This is an edited old post from the old blog. The previous posts in this series are in the sidebar at the right.
Next up on the list of faithful ancients in Hebrews 11 are the people of Israel. The author gives us two examples of circumstances when the people of Israel exhibited faith, one occurring right after Moses led them out of Egypt and the other when they were conquering the promised land.
By faith they crossed the Red Sea as if on dry ground, but when the Egyptians tried it, they were swallowed up. By faith the walls of Jericho fell after the people marched around them for seven days. (Hebrews 11:29-30 NET)
I’m reading Exodus right now, and judging from the Exodus account, the Israelites were more often fickle than faithful. Over and over again, they complained about the things that were happening. But in these two instances, they acted in faith, and so here they are, in the list of the faithful in Hebrews 11.
First our text tell us that it was by faith that the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea. You’ll remember that they had just left Egypt because God had acted miraculously on their behalf. If anyone should have known that God would protect them and deliver them, it was the Iraelites. However, when the armies of the Egyptians came after them and they saw no way out, they were terrified and complained to Moses.
“Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you took us away to die in the desert? What in the world have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Was this not what we told 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 desert.” (Exodus 14: 11-12 NET)
To save them, God divided the waters of the Red Sea so that the people could cross. And that crossing took faith. To walk across the sea bed as if it were dry ground meant that they had to trust God to keep on holding back the walls of water on each side of them. Their trusting obedience saved them from the Egyptians, who came after them and were swallowed in the sea as the walls of water came tumbling down again.
The second example of the faith of the people of Israel comes at the fall of the walls of the city of Jericho, recounted for us in Joshua 6. Can you imagine how silly all that marching around the city must have seemed to anyone who was not acting in faith? But the people trusted God, followed his instructions, and he acted on their behalf. On the seventh day
[t]he rams’ horns sounded and when the army heard the signal, they gave a loud battle cry. The wall collapsed and the warriors charged straight ahead into the city and captured it. (Joshua 6:20 NET)
Their faith in God had been warranted. They obeyed God in faith and are included as examples for us in this list of faithful people of old.