encouraging that after a tiny bit of digging the “contradiction” was clarified. 🙂
I was just introduced to it recently in a class about how to study the Bible. It definitely beats flipping through the massive Strong’s concordance haha.
I think people return to this chapter over and over because it lists ordinary people who accomplish extraordinary through obedient faith in God. That makes me think that I can do it too. I may not be conquering kingdoms, stopping the mouth of a lion, or quenching fire, but I can make a difference within my own realm of influence as I walk and trust in God.
Exactly. If God hasn't asked you to conquer a kingdom, he doesn't expect you to conquer a kingdom. We just have to be obedient. And we will be obedient if our faith is the thing guiding our lives.
I love coming back to Hebrews 11 for the hope. Knowing the lives of these flawed individuals whose faith made it in to Hebrews 11, gives me hope. Trying to focus more on the heart instead of the box checker tendencies I have. Thinking of faith as not just a word, but what it leads me to do.
Loved all the other comments about “apart from us they should not be made perfect”. That was my question too. Loved the glory tied to our glory thought.
I think that the people mentioned in Hebrews 11 are encouraging examples of perseverance, despite the moral failings that each person had, whether they were mentioned in the Hall of Faith or not. (I had something longer, but lost the text I was typing because I was typing into the wrong comment box. Maybe I'll remember it later.)
I think Hebrews chapter 11 is a popular & favorable text, because it provides example after example of the HOPE that we have through our creator’s faithfulness to us. We see O.T. individuals who endured many hardships, but continued keeping their eyes upward. Their Heavenward focus/mindset was the driving force that sustained them, because they didn’t just believe - they knew that God was who He said He was & that He would do what He said He would do. They understood what has taken me a long time to understand - that through their unwavering faith they would gain strength in their times of weakness. When we are weak, He is strong. Our STRENGTH is the Lord interceding on our behalf, fighting our battles for us, and doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. These individuals lived lives of full surrender, because they knew that the reward waiting for them on the other side would far exceed anything that this earthly world could offer them. This chapter is an encouragement to continue running the race set before us no matter the cost, because it will be worth it all. These individuals knew it would be and it was. Oh to have faith like them - that is my desire.
Amen! I think we sometimes undervalue the power of a good reward. Knowing what's coming (when what's coming is Jesus and a new heaven and new earth) is a pretty good reason to press on.
This is SO true. I know I’ve been guilty of this numerous times. Meeting Jesus and having a Heavenly home should be the greatest reward & the greatest form of motivation, but sadly it isn’t always the case. I get too caught up and blindsided by the temporary, but I’m believing this study will be just the stirring I need to live more like the examples we see in our text.
Good evening, all. I had to head out to work at 7:30 this am. I did not have time to comment here earlier. I will share what I wrote about the overview.
Hebrews 11 is about faith in a redeeming Father, infused with the Holy Spirit working in ordinary people through time, who summitted to the Almighty, conquering fear, giving hope to a dying world, leading a way to salvation through Jesus Christ.
My question was about verse 39. "Yet non of them received what was promised"; God had planned something better? Who are none of them? I wonder if the "them" are all the people listed in Hebrews 11 - the ordinary people. "Received what was promised" - Does this mean the outcome that would not have been present if they had not followed Yahweh? Because the next verse says God had something better. I will need to contemplate this more. :)
My underlined verse was verse 7. By faith, when warned with no experience but with Holy fear, reverence, believing, built an ark! God, help me to have that Holy respect to you and overcome my insecurities and the false voice in my head to obedience.
I think you're right--he's talking about the people he just mentioned. And none of them lived to see the promise fully kept because they all died before Jesus. That's an oversimplification, but it's the essence of what he's getting at.
okay, here's my question because I haven't yet worked out how these 2 verses mesh:
Heb 11: 27 By faith he left Egypt, unafraid of the king’s anger, for he persevered as though[a] he saw him who is invisible.
Ex 2:14b-15a Then Moses was afraid and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. So Moses fled from Pharaoh.
Having fear in one moment doesn’t necessarily mean he stayed in fear. He may have had fear that turned to resolve in the face of what he knew he needed to do.
I love how this chapter re-frames old testament stories that we’re so familiar with and gives us insight into the characters’ motivations from the perspective of Yahweh!
I think verses 13-16 are a big piece of what keeps people coming back- these figures did not receive the things promised, but died in faith knowing that Yahweh would keep His promise. That’s life-fuel.
I think another piece that keeps people coming back is the summary. These figures have been commended for their great lives of faith, but we have received a gift greater than theirs- a new covenant in Christ.
"That's life-fuel." Amen! We're actually camping out in that idea tomorrow...
Reading chapter 11 feels like reaching for a “greatest hits” album. Just one knock out example of faith after another, all lined up. The people in this chapter mastered the tension of navigating their circumstances while keeping an eternal perspective. I also think we come back to it a lot because it covers so many different kinds of people and is so inclusive (men, women, royalty, sex worker, soldiers, etc).
I printed out this chapter and left lots of room in the margins, thank you for that suggestion!
Yes! And, for me, it's like a really worn and oft-played greatest hits albums. I LOVE these songs! They're my favorites. And that makes me feel like I know these people, too. Like their songs are my songs. Or maybe, like their songs have been influences on the song I'm writing (subtext and soil). :)
I love the variety of people/contexts too. Such a good flyover of the Kingdom.
This is what stood out to me too. So many different people and experiences, but all woven together with the thread of faith. A good reminder that God’s kingdom is so diverse.
I believe many keep coming back to the faith examples in Hebrews 11 because it shows perseverance. That encourages me in my walk. Even if I don't see clear answers to my prayers and in what I bear, I know faith will be rewarded.
It's such a strange thing--that another person's perseverance could magically enable mine. But it's undeniably true. The more people I see walking "by faith" the easier it is for me.
Just sharing a few reflections and questions... one, the phrasing from the CEB of "even the dead can speak through faith" really resonated with me and reminded me of Jesus's response to the Sadducees that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and is the God of the living.
Another question I had related to the phrase "...so that they would not be made perfect without us." How are WE involved in helping make THEM perfect? I have usually read this from a Western individualistic perspective, so I think I thought of it more like "they're helping US be perfect through their witness" but this was written the other way around. I'm still processing this one.
Great thoughts here! We'll spend a day thinking about this and its implications later in the study, but for now, I think it's worth spending some time meditating on that word "perfect." In Greek it's "teleioó"-- To complete, to perfect, to accomplish, to bring to an end. So it's less about us as individuals having an impact on them as individuals. And it's more about our mutual participation in God's good ending. We get to be a part of God accomplishing what He set out to accomplish. The story isn't complete without us!
yes, i agree - the story isn't complete without us...won't be complete till He comes again.
Yep, this was a question that popped up for me, too. I wonder if it speaks to God’s fatherly joy in all of His children sharing His glory together. Like…I’m on my way home right now from a Christmas vacation with my dad, stepmom, and all my siblings and their families. My dad foots the bill for a trip like this every year, which is incredibly generous, but he could also show his generosity by writing us all a check and we could all travel individually to wherever we wanted to go (which would be great, and probably more convenient!) But instead, he wants us to enjoy the gift together, which inevitably multiplies the gift beyond anything that could be valued in terms of dollars and cents.
Maybe our glory, and whatever happens to us after we die, will be like that…a reflection and culmination of all the other times Jesus emphasized our mutual connectedness (like the Eucharist, for example, not to mention all the feast language in Revelation - feasts where everyone sits at the same table). My glory tied to your glory. The dead reaching back and sharing some of their hope with us from beyond the grave, while the living capture the attention of the dead, inspiring them to cheer us on (Heb 12:1-2) because our successes of faith, which are often pathetically invisible to the world here, are playing out on the Jumbotron of heaven and those who have gone before are seated in the stands, arms full with medals and wreaths and ribbons to shower on us when we finally cross our own finish lines.
I don’t know 🙃 but maybe it’s something like that. I sure hope it is, anyway.
Yesssss. I think definitely "something like that."
"My glory tied to your glory" i like that!
Exactly!!
This was also one of my questions. The ESV says, "...that apart from us they should not be made perfect." At first, I read that to mean that something we do or are is helping to make them perfect. And I jotted down "why isn't it 'apart from God' instead of 'apart from us'?" But reading it in several different translations makes me think that maybe it just means that both groups (those under the old covenant and those under the new) get to receive the promise, together.
This is something that's caught my interest lately too, David. Definitely points to a cross-continental, cross-generational sharing of destiny that challenges our modern, Western sense of individuality, right? Reminds me of the souls under the altar in Rev 6:9-11, whose longed-for reckoning was contingent upon still others dying as they did. Does that Heb 11:40 reality have to do with the bride being presented spotless to Christ in the end? Those who've gone before us have to wait until our perfection (as we'll have to wait for those who come after us)?
I love the word "wait." They wait for us. We wait for Jesus. It reminds me of the way you hate it when I jump the gun while you're telling a story and spoil the ending. Timing matters in a story. And we are definitely living a story. (These people in Hebrews do get a good ending at their death, but it's incomplete until the second coming of Jesus. And Jesus is waiting to give US time. Because the ending will be better with us.)
This was also one of my questions. I don’t really have any insight yet, but I did think that it’s telling of the kindness of God that he is putting similar questions among our group to help us grow.
I picture in my mind the author of Hebrews describing enthusiastically the faith journeys of those from creation onward. Most of the chapter covers Adam through Joseph, then Moses, then ends with a list of others (verse 32). The writer states that he (or she) would "run out of time" (CEB) if the stories of those listed in verse 32 were detailed. Instead, the result of their faith was summarized. To me, this became a model of thinking more deeply about the characters in scripture and why their stories are told and then thinking of my own story and how my faith might be told by my everyday actions and resolves. The verbs used to describe faith are convicting to me: offered, having pleased God, believed, responded, obeyed, looking forward - all things I can be doing daily. When I "run out of time" in my daily enthusiastic endeavors, I pray that I will pause, take a breath, and focus on the intent of my actions. I, too, will "run out of time" before things I'd like to see to completion are done.
My question to research is in verse 22 "By faith Joseph "recalled" (CEB) "made mention" (ESV) the exodus of the Israelites..." but he died before the exodus.
Love all of them thoughts, Joy. To your question: Evidently, it's revealed to him in a prophetic experience. Check out Genesis 50:24-25.
My thinking on this is just a little different - when Joseph first revealed himself to his brothers, he told them that God had sent him to Egypt to preserve a remnant for them and later told them that what they had meant for evil God had meant for good. And he went to a whole lot of trouble to fulfill his vow to take his father back to Canaan for burial, And it was a big deal for people to be buried with their families. And Joseph clearly had developed not only a strong faith but a keen perception of God's ways. He may have been given a prophetic knowledge that his people would return to Canaan, and he may just have had faith that God would eventually return them to their promised land, which would mean he could eventually be laid to rest with his fathers as was the custom and desire for all. Just my 2¢.
Hebrews 11 intrigues me because it offers a different (God-eye) version of the Old Testament stories than we see in the original telling. Did Sarah really consider that the one who had promised was faithful? Did Moses really know that reproach for the sake of Christ was wealth better than the treasures of Egypt? YES!!! And that makes me wonder what the God-eyed view of MY story is.
The faithful people of the Old Testament were faithful because they believed God was who He said He was and that He would do what He said He would do. And everything was pointing to the future reality of the Savior! And we somehow play a part in that (verse 40)!
Mmm. I love that. Through God's gracious eyes, we're more.
Oh yes, I agree that it’s like a peek behind the scenes! I love knowing that Abraham reasoned that God would bring Isaac back from the dead. That helps very much when I’m reading the original account in Genesis.
Hebrews 11 is popular as the "faith hall of fame." It is enlightening to read about how our spiritual ancestors' stories demonstrate their "commendation." (I'm also thinking about what "commendation" or "approval" mean; how do they differ from "salvation," if at all?). It encourages me to follow their examples. I jotted down lots of questions. One relates to how Hebrews 11 defines "faith" versus Webster's dictionary. The latter says "firm belief in something for which there is no proof." But Heb 11:1 (CSB) says that faith is "the proof of what is not seen." I am pondering this tension. One other thing I jotted down is that it would be cool if the writer HAD taken time to write all those other stories (v. 32). I wonder what they would have said.
You know, part of what my husband Justin is up to with Holy Ghost Stories (and really, what I'm interested in as a writer and teacher of testimony) is the creation of an exhaustive collection of faith stories. You can't have enough. Let's tell them all.
(On the faith definition--THIS is where I think most of us need to really dig in. Our definitions of faith are often a bit too simplistic or vague. I'm excited to work together over the coming weeks to reach for something more concrete and substantive.)
Yes!
Good morning ✝️☀️🦋
There are a few things that stood out to me when I read Hebrews 11 this morning.
I will share more later but one thing is how in a few verses you see By Faith repeated in the beginning. By Faith then it says the person and the story.
That is one of the things I love because it starts by saying By Faith first!
That is the same thing for us: By Faith first then our story. Will share more later of what else stood out to me.
Blessings! Shabbat! Shalom Shalom!
😁✝️🦋🛡️😇
Yes! "By faith" becomes a sort of heartbeat or bassline (the part played by the bass in a song).
Hebrews 11 will show us how fundamental faith is to the Christian life. Which, for me, gets me wondering--then how do I get and grow faith?
Dig deeper into His Word and just allow yourself to stop and listen for God’s Voice!
That reading God’s Word is something that you get so excited to do!
Whoa that is a great question 😁✝️
Before I dove into chapter 11, I spent a little time in chapter 10. The writer ends 10 talking about being in need of endurance, and how we are *not* those who shrink back and are destroyed, but have faith and preserve our souls.
I think we come back to 11 because we need the jolt of endurance that comes from repeating again the big picture of what God is up to, of how he works. It’s extremely important to ground ourselves within this grand story, to fend off the temptation toward novelty. From the beginning, the story seems to be: God exists, he made the universe by his very word, we can draw near to him, and he rewards those who seek him. He gives power to endure suffering until we reach our true homeland.
I found deep comfort in the phrase from v. 13 “these all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar”…
I also noted the mentions of Christ in the chapter. Felt to me like Moses knew Jesus? Excited to meditate on this more and dig in.
Oh, also--you need to talk to Justin about whether Moses met Jesus in his lifetime. He has some ideas about what happened on the Mount of Transfiguration and the limits of linear time.
Nobody read this. It’s our devotional thought for tomorrow. ;)
Promise I didn’t steal your notes this weekend 😂
;)
i like your connecting chapter 10 with 11.....(especially since we all know it wasn't written with chapter and verse "breaks")
I think one reason people come back to Hebrews 11 is that it ties together OT stories that we tend to view separately. It provides a common theme and unifies seemingly disparate characters.
I had several questions after reading but one was from verse 23 - I was curious about the word “afraid”. They hid Moses but were not afraid of the king’s edict. Those seem to be in contradiction.
In case it’s helpful to others, I like the resource blueletterbible.org. You can look up the Hebrew and Greek words to see their definition and usage. It says “afraid” in verse 23 means “to put to flight by terrifying”. It made me think of a fight or flight response. Perhaps Moses’ parents did experience fear but their response was to fight (rather than flight) by hiding him?
Yeah--I think it's response to fear that matters. Fear itself is neutral. It's not always sinful or even cowardly. Sometimes it's the appropriate reaction to stimuli. If you see a shark and feel afraid, that's good. It will motivate you to flee the ocean. Similarly here, I think Moses' parents are appropriately afraid for their child's life so they hide him. If they didn't hide him, he would have been killed. I think of Corrie Ten Boom's family hiding Jews in their house or later, Corrie hiding a Bible in the barracks of her concentration camp. Sometimes hiding in the face of danger is brave and faithful!
I agree wholeheartedly! I was more so hung up on the first glance contradiction when the verse said they weren’t afraid but then took an action seeming to indicate fear. It was encouraging that after a tiny bit of digging the “contradiction” was clarified. 🙂
I leerrvvv Blue Letter Bible! Glad you gave it a shout-out here! 💙
I was just introduced to it recently in a class about how to study the Bible. It definitely beats flipping through the massive Strong’s concordance haha.
I was just over there getting a definition for "perfect" at the end of the chapter. It's a game changer to have that kind of info readily available.
I think people return to this chapter over and over because it lists ordinary people who accomplish extraordinary through obedient faith in God. That makes me think that I can do it too. I may not be conquering kingdoms, stopping the mouth of a lion, or quenching fire, but I can make a difference within my own realm of influence as I walk and trust in God.
Exactly. If God hasn't asked you to conquer a kingdom, he doesn't expect you to conquer a kingdom. We just have to be obedient. And we will be obedient if our faith is the thing guiding our lives.
I love coming back to Hebrews 11 for the hope. Knowing the lives of these flawed individuals whose faith made it in to Hebrews 11, gives me hope. Trying to focus more on the heart instead of the box checker tendencies I have. Thinking of faith as not just a word, but what it leads me to do.
Loved all the other comments about “apart from us they should not be made perfect”. That was my question too. Loved the glory tied to our glory thought.
I think that the people mentioned in Hebrews 11 are encouraging examples of perseverance, despite the moral failings that each person had, whether they were mentioned in the Hall of Faith or not. (I had something longer, but lost the text I was typing because I was typing into the wrong comment box. Maybe I'll remember it later.)
I think Hebrews chapter 11 is a popular & favorable text, because it provides example after example of the HOPE that we have through our creator’s faithfulness to us. We see O.T. individuals who endured many hardships, but continued keeping their eyes upward. Their Heavenward focus/mindset was the driving force that sustained them, because they didn’t just believe - they knew that God was who He said He was & that He would do what He said He would do. They understood what has taken me a long time to understand - that through their unwavering faith they would gain strength in their times of weakness. When we are weak, He is strong. Our STRENGTH is the Lord interceding on our behalf, fighting our battles for us, and doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. These individuals lived lives of full surrender, because they knew that the reward waiting for them on the other side would far exceed anything that this earthly world could offer them. This chapter is an encouragement to continue running the race set before us no matter the cost, because it will be worth it all. These individuals knew it would be and it was. Oh to have faith like them - that is my desire.
Amen! I think we sometimes undervalue the power of a good reward. Knowing what's coming (when what's coming is Jesus and a new heaven and new earth) is a pretty good reason to press on.
This is SO true. I know I’ve been guilty of this numerous times. Meeting Jesus and having a Heavenly home should be the greatest reward & the greatest form of motivation, but sadly it isn’t always the case. I get too caught up and blindsided by the temporary, but I’m believing this study will be just the stirring I need to live more like the examples we see in our text.
Good evening, all. I had to head out to work at 7:30 this am. I did not have time to comment here earlier. I will share what I wrote about the overview.
Hebrews 11 is about faith in a redeeming Father, infused with the Holy Spirit working in ordinary people through time, who summitted to the Almighty, conquering fear, giving hope to a dying world, leading a way to salvation through Jesus Christ.
My question was about verse 39. "Yet non of them received what was promised"; God had planned something better? Who are none of them? I wonder if the "them" are all the people listed in Hebrews 11 - the ordinary people. "Received what was promised" - Does this mean the outcome that would not have been present if they had not followed Yahweh? Because the next verse says God had something better. I will need to contemplate this more. :)
My underlined verse was verse 7. By faith, when warned with no experience but with Holy fear, reverence, believing, built an ark! God, help me to have that Holy respect to you and overcome my insecurities and the false voice in my head to obedience.
Until tomorrow!
I think you're right--he's talking about the people he just mentioned. And none of them lived to see the promise fully kept because they all died before Jesus. That's an oversimplification, but it's the essence of what he's getting at.
okay, here's my question because I haven't yet worked out how these 2 verses mesh:
Heb 11: 27 By faith he left Egypt, unafraid of the king’s anger, for he persevered as though[a] he saw him who is invisible.
Ex 2:14b-15a Then Moses was afraid and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. So Moses fled from Pharaoh.
This one's worth a wrestle, right? Looking forward to the day we look at it. Tell me if you come up with something!
I had the same question but then thought that maybe Heb 11 was referring to the second time Moses left Egypt, after the plagues?
ahhhhh.....hadn't thought of that!
Having fear in one moment doesn’t necessarily mean he stayed in fear. He may have had fear that turned to resolve in the face of what he knew he needed to do.