The focus of this passage is Moses, the greatest figure next to Abraham in Jewish history. His parents responded with faith when the new anti-Israelite Pharaoh ordered all newborn boys to be thrown into the Nile to be killed. Like the Hebrew midwives who disobeyed the king's command to kill baby boys because they feared the Lord (Exodus 1:17), Moses' parents feared God and not the king (Hebrews 11:23). They hid their son because they saw ″he was no ordinary child″ (v. 23). The ancient Jewish writer Josephus, who recorded the history of the Jews, suggested that the parents were told by God about their son's destiny.⁴⁶ They feared and believed God.

Moses shared his parents' faith. Though he was brought up as the son of the Egyptian princess, and could have inherited much including the throne (Exodus 2:1-10), he threw away his royal identity (Hebrews 11:24) to be a leader of the Jews. He intervened and killed an Egyptian slave master who was ruthlessly beating a Hebrew slave and had to flee for safety (Exodus 2:11-15). He chose to stand by his Hebrew people, and preferred mistreatment rather than sinful pleasures, disgrace for the sake of Christ (though Christ was to come much later in history) rather than Egypt's treasures (Hebrews 11:25-26). By faith, his eyes were on distant rewards rather than present fame and comfort (v. 26). Therefore, by faith, he left Egypt.

By faith, Moses ″saw him who is invisible″ (v. 27). How does one see the invisible one? This could refer to Moses' burning bush experience (Exodus 3:1-6). He could have passed the bush countless times, but one day his eyes were opened to see God and hear Him. It could also refer to later on, when Moses expressed an intense desire to see God's glory (Exodus 33:18). The man had great faith in responding to whatever God told him and showed him. His leadership of the Hebrews in very difficult circumstances, his courage in challenging the pharaoh, and the plagues he brought to Egypt in judgment of Egypt's many gods (Exodus 12:12) show his great faith in God. Moses again showed his faith by instructing the people to sacrifice the Passover lamb, just as God had commanded him (Hebrews 11:28; see Exodus 12:21).

⁴⁶Stedman, Hebrews, 128.