Hebrews 11:13

Not only in life was the faith of the patriarchs manifested, it stood the test of death, κατὰ πίστιν ἀπέθανον οὗτοι πάντες, in keeping with their faith (see Winer, p. 502) these all (that is Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Jacob) died, and the strength of their faith was seen in this that although they had not received the fulfilment of the promises (Hebrews 11:39 and Hebrews 10:36) they yet had faith enough to see and hail them from afar. As Moses endured because he saw the Invisible (Hebrews 11:27) so the patriarchs were not daunted by death because they saw the day of Christ (John 8:56), that is to say, they were so firmly persuaded that God's promise would be fulfilled that it could be said that they saw the fulfilment. They hailed them from afar, as those on board ship descry friends on shore and wave a recognition. [Wetstein cites from Appian, De Bell. Civ., ver. 46, p. 110 where it is said that the soldiers τὸν Καίσαρα πόῤῥωθεν ὡς αὐτοκράτορα ἠσπάσαντο.] “Such an ἀσπασμός we have in the mouth of the dying Jacob (Genesis 49:18): For Thy salvation have I waited, Jehovah” (Delitzsch). This they might have done had they merely believed that the promises would be fulfilled to their descendants, but that their faith extended also to their own enjoyment of God's promise was testified by their confessing that so far as regards the land (τῆς γῆς) of Canaan they were pilgrims and foreigners. This confession was made no doubt by their whole conduct, but as the aorist indicates it was made verbally by Abraham on the occasion of Sarah's death (Genesis 23:4), πάροικος καὶ παρεπίδημος ἐγώ εἰμι μεθʼ ὑμῶν, cf. Genesis 47:9, etc. The article before γῆς, together with the sense of the passage, shows that the land of promise, Canaan, was meant. ἐπὶ γῆς in the same connection is used for “the earth,” cf. 1 Chronicles 29:15. Philo (De Agricult., p. 196) refines upon the same idea, παροικεῖν οὐ κατοικεῖν ἤλθομεν · τῷ γὰρ ὄντι πᾶσα μὲν ψυχὴ σοφοῦ πατρίδα μὲν οὐρανὸν, ξένην δὲ γῆν ἔλαχεν. Cf. De Conf. Ling., p. 331. But such a confession implies that those who make it (οἱ γὰρ τοιαῦτα λέγοντες) have not yet found but are in search of a fatherland, πατρίδα ἐπιζητοῦσιν. [Cf. Romans 11:7, ὃ ἐπιζητεῖ Ἰσραὴλ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐπέτυχεν. Frequent in N.T., to seek, search for. “The ἐπὶ is that of direction, as the ἐκ in ἐκζητεῖν (Hebrews 11:6) is that of explanation” (Vaughan).] The acknowledgment, cheerful or sad, that such and such a land is not the home-country makes it manifest (ἐμφανίζουσιν, John 14:21; Acts 23:15) that they think of and have in view and are making for a land which they can call their own. [“Si hic peregrinantur, alibi patria est ac fixa sedes” (Calvin).] And that this home-country of their desire is not that from which Abraham and the patriarchs were really derived (Mesopotamia) and which they had abandoned, (ἀφʼ ἧς ἐξέβησαν) is also evident, because had they cherished fond memories of it they would have had opportunity (εἶχον ἂν καιρὸν, cf. Acts 24:25; 1Ma 15:34. The imperfects indicate that this was continuous) to return (ἀνακάμψαι, Matthew 2:12; Luke 10:6; Acts 18:21; frequent in LXX). νῦν δὲ, “but as the case actually stands” (Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 9:26; 1 Corinthians 15:20, etc.) putting aside this idea that it might be their old home they were seeking, κρείττονος ὀρέγονται, τοῦτʼ ἔστιν ἐπουρανίου, it is a better, that is, a heavenly they aspire after. That which in point of fact provoked in the patriarchs the sense of exile was that their hearts were set on a better country and firmer settlement than could be found anywhere, but in heaven. And because they thus proved that they were giving to God credit for meaning by His promises more than the letter indicated, because they measured His promises by the spirit of the promises rather than by the thing promised, He is not ashamed of them, not ashamed to be called their God; and the proof that He is not ashamed of them is, that He prepared for them a city. The patriarchs showed that they understood that in giving these promises God became their God; therefore God was not ashamed of them, and this showed itself especially in His naming Himself “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” (Exodus 3:15). Cf. with this verse, Hebrews 8:10 and Matthew 22:31-32. And that He was truly their God He showed by preparing for them a city which should justify the expectations which they had based upon His power and goodness.