11:26
He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ ....” It is interesting that the author refers to Joseph’s faith being for the sake of Christ. The general New Testament view is that the people of faith in the Old Testament were looking forward to Christ, though without having anything like a full idea of what they were looking forward to. “He was looking forward to his reward”. The concept of reward is very important in the New Testament, including in the teaching of Jesus. We tend to be wary of this, primarily for two reasons. One is aversion to any idea of earning our salvation, and the other is a desire to have nothing to do with anything like prosperity teaching. These are laudable aims, but we need to recognise that the Bible does promise us a reward. And in the face of persecution it is vital to know that our reward for remaining faithful is far greater than any cost there maybe in this life.
11:27
Then we move on to Moses leaving Egypt. This could refer to Moses going into exile, or when he led the people out of Egypt. The latter seems the more likely to me. For we read of Moses’ encounters with Pharaoh. Moses had met the invisible God in the burning bush incident. In the conflict of the plagues we see that Moses never feared Pharaoh.
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