Hebrews11chapter 11

Hebrews 11:4

“By faith Abel offered - a more excellent sacrifice - Πλειονα θυσιαν· More sacrifice; as if he had said: Abel, by faith, made more than one offering; and hence it is said, God testified of his Gifts, τοις δωροις. The plain state of the case seems to have been this: Cain and Abel both brought offerings to the altar of God, probably the altar erected for the family worship. As Cain was a husbandman, he brought a mincha, or eucharistic offering, of the fruits of the ground, by which he acknowledged the being and providence of God.”

Hebrews 11:4

“Therefore, since God originated Adam uncircumcised, and inobservant of the Sabbath, consequently his offspring also, Abel, offering Him sacrifices, uncircumcised and inobservant of the Sabbath, was by Him commended; while He accepted what he was offering in simplicity of heart, and reprobated the sacrifice of his brother Cain, who was not rightly dividing what he was offering. Noah also, uncircumcised-yes, and inobservant of the Sabbath-God freed from the deluge.”

Hebrews 11:4

“By faith - In the future Redeemer. Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice - The firstlings of his flock, implying both a confession of what his own sins deserved, and a desire of sharing in the great atonement.”

Hebrews 11:4

“The Greek is more literally rendered [KENNICOTT] by WYCLIFFE, "a much more sacrifice"; and by Queen Elizabeth's version "a greater sacrifice." A fuller, more ample sacrifice, that which partook more largely and essentially of the true nature and virtue of sacrifice [ARCHBISHOP MAGEE].”

Hebrews 11:5

“Enoch was not any longer found among men, though perhaps they sought for him as they did for Elijah, 2 Kings ii, 17. He had this testimony - From God in his own conscience.”

Hebrews 11:5

“Faith was the ground of his pleasing God; and his pleasing God was the ground of his translation. translated-- (Ge 5:22, 24).”

Hebrews 11:6

“THE Apostle had put Enoch down among the heroes of faith and, to prove that Enoch was a man of faith, he says, "Before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." "Then," argues Paul, "if he pleased God, he must have been a believing man, for the very lowest form of approach to God needs faith—'He that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.'”

Hebrews 11:6

“He that cometh to God - The man who professes that it is his duty to worship God, must, if he act rationally, do it on the conviction that there is such a Being infinite, eternal, unoriginated, and self-existent; the cause of all other being; on whom all being depends; and by whose energy, bounty, and providence, all other beings exist, live, and are supplied with the means of continued existence and life.”

Hebrews 11:7

“For what wonder if He extends a discipline who institutes it? if He advances who begins? In short, before the Law of Moses, written in stone-tables, I contend that there was a law unwritten, which was habitually understood naturally, and by the fathers was habitually kept. For whence was Noah "found righteous," if in his case the righteousness of a natural law had not preceded? Whence was Abraham accounted "a friend of God," if not on the ground of equity and righteousness, (in the observance) of a natural law?”

Hebrews 11:7

THE APOSTLE COULD NOT AVOID mentioning Noah; for in him faith shone forth eminently. He has placed him in due order of time after Abel and Enoch; but he had also another reason for the arrangement. These three ancient believers are declared in Holy Writ to have pleased God. Of Abel, it is said that God testified of his gifts. Enoch, before his translation, had this testimony, that he pleased God: and Noah "found grace in the eyes of the Lord."

Hebrews 11:8

ONE IS STRUCK with the practical character of this verse. Abraham was called, and he obeyed. There is no hint of hesitation, parleying, or delay; when he was called to go out, he went out. Would to God that—such conduct were usual, yea, universal; for with many of our fellow-men, and I fear with some now present, the call alone is not enough to produce obedience. "Many are called, but few are chosen." The Lord's complaint is "I called and ye refused."

Hebrews 11:8

“From the antediluvian saints he passes to the patriarchs of Israel, to whom "the promises" belonged. called--by God (Ge 12:1). The oldest manuscripts and Vulgate read, "He that was called Abraham," his name being changed from Abram to Abraham, on the occasion of God's making with him and his seed a covenant sealed by circumcision, many years after his call out of Ur.”

Hebrews 11:9

“Jacob was fifteen years old at the death of Abraham. 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 Heb 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.”

Hebrews 11:10

“He looked for a city which hath foundations - Whereas a tent has none. Whose builder and former is God - Of which God is the sole contriver, former, and finisher.”

Hebrews 11:13

“Believers are a class by themselves, even when they die. It is idle to think that we can mark out a spot in the cemetery where none but saints shall sleep, but yet there is a truth at the bottom of that folly. There is a separation even in death between the righteous and the wicked. The Lord seems to erect a mausoleum in which lie asleep the bodies of His people and He writes this epitaph across the front, "THESE ALL DIED IN FAITH." As for those who died without faith, they indeed, died.”

Hebrews 11:13

“These all died in faith - That is, those who had been just mentioned - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Sarah. It was true of Abel and Noah also that they died in faith, but they are not included in “this” declaration, for the “promises” were not particularly entrusted to them, and if the word “these” be made to include them it must include Enoch also, who did not die at all.”

Hebrews 11:13

“That faith held out to the last. By faith, when they were dying, they received the atonement; they acquiesced in the will of God; they quenched all the fiery darts of the devil; they overcame the terrors of death, disarmed it of its sting, and bade a cheerful farewell to this world and to all the comforts and crosses of it. These were the actings of their faith.”

Hebrews 11:14

“For--proof that "faith" (Heb 11:13) was their actuating principle. declare plainly--make it plainly evident. seek--Greek, "seek after"; implying the direction towards which their desires ever tend. a country--rather as Greek, "a fatherland." In confessing themselves strangers here, they evidently imply that they regard not this as their home or fatherland, but seek after another and a better.”

Hebrews 11:15

“And truly if they had been mindful of that country ... - If they had remembered it with sufficient interest and affection to have made them desirous to return. They might have had opportunity to have returned - The journey was not so long or perilous that they could not have retraced their steps. It would have been no more difficult or dangerous for them to do that than it was to make the journey at first. This shows that their remaining as strangers and sojourners in the land of Canaan was voluntary.”

Hebrews 11:16

“Proving the truth that the old fathers did not, as some assert, "look only for transitory promises" [Article VII, Book of Common Prayer]. now--as the case is. is not ashamed--Greek, "Is not ashamed of them." Not merely once did God call himself their God, but He is NOW not ashamed to have Himself called so, they being alive and abiding with Him where He is.”

Hebrews 11:16

“The saints who preceded Jesus' bodily sojourn, who had a somewhat greater mental grasp than the majority of believers, perceived the mysteries of divinity because the word of God was teaching them even before he became flesh, for he was always working, being an imitator of his Father of whom he says, "My Father is working still."He says, perhaps to the Sadducees who do not believe in the doctrine of the resurrection, "Have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the…”

Hebrews 11:17

“Here is a man of true faith, for when the Lord asked him to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, he was willing to do so. By faith he offered up the one through whom the Lord had given him the promise of a nation of descendants. And in offering his son he worshiped the Son of God.”

Hebrews 11:17

“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). and--and so. he that had received--rather as Greek, "accepted," that is, welcomed and embraced by faith, not merely "had the promises," as in Heb 7:6.”

Hebrews 11:18

“In Isaac shall thy seed be called - From him shall the blessed seed spring. Accounting that God was able even to raise him from the dead - Though there had not been any instance of this in the world.”

Hebrews 11:18

“Of whom it is said,.... That is, of Isaac, Abraham's own son, whom he offered up; or rather, "to whom it was said", as the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions render it; that is, to Abraham, for to him was this said, Gen 21:12 that in Isaac shall thy seed be called; that numerous natural seed of his, which should inherit the land of Canaan; and his special famous seed, the Messiah, to whom the promises were made; See Gill on Rom 9:7.”

Hebrews 11:18

“Of whom--rather as Greek "He (Abraham, not Isaac) TO whom it was said" [ALFORD]. BENGEL supports English Version. So Heb 1:7 uses the same Greek preposition, "unto," for "in respect to," or "of." This verse gives a definition of the "only-begotten Son" (Heb 11:17). in Isaac shall thy seed be called-- (Ge 21:12).”

Hebrews 11:18

“The promise of a posterity, and of the Messiah, must either be fulfilled by means of this son or not at all; so that, besides his most tender affection to this his son, all his expectations were bound up in him, and, if he perished, must perish with him. If Abraham had ever so many sons, this was the only son who could convey to all nations the promised blessing.”

Hebrews 11:19

“Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead - And that he would do it; for so Abraham evidently believed, and this idea is plainly implied in the whole narrative. There was no other way in which the promise could be fulfilled; and Abraham reasoned justly in the case. He had received the promise of a numerous posterity. He had been told expressly that it was to be through this favorite child. He was now commanded to put him to death as a sacrifice, and he prepared to do it.”

Hebrews 11:19

“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.”

Hebrews 11:20

"By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau." First he gave it to Jacob, then to Esau, not according to the sequence of their birth but according to the order of spiritual blessing.

Hebrews 11:20

“By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau,.... The history of this is in Gen 27:33. The former of these was a good man, and, though the youngest son, he is set before, and was blessed before the eldest; and the latter was a wicked man, and yet had a blessing; for temporal blessings are enjoyed in common: and this blessing was prophetic, it was concerning things to come.”

Hebrews 11:20

“By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau - He believed that God would fulfill his promise to his posterity; and God gave him to see what would befall them in their future generations. The apostle does not seem to intimate that one should be an object of the Divine hatred, and the other of Divine love, in reference to their eternal states. This is wholly a discovery of later ages. For an ample consideration of this subject, see the notes on Genesis 27 (note).”

Hebrews 11:20

“But, notwithstanding all this, Isaac's faith recovered itself, and he ratified the blessing: I have blessed him yea, and he shall be blessed. Rebecca and Jacob are not to be justified in the indirect means they used to obtain this blessing, but God will be justified in overruling even the sins of men to serve the purposes of his glory.”

Hebrews 11:21

“The tree of life that was planted by God in paradise prefigured this honorable cross, for, since death came by a tree, it was necessary for life and the resurrection to be bestowed by a tree. It was Jacob who first prefigured the cross, when he adored the top of the rod of Joseph. And when he blessed Joseph's sons with his hands crossed, he most clearly described the sign of the cross.”

Hebrews 11:21

“The time and season when Jacob thus acted his faith: when he was dying. He lived by faith, and he died by faith and in faith. Observe, Though the grace of faith is of universal use throughout our whole lives, yet it is especially so when we come to die.”

Hebrews 11:21

“His faith, as Joseph's (Heb 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. 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.”

Hebrews 11:22

“Joseph was eminent for his faith, though he had not enjoyed the helps for it which the rest of his brethren had. He was tried by temptations, by sin, by persecution, for retaining his integrity. He was tried by preferment and power in the court of Pharaoh, and yet his faith held out and carried him through to the last.”

Hebrews 11:22

“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.”

Hebrews 11:23

As I observed to you in the exposition, the stress in these passages of sacred biography should be laid upon the words, "by faith." The mighty deeds of heroes and the obedient acts of pilgrim fathers are only told to us because they spring out offaith.. It is to commend the root that the fruits are mentioned. The children are named one by one that the mother may have the praise, for faith is the mother of all virtues. According to this Book, God estimates men by their faith and "without faith it is impossible to please God."

Hebrews 11:23

“His beauty was probably "the sign" appointed by God to assure their faith. the king's commandment--to slay all the males (Ex 1:22).”

Hebrews 11:25

"Choosing" implies a deliberate resolution, not a hasty impulse. He was forty years old, a time when the judgment is matured. for a season--If the world has "pleasure" (Greek, "enjoyment") to offer, it is but "for a season." If religion bring with it "affliction," it too is but for a season; whereas its "pleasures are for evermore."

Hebrews 11:26

“The reproach of Christ - That which he bore for believing in the Messiah to come, and acting accordingly.”

Hebrews 11:28

“The pouring out of the blood - Of the paschal lamb, which was sprinkled on the door-posts, lest the destroying angel should touch the Israelites. They - Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites. Passed the Red Sea - It washed the borders of Edom, which signifies red.”

Hebrews 11:29

“The same thing when done by the believer, and when done by the unbeliever, is not the same thing [BENGEL]. What was faith in Israel, was presumption in the Egyptians. were drowned--Greek, "were swallowed up," or "engulfed." They sank in the sands as much as in the waves of the Red Sea.”

Hebrews 11:30

“By faith the walls of Jericho fell down,.... Of themselves, not from any natural cause: the Jews say (n) they sunk right down into the ground, and were swallowed up; even the whole wall fell round about, as the Septuagint version in Jos 6:20 expresses it: or, it may be, only that which was over against the camp of Israel, as Kimchi observes; since Rahab's house was built upon the wall, and yet fell not.”

Hebrews 11:30

“The soundings of trumpets, though one were to sound for ten thousand years, cannot throw down walls, but faith can do all things [CHRYSOSTOM]. seven days--whereas sieges often lasted for years.”

Hebrews 11:31

“THESE are two New Testament summaries of the life of Rahab and they are equally honorable to her. Paul puts her among the great worthies who, by faith, worked wonders. The 11th chapter of Hebrews is a triumphal arch to the soldiers of faith and among the illustrious names inscribed there are the name of this harlot of Jericho.”

Hebrews 11:31

“Thus Paul, quoting the same examples (Heb 11:17, 31) for the power of faith, as James (Jas 2:21, 25; see on Jas 2:21; Jas 2:25) does for justification by works evidentially, shows that in maintaining justification by faith alone, he means not a dead faith, but "faith which worketh by love" (Ga 5:6).”

Hebrews 11:32

“David, in particular, subdued kingdoms. Samuel (not excluding the rest) wrought righteousness. The prophets, in general, obtained promises, both for themselves, and to deliver to others.”

Hebrews 11:32

“Thus, in all the saints, something reprehensible is ever to be found; yet faith, though halting and imperfect, is still approved by God.”

Hebrews 11:33

“Who through faith subdued kingdoms,.... As David did particularly; who subdued Syria, Moab, Ammon, Amalek, Edom, and the Philistines, 2Sa 8:12. War, in some cases, is lawful; and kingdoms may be subdued; and faith makes use of means to do it: these kingdoms, though subdued by faith, yet not without fighting. Believers have no reason to be afraid of kings, or kingdoms; and this should encourage the saints, in their combats with the powers of darkness.”

Hebrews 11:33

Mention anything you will which is contained in the Covenant and I will show it is by promise. Do we speak of adoption? "Now we, Brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise." "They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise, these are counted for the seed." Do you speak of inheritance? Then, "God gave it to Abraham by promise," we are the "heirs of promise." "And this is the promise that He has promised us, even eternal life."

Hebrews 11:35

“Others were tortured - From those who acted great things the apostle rises higher, to those who showed the power of faith by suffering. Not accepting deliverance - On sinful terms. That they might obtain a better resurrection - An higher reward, seeing the greater their sufferings the greater would be their glory.”

Hebrews 11:35

For since Christ is the head of the man, and God is the head of Christ, he who tore the head in the martyr was persecuting God and Christ in that head. But he, trusting in his martyrdom, and promising to himself from the retribution of God the reward of resurrection, exclaimed and said, "Thou indeed impotently destroyest us out of this present life; but the King of the world will raise us up, who die for His laws, unto the eternal resurrection of life."

Hebrews 11:35

“The two oldest manuscripts read. "They received women of aliens by raising their dead." 1Ki 17:24 shows that the raising of the widow's son by Elijah led her to the faith, so that he thus took her into fellowship, an alien though she was. Christ, in Lu 4:26, makes especial mention of the fact that Elijah was sent to an alien from Israel, a woman of Sarepta.”

Hebrews 11:36

“Had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings - We do not know the cases to which the apostle refers. The mockings here can never mean such as those of Ishmael against Isaac, or the youths of Bethel against Elisha. It is more probable that it refers to public exhibitions of the people of God at idol feasts and the like; and Samson’s case before Dagon, when the Philistines had put out his eyes, is quite in point.”

Hebrews 11:37

“Moses and the prophets went about in goatskins, wandering in their caves and in holes in the ground. They were poor men just like Lazarus, and they suffered calamities and endured hunger.”

Hebrews 11:37

“They were sawn asunder - As, according to the tradition of the Jews, Isaiah was by Manasseh. Were tempted - Torments and death are mentioned alternately. Every way; by threatenings, reproaches, tortures, the variety of which cannot be expressed; and again by promises and allurements.”

Hebrews 11:37

In both accomplishes great things and suffers great things, without counting it suffering [CHRYSOSTOM]. Urijah was so slain by Jehoiakim (Jer 26:23); and the prophets in Israel (1Ki 19:10). in sheepskins--as Elijah (1Ki 19:13, Septuagint). They were white; as the "goat-skins" were black (compare Zec 13:4). tormented--Greek, "in evil state."

Hebrews 11:38

“Here is the narrow and close way that leads to life. Here are the teachers and prophets, "wandering in deserts, mountains, caves and holes in the earth." Here are the apostles and evangelists … living as citizens of the desert.”

Hebrews 11:38

“Of whom the world was not worthy--So far from their being unworthy of living in the world, as their exile in deserts, &c., might seem to imply, "the world was not worthy of them." The world, in shutting them out, shut out from itself a source of blessing; such as Joseph proved to Potiphar (Ge 39:5), and Jacob to Laban (Ge 30:27).”

Hebrews 11:39

“There are some promises that God gives us that are not for us. They are for a future generation.”

Hebrews 11:39

“For indeed, even the apostles have not yet received their joy, but they also wait that I may be a partaker of their joy. For the saints, when they leave this place, do not immediately obtain the whole rewards of their merits. They also wait for us, though we delay, even though we remain. For they do not have perfect delight as long as they grieve for our errors and mourn for our sins. Perhaps you do not believe me when I say this.”

Hebrews 11:40

“God having provided some better thing for us - Namely, everlasting glory. That they might not be perfected without us - That is, that we might all be perfected together in heaven.”

Hebrews 11:40

“Christ's death, the means of perfecting what the Jewish law could not perfect, was reserved for our time. Compare Heb 12:2, "perfecter (Greek) of our faith." Now that Christ is come, they in soul share our blessedness, being "the spirits of the just made perfect" (Heb 12:23); so ALFORD; however, see on Heb 12:23.”