He endured (2594) (kartereo which some sources state originates from kratos = and others say karteros = strength) means to be strong, to be steadfast, to continue in a state without wavering. TDNT says kartereo This word has the two senses a. “to be strong” and b. “to endure steadfastly.” BDAG comments that Accordingly He 11:27 giving the reason for Moses’ fearlessness: he kept the one who is invisible continually before his eyes (i.e., in faith), as it were. Moses continued holding out even in the face of impending doom when Pharaoh's army thundered down on the Israelites (Ex 14:4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12). In face of sure doom under normal circumstances Moses continued to walk by faith not the sight of the billowing dust signaling the Egyptian Chariots of doom. But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by ("stand firm") and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. Jehovah (Yahweh) will fight for you while you keep silent. (Ex 14:13, 14) Note: Faith in the "salvation of Jehovah" gives one the ability to endure when others feel like giving up. The only other 2 uses of kartereo in Scripture are from the non-apocryphal Septuagint (LXX)... Job 2:9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!" Isaiah 42:14 "I have kept silent for a long time, I have kept still and restrained Myself. Now like a woman in labor I will groan (Lxx translated "I have endured like a travailing woman"), I will both gasp and pant. Wiersbe makes a good point that... The endurance of Moses was not a natural gift, for by nature Moses was hesitant and retiring. This endurance and courage came as the reward of his faith. (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor or Logos) Seeing Him Who is unseen - Moses did not fear the visible king because he saw the Invisible One. This verse also provides a nice segue to the writer's exhortation in the next chapter to fix our eyes on Jesus (Who we have not seen with physical eyes but with spiritual eyes as we read of Him in the Word - see Heb 12:2-note) (See Ro 1:20-note for an interesting aspect of seeing the invisible - men saw the attributes of God in creation but refused to "accept" them, instead rejecting and even exchanging truth for a lie Ro 1:25-note) - Moses saw Him Who is unseen and unknowable apart from His gracious revelation (believers today have His full written revelation - cp Jn 1:18, 14:9, 17:26, 1Jn 5:20) because Moses was obedient to His call...he was pure in heart and thus he saw God. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Mt 5:8-note) The writer of Hebrews later exhorts all his readers to... Pursue (present imperative - make this the habit of your life, enabled by His Spirit and His grace) peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. (Heb 12:14-note) Indeed God gives us a prophetic promise that we shall all see God... For the LORD is righteous; He loves righteousness; The upright will behold His face. (Ps 11:7) For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright. (Ps 11:7KJV) Spurgeon comments: His countenance doth behold the upright. We need never be out of countenance, for God countenances us. He observes, He approves, He delights in the upright. He sees His own image in them, an image of His own fashioning, and therefore with complacency He regards them. Shall we dare to put forth our hand unto iniquity in order to escape affliction? Let us have done with byways and short turnings, and let us keep to that fair path of right along which Jehovah's smile shall light us. Are we tempted to put our light under a bushel, to conceal our religion from our neighbours? Is it suggested to us that there are ways of avoiding the Cross, and shunning the reproach of Christ? Let us not hearken to the voice of the charmer, but seek an increase of faith, that we may wrestle with principalities and powers, and follow the Lord, fully going without the camp, bearing His reproach (He 13:13). Mammon, the flesh, the devil (the world, the flesh and the devil), will all whisper in our ear, "Flee as a bird to your mountain;" but let us come forth and defy them all. "Resist (aorist imperative = Do this now! Don't delay! It is vital!) the devil, and he will flee from you." (Jas 4:7-note) There is no room or reason for retreat. Advance! Let the vanguard push on! To the front! all ye powers and passions of our soul. On! on! in God's name, on! for "the Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge." (Ps 46:7-note, Ps 46:11-note) R Kent Hughes writes that... the author references the second half of his essential definition of faith in He 11:1: “Faith is being… certain of what we do not see”—visual certitude. (Hughes, R. K. Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul. Volume 1. Crossway Books; Volume 2) Moses had the experience of seeing the burning bush in Midian as depicted below... Ex 3:1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Ex 3:9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 In Exodus we read that... Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. (Exodus 33:11, cp Nu 12:7,8) Moses was not permitted to see the face of God, but he did see His back... Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen. (Ex 33:23) Steven Cole notes that... Moses did not fear the wrath of the king, “for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.” There is intended irony in that phrase. “No one has seen God at any time” (1John 4:12). Moses had seen a manifestation of God at the burning bush. He spoke with God “face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend” (Ex 33:11). He would later ask to see God, and God allowed him to see His “back” (Ex 33:22, 23). Jesus told the twelve, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Thus when we are fearful, we need to draw near to the Lord Jesus by faith. “Seeing Him who is unseen” takes us back to Hebrews 11:1-note, that faith is “the conviction [or, proof] of things not seen.” Faith is like a telescope that brings a distant object into visible focus. If fear is looming larger than your faith, take time to draw near to God in His Word and prayer. As Paul instructs us (Php 4:6-note, Php 4:7-note), Be anxious (present imperative - make this the habit of your life, enabled by His Spirit and His grace to stop being anxious about everything and instead be anxious) for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known (present imperative - make this your lifestyle, consider yourself always to be in need) to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Don’t leave out the thanksgiving! That’s how you express faith and submission to God in your prayers. Faith overcomes powerful opposition by seeing the unseen God. (Hebrews 11:27-29 Overcoming Faith) Paul praises the unseen God... Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen...Who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light; Whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen. (1Ti 1:17, 6:16, cp Jn 20:29) Paul says that as believers exhorts us to... look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2Cor 4:18-note) Paul's point in 2Co 4:18-note is not that we can see the invisible with our physical eye, but that the eye of faith can see what the physical eye is incapable of seeing. Kent Hughes adds this note... I personally believe that seeing “him who is invisible” is not extraordinary. Rather, it is ordinary, normal Christianity. In fact, if you do not see the unseen, you are abnormal and below the divinely ordained norm. Christianity is supernatural, and it is to be lived supernaturally. Elisha’s prayer is just as relevant today for the church as it was when he prayed it over his anxious servant: “And Elisha prayed, ‘O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.’ Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2Kings 6:17). (Ibid - Bolding added) From Hebrews 11:27 Steven Cole finds three obstacles that faith must overcome (see more detailed explanation of these obstacles)... (1) Faith often puts us into opposition with powerful forces. (2) Faith enables us to obey God without fear. (3) Faith overcomes powerful opposition by seeing the unseen God. Hebrews 11:28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them. (NASB: Lockman) Greek: Pistei pepoieken (3SRAI) to pascha kai ten proschusin tou aimatos, ina me o olothreuon (PAPMSN) ta prototoka thige (3SAAS) auton. Amplified: By faith (simple trust and confidence in God) he instituted and carried out the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood [on the doorposts], so that the destroyer of the firstborn (the angel) might not touch those [of the children of Israel]. (Amplified Bible - Lockman) KJV: Through faith he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. NLT: It was by faith that Moses commanded the people of Israel to keep the Passover and to sprinkle blood on the doorposts so that the angel of death would not kill their firstborn sons. Phillips: By faith Moses kept the first Passover and made the blood-sprinkling, so that the angel of death which killed the first-born should not touch his people. (Phillips: Touchstone) Wuest: By faith he instituted the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood in order that the destroyer of the first-born should not touch them. (Eerdmans) Young's Literal: by faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of the blood, that He who is destroying the first-born might not touch them. BY FAITH HE KEPT THE PASSOVER AND THE SPRINKLING OF THE BLOOD, SO THAT HE WHO DESTROYED THE FIRST-BORN MIGHT NOT TOUCH THEM: Pistei pepoieken to pascha kai ten proschusin tou haimatos, hina me o holothreuon ta prototoka thige auton: (Exodus 12:3-14,21-30) (He 9:19; 12:24; Exodus 12:7,13,23; 1Peter 1:2) By faith he kept - This phrase clearly links genuine faith with real obedience. It was D L Moody who said that "Faith makes all things possible; love makes all things easy." Indeed, Moses showed his love by his obedience (cp Jn 14:15, 1Jn 5:3). John Calvin defined faith as a steady and certain knowledge of the Divine benevolence towards us, which, being founded on the truth of the gratuitous promise in Christ (Objective Component of faith), is both revealed to our minds, and confirmed to our hearts, by the Holy Spirit (Subjective Component of faith). Wiersbe... Faith in the Word led to the Passover deliverance (how the Egyptians must have scoffed at the blood on the doors!) and the crossing of the Red Sea. (Wiersbe, W. W. Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the New Testament. Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books) Spurgeon notes that... Here, again, you have the obedience of faith, taking God's precepts and carrying them out. (See Obedience of faith and Relationship of faith and obedience) Vance Havner summed up Hebrews 11:24-29... Faith chooses the imperishable (He 11:24, 25, 26) Faith sees the invisible (He 11:27) Faith does the impossible (He 11:28, 29) Wiersbe comments on Moses' faith writing that... Faith brings us out (He 11:28), takes us through (He 11:29), and brings us in (He 11:30). When we trust God, we get what God can do; but when we trust ourselves, we get only what weak people can do. The experience of Moses is proof that true biblical faith means obeying God in spite of circumstances and in spite of consequences. Moses kept - Emphasizes that faith is complete trust in and obedience to God. He obeyed God’s command and trusted that God did indeed have power over life and death. Kept is in the perfect tense about which which Hughes writes... by faith he kept the Passover" actually means that he instituted the Passover (perfect tense). Moses actually instituted the Passover as a "lasting ordinance" to be done year after year (Ex 12:14) — which means that Moses never doubted in the least that the people would be delivered from Egypt! He had nothing to go on but God's word, but he believed it implicitly. Moses' massive faith saved Israel! (Preaching the Word — Hebrews, Volume II: An Anchor for the Soul) Art related to Moses Calvin says Moses... acquiesced in the bare word of God where the thing itself was not apparent Kept the Passover (Ex 12:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13) - God affirms that Moses' obediently keeping the Passover the night before he led Israel out of Egypt was the result of his faith and not just religious ceremonialism. Moses' faith produced a response of obedience to the divine command. Moses believed God's promise that the Destroyer of the firstborn would pass over those houses whose doorposts and lintels were sprinkled with the blood of the Passover lamb. The sprinkling of the blood - Refers to the application of the blood to the doorways of the Israelite houses. Exodus 12:7 'Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. Exodus 12:13 'The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Exodus 12:23 "For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you. Christologically the Passover with its sprinkling of the blood is a type of the suffering Christ (cf. 1Cor. 5:7). (See related discussion - Typology - Study of Biblical types) Chrysostom wrote that... If the blood of a lamb then preserved the Jews unhurt in the midst of the Egyptians and in the presence of so great a destruction, much more will the blood of Christ save us, for whom it has been sprinkled not on our doorposts but in our souls. For even now the destroyer is still moving around in the depth of night; but let us be armed with Christ's sacrifice, since God has brought us out from Egypt, from darkness and from idolatry. Illustration - The story is told of one who, passing through a village in Basutoland, noticed some chickens with little red ribbons fastened to their backs between their wings. The people explained: "They protect the chickens from the many vicious hawks that otherwise would attack them. The hawks are afraid of red ribbons. Neither blue, nor green nor any other color would provide the needed immunity from attack." Are we eternally tied by the red ribbon of the atoning blood? " Destroyed the first -born - Below is the sad image of the death of Pharaoh's firstborn son. Beloved, if you've not been covered by the blood of the Passover Lamb (1Pe 1:18, 19-note; 1Cor 5:7 - see related study of Jehovah Roi - The LORD My Shepherd), you too will experience the tragic consequences of having chosen to reject of God's truth regarding redemption from bondage to Satan, Sin and eternal death (separation from God's glorious presence - cp Mt 25:41, 2Th 1:6, 7, 8, 9, 10)