Janean, long time! Good to see you, and good questions.

Marie is right on target with your friend's first question. I would simply add that the parents' faith--for that is what Hebrews 11 is speaking of here--is revealed in their trust that God would preserve Moses once out of their care, even if they themselves were apprehended and hauled before Pharaoh, a quite likely scenario if a nosy neighbor wanted to be rewarded for a little espionage. The easy thing for them to do, if they had been afraid of the king, would have been to hand Moses over at once.

Your friend's second question is also easily answered. The context of Hebrews 11:27 shows that Moses' desire to be mistreated with the people of God refers to his return, at age 80, to Egypt from Midian, since he at no time suffered any penalty of that identification during his first 40 years. His leaving Egypt, not fearing the king, is then obviously his second departure from Egypt, during the Exodus. Whereas he clearly did fear the king on his first departure--Exodus 2:14-15--his second departure is completely different: rather than leaving to save his own hide, he is commanded by God to take his people out, and he obeys, not fearing the king's anger--Exodus 14:13-14--taking a minimally-armed crowd out in full view of the king's chariot-equipped special forces unit.

Hebrews 11 is for obvious reasons not describing Moses' lack of faith in Exodus 2 in these verses. It simply jumps from his parents' faith to Moses' own at the time of the Exodus.

In Christ,
Paul S