A Men’s Study on the Old Testament’s “Faith Hall of Fame”
Memory Verse
Hebrews 12:1–2 (NKJV) Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Overview|Background
Last time, in Part 1, we looked at what faith actually is — “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” — and traced it through the earliest examples in Hebrews 11: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah. Each of them trusted God’s word enough to act on it before they saw the outcome.
Today we finish the chapter. The heroes get less individual space here — Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph get a verse or two each, all speaking faith over things they’d never live to see. Then Moses walks away from an empire. Then Rahab, of all people, shows up in the same list as Abraham. And then the chapter does something unexpected: it lists faith that won — kingdoms subdued, lions silenced — right next to faith that was tortured and killed, with no distinction in value between them. The chapter closes by telling us that none of these people got the full promise. We did. That’s where we’re headed.
Before we start: Quick recap — from Part 1, what’s one thing that stuck with you about Abraham, Sarah, or Noah’s faith this past week?
Section 4 — Faith That Sees Ahead: Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses
Read together: Hebrews 11:20–22 (NKJV)
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph… By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.
Notice what these three have in common: each acted in faith while dying. None of them lived to see the thing they were speaking about. Joseph, second-in-command of Egypt, still told his family to carry his bones to a land they hadn’t even entered yet — he believed the exodus was coming generations before it happened.
Read together: Hebrews 11:24–27 (NKJV)
By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
Moses had it made — palace, power, comfort — and walked away from all of it. Verse 27 gives the secret: “he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.” He made his decisions based on a reality he couldn’t see with his eyes but trusted was more real than what he could see.
Discuss:
- What would it look like this week to make one decision “as seeing Him who is invisible” instead of by what’s in front of you?
- Moses gave up genuine, tangible comfort for a harder path because of what he believed was true. What “Egypt” — comfort, status, an easier road — might God be asking you to walk away from?
Section 5 — Faith of the Unlikely and the Unnamed
Read together: Hebrews 11:30–31 (NKJV)
By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.
Rahab is the one name here you would not expect: a Gentile, a prostitute, from a condemned city — and Scripture puts her faith in the same list as Abraham’s. Faith was never about pedigree. It was about who she trusted when it mattered.
Read together: Hebrews 11:32–38 (NKJV)
…who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle… Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword… of whom the world was not worthy.
This is the part we tend to skim, but it’s the whole point: the writer lists faith that won (kingdoms subdued, lions’ mouths stopped) right next to faith that was tortured, stoned, and sawn in two — with zero distinction in value between them. Both groups had the same faith. One got deliverance in this life; the other didn’t, and Scripture says the second group is the one “of whom the world was not worthy.”
Discuss:
- Why do you think God included Rahab — an outsider with a rough past — in this list? What does that say about who qualifies for a life of real faith?
- This passage puts triumphant faith and suffering faith side by side as equally valid. Does your definition of a “faith win” match God’s?
Section 6 — The Better Thing
Read together: Hebrews 11:39–40 and Hebrews 12:1–2 (NKJV)
And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…
Here’s the twist that closes the chapter: every hero we’ve read about across both weeks died without getting the full promise. They were waiting for something that only arrives with Christ. That “something better” is us — the finished work of Jesus that they only saw from a distance. The writer’s point in chapter 12 is immediate: those men and women aren’t just history, they’re a “cloud of witnesses” cheering us on. We’re not running an isolated race; we’re finishing what they started, with the advantage of looking at Jesus Himself.
Discuss:
- Abraham, Moses, and Rahab never got to see Jesus, yet their faith looked forward to Him. What do you have that they didn’t, and how should that change how you run your own race?
Cross-References: Where Their Stories Are Told
For further reading during the week — the fuller Old Testament accounts behind each name in today’s passage (NKJV).
| Person | Hebrews 11 | Old Testament Story |
| Isaac | v. 20 | Genesis 27:1–40 — blessing Jacob and Esau |
| Jacob | v. 21 | Genesis 48:1–22 — blessing Joseph’s sons |
| Joseph | v. 22 | Genesis 50:22–26 — instructions about his bones |
| Moses | v. 23–29 | Exodus 2:1–10 — hidden as an infant; Exodus 2:11–15 — refusing Pharaoh’s household; Exodus 12:21–30 — the Passover; Exodus 14:21–31 — crossing the Red Sea |
| Rahab | v. 31 | Joshua 2:1–21 — hiding the spies; Joshua 6:22–25 — spared when Jericho fell |
| Gideon | v. 32 | Judges 6:11–40; Judges 7 — defeating Midian with 300 men |
| Barak | v. 32 | Judges 4 — defeating Sisera alongside Deborah |
| Samson | v. 32 | Judges 13–16 — judged Israel, defeated the Philistines |
| Jephthah | v. 32 | Judges 11 — delivered Israel from the Ammonites |
| David | v. 32 | 1 Samuel 17 — David and Goliath; 2 Samuel 7 — God’s covenant with David |
| Samuel | v. 32 | 1 Samuel 3 — called as a boy; 1 Samuel 7:3–17 — judged Israel |
| The prophets | v. 32 | 1 Kings 18:20–40 — Elijah on Mount Carmel, representative of the prophetic era |
The unnamed examples of verses 33–38 aren’t named, but Bible commentators have long tied them to specific Old Testament figures and events:
| Hebrews 11 phrase | Traditionally identified with |
| “Stopped the mouths of lions” (v. 33) | Daniel 6:16–23 — Daniel in the lions’ den |
| “Quenched the violence of fire” (v. 34) | Daniel 3:19–27 — Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the furnace |
| “Escaped the edge of the sword” (v. 34) | 1 Kings 19:1–3 — Elijah fleeing Jezebel |
| “Out of weakness were made strong… valiant in battle” (v. 34) | Judges 15:14–17 — Samson; 1 Samuel 17 — David |
| “Women received their dead raised to life again” (v. 35) | 1 Kings 17:17–24 — Elijah and the widow of Zarephath’s son; 2 Kings 4:18–37 — Elisha and the Shunammite’s son |
| “They were stoned” (v. 37) | 2 Chronicles 24:20–22 — Zechariah son of Jehoiada |
| “They were sawn in two” (v. 37) | Not recorded in the Old Testament text itself — longstanding Jewish tradition (preserved in the Talmud) holds this refers to the prophet Isaiah’s martyrdom under King Manasseh |
| “Were slain with the sword” (v. 37) | Jeremiah 26:20–23 — the prophet Urijah |
| “Wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins” (v. 37) | 2 Kings 1:8; 2 Kings 2:13–14 — Elijah’s hairy mantle |
| “Wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves” (v. 38) | 1 Kings 19:1–9 — Elijah in the wilderness; 1 Kings 18:4 — Obadiah hiding 100 prophets in caves |
| “Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance” (v. 35) | 2 Maccabees 6:18–31 and 7:1–42 — the martyrdom of Eleazar and the seven brothers under Antiochus IV. Note: this account is from the intertestamental period and is not part of the Protestant Old Testament canon, though the writer of Hebrews likely had this history in mind |
Going Deeper: Faith Elsewhere in Scripture
Optional — for personal reading during the week, or for the group if time allows.
Faith and works go together — James 2:14–17, 18–26 (NKJV)
What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?… Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (v. 14, 17) Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works… Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?… Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (James 2:18–26)
James uses the exact same two examples as Hebrews 11 — Abraham offering Isaac and Rahab hiding the spies — to make a companion point. Hebrews 11 shows us faith is what pleased God in these people; James shows us that faith was never invisible — it always showed up as action. The two writers aren’t in tension: Hebrews describes the root, James describes the fruit.
Walking by faith, not by sight — 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV)
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
A one-line summary of Moses in verse 27: “as seeing Him who is invisible.”
Faith that asks boldly — Mark 11:22–24 (NKJV)
So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”
Jesus roots faith in confident prayer, not just quiet endurance — a different angle than Hebrews 11, but the same trust in God’s power and goodness.
Faith that overcomes the world — 1 John 5:4–5 (NKJV)
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Hebrews 11 ends by pointing us to Jesus (12:1–2); John tells us plainly that believing in Him is itself the victory. The race Hebrews 11’s heroes ran, and the race we’re running, is won the same way it’s started — by faith in Christ.
Point of Application
- Name your Jericho. Every man in this chapter faced something that required action before the outcome was visible. What’s one step of obedience you’re delaying until you have more certainty than God is offering you?
- Redefine winning. Verses 32–38 put victory and suffering in the same category of faith. Stop measuring your walk with God only by whether things are going well.
- Run like you’re watched. You have a cloud of witnesses and a finished Savior that Abraham, Moses, and Rahab never got to see. Pick one weight or sin you’re carrying and name it to another man before you leave today.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for the men and women who trusted You before they ever saw the outcome — who left home, waited decades, walked away from comfort, and some who never saw the promise fulfilled at all. Forgive us for wanting certainty before we obey. Give us Moses’ eyes for what’s unseen, and Rahab’s simple trust when it mattered most. Thank You that we run this race with something they didn’t have — Jesus Himself, finished and risen. Help us lay aside what weighs us down and run with endurance, looking to Him. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Prayer List
Doc – renewed vigor to join us on Saturdays
Richard Brooks – faith and courage during the next stage of his journey in Christ
Bob & Gaynelle – walk with
Julia (Arras) – praise for health
Jim Allen, friend of Daryl, heart issue, praise
Jim Sachs – praise
Darryl’s employee Tara – went to be with Jesus
Darryl’s Son Jonathan and Wife Lizz – spiritual renewal
Tom and Jeanice – praise and prayers for continued recovery
Becky and Lee Davidson, health and healing, difficult situation
Jim & Melissa, father-in-law’s heart condition and spiritual health, marital closeness
Mike Arras’ daughter, praise
Mike Allen – sister Adele and brother
Joe & Deb – continued prayers for Deb’s Dad, travel for Deb
Brian – Job situation
JC – health issues
JC’s granddaughter Kylie, Tiffany, and Tommy
Todd – medical issues (sinuses, hands)
Wisdom about meeting location
Our country & our world
Gayle (Karl’s wife) – wisdom, peace, strength in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds
Karl’s friend, Jesse – PRAISE! Found a good church body to join
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