Commentary on Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles John Calvin (continued)
John Calvin
22. By faith Joseph, etc. This is the last thing which Moses records respecting the patriarchs, and it deserves to be particularly noticed; for wealth, luxuries, and honors, made not the holy man to forget the promise, nor detained him in Egypt; and this was an evidence of no small faith. For whence had he so much greatness of mind, as to look down on whatever was elevated in the world, and to esteem as nothing whatever was precious in it, except that he had ascended up into heaven. In ordering his bones to be exported, he had no regard to himself, as though his grave in the land of Canaan would be sweeter or better than in Egypt; but his only object was to sharpen the desire of his own nation, that they might more earnestly aspire after redemption; he wished also to strengthen their faith, so that they might confidently hope that they would be at length delivered.
Heb 11:23-27
Hebrews Chapter 11:23-27
23. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.
23. Fide Moses, quum natus esset, occultatus est menses tres a parentibus suis, quia videbant elegantem puellum; et non timuerunt edictum regis.
24. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;
24. Fide Moses jam grandis renuit vocari filius filiae Pharaonis; 25. Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
25. Potius eligens malis affici cum populo Dei quam temporales habere peccati delicias;
26. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.
26. Majores existimans divitias probrum Christi quam Aegypti thesauros; intuebatur enim in remunerationem.
27. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.
27. Fide reliquit Aegyptum, nec timuit furorem regis; quasi enim invisibilem time different from that mentioned in Genesis 47:31. They are connected in Genesis with the oath which Joseph made to his father to bury him in Canaan; but here with the blessing of his sons recorded in the following chapter, 48:15, 16. These were two separate transactions, and the words only occur in the first; and it seems from the words of the Apostle, that the act and position of Jacob were also the same in the second instance. The points are of no authority; and the Apostle adopted the Septuagint version, and thus sanctioned it: and there is no reason to dispute that sanction. David is said to worship upon his bed, (1 Kings 1:47;) but the word for bed there is different. All the difficulty here vanishes, if we throw aside as we ought to do, the points. The word for worship in Hebrew means to prostrate one's self on the ground, the humblest mode of adoration; but it is used also to designate merely an act of worship. See 1 Samuel 1:3; 2 Kings 5:5, 18. The reason why Jacob is said to have worshipped unable to adopt the usual posture. — Ed.