Hebrews 11:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Tell me, whom did Abraham see, and whom could he imitate? His father was a pagan and an idolater. He had not heard the prophets, and he did not know where he was going.

Since the believers from among the Jews regarded the forefathers as men who had received countless blessings, the Apostle says that none of them received anything. All remained unrewarded, and not one received recompense.

Abraham left his fatherland and his house, and went out without knowing where he was going. Yet what is astonishing if he himself did this, when his descendants also lived in the same way?

Seeing that the promise was not fulfilled, he did not grow faint. For the Lord had said to him, "All the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants forever" (Gen 13:15).

"By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land." The land, he says, which God promised to give to him and to his seed, he inhabited as foreign. In what sense foreign? He even bought a tomb for Sarah (Gen 23:4), yet he did not doubt and say, "God has lied." Rather, he believed that He Who promised would certainly give it. "And he lived in tents." He inhabited a land so foreign to him that he did not even have his own house, but lived in tents. This is proper to sojourners who, having no plot of their own, move from place to place. "With Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise." Isaac and Jacob also lived on it as on a foreign land. The Philistines envied Isaac, and Abimelech's servants took away his wells and his wife.

There is an observation that nothing is more wearisome than waiting and trying to catch up. The people of the Old Covenant also experienced this weariness.

Thus mankind waited long for the Savior, five thousand five hundred and eight years from the day of its fall into sin. The day of Christ’s Nativity was the most desired day.

But that day did not come soon after the creation of the world. Men still had to labor much and suffer much because of their disobedience to the first, easy commandment of God.

Sin had to break out entirely, like some grievous sore, so that the sickness might be finally and perfectly healed.

Sustained by faith, he migrated forever and dwelt in the place of promise as a stranger in another's possession. There he settled in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of that promise (Gen. 12:1).

Even after coming into the promised land, he did not become its owner. He himself, his son, and his grandson lived as migrants, dwelling as in a foreign land upon the land that was their own by promise. Therefore they did not build houses, but spent their life dwelling in tents. Yet they believed that He Who had promised is true, even though they did not see the testimony of events agreeing with faith. The Apostle said, "Abraham, when called," because of the change of name. For he was called Abram and was named Abraham. Having believed Him Who called, he left his father's house and followed, not knowing what land He promised to give him. For He Who called him said, "Go to the land that I will show you" (Gen 12:1).

"By faith Abraham sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land." After receiving the promise concerning the inheritance of such a land, he settled in it, not as in his own land, but as in a foreign land, as a stranger.

Although God said to him, "I will give you all this land, and to your seed" (Gen 13:15), neither he himself, nor Isaac, nor his later descendants took possession of it until the Israelites came out of Egypt. In fact, the promises of inheritance referred precisely to them.

Therefore, after the death of Sarah his wife, he said to the Hittites, "I am a sojourner and a stranger among you. Give me property for a burial place among you, that I may bury my dead" (Gen 23:4).

The land of the Chaldeans (Acts 7:4) is life in the passions, where the idols of sins are built and worshiped. Mesopotamia (v. 2), which means the land between rivers, is a life that shares in both contrary dispositions.

The land of promise (Heb 11:9) is a state filled with every good thing. Therefore everyone who, like ancient Israel, returns to his former habit is again dragged down into slavery to the passions and loses the freedom once given.

It is worthy of note that, as we see, none of the saints went down into the land of Babylon. It is improper and contrary to right understanding for those who love God to choose the worse instead of the good.

"He dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob." This does not mean that they lived together in tents at the same time, but that they did so successively. The sons of Jacob had already moved to Egypt for permanent residence. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for the greater part of his life, passed from place to place.

Where was the height and purity of Abraham's faith shown here? It was precisely in this: when he came into the promised land, he did not hasten to settle in it with his son and grandson as its wealthy material possessor. Rather, he was content for the time being to dwell in tents. He was filled with the conviction that God's promise to him concerning possession of the land of Canaan would be fulfilled in a far better and higher sense. It would be fulfilled as possession of the heavenly fatherland (Heb. 11:13-19).

Further, Abraham's faith was revealed in this: he exchanged his fertile land for a country foreign to him, which God only afterward promised to give him as an hereditary possession. Abraham, and likewise Isaac and Jacob, preserved their faith even when they settled in Canaan. They lived in tents, not in a house, thereby showing that they expected their dwelling not in an earthly city, but in the heavenly one.