By faith Abraham, being called, obeyed to go out into the place which he was to receive for an inheritance, and went out, not knowing where he was going.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
By faith he sojourned as a stranger in the land of promise as a foreign country, having dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with [him] of the same promise;
Hebrews 11 has just shown Abraham leaving home for a place he had never seen; verse 9 shows what he did once he arrived. The surprise is that arriving changed nothing on the outside. God had promised him this land, yet he lived in it like a foreigner, in a tent, alongside Isaac and Jacob.
Obedience brought Abraham to Canaan. Living there took something more:
If faith first obeys, faith also continues. Here is the steady, plodding life of faith. It is not a settling down among earthly comforts, but a pilgrim path, as Abraham's tent bore witness. Mere material, present advantage is no object at all for faith.
He lived there "as in a foreign land" — a guest, not an owner. And this was the very country God had given him:
He was a pilgrim, not a settler in the land. He was as much a pilgrim in the land as before he came there... God's promise of the land brought him out of his own land, out of what stands as a picture of the earth. But in Canaan God raised his eyes to heaven, instead of letting them rest on the world. And this is exactly what the letter to the Hebrews shows us. It shows not only the faith that brought him into the land, but the faith that kept him a stranger there.
You can fold a tent up and carry it away. It was the open confession of a man not yet home. Lot, Abraham's nephew, shows what happens when someone drops that confession:
Notice how verse 9 keeps up the pilgrim and stranger character: living in tents was the mark of a stranger and a pilgrim... Abraham lived in a tent. Lot did too at first, but he did not keep up the pilgrim character. First he pitched his tent towards Sodom, then sat in the gate, and had a house in Sodom. Abraham kept his tent, because he looked for a city. He knew there was such a city. And the Holy Spirit adds, "whose designer and builder is God."
The one piece of Canaan Abraham ever owned was a grave. That is the proof, not the exception:
When he got to this land of promise, what did he find there? He did not have so much as a foot of land he could call his own. It is very significant that the only part he ever owned was a tomb, a burial place. It reminded him that in life he had nothing, but it was also an anticipation of resurrection... His dwelling was in a form that suggested his home was not here.
The three of them shared one promise, and they were sure of it. That certainty showed itself in bold action:
Abraham lived in tents with Isaac and Jacob. That was indeed so. But then, they were heirs together of the promise. Of this they were, in the middle of their pilgrim days, fully persuaded. And so, on fitting occasions, they can act on that full persuasion. They take up the dignities and places the promise warranted, in a way that nothing but such persuasion can account for.
Jacob was the least consistent of the three, yet the verse counts him in:
It is very interesting to see Jacob included in this pilgrim life. Jacob lived only a small part of his life in the land of Canaan. Through his own waywardness, he spent much of it outside his own land. Yet what God sees here is his life of faith in a tent, as well as that of Abraham and Isaac.
Writers apply this to believers now, with one difference. The call today does not move you to another country:
In all this Abraham's history pictures the position of the believer today. It is full of instruction for us. We are not called to leave any particular city or country, nor to come out of our family circles. The heavenly calling that has reached us is more sweeping than this. It involves our being "delivered from the present evil age" (Galatians 1:4)... Our links with the present evil age must be cut. Yet we still live in the same place and the same circumstances as before our conversion.
- Faith continues. The same faith that obeyed the call kept Abraham going afterwards. It was a steady, plodding pilgrim path, not a settling down.
- Faith keeps you a stranger. He was a stranger before he arrived. The striking thing is that he stayed one inside the land God had given him.
- The tent confesses it. A folding home was the outward mark of the pilgrim. Lot traded his for a house in Sodom; Abraham never did.
- The grave holds the claim. The only ground Abraham owned was a burial plot. It proved he owned nothing in life, and it looked ahead to resurrection.
- The promise is shared. Isaac and Jacob were heirs with him and sure of it, free to act on that certainty — even Jacob, who spent much of his life away from the land.
for he waited for the city which has foundations, of which God is [the] artificer and constructor.
Genesis never tells us what was going on inside Abraham while he lived in a tent in the land God had promised him. Hebrews 11 does. He owned no house and no land, and this verse gives the reason: his eye was on a city that God Himself builds.
The verse opens with "for," so it explains what came before. One writer traces what faith did in Abraham once he reached the land.
Faith led him into the land, though it was unnamed and unknown to him. Once he was in it, faith looked to receive it from God another day, while he was content to be a foreigner who did not yet own a foot of it. But faith also learned to wait for a brighter and better scene. For the city here described stands in contrast with all that is earthly or can be shaken and removed. It is the scene of heavenly glory... The word he heard made him look up. He believed, so he did not rush, and he would not be put to shame.
Abraham lived among real cities with real walls. The word "foundations" is not about engineering.
Abraham spent his life outside the cities of men because he had in view the city of God that is yet to be — "a city which has foundations." The point seems plain: the cities of men lack foundations. Their physical foundations may be sound enough, but the right moral foundations are missing. Unless righteousness and love lie at the base, no city can last or endure. Sooner or later such cities decay, or violent upheavals from inside or outside sweep them away.
One writer shows how much hangs on a single word in the original.
In the original it is not "he looked for a city," just some city. It is "he looked for the city" — the well-known one, and there is only one such city. He looked for the city that had the foundations, because they are well-known foundations. There could be only one kind of foundation for a city like that. In Revelation you find it in precious stones, which speak of God glorified in Christ. Christ Himself is the foundation of that heavenly city. His atoning work is the basis on which it rests, as everything else does.
Another writer sets the same point against the tents of verse 9:
As to Hebrews 11:10 — I take the "city" to be very general in contrast with tents (v. 9) — a stranger in the land. But the only city is the heavenly Jerusalem — itself a figure. It is not "a city," but "the city."
The verse gives God two titles. They cover two stages of one work.
He looked for a city that has foundations, and its Architect and Builder is God. He devised the plan, and He carries it out... The mention of "the foundations" brings before us the very city of Revelation, with its twelve jewelled foundations, like the high priest's breastplate. They are the glorious lights and perfections of God's character. A city built on these must last for ever.
Genesis never records God telling Abraham about a city.
This goes beyond anything the Old Testament records about Abraham's expectations. It shows that faith looked further than what God had openly revealed at the time. No one had ever mentioned the heavenly city then. But faith could see that the God who cannot decay would provide what cannot decay, something above everything a person can take in by the senses... So faith wants nothing less than what is wholly God's own work. It will not be disappointed.
The verse is not only about the future. It explains a way of living.
Abraham wanted no place in this world. With his tent and his altar he waited for the city that has foundations, the city God designs and builds. His tent marked him out as a pilgrim and stranger before people. His altar spoke of him as a worshipper before God. Our tent and altar must go together.
- Looked — the verse explains the tent. Abraham stayed a stranger because his eye was on a city that nothing can shake or remove.
- Foundations — men's cities may be well built. Without righteousness and love at the base, they decay or collapse.
- The city — not "a city" but "the city," the only one of its kind. It rests on Christ and His atoning work.
- God — He is both architect and builder: He drew the plan and He carries it out, so the result is entirely His workmanship.
- Waited — faith reached past what God had openly revealed, and it will not be disappointed. Meanwhile tent and altar go together: pilgrim before people, worshipper before God.