Christ is both our example and our substitute – read 1 Peter 2:21-24. Hebrews 12:1 is ‘the epilogue to the former chapter’ (Calvin).
In verses 30-35a faith overcomes, bur in verses 35b-40 faith suffers adversity. Robert Bruce: ‘We learn that faith does not always bring a temporal deliverance, nor is a temporal deliverance ever promised, so no one can claim from God what his word has not guaranteed.’ Read Acts 12:1-3, 7 …
The emphasis is clearly on the Word of God understood and applied.
for weakness, note 11:35b-40 and 2 Cor.12:10. For victory, see 11:30-35a and 1 John 5:4-5.
Calvin: ‘As we know, most people soon tire of things which are beneficial to them’ … ‘Yet men, alas, are always craving novelty.’
In verses 24-26 the focus is more on the decisive shift in Moses’ thinking, but in verses 27-29 the focus is more on what he did as a result of that faith.
Bonhoeffer commented that grace is free, but not cheap. Faith cost Moses something as it cost Paul something – Phil.3:7-8.
Not long before this Paul had to warn the elders there about threats to biblical truth – Acts 20:29-30.
Amram married his father’s sister, Aunt Jochebed (Ex.6:20; Num.26:59), which would soon be forbidden under Moses’ law.
Martin Luther: ‘Whosoever professes he has a Father in heaven, confesses himself a stranger on earth; hence there is in the heart an ardent longing, like that of a child among strangers, in want and grief, far from his fatherland.’
