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by Katie Erickson

“And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.” -Hebrews 11:32-38

Up to this point in Hebrews 11, the author has been spending at least one verse on each specific case that he has brought up. However, to continue at that rate, this one chapter would be way too long! There are so many people of faith documented in the Old Testament, and they all deserve to be commended for their faith, but the author needs to move on. However, he does not move on before mentioning a few more of them by name in verse 32, and then he turns to various acts of faith in a more general sense.

While the author of Hebrews does not give us details of what Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel did, we have the Old Testament to give us their stories. You can click those links to read blog posts by Logan Ames about each of them, and I’ll give some highlights here.

The stories of Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah were all recorded in the book of Judges. Each of them faced enormous odds stacked against them. Gideon was to use an army of just 300 men to fight one more than 400 times its size – and he was victorious because of his faith (Judges 6-8). Barak would not go into battle without Deborah, and they were up against the mighty army of Sisera (Judges 4). They had faith, and God gave them victory in that battle. Even though Jephthah was a mighty warrior, he was the least of his family and had to overcome those odds. He, too, needed to have faith that God would win his battle for him, and God came through. Jephthah even had enough faith in God to follow through on a vow he had made, which cost his daughter her life (Judges 10-12).

At first, Samson did not seem to have much faith in his life. He was arrogant and often ignored his Nazirite vow, being disobedient to what God had called him to before he was even born. But Samson’s arrogance caught up with him, and after Delilah betrayed him, he was greatly humbled. At that point of humility when he had basically nothing left, Samson finally trusted God and had faith that God would still use him for His good purposes of killing hundreds of oppressive Philistines (Judges 13-16).

David’s story is well-documented in the Bible, from his days as a shepherd boy, to killing Goliath, to running from Saul, to being a mighty warrior, being crowned king of Israel, committing adultery and murder, and still being known as a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). We see David’s faith spelled out in much of the book of Psalms. Only faith in God could lead David through a life like that and leave him with a legacy of being known as the greatest king that Israel had.

Samuel and the other prophets had to have faith in the messages that God gave them to share with the people. Prophets were not known for bringing good news, but most often their messages were that of “Repent or die!” They needed to have faith to give them the courage to share difficult messages with the people to whom they were told to deliver those messages.

Verses 33-35a give lists of other acts of faith that people did. We can put names to some of those acts from the narratives we have in the Old Testament, but there were likely others that fit in these categories as well since the author of Hebrew doesn’t mention names in these verses.

In his blog post series and his book on the Heroes of the Faith in this chapter, Logan Ames covered specific people who fit all of these descriptions. I encourage you to check out either or both of those resources for more on them and how their faith helped them do those amazing things.

Some of the things on the list do appear to be possible in our human strength, but in reality, all of them are only truly possible by the supernatural power of God Himself. Can people conquer kingdoms, quench flames, or become powerful in battle? Sure; but everything that we do is all part of God’s sovereign plan and because He gave us life and various abilities. We need to rely on God by faith for everything that we do, as He has the ability to help us succeed or fail.

Verses 35b-38 tell of the harsh ways in which followers of God have been treated. People have been tortured in many different ways because they hold fast to the faith that God has given them. If this faith were not true, we would not have so many examples of people who gave their lives for it! Sometimes that persecution led to death, while other times it meant a more difficult lifestyle while here on earth.

Either way, we see that “the world was not worthy of them.” While the world may have thought these faithful people were not worthy of living in the world, the truth is that God sees them as completely and totally worthy of the life and faith that only come from Him.

Are you living out your faith in a way that mirrors the faith of these great people of God mentioned by name and of all these others who are not specifically listed by name? Does the world consider you unworthy and treat you harshly because of that faith? While we do not yet face outright persecution like that in the United States, there are many places in this world where Christians are persecuted and have to keep their faith secret or else they risk their lives. Now is the time to become confident in God and the faith we have in Him so that when the testing of our faith does come, we’ll be ready for it!

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