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heritance. At present he received it not, but only in right and title, nor did he receive it during his life: neither he, nor his posterity, for some generations, had any inheritance in it, only he bought a burying-place in it of the children of Heth, whereby he took seisin of the whole. But he received it afterwards in his posterity, as is known. And he is said to, λaußavev, 'receive it.' It was given unto him, bestowed on him, by way of a free gift or donation. He did only receive it; and so it is with respect unto all good things betwixt God and us: he is the free donor of them, we are but passive recipients. And he received this country, uç Kλnpovouav, 'for an inheritance.' And unto an inheritance, there is required, 1. Right and title unto it, that a man may be a lawful possessor of it. Now this country was before possessed by others, who enjoyed it by a prescription from its first plantation. But God, as the great possessor of heaven and earth, as the sovereign Lord of all things, transferred their right and title unto that land, and vested it in Abraham. So it is frequently repeated, that God gave them this or that land.

Obs. VI. There is no right, title, or possession, that can prescribe against the righteousness of God, in the disposal of all inheritances here below at his pleasure.-Whatever single persons, whatever whole nations, may think or boast of their title and right, as unto God, they are all but tenants at will and pleasure: he can disinherit and disseise them of all, as he sees good; and when he will do so, (as he gives instances of his so doing in all ages,) no plea will be admitted against his right, and the exercise of it. So do kings hold their crowns, nations their soil, and private men their possessions.

Obs. VII. God's grant of things unto any, is the best of titles, and most sure against all pretences or impeachments. Judg. xi. 24, ‘We will possess what the Lord our God gives us to possess.

Obs. VIII. Possession belongs unto an inheritance enjoyed.-This God gave unto Abraham in his posterity, with a mighty hand, and stretched out arm; and he divided it unto them by lot.

Obs. IX. An inheritance may be given only for a limited season. The title unto it may be continued unto a prefixed period. So was it with this inheritance; for although it is called an everlasting inheritance, yet it was so only on two accounts. 1. That it was typical of that heavenly inheritance which is eternal. 2. Because, as unto right and title, it was to be continued unto the end of that limited perpetuity which God granted unto the church-state in that land; that is, unto the coming of the promised Seed, in whom all nations should be blessed; which the call and faith of Abraham did principally regard. Until that time was expired, although many incursions were made into, and upon this inheritance of Abraham, yet all they that made them were oppressors, and were punished for their usurpation. But when the grant of it to them expired, and those wicked tenants of God's vineyard forfeited their right unto it by their unbelief and by their murdering the true heir, God disinherited them, dispossessed them, and left them neither right nor title to, or any interest in this inheritance, as it is at this day. It is no more the inheritance of Abraham; but in Christ he is become heir of the world, and his spiritual posterity enjoy all the pri

vileges of it. Wherefore, the grant of this land for an inheritance unto Abraham in his posterity, had a season limited unto it. Upon the expiration of that term, their right and title unto it were cancelled and disánnulled. And thereon God in his providence sent the armies of the Romans to dispossess them, which they did accordingly unto this day. Nor have the present Jews any more, or any better title unto the land of Canaan, than unto any other country in the world. Nor shall their title be renewed thereunto upon their conversion unto God; for the limitation of their right was unto that time wherein it was typical of the heavenly inheritance. That now ceasing for ever, there can be no special title unto it revived. And we see herein,

Obs. X. That it is faith alone that gives the soul satisfaction in future rewards, in the midst of present difficulties and distresses.-So it did to Abraham, who, in the whole course of his pilgrimage, attained nothing of this promised inheritance. And,

Obs. XI. The assurance given us by divine promises, is sufficient to encourage us to advance in the most difficult course of obedience.

Thirdly. The last thing in the words is, the commendation of the faith of Abraham, from his ignorance of the place whither he was to go upon the call of God. He had only said unto him, that he should go into a land that he would show him, Gen. xii. 1.

1. But of what nature the land was, how, or by whom inhabited, or what way he was to go into it, he told him not. It should seem indeed, that God had told him from the beginning, that it was the land of Canaan which he designed. For when he first left Ur of the Chaldees, he steered his course towards Canaan, Gen. xi. 31, but yet it is said, that, un ETIOтаμεvoç, he knew it not.' He did not understand any [thing of the circumstances of it, nor what in that land he was called unto, nor where it was: so that it may be well said, that 'he went whither he knew not.' The sum is, that he wholly committed himself to the power, faithfulness, goodness, and conduct of God, without the least encouragement from a prospect of the place whither he was going.

2. All these things being put together, namely, what he was called from, what he was called unto, his readiness in obedience, the ground of his whole undertaking, namely, the call of God, which he received and obeyed by faith; here is not only an eminent instance of his faith recorded, but an invincible encouragement given unto those Hebrews to whom the apostle wrote, and unto us with them, to remain assured that faith is able to carry us through all the difficulties of our profession, unto the full enjoyment of the promise. This I look upon as a second instance of the faith of Abraham, wherein it was signally exemplary. He did not only, on the first call of God, through a view of his greatness and sovereign authority, forego all that he had at present, but engage himself unto absolute obedience, without any prospect what it might cost him, or what he was to undergo on the account of it, or what was the reward proposed unto him. And the same is required of us.

VER. 9.-HAVING declared the foundation of the faith of Abraham, and given the first signal instance of it, he proceeds to declare his pro

gress in its exercise: first in general, and then in particular acts and duties, wherein he intermixeth some special acts of it, whereby he was enabled and encouraged in and unto all other duties of it.

That which he ascribes unto his faith in general, is laid down in this verse, whereunto he adjoins that encouraging act of it which enabled him in his duty, ver. 10.

VER. 9.-Πιστει παρῴκησεν εις την γην της επαγγελιας ὡς αλλοτρίαν, εν σκηναις κατοικησας μετα Ισαακ και Ιακωβ των συγκληρονόμων της επαγγελίας της αυτής.

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Парwкησεv, Syг. ann, He was a stranger,' a sojourner. Vulg. Lat. Demoratus est, He tarried.' Rhem. He abode.' Erasm. Commigravit, that is, μETOKησEV, saith Beza, 'He went, or wandered,' to answer the preposition & following; He went into the land.' Bez. Commoratus est, 'he abode;' and then it must refer unto kaTOIKNOAÇ, 'he dwelt in tents.' Others, Advena fuit,' He was a stranger, a guest, a sojourner.' Heb. 2, He was a stranger,' or 'he sojourned.' Ev okηvais, Vulg. Lat. in casulis. Rhem. 'in cottages.' In tentoriis, in tents or tabernacles.'

VER. 9.-By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.

1. That which is assigned in general unto the faith of Abraham, is, that he sojourned. 2. The place where is added: in the land of promise.' 3. How he esteemed of that land, and how he used it : as in a strange land.' 4. Who were his companions therein, namely, Isaac and Jacob, on the same account with himself as the heirs of promise.

Παρῳκησεν,

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1. Пaρwкnσεv, He sojourned:' Tapolкew is commoror, 'to abide,' but it is to abide as a stranger. So it is used, Luke xxiv. 18. μονον παροικείς εν Ιερουσαλημ, “Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem?' a sojourner there for a season, not an inhabitant in the place. And it is nowhere else used. Thence is aρoikos, a stranger, a sojourner,' Acts vii. 6. Thy seed shall be, Tapotkov ev yn adλorgia, a • παροικον εν γη αλλότρια, stranger,' should sojourn in a strange land. So Tapоikoι are joined with Tapeπionuot, 1 Pet. ii. 11, 'strangers and pilgrims' and with Evo, foreigners,' Eph. ii. 19, and are opposed to moλira, citizens,' or the constant inhabitants of any place: Xoovos Tapoikiaç, is the time of our pilgrimage here, 1 Pet. i. 17. Wherefore Tapknoɛ is, 'he abode as a stranger,' not as a free denizen of the place; not as an inheritor, for he had no inheritance, not a foot breadth in that place,' Acts vii. 6: not as a constant inhabitant or house-dweller, but as a stranger that moved up and down as he had occasion. His several motions and stages are recorded by Moses.

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2. There is the place of his sojourning: 'in the land of promise,' us any yny, for ev τn yn, into for in the land; so Acts vii. 6. The land, Els ηv úμeig vvv katoƖKEITɛ, 'wherein you now dwell.' Heb. y; and

from the use of the Hebrew, ac is frequently put for ev in the New Testament, and on the contrary. Wherefore, not the removal of Abraham into that land which he had mentioned in the foregoing verse, but his abode as a stranger, a foreigner, a pilgrim in it, is intended. And this was the land τns εTayyeλias, 'of promise; that is, which God had newly promised to give unto him, and wherein all the other promises were to be accomplished.

3. He sojourned in this place, we aλλorgiav, 'as in a strange land.' He built no house in it, purchased no inheritance, but only a buryingplace. He entered indeed into leagues of peace and amity with some, as with Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, Gen. xiv. 13, but it was as a stranger, and not as one that had any thing of his own in the land. He reckoned that land at present no more his own than any other land in the world, no more than Egypt was the land of his posterity when they sojourned there, which God had said was not theirs, nor was so to be, Gen. xv. 13. 4. The manner of his sojourning in this land was, that, ev okηvais KATоIKησaç, 'he dwelt in tabernacles;' in cottages,' saith the Vulgar Latin absurdly. It was no unusual thing in those days, and in those parts of the world, for many, yea, some nations, to dwell in such moveable habitations. Why Abraham was satisfied with this kind of life, the apostle declares in the next verse. And he is said to dwell in tabernacles, or tents, because his family required more than one of them; though sometimes they are called 'a tent' only, with respect unto that which was the peculiar habitation of the master of the family; and the women had tents unto themselves. So Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah's tent, Gen. xxiv. 67. So Jacob and his wives had all of them distinct tents, Gen. xxxi. 33. These tents were pitched, fixed, and erected, only with stakes and cords, so as that they had no foundation in the earth; whereunto the apostle, in the next verse, opposethan habitation that hath a foundation.' And with respect unto their flitting condition in these moveable houses, God in an especial manner was said to be their dwelling-place, Ps. xc. 1.

5. He thus sojourned and dwelt in tents, uera Ioaак каι Iaкwß, 'with Isaac and Jacob.' It is evident that Abraham lived until Jacob was sixteen or eighteen years old; and therefore may be said to live with him as unto the same time wherein they both lived; nor is there any force in the objection, that Isaac had a separate tent from Abraham; for it is not said, that they lived in the same tents, but that at the same time they all lived in tents. Yet there is no need to confine it unto the same time; the sameness of condition only seems to be intended. For as Abraham was a sojourner in the land of Canaan, without any inheritance or possession, living in tents; so was it also with Isaac and Jacob, and with them alone. Jacob was the last of his posterity who lived as a sojourner in Canaan; all those after him lived in Egypt, and came not into Canaan, until they took possession of it for themselves. And they were, των συγκληρονόμων της επαγγελίας της αυτής, heirs with him of the same promise;' for not only did they inherit the promise as made unto Abraham, but God distinctly renewed the same promise unto them both. Unto Isaac, Gen. xxvi. 3, 4, and unto Jacob, Gen.

xxviii. 13-15. So were they heirs with him of the very same promise; see Ps. cv. 9-11.

The sense of the words being declared, we may yet farther consider the matter contained in them.

We have here an account of the life of Abraham after his call. And it fell under a twofold consideration. 1. As unto the internal principle of it so it was a life of faith. 2. As unto the external manner of it: so it was a pilgrimage, without a fixed, settled habitation. Both are proposed in the first words of the text, "By faith he sojourned.'

First. As unto the internal principle of it: it was a life of faith. First. The life which he now led was a life of faith, with respect unto things spiritual and eternal. For he had for the foundation and object hereof: 1. The promise of the blessed Seed, and the spiritual blessing of all nations in him, as a confirmation of the first fundamental promise of the church, concerning the Seed of the woman that was to break the serpent's head. And, 2. God entered expressly into covenant with him, confirming it with the seal of circumcision, wherein he obliged himself to be his God, his God almighty, or all-sufficient for his temporal and eternal good. To suppose that Abraham saw nothing in this promise and covenant but only things confined unto this life, nothing of spiritual grace or mercy, nothing of eternal reward or glory, is so contrary to the analogy of faith, to express testimony of Scripture, so destructive of all the foundations of religion, so unworthy of the nature and properties of God, rendering his title of the father of the faithful, and his example in believing so useless, as it is a wonder that men of any tolerable sobriety should indulge to such an imagination.

Secondly. It was a life of faith with respect unto things temporal also. For as he was a sojourner in a strange land, without friends or relations, not incorporated in any political society, or dwelling in any city, he was exposed unto all sorts of dangers, oppression, and violence, as is usual in such cases. Besides, those amongst whom he sojourned were for the most part wicked and evil men, such as, having fallen into idolatry, were apt to be provoked against him for his profession of faith in the most high God. Hence, on some occurrences of his life that might give them advantage, it is observed as a matter of danger, that the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land, Gen. xiii. 7, xii. 6. And this he feared, ch. xx. 11. Moreover, he had sundry particular trials, wherein he apprehended that his life was in imminent danger, Gen. xii. 11-13, ch. xx. 2. In all these dangers and trials, with others innumerable, being helpless in himself, he lived in the continual exercise of faith and trust in God, his power, his all-sufficiency, and faithfulness. Hereof his whole story is full of instances, and his faith in them is celebrated frequently in the Scripture.

Thirdly. In things of both sorts, spiritual and temporal, he lived by faith, in a constant resignation of himself unto the sovereign will and pleasure of God, when he saw no way or means for the accomplishment of the promise. So was it with him with respect unto the long season that he lived without a child, and under the command he had to offer him for a sacrifice, when he had received him. On all these accounts he was the father, the pattern, or example of believers in all generations.

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