The apostle having, in the preceding chapter, spoken in commendation of the grace, and life of faith, and of its usefulness to preserve from apostasy, proceeds in this to give some account of the nature and actings of it; and which he illustrates by the examples of many of the Old Testament saints:…

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for The “faith” here spoken of is not a mere moral virtue, which is a branch of the law; nor a bare assent to anything revealed, declared, and affirmed in the Gospel; nor a faith of doing miracles; nor an implicit one; nor a mere profession of faith, which…

For by it the elders obtained a good report. ] By whom are meant, not merely old men, or elders in age, but such who lived in ancient times; some before the flood, and to a great age, and others who were in office, civil or ecclesiastical, and were the ancestors and predecessors of the Hebrews; who…

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God The celestial world, with its inhabitants, the angels; the starry and ethereal worlds, with all that is in them, the sun, moon, stars, and fowls of the air; the terrestrial world, with all upon it, men, beasts and the watery…

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain The apostle proceeds to examples of faith, and begins with Abel: it may seem strange that Adam and Eve are not mentioned; this omission is not because they were not believers; but either because of the fall and ruin of mankind by…

By faith Enoch was translated Which is to be understood, not of a spiritual translation from the power of darkness, into the kingdom of Christ, as all converted, persons are translated, and doubtless Enoch was; nor of a rapture, or removal from one part of the earth to another, or from one part of…

But without faith it is impossible to please him Or do things well pleasing in his sight; or any of the duties of religion, in an acceptable way; as prayer, praise, attendance on the word and ordinances, or any good works whatever; because such are without Christ, and without his Spirit; and have…

By faith Noah, being warned of God In the Greek text, Noah is called “Noe”, and so the Septuagint interpreters of the Old Testament call him; but Josephus calls him “Noeos”: or “having received an oracle from God”; in which he was admonished, how to make an ark, as Moses was, in like manner, how to…

By faith, Abraham, when he was called The Alexandrian copy and the Vulgate Latin version read, “by faith he who was called Abraham”; but this call is not to be understood of his name; for though his first name Abram might be given him, in the faith of his being a great man, and his second name…

By faith he sojourned in the land of promise The land of Canaan, so called, because it was promised to Abraham and his seed; and is typical of heaven, which is not by the works of the law, but by the free promise and grace of God: here Abraham sojourned for a while, as in a strange country; which…

For he looked for a city which hath foundations Not the city of Jerusalem, nor the Gospel church state; but either the city of the new Jerusalem, said to have twelve foundations, and in which glorious state, Abraham, with the rest of the saints, being raised from the dead, will in person possess…

Through faith also Sarah herself Some copies add “being barren”; and so read the Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions; which is a circumstance which makes her faith appear the greater: but it is a question whether the apostle speaks of the faith of Sarah, or of Abraham; some think he speaks…

Therefore sprang there even of one That is, Abraham: the Arabic version has here a strange interpolation; “this faith Isaac and Rebecca conceived in mind, and so there were born of one, Esau and Jacob.” And him as good as dead; being an hundred years of age; (See Gill on Rom. 4:19).

These all died in faith Not all the seed of Abraham, but all the believers in the preceding verses, excepting Enoch, particularly the three patriarchs, with Sarah; these died a corporeal death, which is common to all, to the righteous, and to the wicked; and yet saints die not as other men; they…

For they that say such things That they are strangers and pilgrims on earth: declare plainly that they seek a country; heaven, so called, for the largeness of it; it is a good land, a land of uprightness; a pleasant land, a land of rest, though a land afar off; here the Father of Christ, and Christ…

And truly if they had been mindful of that country Chaldea, which was Abraham’s country: from whence they came out; as Abraham and Sarah did, in person, and their posterity in them: they might have had opportunity to have returned: for the way from Canaan or Egypt, where they sojourned, was short…

But now they desire a better country Which is not to be understood of the then present time, in which the apostle wrote; for the patriarchs, of whom he speaks, were not then on earth, nor in any third place between heaven and earth; they were then in heaven; and though there are indeed in heaven…

By faith Abraham, when he was tried, &c.] Or tempted; that is, by God, . This temptation or trial respects the command given by God to Abraham, to offer up his son Isaac; which lays no foundation for a charge against God, either of sin or cruelty; for God’s will is the rule of justice and goodness,…

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, that in Isaac shall thy seed be called; that numerous natural seed of his, which should…

Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead Abraham did not go about this affair without thought; and yet he did not consult with flesh and blood; his reasoning was the reasoning of faith; and the conclusion of it was, not that he believed that God would raise his son from the…

By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau The history of this is in . 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…

By faith Jacob, when he was a dying Which was the usual time of blessing with the patriarchs; and the reason of it was, that what was said might be more attended to and regarded, and more strongly impressed upon the mind; and this is a proof that it was done in faith by Jacob, when there was no…

By faith Joseph, when he died The riches and honours of Joseph, as they could not secure him from death, so they did not make him unmindful of it; nor was he afraid of dying, or uneasy about it; nor did his prosperity make him proud, or above speaking to his brethren, nor revengeful to them, nor…

By faith Moses, when he was born Which is to be understood, not of the faith of Moses, but of the faith of his parents, at the time of his birth; which was when Pharaoh had published an edict, ordering every male child to be cast into the river; but instead of obeying this order, Moses was hid…

By faith Moses, when he was come to years Or “was great”; a nobleman in Pharaoh’s court; or when he was arrived to great knowledge, being learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; or rather when he was well advanced in years, being full forty years of age, (Acts 7:22, Acts 7:23) refused to be…

Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God The Israelites, who were God’s chosen and peculiar people, and were the true worshippers of him; Moses chose to be with those: the company and conversation of such is most eligible to every good man, because God is with them; his word and…

Esteeming the reproach of Christ That is, either Christ personal; meaning not any reproach that lay upon Christ, as the immediate object of it; nor upon the people of Israel for the delay of his coming; but rather for the sake of Christ: Christ was made known to the Old Testament saints, and they…

By faith he forsook Egypt Either when he fled to Midian; this was before the eating of the passover, and so it stands in its proper order; whereas, his going out of Egypt with the children of Israel was after it, and mentioned in .

Through faith he kept the passover Which Moses made, or appointed by divine direction; he kept it, with all its rites and ceremonies, and caused the people of Israel to observe it; and which he did, in faith of the speedy deliverance of the children of Israel, from the house of bondage; and in the…

By faith they passed through the Red sea, as by dry land, &c.] Not through a river, but through the sea, the Red sea, the sea of Suph, or weeds; (See Gill on Acts 7:36).

By faith the walls of Jericho fell down Of themselves, not from any natural cause: the Jews say [[12]] they sunk right down into the ground, and were swallowed up; even the whole wall fell round about, as the Septuagint version in expresses it: or, it may be, only that which was over against the…

By faith the harlot Rahab The Targum on calls her (אתתא פונדקיתא) , “a woman, that kept a victualling house”: this paraphrase is taken notice of by Jarchi and Kimchi on the place, who interpret it, “a seller of food”: and even the Hebrew word (זונה) , is so explained by a considerable Jewish writer…

And what shall I more say Intimating he had said enough to prove the definition of faith he had given; and that the elders, by it, had obtained a good report; and yet he had not said all he could; and that he had so much to say, that he could not say all: for the time would fail me; either the time…

Who through faith subdued kingdoms As David did particularly; who subdued Syria, Moab, Ammon, Amalek, Edom, and the Philistines, (2 Sam. 8:12, 2 Sam. 8:14) .

Quenched the violence of fire Which may be said to be done, when a believer, or a righteous man, is delivered out of it, as Lot from Sodom, when God rained fire and brimstone on it; when, by prayer, it is stopped, as by Moses, at Taberah, (Num. 11:1, Num.

Women received their dead raised to life again As the widow of Zarephath, and the Shunammite, (2 Kings 4:34, 2 Kings 4:35) . Their sons were really dead, and they received them alive gain, from the hands of the prophets, Elijah and Elisha, in the way of a resurrection, and by faith; by the faith of…

And others had trial of cruel mockings As Samson by the Philistines; Elisha by the children, whom the bears devoured; Jeremiah by Pashur, and others; the Jews by Sanballat and Tobiah, when building the temple; the prophets, whom God sent to the Jews, as his messengers, (2 Kings 2:23, 2 Kings 2:24)…

They were stoned As Naboth, by the order of Ahab, , Zachariah in the court of the Lord’s house; and the character of Jerusalem is, that she stoned the prophets that were sent unto her, . They were sawn asunder; to which there seems to be an allusion in .

Of whom the world was not worthy These words are inserted in a parenthesis, to remove or prevent such objections as these; that they were restless and unquiet persons, that made disturbance in the world, and so unfit to live in it; and that they were deservedly punished for crimes they were guilty…

And these all having obtained a good report through faith, &c.] This may either be limited to the sufferers in the preceding verses, who were martyred, or suffered martyrdom for the faith, as the words may be rendered; and who are called martyrs or witnesses, in and so the Ethiopic version renders…

God having provided some better thing for us Not a better state of the church, in such respect, as to be free from suffering reproach and persecutions; for this is the case of saints under the New Testament as under the Old; nor the felicity of the soul after death; nor any greater degree of…