Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
not fearing the wrath of the king—But in Exodus 2:14 it is said, "Moses feared, and fled from the face of Pharaoh." He was afraid, and fled from the danger where no duty called him to stay (to have stayed without call of duty would have been to tempt Providence, and to sacrifice his hope of being Israel's future deliverer according to the divine intimations; his great aim, see on Hebrews 11:23). He did not fear the king so as to neglect his duty and not return when God called him. It was in spite of the king's prohibition he left Egypt, not fearing the consequences which were likely to overtake him if he should be caught, after having, in defiance of the king, left Egypt. If he had stayed and resumed his position as adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter, his slaughter of the Egyptian would doubtless have been connived at; but his resolution to take his portion with oppressed Israel, which he could not have done had he stayed, was the motive of his flight, and constituted the "faith" of this act, according to the express statement here. The exodus of Moses with Israel cannot be meant here, for it was made, not in defiance, but by the desire, of the king. Besides, the chronological order would be broken thus, the next particular specified here, namely, the institution of the Passover, having taken place before the exodus. Besides, it is Moses' personal history and faith which are here described. The faith of the people ("THEY passed") is not introduced till Hebrews 11:29.
endured—steadfast in faith amidst trials. He had fled, not so much from fear of Pharaoh, as from a revulsion of feeling in finding God's people insensible to their high destiny, and from disappointment at not having been able to inspire them with those hopes for which he had sacrificed all his earthly prospects. This accounts for his strange reluctance and despondency when commissioned by God to go and arouse the people (Exodus 3:15; Exodus 4:1, Exodus 4:10-12).
seeing him . . . invisible—as though he had not to do with men, but only with God, ever before his eyes by faith, though invisible to the bodily eye (Romans 1:20; I Timothy 1:17; I Timothy 6:16). Hence he feared not the wrath of visible man; the characteristic of faith (Hebrews 11:1; Luke 12:4-5).
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Hebrews 11:27:
Exodus 2:11
Exodus 2:13-14
Psalms 105:28-36
Romans 3:18
1 Timothy 1:17
1 Timothy 6:16
Hebrews 11:6
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