Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Hebrews 11:32

"And what shall I more say? for the time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah; of David and Samuel and the prophets:" — Hebrews 11:32 (ASV)

With a neat rhetorical flourish, the author shows that his subject is far from exhausted. Not having time to go through all the ones on his list, he lists a half dozen faithful men: Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel. The first four of these are mentioned only here in the NT. Samuel is mentioned only twice elsewhere in the NT. David, of course, is mentioned frequently. The reason for the order of these names is not clear. It is not chronological. If we arrange them in pairs, the second of the two in each case is the earlier in time. Samuel might well be placed last as heading up the prophets who came after him, but we can only guess at the reasons for the way the rest are placed.

The writer does not go into detail about these men. The OT indicates that each one battled against overwhelming odds so that, humanly speaking, there was little chance of his coming out on top. For people in such positions faith in God was not a formality. It meant definite trust when the odds seemed to be stacked against them. They set worthy examples for the readers in their difficult circumstances. It is true that in the first four, there were serious defects in their faith. Nevertheless, even imperfect and incomplete faith receives God’s approval.