New Testament texts can have multiple types embedded in them. In Heb 2:14, there is an obvious type centred on ‘Jacob and his Children meeting Esau’. Another strand of typology is based on the Exodus. This is shown by the use of the noun ‘bondage’ and the verb ‘to deliver’ (v. 15), which are obvious allusions to the captivity of Israel in Egypt.
It is attractive to read the events of the Passover behind Heb 2:14. At that time Pharaoh was the one who had the ‘power of death’ over the firstborn of Israel. And they were subject to bondage all their lifetime through fear of death from Pharaoh, which makes Pharaoh ‘the Devil’. However, the ‘children’ of Israel were ‘delivered’ from their bondage (Exod 12:21-23) by the Lord, who hovered over their houses, and made ‘the destroyer’ to pass-over their houses and of ‘no effect’.
We can also read the type with ‘the Devil’ matching the Destroying Angel which the blood of the lamb ‘made of no effect’. There is no contradiction between this view and the one above, since the destroying angel was a Pharaoh to Pharaoh when he destroyed his firstborn.[1] The Lord delivered Israel from both Pharaoh and the Destroying Angel. The two facts are present in this type. This makes ‘the destroyer’ perform the role of ‘the devil’ i.e. Pharaoh.[2]
As a third type, we might observe that the same Greek word for ‘bondage’ is used in four other places in the NT by way of allusion to the bondage of the children of Israel (Rom 8:15, 21; Gal 4:24; 5:1). Paul uses this concept in a typical sense to describe the status of those who are content to remain under the Law of Moses—they were slaves in bondage (Gal 4:9; 5:1). The law was bondage because it led to death and engendered fear of death. If the law could have given life, then it would not have enslaved.
The purpose of the Law was to lead to faith in Christ. It would be this faith that would save those under the Law. However, the Law was used by the Scribes and the Pharisees to enslave the people. This slavery is like the slavery of Egypt,[3] it lasts a lifetime, and there is a dragon or serpent that is the enslaving power.
Jesus Christ sets people free from this Law, by destroying the Serpent who is the power behind the Law (Rom 7:8-9). The Law was essentially good, but it was used (and inverted) by ‘the devil’ to exercise the power of death.
[1] The blood of the lamb delivered Israel from the destroyer, but the destroyer destroyed the firstborn of Egypt. Pharaoh had attempted to destroy the seed of the woman in issuing his decree to kill all the firstborn of Israel; but this enmity was turned on its head and the firstborn of Pharaoh, the seed of the Serpent, was destroyed.
[2] A similar relationship between ‘the Lord’ and ‘the destroyer’ exists at the time when Israel suffer a pestilence as a result of David’s sin in numbering Israel (2 Sam 24:16).
[3] Egypt is a well-known type for sin.
1st Peter: Some New Testament Allusions