Faith Unto Death

May 6th, 2026
by Lance Waldie

Hebrews 11:35b-38 …and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; 36 and others experienced mocking and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated 38 (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

Though many a Christian has a victorious story of great faith with rewards in the here and now, v. 36 refers to “others” (Gr. heteros). This Greek term refers not simply to other similar examples but “others of a different kind.” These too had strong faith, but it wasn’t part of God’s plan to deal with them as He had dealt with Noah, Joseph, Gideon, or David. God has that right; He is God! The “others” the author refers to had only torturous deaths to attest to their faith.

“Tortured” (Gr. tumpanizō) comes from a term that refers to a kettledrum—skins stretched out across a surface to be beaten. This is the picture of the word for “torture,” for it involved a human being stretched out to be beaten repeatedly like a drum, often until death ensued. This ghastly form of abuse was meted out on Eleazar, a 90-year old scribe depicted in the apocryphal book of 2 Maccabees 6:18-31 circa 150 BC. He was told that he would be released if he violated the Law by eating pork, forbidden for Jews. When he refused, he was beaten, “tortured,” to death. If not Eleazar, it could refer to any number of others, known and unknown, whose faith in God was exhibited through perseverance in the face of the cruelest trials and hardships.

Those “tortured” to death in Jewish history who, like Eleazar, were offered “release” if they would compromise their faith. Many refused “so that they might obtain a better resurrection.” This “better resurrection” may refer to the first sentence of v. 35 that refers to the young men resurrected by both Elijah (1 Kings 17:17-24) and Elisha (2 Kings 4:8-36). Both of these incidents are described as “resurrections” in spite of how we might refer to them more accurately as resuscitations since they in fact later died as all humans do. Yet the Hebrews author carefully distinguishes between the two resurrections by calling the latter one “a better resurrection.”

Other faithful saints endured verbal mocking, some were scourged with chains, and some were imprisoned and left to die (v. 36). Unlike those who experienced victory through faith (vv. 33-34), God received glory through these saints in their sufferings. But they too endured what they did “so that they might obtain a better resurrection” (cf. Dan. 12:1-2).

Verse 37 speaks of some who were stoned to death—the Jewish way of capital punishment (cf. 2 Chron. 24:20-22; Matt. 23:35; Acts 7:59). Others were actually “sawn in two,” perhaps a reference to the tradition that the prophet Isaiah was sliced in half by the wicked King Manasseh. Some were “tempted” in that they were forced by their persecutors to decide between God and death. Those forced out of society to wander in the wilderness had to cloth themselves “in sheepskins, in goatskins.” They were not exalted for their faith but were “destitute, afflicted, ill-treated.” The author says that these were those “whom the world was not worthy.” While the godless lived in safe homes enjoying fine food, some of God’s greatest saints were “wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground” (v. 38). Their godly faith distinguished them from the faithless tyrants of this world. Their very presence on the earth graced the land, for while living here, they blessed the world with their examples of faith.

Food For Thought
God can both heal us and deliver us, or neither. Whatever He does is for His glory, not ours. Actually, it takes more faith to endure our trials than it does to escape them. With the example given by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, we too must trust God even if He doesn’t deliver us (Dan. 3:16-18). Our brief time in this world should grace the earth even if we are accused as the Apostle Paul was, for the Roman governor Festus said Paul was out of his mind (Acts 26:24). His fellow Jews claimed he was not fit to live (Acts 22:22). Others said he was “the scum of the world... the dregs of all things” (1 Cor. 4:13). So, although the world may insult us, we know from the OT saints to Paul to our Lord Jesus that what the world thinks of us matters not. The only thing that matters is what God thinks of our faith. What might He think of yours today?