ACC ~ Hebrews 11 v32 - 40

OVERVIEW:

Some find fault with Paul, because he puts Barak, Samson and Jephthah in these places of honor. Nevertheless, as is the case with Rahab, Paul is not concerned with the rest of their lives but only whether they did or did not believe (CHRYSOSTOM). Faith is tested in the adversity that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Daniel and the prophets suffered. For this is faith: when things are turning out adversely, then we ought to believe that nothing adverse is done but all is in order. Even as all the heroes of faith did not see the promise but had faith, we, believing in the promise having come also, need to wait in faith, even in suffering, for the final consummation (EPHREM, CHRYSOSTOM, SEVERIAN). The wonderful qualities of faith are two; it accomplishes great things and suffers great things and counts itself to suffer nothing (CHRYSOSTOM). We are called to imitate that faith (CLEMENT OF ROME, JEROME, BASIL). The martyrdom of Isaiah signifies Christ (JUSTIN). The saints of the Old Covenant will share their reward with us in the second coming (CHRYSOSTOM, AUGUSTINE, THEODORE), the day of retribution and resurrection (EPHREM, ORIGEN).

11:32-40 | Time Would Fail Me

TIME FIT FOR AN EPISTLE. OECUMENIUS: “The time,” he says, namely, the amount of time that would be fit for an epistle and of such sort to be in due proportion. FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 11.32.

THEY ACCOMPLISHED ALL BY FAITH. CHRYSOSTOM: “And what shall I more say? For time would fail me to tell.” After this Paul no longer puts down the names, but, having ended with a harlot and put them to shame by the quality of the person, he no longer enlarges on the histories, lest he should be thought tedious. However, he does not set them aside but runs over them, doing both very judiciously, avoiding satiety without spoiling the closeness of the argument. He was neither altogether silent, nor did he speak so as to annoy, for he effected both points. For when a person is contending vehemently in argument, if he persists in contending, he wears out the hearer, annoying him when he is already persuaded and gaining the reputation of vain ambitiousness. For he ought to accommodate himself to what is expedient. “And what more do I say?” he says. “For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets.”

Some find fault with Paul because he puts Barak, Samson and Jephthah in these places. What do you say? After having introduced the harlot, shall he not introduce these? For do not tell me of the rest of their life but only whether they did not believe and shine in faith. “And the prophets,” he says, “who through faith conquered kingdoms.” Do you see that he does not here testify to their life as being illustrious, for this was not the point in question; the inquiry thus far was about their faith. For tell me whether they did not accomplish all by faith?

“By faith,” he says, “they conquered kingdoms”—those with Gideon. “Enforced justice.” Who? The same. Plainly, he here means kindness. I think it is of David that he says “they received promises.” But of what sort were these? Those in which the Lord said that his “sons shall sit upon” his “throne.”

“Stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword.” See how they were in death itself, Daniel encompassed by the lions, the three children abiding in the furnace, the Israelites, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, in diverse temptations; and yet not even so did they despair. For this is faith. When things are turning out adversely, then we ought to believe that nothing adverse is done but all things in due order.

“Escaped the edge of the sword.” I think that he is again speaking of the three children.

“Won strength out of weakness.” Here be alludes to what took place at their return from Babylon. For “out of weakness” is out of captivity. When the condition of the Jews had now become desperate, when they were no better than dead bones, who could have expected that they would return from Babylon, and not return only but also “become mighty” and “put foreign armies to flight”? “But to us,” someone says, “no such thing has happened.” But these are figures of “the things to come.” “Women received their dead by resurrection.” He here speaks of what occurred in regard to the prophets Elisha and Elijah, for they raised the dead. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 27.4.

THESE THINGS CONCERN DAVID. PHOTIUS: I suppose he says these things concerning David. And he calls his benevolence “righteousness.” FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 11.3.

THEY REMAINED IN FAITH. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: In order not to repeat all the details in his review of the works of faith, Paul stopped relating the stories of these ancient fathers, deciding not to describe their actions in their different aspects. However, he did not omit other cases, which he included in a short account, … that is, about the faith of Gideon, who defeated ten thousand Midianites with three thousand soldiers, and Barak, who by his faith destroyed the army of Sisera; and Samson, who by his faith killed one thousand men with the jaw of an ass; and Jephthah, who by his faith conquered twenty-two cities of the sons of the Ammonites; and David, who by his faith beat and killed Goliath; and Samuel, who by his faith prevailed among the Philistines; “and about the other prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms” (in prophecy, not in the sword), “enforced justice” (that is, through the revenges and punishments that they inflicted on the impious), “received promises” (like Elisha, who went into ecstasy), “stopped the mouths of lions” (like the house of Daniel), “quenched raging fire” (like the house of Hananiah), “escaped the edge of the sword” (like those whom the Chaldaeans tried to slay together with the wise men of Babylon, and also Uriah and Elijah, and other prophets), “won strength out of weakness” (like King Hezekiah and Elisha), “became mighty in war” (like Abraham, Lot, Moses and Joshua), and “put foreign armies to flight” (like Samson, Barak, David and his companions, who were mentioned above).

“Women received their dead by resurrection,” like Silomaea and Zarephath, who had them from Elijah and his disciple. Others, however, who were given to death despised their own life, like the seven brothers together with their mother. Even though they did not do what their companions had done in faith, they nevertheless desired death in their expectation and believed that they would have deserved to obtain “a better resurrection.”

“Others had trial of mocking and scourging,” like Elisha, or “were imprisoned and chained,” like Jeremiah and Micah.

“They were stoned,” like Moses and Naboth; “sawn in two,” like Zechariah and Isaiah; “tempted” in different manners, like Job; and “killed with the sword” like Micah, Uriah and John. “They went about in the skins of sheep and goats,” like Elijah and Elisha. “They were destitute, afflicted and ill-treated—of whom the world was not worthy,” like the prophets whom Obadiah hid and nourished with food. “They wandered in deserts, in mountains, in dens and caves of the earth,” and when Jezebel heard about the reputation of those hiding, she looked for them, but Obadiah made them run away and take refuge in other places.

Their great afflictions testify before everybody that they remained in faith “and did not even receive their promises.” COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.

THEY DIED BY THEIR WILLINGNESS TO DIE. CHRYSOSTOM: After he said, “They were put to death by the sword, and others were tortured,” after he recounted many and different modes of martyrdom, he went on to say, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and run with perseverance.” Do you see that he called Abel a martyr, as well as Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? For some of these died for God’s sake in the same way that Paul spoke of when he said, “I die daily”; they died not by dying but only by their willingness to die. DISCOURSES AGAINST JUDAIZING CHRISTIANS 8.8.3.

THINGS CLOSEST TO HOME. CHRYSOSTOM: “Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment.” He ends with these, things that come nearer home. For these examples especially bring consolation when the distress is from the same cause, since even if you mention something more extreme, yet unless it arises from the same cause, you have effected nothing. Therefore, he concluded his discourse with this, mentioning “chains, imprisonments, scourges, stonings,” alluding to the case of Stephen, also to that of Zechariah. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 27.5.

TWO QUALITIES OF FAITH. CHRYSOSTOM: Some “escaped the edge of the sword,” and some “were killed with the sword.” What is this? Which do you praise? Which do you admire? The latter or the former? No, he says. The former, indeed, is appropriate to you. The latter, because faith was strong even unto death itself, were a type of things to come. For the wonderful qualities of faith are two; it both accomplishes great things and suffers great things, treating suffering as if it were nothing. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 27.5.

IN SKINS OF SHEEP AND GOATS. CLEMENT OF ROME: You see, dear friends, the kind of example we have been given. … If the Lord humbled himself in this way, what should we do who through him have come under the yoke of his grace? Let us be imitators even of those who wandered around “in the skins of sheep and goats” and preached the coming of the Christ. We refer to the prophets Elijah and Elisha—yes, and Ezekiel, too—and to the heroes of old as well. 1 CLEMENT 16.17-17.2.

THE STORY ABOUT ISAIAH SAWN IN TWO. ORIGEN: Whatever they feared might bring blame upon the elders, rulers and judges they kept from the knowledge of the people. But some of these things have been preserved in the apocryphal books. For an example we shall give the story about Isaiah, witnessed by the epistle to the He-brews but not written in any of the canonical books of the Old Testament. LETTER TO AFRICANUS 9.

“CUT IN TWO” SYMBOLIZED CHRIST’S JUDGMENT OF ISRAEL. JUSTIN MARTYR: The words describing the death of Isaiah, whom you Jews sawed in half with a wooden saw, were expunged from the Scriptures. This incident was a symbol of Christ, who is going to cut your nation in two, to admit the worthy half into God’s eternal kingdom with the holy patriarchs and prophets. But the rest, he has said, he will condemn to the undying flames of hell, together with all those of all nations who are likewise disobedient and unrepentant. DIALOGUE WITH TRYPHO 120.

SHARE IN THE LOT OF CHRIST. JUSTIN MARTYR: Notice how the Lord makes the same promises to Isaac and Jacob. Here are the Lord’s words to Isaac: “By your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” And to Jacob: “By you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” But the Lord does not address this blessing to Esau or to Rueben or to any other, but only to them from whom Christ was to come through the Virgin Mary in accordance with the divine plan of our redemption. If you were to think over the blessing of Judah, you would see what I mean, for the seed is divided after Jacob and comes down through Judah and Perez and Jesse and David. Now, this was a sign that some of you Jews would certainly be children of Abraham and at the same time share in the lot of Christ, but that others, also children of Abraham, would be like the sand on the beach, which, though vast and extensive, is barren and fruitless, not bearing any fruit at all, but only drinking up the water of the sea. DIALOGUE WITH TRYPHO 120.

CALAMITIES AND HUNGER. JEROME: Moses and the prophets went about in goatskins, wandering in their caves and in holes in the ground. They were poor men just like Lazarus, and they suffered calamities and endured hunger. ON LAZARUS AND DIVES 86.

THE NARROW AND CLOSE WAY. BASIL THE GREAT: Here is the narrow and close way that leads to life. Here are the teachers and prophets, “wandering in deserts, mountains, caves and holes in the earth.” Here are the apostles and evangelists … living as citizens of the desert. LETTER 42.

MARTYRDOM AS SERVICE TO YOUR PEOPLE. SEVERIAN OF GABALA: “Of whom the world was not worthy.” … He does not say this about everyone but about the latter ones whom he sees as martyrs, witnesses of faith. He reminds us that these put foreign armies to flight and through their service to their people received grace. FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 11.38.

THEY ARE WAITING FOR YOU. CHRYSOSTOM: What then is the reward of so great a change? What is the recompense? They have not yet received it but are still waiting; and after thus dying in so great tribulation, they have not yet received it. They gained their victory so many ages ago but have not yet received their reward. And you who are yet in the conflict, are you vexed?

Do you also consider what a thing it is, and how great, that Abraham should be sitting and the apostle Paul waiting till you have been perfected, so that they may then be able to receive their reward? For the Savior has told them before that, unless we also are present, he will not give it to them, just as an affectionate father might say to sons who were well approved and had accomplished their work that he would not give them to eat unless their siblings came. And are you vexed that you have not yet received the reward? What then shall Abel do, who was victor before all and is sitting uncrowned? Or Noah? Or those who lived in those early times, seeing that they wait for you and those after you? Do you see that we have the advantage of them? For “God,” he says, “has provided some better thing for us.” In order that they might not seem to have the advantage over us of being crowned before us, God ap-pointed one time of crowning for all; and he that gained the victory so many years before will receive his crown with you. Do you see God’s tender mercy? And he did not say, “that they without us might not be crowned” but “that apart from us they should not be made perfect,” so that at that time they appear perfect also. They were before us as regards the conflicts but are not before us as regards the crowns. God did not wrong them; God honored us. For they also wait for the siblings, for, if we are “all one body,” the pleasure becomes greater to this body when it is crowned altogether and not part by part. For the righteous are also worthy of admiration in this, that they rejoice in the welfare of their siblings, as in their own, and, for themselves also, it is according to their wish to be crowned along with their own members. To be glorified all together is a great delight. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 28.2.

FOLLOWING AFTER UNSEEN REWARDS. AUGUSTINE: Now this would be no praise for faith, nor would it be faith at all, if people were in believing to follow after rewards that they could see—in other words, if the reward of immortality were bestowed on believers in this present world. ON THE MERITS AND FORGIVENESS OF SINS AND ON INFANT BAPTISM 2.50.

THE PEOPLE BEFORE CHRIST’S COMING. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: It is also clear from the passage that when he says, “the dead in Christ will rise first,” he does not mean to neglect the just who died before Christ’s coming. Otherwise, how could he explicitly say in the epistle to the Hebrews, “And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” COMMENTARY ON 1 THESSALONIANS 4.16-17.

A SINGLE DAY OF RETRIBUTION. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: Even though we come later in the test of temptations, it was previously promised to us that “apart from us they should not be made perfect.” In fact it does not happen that, since our brothers lived before, they will have their reward before. There is a single day of retribution for all the afflictions which people endured and endure. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.

ONE BODY RISES FROM THE DEAD IN JUDGMENT. ORIGEN: For indeed, even the apostles have not yet received their joy, but they also wait that I may be a partaker of their joy. For the saints, when they leave this place, do not immediately obtain the whole rewards of their merits. They also wait for us, though we delay, even though we remain. For they do not have perfect delight as long as they grieve for our errors and mourn for our sins. Perhaps you do not believe me when I say this. For who am I that I am so bold to confirm the meaning of such a doctrine? But I produce their witness about whom you cannot doubt. For the apostle Paul is “a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.” Therefore, in writing to the Hebrews, after he had enumerated all the holy fathers who were justified by faith, he adds after all that, “all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” You see, therefore, that Abraham is still waiting to obtain the perfect things. Isaac waits, and Jacob and all the prophets wait for us, that they may lay hold of the perfect blessedness with us.

For this reason, therefore, that mystery of the delayed judgment is also kept until the last day. For there is “one body” that is waiting to be justified. There is “one body” that is said to rise from the dead in judgment. “As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you.’” HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 7.2.8-9.

NOT APART FROM OTHERS. THEODORET OF CYR: Their trials, then, were of this kind and number, but they did not yet receive their crowns. The God of all is waiting for the trials of the others so that, with the stadium no more, he may award acclaim to all the victors together. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 11.