Examples of faith (Hebrews 11)

Hebrews 11 takes a different direction from the preceding chapters.  It provides numerous examples of faith from people in the Old Testament.  The common thread is that they all believed in God's promises to them, they acted on it on faith, and were blessed even though they did not receive the full blessing in their lifetime.

The examples run the gambit from Abel (who was killed for his offering) through the prostitute Rahab at the time of Joshua.  The author leaves the reader wanting more by saying he did not have time to cover anyone else, including Gideon, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets.

Personally, I wish the author did include a commentary on Jephthah.  His story is one of the strangest in the Old Testament in which it seems like he sacrificed his own daughter.  (Judges 11:34-40).

The author makes a curious statement about faith.  In particular, one must have faith and believe in God in order for an act of faith to count.  This in interesting.  I understand this to mean that God does not want blindly following ritual patterns.

I do not think this means that God overlooks efforts by a person of little or no faith to find faith.  If we remember earlier in the book, the author is intentionally addressing mature Christians by saying his book includes solid food, not just milk (6:1-3).  In that context, the author seems to address those who act with mature faith, but really have little or none.

So how do we get more faith?  The author of Hebrews does not seem to address it.  But we know from elsewhere in the Bible that faith comes from God.  For instance, Galatians 5:22 states it is one of the fruits of the spirit.  Ephesians 2:8-10 might indicate that faith is a gift from God, but the text is a little nebulous at what precisely is the gift - grace, salvation, or faith.

A few other things that stand out to me about Hebrews:

The "by faith" examples begin with the story of Cain and Abel (11:4) who may be the precedent for animal and vegetable sacrifices that God codified in the Mosaic law.  Again, there seems to be know command by God for them to sacrifice anything, it seems they just did it on their volition.

"By faith" Abraham almost sacrificed his son.  The author of Hebrews provides the reason for Abraham in that he reasoned God could raise Isaac from the dead.  (11: 17-19).  The text from Genesis is silent as to this, so it is an interesting statement to make in the New Testament.