ACC ~ Hebrews 11 v23 - 28

THOSE OTHERWISE OBSCURE. CHRYSOSTOM: Joseph did not say, “God did not give the land to me in my lifetime, nor to my father or my grandfather, whose excellence too ought to have been reverenced. Will God give to these wretched people what God did not give to them?” He said nothing like this, but by faith he both conquered and went beyond all these things. The apostle has named Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph—all illustrious and admirable men. But then he makes the encouragement greater by bringing the matter down to ordinary persons. For that the admirable should feel thus is nothing wonderful, and to appear inferior to them is nothing dreadful; but to show oneself inferior even to people without names, this is awesome.

He begins with the parents of Moses, obscure persons who had nothing so great as their son had. Then he goes on to increase the strangeness of what he says by enumerating even women who were harlots and widows. For “by faith,” he says “the harlot Rahab did not perish with them that believed not, for she had received the spies with peace.” And he mentions the rewards not only of belief but also of unbelief, as in the case of Noah.

But at present we must speak of the parents of Moses. Pharaoh gave orders that all the male children should be destroyed, and none had escaped the danger. How did these expect to save their child? By faith. What sort of faith? “They saw,” he says, “that the child was beautiful.” The very sight of him drew them on to faith. Thus from the beginning—yes, from the very swaddling clothes—great was the grace that was poured out on that righteous man, this being not the work of nature. For observe, the child immediately on its birth appears fair and not disagreeable to the sight. Whose work was this? Not that of nature but of the grace of God, which also stirred up and strengthened that barbarian woman, the Egyptian, and took and drew her on. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 26.3.

MOSES REFUSED THE PALACE. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul says, “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin; considering abuse suffered for the Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward.” It is as though Paul had said to them, “No one of you has left a palace, yes a splendid palace, or such treasures. None of you, when you might have been a king’s son, has despised this. But Moses did.” And he did not simply leave it there. He further expressed it by saying, “he refused,” that is, he hated, he turned away. For when heaven was set before Moses, it was superfluous to admire an Egyptian palace.

And see how admirably Paul has put it. He did not say, “Esteeming heaven and the things in heaven,” “greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt,” but what? “Abuse suffered for the Christ.” For he accounted being abused for the sake of Christ better than being thus at ease; and this itself by itself was reward.

“Choosing rather,” he says, “to suffer ill treatment with the people of God.” For you indeed suffer on your own account, but Moses “chose” to suffer for others and voluntarily threw himself into so many dangers, when it was in his power both to live religiously and to enjoy good things, rather “than,” he says, “to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.” He called unwillingness “to suffer ill treatment with” the rest “sin.” This, he says, Moses accounted to be “sin.” If then he accounted it “sin” not to be ready to “suffer ill treatment with” the rest, it follows that the suffering ill treatment must be a great good, since he threw himself into it from the royal palace. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 26.4.

MOSES CONSIDERED CHRIST. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” If he had not believed in the promise of Abraham, he would have not refused to be corrupted by sin, nor would he have chosen to share ill treatment with the people of God. He considered the emulation of Christ, about whom he indeed wrote, to be more important than the wealth of the Egyptians, which he would have received, because in his expectation “he was looking ahead to the reward.” COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.

THE REPROACHES OF CHRIST. THEODORET OF CYR: What was a type of Christ, the similarity to the reproaches of Christ, was committed against religion by the adversaries. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 11.

ABUSE SUFFERED FOR CHRIST. PHOTIUS: What is the “abuse suffered for the Christ”? It is bearing the reproach of such things, while revealing the reproach that Christ endured. Or it can mean that Moses endured reproach because of Christ—for “the rock was Christ”—since it was likely that Moses was vilified when he heard, “You don’t wish to kill me in the same way that you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?”That is the “abuse suffered for the Christ,” namely, to suffer ill until one’s end and last draught of breath, just as Christ himself was reviled and heard, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” For both were reviled by their very own countrymen for whom they were doing good works. FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 11.26.

HE DID NOT RUN FAR AWAY. OECUMENIUS: He did not fear lest Pharaoh’s wrath be so great so as to investigate him as he fled. Therefore he did not run far away, but from where he could return. And that was done by faith. FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 11.4.

LIKE MOSES, WE TOO WILL LOVE GOD. CHRYSOSTOM: If then we too always see God with our mind, if we always think in remembrance of God, all things will appear endurable to us, all things tolerable. We shall bear them all easily. We shall be above them all. If you see one whom you love, or remember that one, you are reawakened in spirit and elevated in thought and you bear all things easily while delighting in the remembrance. Then when will one who has in mind the one who has promised to love us indeed, remembering that one, either feel anything painful or dread anything fearful or dangerous? When will he be of cowardly spirit? Never. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 26.6.

BY THE LAMB SLAIN, GOD HAS BROUGHT US FROM EGYPT. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul wants to establish many things incidentally and is very full of thoughts. For such is the grace of the Spirit. He does not comprehend a few ideas in a multitude of words but includes great and manifold thought in brevity of expressions. Observe at least how, in the midst of exhortation and when discoursing about faith, he reminds us of the source of the reality as seen in its type and mystery. “By faith,” he says, “he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the first-born should touch them.”

But what is the “sprinkling of blood”? A lamb was slain in every household, and the blood was smeared on the doorposts, and this was a means of warding off the Egyptian destruction. If then the blood of a lamb preserved the Jews unhurt in the midst of the Egyptians, and under so great a destruction, much more will the blood of Christ save us, who have had it sprinkled not on the doorposts but in our souls. For even now also the Destroyer is going about in this depth of night, so let us be armed with that sacrifice. … For God has brought us out from Egypt, from darkness, from idolatry. Although what was done was nothing, what was achieved was great. For what was done was blood, but what was achieved was salvation and the stopping and preventing of destruction. The angel feared the blood, for he knew of what it was a type. He shuddered, thinking on the Lord’s death; therefore he did not touch the doorposts. Moses said, “Smear,” and they smeared and were confident. And you, having the blood of the Lamb himself, are you not confident? ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 27.1.

A PREMONITION OF THE LORD’S BLOOD. THEODORET OF CYR: How would he, without faith, have believed that death would be prevented by the blood of a sheep? He recognized in advance the reality in the type and had a premonition of the power of the Lord’s blood. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 11.

Heb