--- title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible" author: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 846 of 927 url: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/846/ cite: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, section 846. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/846/" --- # Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible *Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown* The Victorian standard commentary, critical and practical, from Genesis to Revelation. ## 846. Hebrews · 21 of 27 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/846/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/846/#p-N [¶0] as in a strange country--a country not belonging to him, but to others (so the Greek), [Ac 7:5], . [¶1] dwelling in tabernacles--tents: as strangers and sojourners do: moving from place to place, as having no fixed possession of their own. In contrast to the abiding "city" ([He 11:10]). [¶2] with--Their kind of dwelling being the same is a proof that their faith was the same. They all alike were content to wait for their good things hereafter ([Lu 16:25]). Jacob was fifteen years old at the death of Abraham. [¶3] heirs with him of the same promise--Isaac did not inherit it from Abraham, nor Jacob from Isaac, but they all inherited it from God directly as "fellow heirs." In [He 6:12], 15, 17, "the promise" means the thing promised as a thing in part already attained; but in this chapter "the promise" is of something still future. However, see on [He 6:12]. [¶4] 10. looked for--Greek, "he was expecting"; waiting for with eager expectation ([Ro 8:19]). [¶5] a city--Greek, "the city," already alluded to. Worldly Enoch, son of the murderer Cain, was the first to build his city here: the godly patriarchs waited for their city hereafter ([He 11:16]; ; ). [¶6] foundations--Greek, "the foundations" which the tents had not, nor even men's present cities have. [¶7] whose builder and maker--Greek, "designer [Ep 1:4, 11] and master-builder," or executor of the design. The city is worthy of its Framer and Builder (compare [He 11:16]; [He 8:2]). Compare Note, see on [He 9:12], on "found." [¶8] 11. also Sara herself--though being the weaker vessel, and though at first she doubted. [¶9] was delivered of a child--omitted in the oldest manuscripts: then translate, "and that when she was past age" ([Ro 4:19]). [¶10] she judged him faithful who had promised--after she had ceased to doubt, being instructed by the angel that it was no jest, but a matter in serious earnest. [¶11] 12. as good as dead--literally, "deadened"; no longer having, as in youth, energetic vital powers. [¶12] stars ... sand--([Ge 22:17]). [¶13] 13-16. Summary of the characteristic excellencies of the patriarchs' faith [¶14] died in faith--died as believers, waiting for, not actually seeing as yet their good things promised to them. They were true to this principle of faith even unto, and especially in, their dying hour (compare [He 11:20]). [¶15] These all--beginning with "Abraham" ([He 11:8]), to whom the promises were made ([Ga 3:16]), and who is alluded to in the end of [He 11:13] and in [He 11:15] [Bengel and Alford]. But the "ALL" can hardly but include Abel, Enoch, and Noah. Now as these did not receive the promise of entering literal Canaan, some other promise made in the first ages, and often repeated, must be that meant, namely, the promise of a coming Redeemer made to Adam, namely, "the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." Thus the promises cannot have been merely temporal, for Abel and Enoch mentioned here received no temporal promise [Archbishop Magee]. This promise of eternal redemption is the inner essence of the promises made to Abraham ([Ga 3:16]). [¶16] not having received--It was this that constituted their "faith." If they had "received" THE THING PROMISED (so "the promises" here mean: the plural is used because of the frequent renewal of the promise to the patriarchs: [He 11:17] says he did receive the promises, but not the thing promised), it would have been sight, not faith. [¶17] seen them afar off--([Joh 8:56]). Christ, as the Word, was preached to the Old Testament believers, and so became the seed of life to their souls, as He is to ours. [¶18] and were persuaded of them--The oldest manuscripts omit this clause. [¶19] embraced them--as though they were not "afar off," but within reach, so as to draw them to themselves and clasp them in their embrace. Trench denies that the Old Testament believers embraced them, for they only saw them afar off: he translates, "saluted them," as the homeward-bound mariner, recognizing from afar the well-known promontories of his native land. Alford translates, "greeted them." Jacob's exclamation, "I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord" ([Ge 49:18]) is such a greeting of salvation from afar [Delitzsch]. [¶20] confessed ... were strangers--so Abraham to the children of Heth ([Ge 23:4]); and Jacob to Pharaoh ([Ge 47:9]; [Psa 119:19]). Worldly men hold fast the world; believers sit loose to it. Citizens of the world do not confess themselves "strangers on the earth." [¶21] pilgrims--Greek, "temporary (literally, 'by the way') sojourners." [¶22] on the earth--contrasted with "an heavenly" ([He 11:16]): "our citizenship is in heaven" (Greek: [He 10:34]; [Psa 119:54]; [Php 3:20]). "Whosoever professes that he has a Father in heaven, confesses himself a stranger on earth; hence there is in the heart an ardent longing, like that of a child living among strangers, in want and grief, far from his fatherland" [Luther]. "Like ships in seas while in, above the world." [¶23] 17. offered up--literally, "hath offered up," as if the work and its praise were yet enduring [Alford]. As far as His intention was concerned, he did sacrifice Isaac; and in actual fact "he offered him," as far as the presentation of him on the altar as an offering to God is concerned. [¶24] tried--Greek, "tempted," as in [Ge 22:1]. Put to the proof of his faith. Not that God "tempts" to sin, but God "tempts" in the sense of proving or trying ([Jas 1:13-15]). [¶25] and--and so. [¶26] he that had received--rather as Greek, "accepted," that is, welcomed and embraced by faith, not merely "had the promises," as in [He 7:6]. This added to the difficulty in the way of his faith, that it was in Isaac's posterity the promises were to be fulfilled; how then could they be fulfilled if Isaac were sacrificed? [¶27] offered up--rather as Greek, "was offering up"; he was in the act of offering. [¶28] his only-begotten son--Compare [Ge 22:2], "Take now thy son, thine only son." Eusebius [The Preparation of the Gospel, 1.10, and 4.16], has preserved a fragment of a Greek translation of Sanchoniatho, which mentions a mystical sacrifice of the Phoenicians, wherein a prince in royal robes was the offerer, and his only son was to be the victim: this evidently was a tradition derived from Abraham's offering, and handed down through Esau or Edom, Isaac's son. Isaac was Abraham's "only-begotten son" in respect of Sarah and the promises: he sent away his other sons, by other wives ([Ge 25:6]). Abraham is a type of the Father not sparing His only-begotten Son to fulfil the divine purpose of love. God nowhere in the Mosaic law allowed human sacrifices, though He claimed the first-born of Israel as His. [¶29] 18. Of whom--rather as Greek "He (Abraham, not Isaac) TO whom it was said" [Alford]. Bengel supports English Version. So [He 1:7] uses the same Greek preposition, "unto," for "in respect to," or "of." This verse gives a definition of the "only-begotten Son" ([He 11:17]). [¶30] in Isaac shall thy seed be called--([Ge 21:12]). The posterity of Isaac alone shall be accounted as the seed of Abraham, which is the heir of the promises ([Ro 9:7]). [¶31] 19. Faith answered the objections which reason brought against God's command to Abraham to offer Isaac, by suggesting that what God had promised He both could and would perform, however impossible the performance might seem ([Ro 4:20], ). [¶32] able to raise him--rather, in general, "able to raise from the dead." Compare [Ro 4:17], "God who quickeneth the dead." The quickening of Sarah's dead womb suggested the thought of God's power to raise even the dead, though no instance of it had as yet occurred. [¶33] he received him--"received him back" [Alford]. [¶34] in a figure--Greek, "in a parable." Alford explains, "Received him back, risen from that death which he had undergone in, under, the figure of the ram." I prefer with Bishop Pearson, Estius, and Gregory of Nyssa, understanding the figure to be the representation which the whole scene gave to Abraham of Christ in His death (typified by Isaac's offering in intention, and the ram's actual substitution answering to Christ's vicarious death), and in His resurrection (typified by Abraham's receiving him back alive from the jaws of death, compare [2Co 1:9], ); just as on the day of atonement the slain goat and the scapegoat together formed one joint rite representing Christ's death and resurrection. It was then that Abraham saw Christ's day ([Joh 8:56]): accounting God was able to raise even from the dead: from which state of the dead he received him back as a type of the resurrection in Christ. [¶35] 20. Jacob is put before Esau, as heir of the chief, namely, the spiritual blessing. [¶36] concerning things to come--Greek, "even concerning things to come": not only concerning things present. Isaac, by faith, assigned to his sons things future, as if they were present. [¶37] 21. both the sons--Greek, "each of the sons" ([Ge 47:29]; [48:8-20]). He knew not Joseph's sons, and could not distinguish them by sight, yet he did distinguish them by faith, transposing his hands intentionally, so as to lay his right hand on the younger, Ephraim, whose posterity was to be greater than that of Manasseh: he also adopted these grandchildren as his own sons, after having transferred the right of primogeniture to Joseph ([Ge 48:22]). [¶38] and worshipped--This did not take place in immediate connection with the foregoing, but before it, when Jacob made Joseph swear that he would bury him with his fathers in Canaan, not in Egypt. The assurance that Joseph would do so filled him with pious gratitude to God, which he expressed by raising himself on his bed to an attitude of worship. His faith, as Joseph's ([He 11:22]), consisted in his so confidentially anticipating the fulfilment of God's promise of Canaan to his descendants, as to desire to be buried there as his proper possession. [¶39] leaning upon the top of his staff--[Ge 47:31], Hebrew and English Version, "upon the bed's head." The Septuagint translates as Paul here. Jerome justly reprobates the notion of modern Rome, that Jacob worshipped the top of Joseph's staff, having on it an image of Joseph's power, to which Jacob bowed in recognition of the future sovereignty of his son's tribe, the father bowing to the son! The Hebrew, as translated in English Version, sets it aside: the bed is alluded to afterwards ([Ge 48:2]; ), and it is likely that Jacob turned himself in his bed so as to have his face toward the pillow, [Is 38:2] (there were no bedsteads in the East). Paul by adopting the Septuagint version, brings out, under the Spirit, an additional fact, namely, that the aged patriarch used his own (not Joseph's) staff to lean on in worshipping on his bed. The staff, too, was the emblem of his pilgrim state here on his way to his heavenly city ([He 11:13], ), wherein God had so wonderfully supported him. [Ge 32:10], "With my staff I passed over Jordan, and now I am become," &c. (compare [Ex 12:11]; [Mr 6:8]). In [1Ki 1:47], the same thing is said of David's "bowing on his bed," an act of adoring thanksgiving to God for God's favor to his son before death. He omits the more leading blessing of the twelve sons of Jacob; because "he plucks only the flowers which stand by his way, and leaves the whole meadow full to his readers" [Delitzsch in Alford]. [¶40] 22. when he died--"when dying." [¶41] the departing--"the exodus" ([Ge 50:24], ). Joseph's eminent position in Egypt did not make him regard it as his home: in faith he looked to God's promise of Canaan being fulfilled and desired that his bones should rest there: testifying thus: (1) that he had no doubt of his posterity obtaining the promised land: and (2) that he believed in the resurrection of the body, and the enjoyment in it of the heavenly Canaan. His wish was fulfilled ([Jos 24:32]; [Ac 4:16]). [¶42] 23. parents--So the Septuagint has the plural, namely, Amram and Jochebed ([Nu 26:59]); but in [Ex 2:2], the mother alone is mentioned; but doubtless Amram sanctioned all she did, and secrecy. being their object, he did not appear prominent in what was done. [¶43] a proper child--Greek, "a comely child." [Ac 7:20], "exceeding fair," Greek, "fair to God." The "faith" of his parents in saving the child must have had some divine revelation to rest on (probably at the time of his birth), which marked their "exceeding fair" babe as one whom God designed to do a great work by. His beauty was probably "the sign" appointed by God to assure their faith. [¶44] the king's commandment--to slay all the males ([Ex 1:22]).