As I was reading through the book of Hebrews today, there was a lot of Scripture that stood out to me. I’m going to touch upon each Scripture that stood out to me and give you my thoughts. In addition, I’d like for you to share your thoughts on Hebrews 11:27. I’ll go into the specifics when I get to it.
But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.
Hebrews 9:7 (NIV)
Have you ever thought about the accessibility of God? Unlike the Jews before Jesus who needed a high priest to go into the Holy of Holies to make sacrifices for their sin, we can go to God whenever we want to and ask Him to forgive us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 (NIV)
We don’t need another sinful human being going to God on our behalf. Sometimes we don’t realize the freedom we have in Christ. The ability to go to God, repent, and walk away clean is liberating.
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
Hebrews 9:14 (NIV)
Jesus died on the cross once, for all sin. Before his death and resurrection, people would sacrifice animals for their sins. However, those animal sacrifices only had an outward effect of cleansing sin. The guilty conscience remained because sacrifices had to be made over and over. However, we have this confidence that when we go to God and ask for forgiveness in the name of Jesus, we are forgiven. Wow!
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
Hebrews 10:35-36 (NIV)
Before I was saved, I used to be a very confident person. I’d say that, at times, I was equally confident of my ability to mess things up as much as I was to do things well. I had this belief that I could do whatever I set my mind to. The thing was, I felt that I needed to be mindful of everything. I always had to think of every little thing. I believed if I let anything slip, then disaster was imminent. Hence, my ability to do very well or cause unimaginative disaster. It was this pride that led me into thinking God hated me.
After all, if I did my best in something then it should work out in the way that I want, right? If it didn’t, then it was on God. It was His fault. Why didn’t it work out? God hates me.
However, the confidence that we are to hold onto, in Hebrews 10:35, is confidence in God. It’s not a confidence that says everything is going to go how we want it to go. No, it’s a confidence born of trust in God, that whatever happens, God knows all about it, and He will work it out to the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (cf. Romans 8:28). This is why we need to persevere in whatever it might be that we’re going through.
Ultimately, we may not see the light at the end of the tunnel in this life. Like those faithful ones in Hebrews 11, we must remember to think of the country we’re going to and not the place we have just left. Our new place is in Heaven with the Lord.
For some time, I have longed for a Biblical studies group. While I go through a corporate Bible study with my church, I enjoy the fellowship that comes with sitting around and discussing the Bible with other Believers. I appreciate being able to ask questions about the Bible to those who are earnestly seeking to know the Lord more. I also prefer discussing and learning about the Bible with people who are more interested in knowing the truth about God than being right in their own thinking. Therefore, I present to you this verse from Hebrews.
By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
Hebrews 11:27 (NIV)
By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.
Hebrew 11:27 (KJV)
The writer of Hebrews is talking about Moses. He states that Moses wasn’t afraid of the king when he left Egypt. My question is this: How do we reconcile this verse from Hebrews with Exodus 2:14?
The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”
Exodus 2:14 (NIV)
And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.”
Exodus 2:14 (KJV)
I present my thoughts to you regarding this question.
I don’t believe the writer of Hebrews is referring to the exodus of all of the Israelites from Egypt. This is why I’m examining Exodus 2:14 instead of addressing the circumstances and such of the greater exodus. In either the NIV or KJV, I think it’s clear that Moses feared the fact that the knowledge of him killing the Egyptian was known. I don’t think he was afraid of Pharaoh, per se. I think we might take what we read in Exodus 2:15 and misapply it to how and why Moses fled.
When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.
Exodus 2:15 (NIV)
Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.
Exodus 2:15 (KJV)
Moses killed the Egyptian, and when Pharaoh heard about it, he tried to kill Moses, so Moses was afraid and left Egypt. However, that’s not what it says. It tells us Moses was afraid before Pharaoh heard about “this thing.”
We understand that Moses thought he was the one to free his people from bondage. He acted on this belief by killing the Egyptian who was beating a fellow Hebrew. When this knowledge appeared to be well known, and his own people didn’t see his act as it was intended, Moses was afraid. What was he to do? If Moses believed that he was chosen to deliver his people out of bondage, then how could he do it if they were against him? When Pharaoh heard about “this thing”, he tried to kill Moses, so Moses fled.
I think we assume that the thing Pharaoh heard about was Moses’ killing of an Egyptian. However, was there more to it? Moses was part of the royal family in Egypt. He had been raised in their ways and, although he was a Hebrew, I think that the killing of an Egyptian who wasn’t of royal blood wouldn’t have mattered so much to Pharaoh. On the other hand, the killing of another Egyptian, in the face of a possible revolt, by a charismatic and potentially “Egyptian” ally, was a different story.
Therefore, the “thing” wasn’t just a murder of a lowly Egyptian, but the first strike in a revolt against Egypt. This is why Pharaoh tried to kill Moses, and Moses fled. Could Moses have delivered his people from the bondage of Egypt if he were dead? No, of course not.
How do you reconcile Hebrews 11:27 with Exodus 2:14?
I appreciate the insights the Lord gave to me today while reading the book of Hebrews, and hope, in some small way, that you too have been blessed.
Do you know God? God knows you, and He loves you. He sees you as significant because you are. No one is insignificant to Him. He’s with you today, right now, and He wants you to know Him. Jesus died for your sins and mine so we could be free of guilt, be freed from death, and live eternally with Him. Eternal salvation is just a prayer away.
Pray this prayer with me to accept the gift of salvation today:
Lord Jesus, forgive me for all my sins. I repent from my ways. Wash me in your blood and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. I believe that you died on the cross, were buried, and on the third day, God the Father raised you from the dead. Right now, Lord Jesus, I open the door to my heart, and I receive you into my heart as my Lord and personal Savior. Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, then congratulations! You are on the first step of a brand new life. Allow me to be the first to welcome you to my family, the family of God. There are abundant resources available online for new Christians. You can visit here for more information on what to do next. You can also leave me a comment, and I’ll do my best to help you on the next step of this incredible journey.
Four-Calendar Café 
The Spirit of God is moving around the world, I to am studying Hebrews. This is amazing. I am taking notes on everything I read. I wrote an article called Thinking about Faith just last night on my Spiritual Site, Food for the Soul. I am still studying though, but I will look up those Scriptures and take notes on them too. After that I will share what I learned in an article. Thank you for sharing. God bless you. I enjoyed reading your post.
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Halleluiah!
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Act 7:21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.
Act 7:22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.
Act 7:23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
Act 7:24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
Act 7:25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
Act 7:26 And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?
Act 7:27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
Act 7:28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?
Act 7:29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.
It would seem, that Moses fled because of the statement in Acts 7:28, when you think about it, Moses knew killing an Egyptian because he was physically attacking a “slave” was unlawful in the eyes of the Pharaoh and Egyptian law. And since someone “saw” the killing done, Moses probably knew the Pharaoh would hear about it, and fled, because Moses broke the law.
We can not forget that God allowed this to happen, because we read in verse 23 “it came into his heart to visit his brethren”, we know who put it into Moses heart. However Moses needed to learn about the Lord and His ways, and how the Lord God would be use Moses to show forth the Power of God was of God, and not by Moses human strength.
Good question……
Thank you.
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Amen. Thank you, brother! God bless you!
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Hi Jason,
Well, I’m several days late responding to your question, which is an indication of the paultry amount of spare time I find myself having lately. I was attracted to your question because although not a major doctrinal question, it still touches on defending the infallibility of scripture and coming to a wholesome and harmonized understanding. I decided to chip away at the question until I could write a thoughtful response. I am by no means certain of the answer, and it’s quite possible additional light could be shed by someone who can read the scriptures in the original languages or who has studied this question in more depth, but here is my thinking, for what it’s worth, all smashed into what is still hopefully a readable comment on a blog post, LOL.
Let me know what you think.
Blessings to you and Merry Christmas!
Craig
The question was, “How does one reconcile Exodus 2:14-15, which seems to indicate that Moses feared and then left Egypt when Pharoah tried to kill him, with Hebrews 11:27, which says that Moses left Egypt by faith, not fearing the King’s anger?”
I guess I would start with a couple of observations. First, the majority of historical commentators resolve the apparent contradiction by simply interpreting the verse in Hebrews 11 as making reference to when Moses left Egypt with the Israelites during the Exodus. I would be interested in what would be the objections to such an interpretation.
Second, it is common (with one example also found in Hebrews 11) for the New Testament to shed new light upon things that happened in the OT accounts. For instance, 2 Peter 2 cites Noah as a preacher of righteousness, although the Genesis account does not discuss this, Hebrews 11 says Sarah conceived by faith, although in Genesis we hear that she laughed at the prospect and was called out for it, and 2 Peter 2 also declared that Lot was righteous and vexed in his soul at the sinfulness of Sodom, but we would be hard pressed to make a very strong case for this based on the Genesis account. So, given this precedent, a careful reading of the Hebrews text is warranted to determine if this is another instance where scripture in the NT is shedding new light upon the old.
The text of the verses, in greater context, is shown below (all ESV translation). Also shown is the passage in Exodus where Moses leaves Egypt at the exodus (the other recorded instance of him leaving Egypt), as well as Stephen’s speech given before the Sanhedrin, right before he was martyred, recorded in Acts chapter 7, in which he provides additional perspective on Moses, with details not present in the Genesis account.
Exodus 2:10-15
Exo 2:10 When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”
Exo 2:11 One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.
Exo 2:12 He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
Exo 2:13 When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?”
Exo 2:14 He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.”
Exo 2:15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.
Hebrews 11:23-29
Heb 11:23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
Heb 11:24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,
Heb 11:25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
Heb 11:26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
Heb 11:27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.
Heb 11:28 By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.
Heb 11:29 By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.
Exodus 14:4-14
Exo 14:4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.” And they did so.
Exo 14:5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”
Exo 14:6 So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him,
Exo 14:7 and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.
Exo 14:8 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly.
Exo 14:9 The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.
Exo 14:10 When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD.
Exo 14:11 They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?
Exo 14:12 Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
Exo 14:13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.
Exo 14:14 The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
Acts 20:20-36
Act 7:20 At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house,
Act 7:21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.
Act 7:22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.
Act 7:23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.
Act 7:24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian.
Act 7:25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.
Act 7:26 And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’
Act 7:27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?
Act 7:28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’
Act 7:29 At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
Act 7:30 “Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.
Act 7:31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord:
Act 7:32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look.
Act 7:33 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.
Act 7:34 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’
Act 7:35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
Act 7:36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.
After reading all of the related accounts carefully, I think the Hebrews verse could potentially be taken to refer to either of Moses’ leavings of Egypt.
If it were referring to the first time he left, we can reasonably suppose that when “Moses was afraid” in Exodus 2:14, he was afraid that his desire to free his people would be thwarted if he were to stay and face the king’s wrath, so that the Hebrews text would be taken to be revealing that Moses, in fact, left by faith, trusting that the Lord would bring about the deliverance of his people through him at a later time, and not because of fear of Pharoah as might otherwise be supposed. Moses not leaving Egypt by fear of Pharoah the first time would seem to be supported by Stephen’s account, which could be seen as implying that Moses left because he was rejected by the Israelites rather than out of fear of Pharoah (although it’s clear that Stephen’s recounting is setting the Israelite’s rejection of Moses up as a parallel to the Jewish leaders’ spurning and rejecting Jesus, so his account would understandably include only the aspects relevant to his point at the time).
If Hebrews 11:27 were referring to the second time he left, we can easily harmonize the events of Exodus 14 with Hebrews 11, and take Hebrews to be recounting what is clearly evident in Exodus 14 (as is the case in most of the other faith citations of Hebrews 11).
As far as contextual clues go, the preceding verses, Hebrews 11:24-26 describe Moses choosing the reproach of his people over being called the son of Pharoah’s daughter. This (24-26) could be a reference to the first time he left Egypt (the first “by faith”), with 11:27 then being the second time he left Egypt (the second “by faith”), and then 11:28 and 29 could be seen as enlarging upon 11:27 with additional detail. On the other hand, 11:27 could be seen as the culmination of 11:24-26, and referring to his first departure, and then 11:28 may be seen as picking back up immediately prior to his second departure during Israel’s exodus.
So, is Hebrews 11:27 referring to Moses first or second time leaving Egypt? I cannot say for certain, but I would tend to favor the interpretation that it refers to the second time, during the exodus. Here is my reasoning:
(a) Having it refer to the second departure of Moses, where he fearlessly faced down Pharoah throughout the plagues and then kept a cool head in the face of Pharoah’s army whilst all of Israel is panicking would seem to be a far greater and more inspirational example of faith than his leaving 40 years earlier, before he has ever even encountered the God of his people, in Whom his faith rested.
(b) Referring to the second departure of Moses harmonizes well with the account in Exodus, without creating an apparent inconsistency requiring further explanation.
(c) If it refers to the first departure then it not only requires an apologetic in order to have the force to support the argument being supported in Hebrews 11 (great OT examples of faith), but it would seem somewhat inexplicable that Moses’ fearlessness in the face of Pharoah’s anger at the exodus would be overlooked in favor of a more obscure, ambiguous, and less impressive example in the “faith hall of fame.”
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It’s a delight to hear from you Brother Craig!
Here’s what Elliot has to say about applying Hebrews 11:27 to the greater Exodus. Why it doesn’t fit.
The institution of the Passover is mentioned later in this chapter (Hebrews 11:28); (2) the second departure was made at Pharaoh’s urgent request (Exodus 12:31); (3) “he forsook” is too personal an expression to be used of the general Exodus. On the other side it is urged with great force: (1) that, although the actual departure from Egypt followed the institution of the Passover, the “forsaking” really commenced in the demand of Hebrews 5:1-3, persevered in until the anger of the king was powerfully excited (Hebrews 10:28); (2) that, as might have been certainly foreseen, the wrath of both king and people was aroused as soon as the people had departed (Exodus 14:5); (3) that the flight to Midian was directly caused by fear (Exodus 2:14-15); (4) that the following words, “he endured, &c.,” are much more applicable to the determined persistency of Moses and his repeated disappointments (Exodus 5-12) than to the inaction of his years of exile. On the whole the latter interpretation seems preferable. If the former be adopted, we must distinguish between the apprehension which led him (4) to seek safety in flight and the courage which enabled him to give up Egypt. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ellicott/hebrews/11.htm
When we consider Exo 14:10-14, and the general attitude that most of the Israelites displayed, it makes more sense to say that Moses wasn’t afraid while everyone else was. This would help us lean toward a greater Exodus viewpoint.
Something that occurred to me while reading your reasoning for the greater Exodus viewpoint is that Hebrews 11:27 could be referring to both the personal and national exodus from Egypt. Why not? I don’t see Moses afraid of Pharaoh in either case. Certainly, if we only consider Moses’ personal exodus to Midian, there’s the possibility that an apologist might need to step in. In either case, I think you’ve great job of presenting the case for the greater Exodus idea.
Thanks Brother Craig, for your time and your well thought out, and supported reply!
Merry Christmas, and may God bless you and your family!
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Thanks Jason! It sounds like the commentary you quoted lays out the argument for both points of view and then concludes by preferring the interpretation that it applies to the departure at the exodus. Interesting that one of the points for interpretting it as the departure for Midian was the use of the word “forsook.” Of all of the dozen or so translations I looked at only KJV uses this word. The others typically use the word “left” which lacks the connotations that support the argument.
In any case, it still seems to me that either interpretation has merit, and it is also plausible, as you suggest, that it could be referring to both, since together they constitute one “great leaving” that took place in two episodes, years apart. It’s a pleasure to reason through scripture with someone with different viewpoints because it invariably results in learning more than would be gained by solo study.
Merry Christmas to you and your family as well, Jason!
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I like to use BibleHub for verse comparisons and such because I can easily see up to 27 or so different translations. Here’s Heb 11:27, https://biblehub.com/hebrews/11-27.htm.
The word translated as “forsook” by some and “left” by others is katelipen in Greek: From kata and leipo; to leave down, i.e. Behind; by implication, to abandon, have remaining.
It’s used 24 other times in the NT. Looking over the way it’s used here https://biblehub.com/greek/strongs_2641.htm helps, I think, to understand the translation, “forsook.”
Indeed, Brother Craig, it’s always rewarding to hear from you and discuss Scripture.
Merry Christmas, and God Bless you!
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