definitely expressed in Hebrews 11:6:'He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder (a

recompenser) of them that diligently seek Him'.

Hebrews is the epistle of the `right hand of God'. There the great High Priest has sat down, and because the

Psalmist said `At Thy right hand are pleasures for evermore', those whose faith enables them to `see Him Who is

invisible', are enabled to esteem, at their true worth, those `pleasures of sin' that are `for a season'.

Joseph's faith led him step by step to the throne of Egypt. Moses' faith led him step by step away from Egypt

and its throne to the wilderness and to hardship. The apostle had said earlier, concerning the Patriarchs, that `if they

had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned'

(Heb. 11:15). We shall never lack the counsel of Mr. Worldly Wiseman, and our own hearts will often turn us

astray. Think how one might have argued the case with Moses:

(1) Joseph's example. See how he used his exalted position for the glory of God and the well-being of his

(2) Are you not therefore disobedient to the example of such a man?

(3) Why not see in your preservation and adoption just the same all-powerful Hand, leading you on to this crisis

in your life?

(4) Use your influence at court; get measures put into operation that shall ameliorate the sufferings of your

people and be a deliverer indeed.

Doubtless we can supplement this from our own experience. But all this would be vain, for God had spoken.

The promise made to Abraham and remembered by Joseph (Heb. 11:22), was nearly due to be performed. God had

said that Israel would be afflicted, but at the set time He would bring them out, and Moses' faith, like our own,

rested upon `the Word of God' (Rom. 10:17).

By the time Moses was born, a new dispensation had dawned; `a new king that knew not Joseph' occupied the

throne. So the apostle would press upon the consciences of the Hebrews the necessity to weigh the change of

dispensation ushered in by the rejection of their Messiah. They had to `forsake', `go forth unto Him without the

camp', rather than continue in those things that had ceased to be the will of God.

We must now consider a difficult passage.

`By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing Him Who is invisible' (Heb.

It is generally reckoned that this cannot refer to the time when Moses fled unto Midian, but to the second time

that he left Egypt, victoriously at the time of the exodus. There is no need to comment upon the obvious `faith' that

enabled Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt, so we ask a moment's attention while we look once again at that earlier

flight from Egypt.

`Not fearing the wrath of the king' When we have read through the chapters of Exodus detailing the attitude of

Moses towards Pharaoh, the mighty miracles that were wrought, the power that moved heaven and earth and even

the angel of death, it seems rather tame to say of that triumphant departure from Egypt, the Israelites loaded with the

`spoil' thrust upon them, that Moses `forsook' Egypt, and did not `fear' the wrath of the king. He had forsaken

Egypt forty years before, and his return was with the express purpose of leading Israel out, not with any intention of

settling down himself. Time after time he stood before Pharaoh, calm, unflinching, master of the situation. There

was no wrath of the king to fear when, at the last, Israel moved out of the land, and the attempt of Pharaoh to

overtake them at the Red Sea hardly fits the passage in the chapter we are considering.

There are several points of contact between Hebrews 11 and Stephen's speech in Acts 7. Stephen gives a very

full account of the occasion that led to Moses' flight from Egypt: