Hebrews 11:8

The apostle hath now passed over the first period of Scripture records, namely, from the beginning of the world unto the flood; and therein he hath considered the examples of all concerning whom it is testified in particular that they “pleased God,” and were accepted with him in their obedience. And two things he proves from them with respect unto his present purpose:

1. That they all pleased God and were righteous by faith.

2. That their faith was effectual to secure them in that state of divine favor, by enabling them unto all duties of obedience, notwithstanding the difficulties and oppositions which they met withal.

Hereby he makes good his design with respect unto these Hebrews, namely, to convince them that if they did not persevere in their profession, it was because of their unbelief, for that true faith would certainly carry them through with constancy and perseverance, whatever difficulties they should meet withal, giving them encouragement from what it wrought in others from the beginning.

Hence he proceeds unto the next period of time, from the flood, and the renovation of the world in the family of Noah, unto the giving of the law; so to manifest that in every state of the church the way of pleasing God was one and the same; as also, that faith still retained its efficacy under all alterations.

He who, in this period of time, is first testified unto in the Scripture, is he whose example on all accounts was most forcible with these Hebrews, which he had before at large proposed unto them and insisted on, Hebrews 6:11-15; the exposition of which place may be consulted, to give light to this context. This is Abraham; whose example, by reason of the eminency of his person, the relation of the Hebrews unto him, from whom they derived all their privileges temporal and spiritual, the efficacy of his faith, with the various successful exercises of it, he declares and urgeth at large from hence unto the end of the 19th verse.

Hebrews 11:8. Πίστει καλούμενος ᾿Αβραὰμ ὑπήκουσεν ἐξελθεῖν εἰς τὸν τόπον ὅν ἤμελλε λαμβάνειν εἰς κληρονομίαν, καὶ ἐξῆλθε μὴ ἐπιστάμενος ποῦ ἔρχεται.

Καλούμενος ᾿Αζβαάμ. Vulg. Lat., “qui vocatur Abraham;” Rhem., “he who is called Abraham:” which can no way be reconciled unto the text. Those who will adhere unto that translation do suppose that the change of his name is here intimated, when from Abram he was called Abraham: but that is not “vocatus,” but “cognominatus;” not καλούμενος, but προσαγορευθείς . And if καλούμενος were ever used in such a sense, as it is not, it should have been ὅς ἐκλήθη, and not καλούμενος, without any article. Besides, as the apostle had no reason to speak of Abraham in that manner, “he who is called Abraham,” as if he were a person but little known to them, so this interpretation takes away the whole foundation of the faith of Abraham, and of all the effects of it, and so of the whole argument of the apostle, which was his divine call, which he refers unto. Wherefore all other translations avoid this mistake. Syr., כּד אֶתְקְרִי, “ ַ when he was called.” “Evocatus,” “called forth.” ῾Ψπήκουσεν ἐξελθεῖν, “obedivit exire,” “obeyed to go forth.” Syr., “dicto audiens fuit,” “auscultavit ut exiret,” “ut abiret,” “ut emigraret; “hearkened,” “obeyed to go forth,” “to wander away.” Some supply “Deo” to “ auscultavit;” which may be better supplied to “called,” “called of God.” Our English translation makes a transposition of the words: instead of, “he obeyed to go forth” unto the place, it refers ἐξελθεῖν, “to go forth,” unto καλούμενος, being “called to go out” unto a place; and so refers “obeyed” afterwards not only to the call of Abraham, but also unto what he did in compliance therewithall.

῾Ψπηκουσενv, “auscultavit,” “ditto audivit;” a word proper to answer καλούμενος : “being called,” he so “heard” as to yield obedience. So “to hearken or hear” is frequently used in the Scripture.

Hebrews 11:8. By faith Abraham, being called [of God], obeyed to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

In Abraham there was a foundation laid of a new state of the church after the flood, more excellent than that which preceded. He was the first also after the flood unto whom testimony was given in particular that he pleased God. He was the progenitor of the Hebrews, from whom they derived all their privileges, in whose person they were initiated into the covenant, with a right unto the promises. He was also by promise “the father of all that believe.” And therefore it was the great concernment of those Hebrews then, and is so now of us, to consider aright the example of his faith and obedience.

Designing to give many illustrious instances of the power and efficacy of the faith of Abraham, the apostle begins with that which was the beginning and foundation of them all, namely, the call of God, and his compliance therewithal

And the nature, life, and power of faith, are represented in three words in this instance: πίστει, καλούμενος, ὑπήκουσε. It respects the call of God, which it rests upon, and which it is resolved into; and it acts itself in obedience to all the commands of God. This alone is that faith which the apostle celebrates, and whereunto he ascribes the great effect of our pleasing God.

In the words of the verse there is proposed unto us,

1. The foundation of the faith and obedience of Abraham, which was his call of God.

2. What he was called unto, which was a journey or pilgrimage; described,

(1.) By the term from whence he went, “go out;” and,

(2.) From the term whither he went, “unto a place,” etc.

3. The exercise of his faith, and the effects of it, “he obeyed.”

4. The commendation of his faith, from the difficulty wherewith his obedience was accompanied, with respect unto what he was called unto, “not knowing,” etc.

First, He was “called;” that is, of God, by an immediate word of command from him.

1. He did it not without a command, He did not leave all his present satisfactions, he did not put himself on innumerable hazards for the future, merely of his own accord. Had he not had a divine call, there had been no work for faith. Where there is no call from God, there can be no faith or trust in God. Where the call is general, as in our ordinary occasions, so is our faith in God, resigning all circumstances unto his disposal; but this especial call of Abraham required a special faith.

2. Concerning this call of Abraham, there are many difficulties arising from the record of it, Genesis 12:1-3, with its repetition by Stephen, Acts 7:2-4. For Genesis 12, it is reported as made after the death of Terah, his father, in Haran, Genesis 11:31-32; by Stephen it is assigned unto his being in Mesopotamia, before he left the land of the Chaldees. Besides, Haran, or Charran, was in Mesopotamia; where, in the relation of Stephen, he is said to dwell after he left Mesopotamia. Wherefore some say he was twice called, once in the land of the Chaldees, and again in Haran. Others say his call was but one; but then some say it was at Ur of the Chaldees, before he first went thence with his father; others, at Haran, after his father's death.

It will not consist with my design, nor the nature of an exposition, to insist at large on these things. Some few observations will clear the whole difficulty, so far as is necessary unto our purpose; as,

(1.) Mesopotamia is in good authors sometimes taken largely for all that part of Asia which is separated from Syria by the river Euphrates, comprehending both Assyria and Chaldea; and sometimes strictly and properly for the country between the two rivers of Euphrates and Tigris, whence it hath its denomination. Hence, when Stephen affirms that “the God of glory appeared unto Abraham in Mesopotamia,” he takes it in the largest sense, comprehending Chaldea, wherein Ur was, as is plain, verses 2, 4. And Abraham coming thence unto Haran, came into a city of Mesopotamia properly so called, and that near to Euphrates, which he was to pass over into Syria.

(2.) By assigning the appearance of God unto Abraham before he left the land of the Chaldees, Stephen directly affirms his call to have been whilst he was there, before he departed with his father and came to Haran. And this is evident from the story in Moses, when it is said that he and his father “went forth from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan,” Genesis 11:31; for they could have no design to leave their native country, with all their possessions and relations, to go into so remote and unknown a country, without some especial call and direction from God.

(3.) Wherefore those words of Moses, ויּאֹמֶר יְהָֹוה אֶאלאּאַבְרָם, Genesis 12:1, are well rendered by our translators, “Now the LORD had said unto Abram;” that is, he had so whilst he was in Ur of the Chaldees, before he and his father departed thence to go into the land of Canaan, Genesis 11:31. And because this call had no respect unto Terah, but unto Abraham only, Moses first records his journey with his father toward Canaan, and then, on the death of his father, takes up again and particularly expresseth his call, Genesis 12:1. The pursuit whereof from thence he distinctly declares.

(4.) And this is evident from the call itself, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house,” Genesis 12:1. For Abraham had all these in Ur of the Chaldees, and not in Haran.

Wherefore this call of Abraham was but one, and given at once; namely, whilst he was in Ur of the Chaldees, before his going out from thence with his father, and the death of his father thereon; which place Stephen reckons to Mesopotamia in the large notation of it. And this one call is particularly recorded, Genesis 12:1-3, after the death of Terah, when he only remained who was alone concerned therein. But the reader may see these things fully discoursed, with a just reconciliation of Moses with Stephen, in our Exercitations on the first volume of the Exposition, Exercitation 19.

Of this call of Abraham there were two parts:

(1.) A command, Genesis 12:1, “Get thee out of thy country,” etc.

(2.) A promise, Genesis 12:2-3, “And I will make of thee,” etc. Of this promise there were two parts:

[1.] A temporal blessing, in the multiplication of his seed, Genesis 12:2.

[2.] A spiritual blessing, in confining the promised blessing Seed unto him and his family, in whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed, verse 3. And it is a thing most absurd, and contrary to the whole design of the Scripture and the dispensation of the covenant, to confine the faith of Abraham unto the land of Canaan, and the glory of his posterity therein. For the life of the promise made unto him on his call, whereby his faith was animated, was in the blessing of all the families of the earth in him; which was in Christ alone, the promised seed, as all but infidels must confess.

Secondly, The apostle takes notice only of the first part of the call, namely, the command. And therein two things are considerable:

1. From what he was to go and depart.

2. What he was to go unto. He was to go out: καλούμενος ἐξελθεῖν. He was “called to go out; ” so our translation disposeth the words: or, being called, ὑπήκουσεν ἐξελθεῖν, “he obeyed to go out,” or “in going out,” as they lie in the original. They are both to the same purpose.

In the latter way, “obeyed” is immediately referred to faith; in the former, “going out” is so; his faith wrought by obedience in his going out.

1. It is said he was “called to go out.” From whence and from what, we are referred unto the story: Genesis 12:1, “Get thee” (לֶאֱּלְךָ, “vade tibi”) “out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house;” that is, ‘leave and forsake all things that are pleasant, useful, desirable unto thee;'for these three things, “country, kindred, and father's house,” comprise them all. And they fall under two considerations:

(1.) As man is naturally inclined to the love of them, to adhere unto them, to value them and delight in them. These are the things which, by all sorts of circumstances, do from their nativity insinuate themselves into the minds and affections of men, so as that they cannot be separated from them without the greatest convulsions of nature. And we have the testimony of mankind hereunto, with sundry instances of such as have preferred these things before their own lives.

(2.) They may be considered as useful and beneficial unto life and the comforts of it. Whatever is so, is contained in these things. Whereas, therefore, natural affection and sense of usefulness unto all the advantages and comforts of life, are the two cords that bind us unto any thing whatever, the forsaking of all things that fall under both of them, must needs proceed from some great cause and efficacious impulse.

This, therefore, commends the faith of Abraham in the first place, and evinceth the powerful efficacy of faith in general, that under its conduct, in obedience unto the call of God, he could and did relinquish all these things, cast out their insinuations into his affections, and break the cords of delight and interest which they cast upon him. And we may see herein that,

Obs. 1. It becomes the infinite greatness and all-satisfactory goodness of God, at the very first revelation of himself unto any of his creatures, to require of them a renunciation of all other things, and their interest in them, in compliance with his commands. ‘Get thee away from country, friends, relations, and enjoyments,'is a command becoming the greatness of God. “I am the LORD thy God,” is his first word unto us. And the next is, ‘“Thou shalt have no other gods but me,” with me, before me, besides me, nothing to be in my place, in comparison of me, in competition with me; forsake all, and be mine only.'Unless we have a sense of that greatness of God which makes such commands alone to become him, we yield no obedience unto him in a due manner.

Obs. 2. The power of sovereign grace in calling men to God, and the mighty efficacy of faith complying therewithal. Whilst Abraham lived with his father on the other side of the river, “they served other gods,” Joshua 24:2, or were engaged in the superstition and idolatry then prevalent in the world. And the minds of men being once thoroughly infected with them, as having received them by tradition from their fathers, are very hardly recovered from their snares. In this state he had all worldly accommodations that his own country, kindred, and inheritance, could afford him; yet such was the powerful efficacy of sovereign grace in his call by God, that it enabled him by faith to relinquish and renounce them all, and to betake himself at once unto a new state and condition, both as unto things temporal and eternal. It is well if all of us who make profession of the same faith, have an experience of the same grace.

Obs. 3. It is the call of God alone that makes a distinction amongst mankind, as unto faith and obedience, with all the effects of them. Abraham thus believed and obeyed God, because he was called; and he was called, not because he was better or wiser than others, but because it pleased God to call him and not others, 1 Corinthians 1:26-31.

Obs. 4. The church of believers consists of those that are called out of the world. The call of Abraham is a pattern of the call of the church, Psa 45:10; 2 Corinthians 6:17-18.

Obs. 5. Self-denial, in fact or resolution, is the foundation of all sincere profession. This Abraham began his profession in the practice of, and proceeded unto the height in the greatest instances imaginable. And the instruction that our Savior gives herein, Matthew 10:37-38; Matthew 16:24-25, amounts but unto this, ‘If you intend to have the faith of Abraham, with the fruits and blessings attending it, you must lay the foundation of it in self-denial, and the relinquishment of all things, if called thereunto, as he did.' Wherefore, the faith of Abraham being everywhere in the Scripture set up as the measure and standard of the faith of believers in all ages, and the apostle in this place giving us an account of the beginning and progress of it for our example, there is nothing that belongs more directly unto the exposition of the place than a due observation of its nature, actings, and effects, for our instruction, without which the mind of the Holy Ghost in the context is not understood; though expositors take very little notice of these things. Now, the foundation of the whole is laid herein, that the first act of saving faith consists in the discovery and sight of the infinite greatness goodness, and other excellencies of the divine nature, so as to judge it our duty, upon his call, his command and promise, to deny ourselves, to relinquish all things, and to do so accordingly.

2. We have seen what Abraham was called from: the next thing in the words is, what he was called unto; namely, “a place which he should after receive for an inheritance.”

He was not called merely to forsake the place where he was, and then left to rove and wander up and down uncertainly; but he was called unto a certain place. For it so falls out many times, that men, wearied by one means or another, (as convictions or afflictions,) of their present spiritual state and condition, so as to have a mind to relinquish it, yet having no discovery of another, of a better state, with rest in Christ by the gospel, they rove up and down in their minds and affections for a season, and then return to the state or place from which they came out, (which the patriarchs refused to do, verse 15,) or else perish in their wanderings.

This place whereunto he went is described by his future relation unto it and interest in it; he was “afterwards to receive it for an inheritance.” At present he received it not, but only in right and title; nor during his life. He, nor his posterity for some generations, had no inheritance in it; only he bought a burying-place in it of the children of Heth, whereby he took seizin of the whole. But he received it afterwards in his posterity, as is known.

And he is said to “receive” it. It was given unto him, bestowed on him by way of a free gift, or donation.: He did only “receive” it. And so it is with respect unto all good things betwixt God and us; he is the free donor of them, we are but passive recipients.

And he received this country “for an inheritance.” And unto an inheritance there is required right and title unto it, that a man may be a lawful possessor of it. Now, this country was before possessed by others, who enjoyed it by a prescription from its first plantation. But God, as the great possessor of heaven and earth, as the sovereign Lord of all things, transferred their right and title unto that land, and invested it in Abraham. So it is frequently repeated, that God gave them this or that land.

Obs. 6. There is no right, title, or possession, that can prescribe against the righteousness of God in the disposal of all inheritances here below at his pleasure. Whatever single persons, ‘whatever whole nations, may think or boast of their title and right, as unto God, they are all but tenants at will and pleasure. He can disinherit and disseize them of all as he sees good; and when he will do so, (as he gives instances of his so doing in all ages,) no plea will be admitted against his right, and the exercise of it. So do kings hold their crowns, nations their soil, and private men their possessions.

Obs. 7. God's grant of things unto any is the best of titles, and most sure against all pretences or impeachments. Judges 11:24,

‘We will possess what the LORD our God gives us to possess.'

Obs. 8. Possession belongs unto an inheritance enjoyed. This God gave unto Abraham in his posterity, with a mighty hand and stretched-out arm; and he divided it unto them by lot.

Obs. 9. An inheritance is capable of a limited season. The title unto it may be continued unto a prefixed period. So was it with this inheritance; for although it is called an “everlasting inheritance,” yet it was so only on two accounts:

(1.) That it was typical of that heavenly inheritance which is eternal. (2.) Because, as unto right and title, it was to be continued unto the end of that limited perpetuity which God granted unto the church-state in that land; that is, unto the coming of the promised Seed, in whom all nations should be blessed, which the call and faith of Abraham did principally regard. Until that time was expired, although many incursions were made into and upon this inheritance of Abraham, yet were all that made them oppressors; and they were punished for their usurpation. But when the grant of it to them expired, and those wicked tenants of God's vineyard forfeited their right unto it by their unbelief, and murdering of the true Heir, God disinherited them, dispossessed them, and left them neither right nor title to, nor any interest in this inheritance; as it is at this day. It is no more the inheritance of Abraham; but in Christ he is become “heir of the world,” and his spiritual posterity enjoy all the privileges of it.

Wherefore the grant of this land, for an inheritance unto Abraham in his posterity, had a season limited unto it. Upon the expiration of that term, their right and title unto it were cancelled and disannulled. And thereon God in his providence sent the armies of the Romans to dispossess them; which they did accordingly, unto this day. Nor have the present Jews any more or better title unto the land of Canaan than unto any other country in the world. Nor shall their title be renewed thereunto upon their conversion unto God. For the limitation of their right was unto that time wherein it was typical of the heavenly inheritance: that now ceasing for ever, there can be no especial title unto it revived. And we see herein,

Obs. 10. That it is faith alone that gives the soul satisfaction in future rewards in the midst of present difficulties and distresses. So it did to Abraham, who, in the whole course of his pilgrimage, attained nothing of this promised inheritance. And,

Obs. 11. The assurance given us by divine promises is sufficient to encourage us unto the most difficult course of obedience.

Thirdly, The last thing in the words is, the commendation of the faith of Abraham, from his ignorance of the place whither he was to go upon the call of God. He had only said unto him that he should go into a land that he would show him, Genesis 12:1.

1. But of what nature the land was, how or by whom inhabited, or what way he was to go into it, he told him not. It should seem, indeed, that God had told him from the beginning that it was the land of Canaan which he designed; for when he first left Ur of the Chaldees, he steered his course towards Canaan, Genesis 11:31: but it it is yet said that “he knew it not.” He did not understand any thing of the circumstances of it, nor what in that land he was called unto, nor where it was; so that it may be well said that he went whither he knew not. The sum is, that he wholly committed himself unto the power, faithfulness, goodness, and conduct of God, without the least encouragement from a prospect of the place whither he was going.

2. All these things being put together, namely, what he was called from; what he was called unto; his readiness in obedience; the ground of his whole undertaking, namely, the call of God, which he received, and obeyed by faith: here is not only an eminent instance of his faith recorded, but an invincible encouragement given unto those Hebrews unto whom the apostle wrote, and unto us with them, that faith is able to carry us through all the difficulties of our profession, unto the full enjoyment of the promise. This I look upon as a second instance of the faith of Abraham, wherein it was signally exemplary. He did not only on the first call of God, through a view of his greatness and sovereign authority, forego all that he had at present, but engaged himself unto absolute obedience, without any prospect what it might cost him, or what he was to undergo on the account of it, or what was the reward proposed unto him. And the same is required of us.