Глава 11

But our faith will not perish from despair, for it is based on true hope. There are also witnesses who testify to it. These are the people of ancient times, in whom it was revealed, although it was not visible among people who lived in the Middle Ages, between the ancient and the modern. There is also evidence that it reveals the invisible. What kind of proof is this? – Testimony of the ancients, that is, the certification of Scripture about faith, that it is by it that the ancient fathers testified (Heb. 11:1). So, the Apostle began to speak not about that (only) faith that flourished successively among the former fathers and was rejected by the Jews, but also about that which has existed from the beginning of the world to the present time and has reached the Jews themselves. Why, he says, are you retreating from this faith? After all, without it, as you know, the world never existed, if it was not created before your eyes, but by believing the words of Moses or by the tradition of Moses’ predecessors, you understand that God created the world with His word; Hebrews 11:3. so all this visible... came from that invisible thing, that is: either it was created from nothing, or all this visible was created by the invisible God. Hebrews 11:4. By faith... Abel made a better... sacrifice... than Cain, who brought ill-chosen: since the faith of Abel and the unbelief of Cain were imprinted in their gifts. After all, if Abel had not believed in retribution, he would not have chosen and would not have made the best sacrifices, since he saw his brother that he had picked bad ears of grain from everywhere with negligence and, having brought them, laid them on the altar 3 . So, for the sake of this faith, Abel - but he did not receive this certificate from man, but from God, Who gave evidence of his gift, so even to this day he that is, it is testified by it (Gen. 4:1). Hebrews 11:5. By faith Enoch was carried away and did not taste death: after all, if he had not believed that fulfilling the commandment could subsequently lead him to the place from which Adam was expelled for breaking the commandment, then he would not have tried to please God for three hundred years before his migration (Gen. 5:21-24, Sir. 44:15). that is, if a person does not believe that there is a true God and that He for those who seek Him He is a rewarder, - will not voluntarily try to please Him and seek Him. Hebrews 11:7. By faith Noah received a revelation of things not yet seen, that is, about the events that were to take place a hundred and twenty years after he received the revelation - and out of his fear of the threat of distant punishments (facing the people of that time for their wickedness and unbelief) to save his house. By the same faith the world that did not believe was condemned, and by the same faith Noah was made heir of the promise (Gen. 6:8). left his father and family, not into your own possession, but Supported by “faith,” he moved forever and dwelt in the place of promise, like a stranger in a foreign land, Hebrews 11:9. - settling there in tents with Isaac and Jacob, joint heirs... of the promise... of that (Gen. 12:1). From the inheritance of the promised, which they did not receive (even then), it was clear that they Hebrews 11:10. I also looked forward to that city having its solid foundations, whose artist and builder is God. Hebrews 11:11. By faith Sarah herself... received the power to receive the seed... and out of time, already barren, gave birth: that is, she received strength and youth, which are required for conception and birth. And all this happened to her because she, living among the pagan Canaanites, “considered him faithful who promised” to give her this (Gen. 17:19). Hebrews 11:13. By faith they died... all of them without receiving [the fulfillment of] the promises, but from distant times they were seen, that is: although they had already been in that land before (before the fulfillment of the promise), they obviously did not yet possess it, just as Abraham said to the sons of the Amorites: I am a stranger... and a stranger among you (Gen. 23:4). Hebrews 11:14. For those who speak this or being in their inheritance, “revealed” thereby “that they” are looking for another “fatherland...”, not in Haran or their own fatherland in Chaldea, from where Abraham came. Hebrews 11:15. And if they strived for precisely the fatherland from which they came, and remembered him, they would have after all, during his long life If they did not return, although they could have, if they had wished, then they clearly showed that much Hebrews 11:16. did you wish for the best, that is... heavenly ago. Therefore... God is not ashamed... to be called God... them: This refers to the words spoken to Moses: “I am the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and... Jacob - this is My eternal name and the remembrance of Me from generation to generation” (Ex. 3:15). Hebrews 11:17–18. By faith... Abraham was tempted... and... as a sacrifice... he offered... Isaac (Gen. 22:10), which according to the “promise” he received, so that his “seed” would be named in it (Gen. 21:12). But Abraham did not doubt at all that even if he (Isaac) were killed, he would still be named a seed in him. He thought and pondered in his soul that Hebrews 11:19. and to raise from the dead... God is strong, from where he received him in the parables, that is, so that in him they might learn the resurrection of the dead, and so that in him he might know the sons of the spirit who were to be with him. Hebrews 11:20. With faith in the future... Isaac blessed that is, after many centuries the blessing of both was fulfilled (Gen. 27:27). Hebrews 11:21. So Jacob... by faith... blessed each son of Joseph: although they were blessed in the land of Egypt, and after many years the blessing of their inheritance was finally accomplished; however he bowed to the edge of his staff, because he believed that his son Joseph would really bury him in the graves of his fathers. (Gen.47:29–31, 48:15). Hebrews 11:22. By faith Joseph, dying, [reminded] and so on: that is, at his Death, he believed that his brothers would come out of the land of Egypt (Gen. 50:24) Hebrews 11:23. By faith in Moses, after I was born, I hid the parent and him for three months, and I was not afraid of the king’s threats, hiding it for those three months (Ex. 2:2). Hebrews 11:24. By faith Moses, having grown, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter: for if he had not believed in the promise of Abraham, he would not have renounced sin with contempt and would not have chosen to participate in the suffering of God's people. Before the Egyptian riches that could have gone to him, he preferred zeal for Christ, about whom he himself wrote. And since he is hopeful Hebrews 11:26. looked at the bribes, Hebrews 11:27. left... Egypt without fear of the king's wrath and so that he (the fugitive) would not be found; since God, who did not appear to him in an external way, was, as it were, visible to him (as it is revealed) in (his) patience. Hebrews 11:28. By faith he accomplished... the Passover and the shedding of blood: that is, before the slaughter of the lamb, he believed that the firstborn of Egypt would be killed through him and the Jews would be saved through him (Ex. 12:11). Hebrews 11:29. By faith we crossed... The Red Sea: because, that is, the people believed that when he entered the sea, he will pass through the middle of it. On the contrary, the Egyptians, having entered it without faith, found in the middle of it a reward for their sins (Ex. 14:22). the walls of the city of Jericho fell, peacefully and without battle, and at the sound of the voice of faith, its towers and fortifications were destroyed on the seventh day (Joshua 6:20). Hebrews 11:31. By faith Rahab the harlot... did not perish: for the fame of the miracles performed in Egypt and in the wilderness led her to believe that the Jews would actually take possession of the land of Canaan, as God had told Abraham. If the Apostle mentioned the “spies” who were “received by her in peace,” then he wanted to show that they left her in purity and integrity, for they did not come to her for fornication (Josh. 2:1, 6:16, 24). But in order not to list separately and in detail all the works of faith of the Old Testament righteous, he then only briefly points to them. Hebrews 11:32. And what else, he says, will I say? After all, I don’t have enough time... to tell the story of Gideon, that is, about the faith of Gideon, who with three hundred men slew ten thousand Midianites (Judges 7:1), by his faith he conquered the army of Sisera (Judges 4:4), who, thanks to his faith, beat a thousand people with the jawbone of a donkey (Judges 15:15), who by his faith destroyed twenty-two cities of Ammon (Judges 11:33), who, thanks to his faith, defeated Goliath (1 Samuel 17:4) who by his faith defeated the Philistines (1 Samuel 7:10), – and about [other] prophets. Hebrews 11:33. Who through faith conquered kingdoms, by prophecy, not by the sword (Dan.3:27), understand, through the punishments they inflicted on the wicked (1 Kings 18:40, 21:19), - and received either the promises, Elijah caught up into heaven (2 Kings 2:1), - and stopped the mouths of the lions Hebrews 11:34. Quenched the forces of fire Ananias and his companions (Dan.3:23), - those whom the Chaldeans with the wise men of Babylon tried to destroy (Dan.3:1), also Uriah (Jer.26:29), and Elijah (1 Kings 19:3) and the prophets, – Hezekiah the king (2 Kings 20:1, Is.38:1) and Elisha, – Abraham, Lot, Moses, Jesus, - the regiments... drove away... strangers – Samson, Barak, David and others mentioned above. Hebrews 11:35. They received... wives from the resurrection of their dead: Shilome and the Sareptan woman from Elijah and his disciple (1 Kings 17:17, 2 Kings 4:17). being given over to death, they despised their lives, like the seven brothers of the Maccabees together with their mother (2 Mac. 6:1, 7:1): and although they did not do what those who shared them in faith did, they expected and desired death, believing that they would be worthy get a better resurrection. Hebrews 11:36. Others are abused and beaten were subjected like Elisha (2 Kings 2:23), like Jeremiah and Micah (Jer.20:2, 33:1, 1 Kings 22:26–27). Hebrews 11:37. Were stoned – Moses, Naboth (Naboth) (1 Kings 21:13, 2 Chronicles 24:20), diverse, like Job (Job.1:1), – Micah, Uriah, John (Jer.26:23, 1 Kings 19:10, Matt.14:10), - wandered around in sheepskins and goatskins, like Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 19:13, 19, 2 Kings 2:8, 13–14), - enduring shortcomings, sorrows, bitterness. Hebrews 11:38. Of whom... the world was... unworthy: the prophets whom Obadiah hid (from persecution by Jezebel) and fed with food, - wandering in the deserts, in the mountains and caves and gorges of the earth: when the glory of those hiding reached the ears of Jezebel, and she began to look for them, then Obadiah forced them to leave and hide in other places (1 Kings 18:4, 13, 19:4, 8–9, 13). And these great tribulations testify to all of them that they continued in faith, since Hebrews 11:39. have you not received your promises? But although we were tested later, the former promises also applied to us, Hebrews 11:40. so that... not without us... they... achieve perfection, that is, it is not so that whoever labored before will receive the reward first, but one day is appointed for recompense for all the sorrows that people have endured and are suffering. So in the interpretation of the book of Genesis, “Abel sacrificed by choice, but Cain without choice; Abel chose and brought the firstborn and the fat, but Cain brought either the ears of corn, or together with the ears of corn and the fruits that were at that time” (Russian translation, 3rd ed. 1888. 4. 6. p. 338. Opp. Syri. t. I, p. 39–40). Wed. Chrysostom’s interpretation of the book of Genesis, to say, came across, without any effort or analysis” (Russian translation. 1851. 1. Page 318). Compare: Midrasch Bereschit rabba (Wunsche. S. 100): “Cain brought from the fruits of the earth, that is, from the worst, like a bad gardener who himself eats the early fruits and gives the king the later ones.” According to the Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan, Cain brought flaxseed on the 14th of Nisan as a sacrifice of firstfruits (in Walton), that is, at the beginning of the harvest, and, therefore, made the worst offering. The legend that Isaiah was sawn apart at the command of the Jewish king Manasseh is found in the apocrypha Ascensio Jesaiae, Vat. 5, 11–14; Talm. treatise. Jevamoth, fol. 49. b. and Sanhedrin fol. 103, b; Justin Martyr. Dial. With. Triph. With. 120; Tertullian. De patient, p. 14; Scorp. 8; Jerome. In Isa. I, 10. Cyril of Jerusalem. Catechetical teaching 13, 6 and many more. etc. You might be interested in: