CHAP. Hebrews 11:1. Having affirmed that our distinguishing quality as Christians is not apostasy, but faith, and that the issue in our case is not perdition, but the gaining of that life of the soul which apostasy threatens, he now proceeds to show that faith is the quality of the spiritual life. T... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:2. FOR IN IT. IN JUST SUCH AND NO OTHER faith all the heroes of the older economy were testified of, and OBTAINED A [good] REPORT became, through their stedfastness and amid inferior means of grace, examples to the younger generation, ourselves (see Hebrews 11:40). The forms of expression... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:3. Here begin the examples of the power and nature and effects of faith. BY FAITH WE KNOW THAT THE WORLDS (the universe) HAVE BEEN FRAMED BY THE WORD OF GOD. ‘The worlds' all that exists in time and space, including time and space themselves (see note on chap. Hebrews 1:2). ‘Have been fra... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:4. A MORE EXCELLENT SACRIFICE partaking more of the quality of a true sacrifice with reference to what constitutes its excellence. Cain offered of his fruits what came first to hand; Abel offered of the firstlings of his flock, the choicest and best. Cain expressed at most his thankfulnes... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:5-6. BY FAITH ENOCH WAS TRANSLATED. The language of this verse is taken from the Septuagint (Genesis 5:22-24). ‘He was not' is there rendered ‘he was not found.' The phrase ‘God took him' is translated ‘God translated him;' changed corruption into incorruption, the natural body into the s... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:7. Three antediluvians are named Abel, the penitent and martyr; Enoch, the prophet (Jude 1:14-15) and saint; and now is introduced Noah, the righteous and perfect man the first man to whom this title is applied (Genesis 6:9, compare Ezekiel 14:14-20). BEING WARNED OF GOD (having received... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:8. BY FAITH ABRAHAM, WHEN BEING CALLED the reading, _he who is called_, has less authority than the common text, though it makes a good sense ‘he who is called the father of nations' OBEYED AND WENT; his confidence showing itself in this way. AND HE WENT OUT, NOT KNOWING WHITHER (where)... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:8-22. From the elders of the antediluvian world the writer now appeals to the elders of Israel, the great men who, under God, founded the Jewish state. Theirs also was a condition of patient trust, and ultimately of blessed reward.... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:9. By faith he received the promise, and still waited for the fulfilment of it. BY FAITH HE SOJOURNED (a temporary resident only) IN THE LAND OF PROMISE (which God had given him) as (if it were) ANOTHER'S (and not his own), HAVING HIS HOME IN TENTS tents without foundation pitched today,... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:10. FOR (the reason of his being a sojourner only) he looked, or waited, FOR A CITY WHICH HATH FOUNDATIONS, WHOSE BUILDER (the word implies the skill employed in building the skill of the architect who forms the plan, as the following word implies rather the labour of erecting it) AND MAK... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:11. And what is true of Abraham, the father of the faithful, is true also of Sarah, who was equally the ancestor of the chosen race. SARAH HERSELF, not ‘who had so long doubted' (Bleek, etc.), for the writer is not dealing with the difficulty of faith, but with the necessity for it. The e... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:12. WHEREFORE ALSO (a common Pauline expression, Romans 4:22; Romans 15:22, etc.) FROM ONE (the emphatic part) SPRANG THERE, etc. from a single, nay a lifeless, source sprang there a race like the dust of the earth (Genesis 13:16), the stars of the heaven, the sand on the lip (the margin)... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:13-16. The one attribute of the faith of all these men is that it continued till death. IN FAITH (rather, consistently with it, still looking forward to a glorious future as yet unrealized). THESE ALL (from Abraham downwards, as is clear from Hebrews 11:15) DIED AS NOT HAVING RECEIVED TH... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:14. FOR (they proved that they lived and died in faith) THEY WHO SAY OF THEMSELVES THAT THEY ARE SOJOURNERS (Genesis 23:4) of their life that it is a pilgrimage (Genesis 47:9), a wandering in a foreign land, make it plain that it is a fatherland, a true home, they are seeking, and not the... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:15. AND IF INDEED THEY WERE THINKING OF (or mentioning, as in Hebrews 11:22) THAT HOME WHENCE THEY CAME OUT, THEY MIGHT HAVE HAD OPPORTUNITY TO RETURN.... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:16. BUT NOW (the case is that, see chap. Hebrews 8:6) THEY DESIRE A BETTER, THAT IS, A HEAVENLY (home); WHEREFORE GOD IS NOT ASHAMED OF THEM, TO BE CALLED THEIR GOD. Of old He honoured them as His friends; Himself added to names which describe His essential nature, His being, and His almi... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:17. Thus they lived and died. The writer now returns to particular instances, in order to illustrate not the final results, but the power and heroic deeds of the faith which was thus honoured. BY FAITH ABRAHAM BEING TRIED (his trials were long continued), HATH OFFERED UP (the purpose of h... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:18. EVEN HE TO WHOM (‘whom' refers in the Greek to Abraham, not to Isaac, and therefore it is ‘to whom,' not with respect to (of) whom) IT WAS SAID, IN ISAAC (through and in descent from him) SHALL THERE BE NAMED TO THEE A SEED only his descendants shall be (and shall be known as) Abraham... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:19. And the reason was that he reckoned the faithfulness of God to be safe in the keeping of His almightiness; he believed that God would keep His word, even if it was necessary for Him to effect a resurrection from the dead. The statement is quite general; and, though applied to Isaac by... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:20. Nor is faith restricted to trial; it realizes blessing also. BY FAITH ISAAC BLESSED JACOB (the heir of the greater promise) AND ESAU TOO (the two articles of the original call attention to distinct acts) EVEN CONCERNING THINGS TO COME the act of faith and of prophetic faith. The bless... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:21. BY FAITH JACOB, WHEN DYING, BLESSED EACH OF THE SONS OF JOSEPH. The dying acts of the two patriarchs are connected together as worshippers (Genesis 47:31). HE WORSHIPPED ON THE TOP OF HIS STAFF. The history explains this allusion. Jacob had arranged with his son for his own burial in... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:22. This dying act of Jacob's recalls the like faith of Joseph. BY FAITH JOSEPH, WHEN DRAWING TO HIS END, MADE MENTION OF THE EXODUS OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL, and made his brethren swear that his bones should rest in the land of promise; an expression at once of his faith and of his love for... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:23. Thus far the writer has been dealing with examples of faith in Genesis alone. The examples are few compared with all recorded in that book, but they are very striking and noble. The history and character of Moses naturally occupy a chief place in the following verses. From the first h... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:24-28. Mark the successive expressions of his faith. When he was grown up he refused the name and dignity of a member of the royal family, preferring to suffer with the people of God rather than enjoy, with godless, idolatrous Egyptians, such fleeting pleasures as sin provides. DEEMING TH... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:29. That awful night is followed by a glorious deliverance. BY FAITH THEY PASSED THROUGH (the verb is used of crossing in any way) THE RED SEA. God by a strong east wind made a passage through the water, and in faith the Israelites entered AS BY DRY LAND, assured of their safety. The Egyp... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:30. The writer now leaves the Book of the Law for the Book of Joshua, the record of the conquest of the land and of the complete fulfilment of the ancient promise. BY FAITH (of Joshua and the whole people, the correlative of that Divine power which really did the deed) THE WALLS, etc. As... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:31. Nor does previous personal character hinder its power, or previous separation from the covenant people. BY FAITH, as shown in her confession, ‘Jehovah is God in heaven above and in the earth beneath,' ‘and He hath given you the land' (Joshua 11:9). RAHAB THE HARLOT, and a Canaanite,... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:32. WHAT SHALL I SAY MORE? FOR TIME WILL FAIL, etc. The groups named in this verse are really two; and though there are various readings as to the connecting particles, they necessitate no change. The chronological order of the names would be, Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson; Samuel, Davi... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:33. WHO THROUGH FAITH. The ‘who' refers both to those named and to others like them; the introduction of the previous enumeration (‘time will fail,' etc.) being practically a rhetorical equivalent for ‘etc.' in English; and the ‘through faith' applying to all that is said to the end of He... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:34. QUENCHED THE POWER OF FIRE (not the fire, which still burnt, but the power of it); true of Shadrach and his companions. ESCAPED THE EDGE OF THE SWORD, as in the case of Elijah (1 Kings 19:1, etc.), Elisha (2 Kings 6:14, etc.), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 36:26, etc.). OUT OF WEAKNESS WERE... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:35-38. What faith has done we have seen; what it helps men to suffer is now told us. WOMEN RECEIVED (back) THEIR DEAD RAISED TO LIFE AGAIN (literally, by a resurrection, which is regarded as the cause or origin of their so receiving them), true of the widow of Sarepta and of the Shunamite... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:36. OTHERS HAD TRIAL (experience) OF CRUEL MOCKINGS AND SCOURGINGS. The allusion again is to the Maccabees (2Ma 7:7-10). YEA, MOREOVER (a harder thing, because of the continuance and depressing influence of it), OF BENDS OF IMPRISONMENT perhaps with reference to Jonathan (1Ma 13:12), or... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:37. THEY WERE STONED, as was Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, the last martyr mentioned in the Old Testament (2 Chronicles 24:20-22), as Abel was the first Jeremiah is also said to have been stoned to death at Tahpanhes (Daphne) in Egypt. THEY WERE SAWN ASUNDER, as was Isaiah by Manasseh... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:38.... IN CAVES (clefts of the mountain, ending in chambers); IN HOLES, openings of any kind true of Elijah at Horeb, of Elisha at Carmel, and of the prophets hidden by Obadiah.... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 11:39. The Bible is largely a history of faith, its deeds and sufferings and rewards; pre-eminently of the patience and perseverance which belong to it, and which seem essential in a world where virtue is militant. THESE ALL HAVING HAD WITNESS BORNE TO THEM THROUGH THEIR FAITH, _i.e_ though... [ Continue Reading ]