Hebrews 11:30-40

VIExamples from the conquest of Canaan to the time of the Maccabees

Hebrews 11:30-40

30By faith the walls of Jericho fell down,19 after they were compassed about [for] seven days. 31By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not [disobeyed], 32when she had received [after receiving] the spies with peace. And what shall I more say [what do I say further]? for the time would [will] fail me to tell [while recounting, διηγούμενον] of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah [of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah];20 of David also, and [both of David and] Samuel, and of the prophets: 33Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword,21 out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight [became mighty in war], turned to flight the armies of the aliens [foreigners]. 35Women received their dead raised to life again [or from a resurrection, ἐξ ]: and others were tortured [on the rack], not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover [and still further] of bonds and imprisonment: 37They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted [or were burnt]22, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented 38[outraged]; Of whom the world was not worthy: they wandered [wandering] in23 deserts and in mountains, and in dens and caves [caves and holes] of the earth. 39And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:24 40God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should [might] not be made perfect.

[Hebrews 11:30.—ἐπὶ ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας, for seven days.

Hebrews 11:31.—τοῖς , with them that disobeyed,) not ἀπιστήσασιν, disbelieved.

Hebrews 11:32.—τί ἔτι λέγω, what do I say further, διηγούμενον, recounting narration.

Hebrews 11:34—ἐγενήθησαν ἰσχυροὶ ἐν πολέμῳ, became mighty in war.—ἀλλοτρίων, belonging to other lands, foreigners.

Hebrews 11:35.—ἐξ ̓̓ναστάσεως, from or out if a resurrection.—K].

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Hebrews 11:30. For seven days.—Ἐπί, of duration of time, as Luke 4:25; Acts 13:31; Acts 19:10. Πίστει is not to be connected with κυκλωθέντα (Grot.), and this latter does not mean beleaguered (Schultz and others).

Harlot.—Jac. Cappell. and others, following the Chaldee paraphrase, erroneously translate ἡ πόρνη, the hostess; others, with Braun, explain the word, the idolatress. It is taken from the history, Joshua 2:2; Joshua 6:17 ff. Her faith consisted in her strong practical confidence (James 2:25) in the victory of the Israelites, because their God was the omnipotent God (Joshua 2:9). His miracles had not remained unknown also to the remaining inhabitants of Jericho (Joshua 2:10), but they, making but small account of these, attempted to withstand the people of God (Joshua 6:1).

Hebrews 11:32. Gideon, etc.—The order of succession is not chronological. But the author does not design such an enumeration, and he has scarcely had in mind any particular mode of grouping. Del., indeed, assumes three groups, of which the two first consisted of three persons each, and thinks that the author in the first group names Gideon as the greater hero of faith, before Barak, and in the second names Samuel after David, that he may attach to him the third group, viz., that of the prophets. But what authorizes such a triple division? And what purpose would suggest the introduction of Jephthah, who besides is placed after Samson, into the second group? Rather according to lect. rec., followed by Del., only Barak and Samson are more closely united by τε καί, as also David and Samuel, while between Gideon and Barak there is no connective particle. In like manner there is none between Jephthah and David, but before Jephthah, as before the prophets, is placed the simple καί. Lün. starts from the fact that David and Samuel are in all the MSS. connected by τε καί, and concludes from this that the preceding names were originally arranged in pairs. In that case the chronological objection would disappear, inasmuch as each new pair makes a new stage of historical progress, while in the successive pairs, the naming of the later before the earlier, is justified on rhetorical grounds, as bringing together the names of those who were coincident in time. But this ingenious conjecture rests on a combination of different readings, retaining the Rec. under the two modifications of placing (with D*.) καί before Barak, and (with A., 17, Vulg., Copt., Arm., and many Fathers) striking out τε καί before Samson. The καί before Jephthah is rejected, although found in D. E. K. L., nearly all the minusc., Chrys., Theodoret, Damasc, etc. Lachm. and Tisch., are consistent in striking out all the particles except the unquestionable τε καί before, and καί after Samuel This has also the authority of Sin.

Hebrews 11:33. Who subdued kingdoms.—The οἵ, who, refers not to the prophets, but to all the previously named persons, who, however, are merely adduced as examples, so that we are not to ask, in each individual one of the following statements, what person the author had specially in view. Many of the deeds and sufferings belong to persons who are not even particularly cited, but point us in general to the historical books of the Old Testament, from which the persons named are selected by way of example. The meaning, “obtain by conflict” (Böhme), can scarcely be established for καταγωνίζεσθαι [rather contending down, wrestling down=subduing.—K.].

Wrought righteousness.—Ἐργαζ. δικ. is hardly used in the purely ethical sense (Theodoret, Erasm., Schlicht., Grot., etc.), but refers to the acts and influence connected with the office of Judges, Kings and Prophets, 1 Samuel 12:4; 2 Samuel 8:15; 1Ch 15:14; 2 Chronicles 9:8.

Obtained promises.—Beng., Bl., Ebr., etc., follow Chrys., Primas., Theodoret, in understanding God’s words of promise, and this not mainly His individual, but His Messianic promises. But the common reference of the words to the substance of the promises, better suits the connection; for if the believers failed to live to witness the promised salvation, Hebrews 11:39, yet they at least realized the fulfilment of special assurances. The plur. employed without the article, favors this view.

Stopped the mouths of lions, etc.—We might refer this to Samson and David, but the language points rather to Daniel 6:18-23; as also the following example (by force of faith quenched the force of fire) is drawn from Daniel 3:0., or 1Ma 2:59. Perhaps the following examples point also to events belonging to the times of the Maccabees, although they have their parallel in the earlier period, e.g., 1 Kings 19:0.; 2 Kings 6:20.; Judges 16:28; Psalms 18:30. The word παρεμβολή, signifying not merely an encampment, but an army in battle array, is among the favorite expressions of the First Book of Maccabees (Grimm at 1MMalachi 3:3). This, however, decides nothing, since the word has the same signification also, Judges 4:16; Judges 7:14, and the discourse immediately returns to 1 Kings 17:0, and to 2 Kings 4:0, by the mention of the women who received back their dead, ἐξ , i.e., either by resurrection (Böhm., Bl., Lün., etc.) or from a resurrection=as raised again to life. These examples from the life of the woman of Sarepta and of the Shunamite, lead, however, again, immediately, to the martyrdom of Eleazer (2Ma 6:18 ff.), and of the seven brothers, along with their mother (2 Maccabees 7). The τύμπανον is regarded as an engine of torture in the form of a wheel, upon which the tortured person was stretched out like the skin of a kettle-drum, and frequently beaten to death. The better resurrection (κρείττονος ) is regarded by Œc. and Theoph. (by the latter hesitatingly) as contrasted with the resurrection of the ungodly to judgment (Daniel 12:2); by Chrys., Beng., Böhm., Bl., De W., Ebr. and others, on the contrary, as in antithesis with ἐξ , standing at the beginning of the verse; while Gerh., Win., Thol., Lün., etc., more naturally [Alford says “strangely”] place it in contrast with the previously mentioned ἀπολύτρωσις (deliverance) from their tortures, which was proffered them.

Hebrews 11:36. And others experienced mockings and scourgings, etc.—Scourgings (μάστιγες) and mockings (ἐμπαιγμοί) are spoken of, the former at 2Ma 7:1, the latter at id. Hebrews 7:7; Hebrews 7:10. We may presume with certainty, therefore, that these examples of suffering are suggested by the narratives there recorded, although the ἕτεροι δέ, immediately proceeds to introduce other, though kindred examples, among which we may doubtless recognize allusions to the mockeries heaped upon Elisha and Jeremiah. For not only is the stoning immediately mentioned which slew Zachariah, 2 Chronicles 24:20, and the sawing asunder, which according to Jewish tradition, fell to the lot of Isaiah, but previously to these, bonds and imprisonment, which may be referred to Hannai (2 Chronicles 16:10), Micah and Jeremiah, which are connected back by ἔτι δέ, with the mockings and scourgings, as if rising upon and transcending them. And the slaying by the edge of the sword, if not referring especially to the prophet Uriah, who was so executed by Jehoiachim (Jeremiah 26:23), yet certainly must refer to the numerous executions of prophets in the kingdom of Israel (1 Kings 19:10).—The goat skins, commonly black, expressed still more than the usually white sheep skins, the feelings and the condition of the prophets, who (2 Kings 1:8) are called “hairy men.”

Hebrews 11:39. And all these received not the promise, etc.—This sentence refers not merely to the persons mentioned from Hebrews 11:35 (Schlicht., Storr), but to the whole body collectively (alike named and unnamed) of those whose faith has procured for them the good report which they have in the Old Testament. The participial clause must be resolved by although, not by since; for, in the connection, the sense of the clause cannot be that the ancients did not receive the promise because the faith which, in its nature, appertains to the future and the invisible, did not procure for them their good report. The statement, rather, is, that, notwithstanding the glory which they derived from their faith, they still did not obtain the promise. The singular τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν shows that the author is speaking not of special and individual promises, and which in fact have not remained unfulfilled, but of the fulfilment of the promise as such, i.e., the Messianic promise, which in the connection is determined still more definitely than the promise of the “eternal inheritance,” Hebrews 9:15, as that whose attainment presupposes the τελείωσις.

Hebrews 11:40. God having provided something better for us.—The reason of the fact just mentioned, is God’s gracious regard for us, which has led Him to adopt such an arrangement, that the actual receiving of the promise is accorded to us, if we abide in the faith, while yet those fathers who are eulogized for their faith, are not excluded, but attain in like manner the τελείωσις, only not without us, as would have been the case if their faith had been immediately rewarded with the promised good, and no interval had come in between the faith and the attainment. Since, then, the τελείωσις still, also, awaits us, and will be attained only at the second coming of Christ, we are, on the one hand, on a level with the fathers; and, notwithstanding our faith, have, like them, to submit to a period of waiting, which also gives ample scope for Christian endurance—while thus their life of faith can furnish us a comforting and stimulating example—and on the other a better thing (κρεῖττόν τι) has been provided for us. The fulfilment of the Messianic promise has, with the appearance of Jesus Christ and His entrance into the heavenly All-holy, become matter of historical fact, so that the prophecy of Jeremiah is fulfilled Hebrews 8:6 ff; Hebrews 10:15 ff. Even Abraham ἐπέτυχεν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, Hebrews 6:15 ff., and the ἔσχατον τῶν ἡμερῶν (Hebrews 1:1), and the συντέλεια τῶν αἰώνων (Hebrews 9:26), lies already behind us. We have lived to behold the final revelation of God in Jesus Christ, and hence the Lord pronounces His disciples blessed, and declares them privileged above the prophets and kings of the Old Testament, Matthew 13:17. Thus has something better been imparted to us than to them, comp. Hebrews 2:3 ff. This reference of the κρεῖττον to the nobler boon bestowed on us than was accorded to the ancients, harmonizes better with the language Hebrews 7:19; Hebrews 8:6, and with the general scope of the Epistle, than the explanation: “Something better, then, would have fallen to our lot, if they had received the final fulfilment of the promise.” The connecting thought would then be, that in such a case we should not have been born, inasmuch as the end of the world would have arrived, and with it that state of perfection in which is neither marrying nor giving in marriage, Matthew 21:30.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The greatest and most important victories are not gained by the might of armies, nor even by mere patriotic heroism, but by the power of the Omnipotent God who, beyond their prayers and their comprehension, assists those who, in undoubting faith, adapt themselves to His arrangements, and employ the means which He points out to them.

2. Faith triumphs not merely over visible opponents and adversaries; it gives us victory also over spiritual foes, and makes those who were once sinners, associates and helpers of the servants of God, for which again God, to whom they have given honor, becomes to them a tower and shield, and bestows upon them grace unto salvation.

3. Faith, however, shows its beauty, power, and greatness, not barely in that which it accomplishes, overthrows, and attains, but also in that which it sustains, endures, and sacrifices. And in this, women are not inferior to men, but give them not unfrequently an inspiring example.

4. The life of believers in the world is a perpetual conflict with the world, whose severity evinces itself as clearly in their deportment as in their destinies. But the conflict is lightened by the fact that the inestimable worth of believers always shines forth more conspicuous and triumphant alike in their voluntary privations and sacrifices, and amidst violent oppressions and spoliations, while the world, on the contrary, by its denial, contempt, and rejection of those who, in the sight of God, are more highly esteemed than the whole world, condemns, punishes, and impoverishes itself.

5. The final goal to which God conducts believers, is perfection in Christ; and this embraces the entire person, includes thus the resurrection and glorification of the body, and pre-supposes, therefore, the second coming of Christ. It thus, therefore, equally awaits us as the members of the Old Covenant who fell asleep in faith, with whom we have in common the interval of waiting, trials of our faith, and sufferings for the sake of faith, so that they are, to us, examples and patterns in the various matters with which they have to do. For at the same time with them shall we attain this final and comprehensive perfection, and come to the common enjoyment of the same blessedness. Thus the prerogative which we have enjoyed, in that the first appearance of Christ was not, with us, a matter of expectation, but of realization, binds us to all the greater humility, thankfulness, and fidelity, by how much the more clearly we discern in this arrangement the grace of God, taking thought for our salvation.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The like state of mind, the like goal, and the like destiny of the believers of all ages.—The relation of the believers to the world and to God.—The enemies, conflicts, and victories of faith.—Dishonored in the world, honored with God.—The transformation produced by faith.—The certain fulfilment of the promises of God: 1, in its means; 2, in its conditions; 3, in its stages.

Starke:—He who dwells in heaven must assuredly laugh at those who defiantly trust to walls and ramparts.—In like manner, as at the sound of the trumpet and battle-cry of Israel, the walls of the ungodly city of Jericho fell, thus shall the trumpet voice of the Gospel overthrow the kingdom of anti-christ, Revelation 18:2.—Sin separates from God; but repentance conducts to God (Isaiah 59:2; Jeremiah 3:1).—Good works must be judged not according to the appearance, but according to their ground and internal character.—The Holy Scripture is so rich in beautiful and memorable histories and examples, that we have no need of the fabulous inventions of the monks, but enough for our right instruction in the word of God.—Oh God! how rich art Thou even in the gifts and treasures which Thou hast deposited in Thy saints!—Faith is stronger than powder and lead, than arrow, sword, and weapon of war. It can overcome even the devil himself, and quench his fiery darts (Ephesians 6:16).—Rather should we endure a violent death, than apostatize from the true religion.—The host of sacred martyrs is very comforting to all the suffering bearers of the cross; for we are no better than our fathers (1 Kings 19:4). O Thou God that hidest Thyself! Thou leavest Thy children here to suffering and oppression, that they may have life and refreshment forever (Revelation 12:12).—Much distress, trouble and misery upon earth; yet the sufferings of this present time are of no account beside the glory which shall be revealed in us (Romans 8:18).—O how are we put to shame who live under the New Covenant by the heroes of faith who lived under the Old.—Steadfastness in true religion under great affliction, is a proof of true faith in Christ.

Rieger:—Unbelief is always hatching distrust. “Surely there is no remedy; in great public calamities must all fare alike.” But faith trusts God in all ways.—God, in His economy and arrangement of times, has graciously cared for all. Even to the ancients He has vouchsafed, in their time, sufficient evidence for faith.

Hahn:—The world speedily forgets the deeds of its heroes, however much it may wish to perpetuate them; but God bears testimony to His own. This is genuine, and will remain.—If we can do no very great deed in our time, it is enough if we exercise victorious faith in endurance, as this is the task assigned to our time (ReHebrews Hebrews 11:13).—Even trivial acts, if they spring from faith, are highly esteemed of God.

Heubner:—Faith overcomes the world.—The richness of the Holy Scripture in instructive examples. The richness of the gifts that God has deposited in the saints.—The hidden value of the righteous is manifest in the sight of God.—The Christian should be exalted above the world, but the world should learn to be worthy of the godly.—How often do innocence and truth have to conceal and withdraw themselves. He, who shall yet dwell in the eternal mansions, now often wanders without a shelter.—Many pious men fail to live to see the fulfilment of their desires; but their salvation will not fail.—Heaven unites all.

Footnotes:

Hebrews 11:26; Hebrews 11:26.—Instead of τῶν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ read after Sin. D. K. L., 31, 44, 46, τῶς Αἰγύπτου.

Hebrews 11:28; Hebrews 11:28.—The more correct orthography is ὀλεθρεύων after A. D. E., instead of ὀλοθρεύων.

Hebrews 11:29; Hebrews 11:29.—After ξηρᾶς we are to add γῆς after Sin. A. D*. E., 17, 31, 47.

Hebrews 11:30; Hebrews 11:30.—ἔπεσαν is to be read, after Sin. A. D*., 17, 23, 31, instead of ἐπεσε.

[20][Hebrews 11:32.—Moll follows Tisch. and Lachm. in omitting the καί connecting Gideon, Barak, etc., reading Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah.—K.].

Hebrews 11:34; Hebrews 11:34.—Instead of μαχαίρας, Lachm. and Tisch., Exodus 7:0, read μαχαίρης after A. D., as in Hebrews 11:37 after D*. In both cases the reading is supported by Sin. So also the reading ἐδυναμώθησαν, received by Lachm and Tisch. instead of the Rec. ἐνεδυνwhich in Sin. is only from a second hand.

Hebrews 11:37; Hebrews 11:37.—Instead of ἐπειράσθησαν=tentati sent (Vulg. Ambros.), Luth. reads 1530, ἐπάρθησαν, were pierced through. The majority, following Erasmus, conjecture, inasmuch as πειρᾷνcannot be made=torture, an old error of the copyist, and introduce a word indicating death by fire, best ἐπρήσθησαν. In the Sin. this word follows the one given above [rather in Sin. the word is ἐπρίσηιαν].

Hebrews 11:38; Hebrews 11:38.—The reading, ἐπ ἐρημίαις of Sin. A., 71, 73, 118, received by Lachm. and Tisch., ed. VII., appears to be an error of the copyist. The Rec. ἐν ἐρημ. is sustained by D. E. K. L.

Hebrews 11:39; Hebrews 11:39.—Lachm. reads the plur., τὰς ἐπαγγελίας, after A. 80.