Hebrews 11:35 Commentary and Bible Study

These are the unnamed heroes of faith in Hebrews, although some of them are named in the Old Testament. Two women are recorded as having a child raised to life again. The widow of Zarephath who sustained Elijah during the famine, had the sorrow of having her child die, even after her kindness to the prophet. Elijah was full of compassion towards her and prayed fervently to the Lord for something which he had never seen before: the raising of the dead. By faith Elijah was enabled to see this miracle, and the woman receive her child alive again. Similarly Elisha, following the example of his master, raised to life the child of the Shunammite woman who had conceived a child in answer the prophet’s prayer for her and her husband. In both case the child’s death was allowed by the Lord in order that the child might by faith be raised from the dead. Israel was taught that God does indeed raise the dead, and that this happened to confirm the hope of every believer. By faith God’s children overcome death itself through the Lord Jesus Christ. What God did through his prophets on this exceptional basis, he will do for all at the last day when Christ returns.‘Tortured ‘refers to a means of killing people in the slowest and most terrible way possible. It is often said that the time when most believers were tortured was the second century BC, but it is more likely this refers to events in the Biblical period. There are only a few records of this in the Old Testament, but this may refer to events not specifically recorded. We are given an insight into this from the experience of Daniel. These heroes of faith were given an offer of deliverance if they renounced the Lord, but they chose to forfeit any deliverance from physical death and torment in order to remain faithful to the Lord. They might have ended their physical torment if only they had been willing to deny the Lord, but this they refused to do. This avoiding of physical death is called a resurrection of sorts, but it is not worthy to be compared with the resurrection which will take place when the believing dead will hear the voice of the Son of God. At that time they will rise from the dead forever and receive an immortal body, but the resurrection being offered by their persecutors would have only allowed them to live out their mortal lives for a few more years. Those Old Testament believers believed in the bodily resurrection, and therefore they were willing to lose their lives for Christ’s sake.