The author of Hebrews spent a good deal of time on Melchizedek in chapter 7. That person appears in only 4 verses in the Old Testament. The people that are mentioned in Hebrews 11:32-34 cover a lot more material, yet he simply mentions their names and their deeds. It says, “And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.” They are all well known heroes to the Israelites and the writer wants them to realize that they lived “by faith.”
The book of Judges contains 12 (maybe 13) characters who were called upon as Judges to deliver the Israelites from their enemies. This four-step cycle in Judges is repeated with each character. First, the people would turn from God and sin. Second, they would be enslaved by their enemies as Moses had predicted in the Law. Third, they would find themselves in despair and call out to God for help. Finally, God would respond by sending them a “Judge” or “deliverer” who stepped up to deliver the people from an enemy that they could not defeat on their own. But after each deliverance the people would forget God again and turn back to sin and the process would start all over again. The author of Hebrews mentions four of those deliverers in this passage; Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah. There were at least 8 others but they are not included in the list because they all make the same point.
Sin has brought the whole human race to a desperate state from which we cannot save ourselves. We need a “hero.” The Judges in Old Testament times were the heroes God would send to redeem his people from oppression and slavery. Because of the sinful nature of all people, we all need a deliverer who will face our enemy for us. Whether it’s an Old Testament Judge, Prophet or King it’s all the same. God called forth a chosen one, an anointed one, to save the people from a situation that sin took them into from which they could not save themselves. The means by which these deliverers saved their people was always faith in God. The people had to trust God’s anointed to deliver them. These are all previews of the Messianic deliverance to come through Jesus. Just as Israel had to trust God to deliver them from their plight through the anointed one, so too does the writer of Hebrews call his readers to trust God to deliver them from their plight through the chosen one, Jesus! The deeds performed were all miraculous! They “…conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.” God was specifically working in these “chosen ones” to deliver His people, Just as God “in Christ” was working miracles in our deliverance from sin and death. All of the heroes of the Old Testament are road signs along the way to Jesus. The Bible is all about Jesus!