Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hebrews 11:4

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

4. By faith Abel ] Intending, so to speak, “to pluck only the flowers which happen to come within his reach, while he leaves the whole meadow full to his readers,” he begins to cull his instances from the world before the flood. His examples of faith fall into five groups. 1. Antediluvian (4 6). 2. From Noah to Abraham (7 19, including some general reflexions in 13 16). 3. The Patriarchs (20 22). 4. From Moses to Rahab (23 31). 5. Summary reference to later heroes and martyrs down to the time of the Maccabees (32 40).

more excellent ] Lit., “more “or “greater.”

a more excellent sacrifice than Cain ] This we learn from Gen 4:5, but we are not told the exact points in virtue of which the sacrifice was superior. We may naturally infer that Abel’s was a more carefully-chosen and valuable offering, but especially that it was offered in a more sincere and humble spirit of faith and love.

he obtained witness ] By God’s sign of approval (Gen 4:4; LXX.). Hence he is called “righteous” in Mat 23:35; 1Jn 3:12. The Jewish Hagadah was that God had shewn His approval by fire from heaven which consumed Abel’s sacrifice.

testifying of his gifts ] Rather, “bearing witness to his gifts.”

and by it ] i.e. by his faith.

he being dead yet speaketh ] Another reading (D, E, I, K) is “though dead, he is still being spoken of.” But the allusion seems to be to “the voice of his blood” (Gen 4:10), as seems clear from the reference in Heb 12:24. No doubt it is also meant that he speaks by his example, but there seems to have been some Jewish Hagadah on the subject, for Philo says “Abel which is most strange has both been slain and lives” (Opp. i. 200). He deduces from Gen 4:10 that Abel is still unforgotten, and hence that the righteous are immortal.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

By faith Abel offered – see Gen 4:4-5. In the account in Genesis of the offering made by Abel, there is no mention of faith – as is true also indeed of most of the instances referred to by the apostle. The account in Genesis is, simply, that Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock, and the fat thereof, and that the Lord had respect to Abel and his offering. Men have speculated much as to the reason why the offering of Abel was accepted, and that of Cain rejected; but such speculation rests on no certain basis, and the solution of the apostle should be regarded as decisive and satisfactory, that in the one case there was faith, in the other not. It could not have been because an offering of the fruits of the ground was not pleasing to God, for such an offering was commanded under the Jewish Law, and was not in itself improper. Both the brothers selected what was to them most obvious; which they had reared with their own bands; which they regarded as most valuable.

Cain had cultivated the earth, and he naturally brought what had grown under his care; Abel kept a flock, and he as naturally brought what he had raised: and had the temper of mind in both been the same, there is no reason to doubt that the offering of each would have been accepted. To this conclusion we are led by the nature of the case, and the apostle advances substantially the same sentiment, for he says that the particular state of mind on which the whole turned was, that the one had faith, and the other not. How the apostle himself was informed of the fact that it was faith which made the difference, he has not informed us. The belief that he was inspired will, however, relieve the subject of this difficulty, for according to such a belief all his statements here, whether recorded in the Old Testament or not, are founded in truth. It is equally impossible to tell with certainty what was the nature of the faith of Abel. It has been commonly asserted, that it was faith in Christ – looking forward to his coming, and depending on his sacrifice when offering what was to he a type of him.

But of this there is no positive evidence, though from Heb 12:24, it seems to be not improbable. Sacrifice, as a type of the Redeemers great offering, was instituted early in the history of the world. There can be no reason assigned for the offering of blood as an atonement for sin, except that it had originally a reference to the great atonement which was to be made by blood; and as the salvation of man depended on this entirely, it is probable that that would be one of the truths which would he first communicated to man after the fall. The bloody offering of Abel is the first of the kind which is definitely mentioned in the Scriptures (though it is not improbable that such sacrifices were offered by Adam, compare Gen 3:21), and consequently Abel may be regarded as the recorded head of the whole typical system, of which fist was the antitype and the fulfillment. Compare notes, Heb 12:24. A more excellent sacrifice. Pleiona thusian – as rendered by Tyndale, a more plenteous sacrifice; or, as Wicklift renders it more literally, a much more sacrifice; that is, a more full or complete sacrifice; a better sacrifice. The meaning is, that it had in it much more to render it acceptable to God. In the estimate of its value, the views of him who offered it would be more to be regarded than the nature of the offering itself.

(By offering victims of the choice of his flock, Abel not only showed a more decided attachment to God, but there is great reason to suppose (as Abp. Magee on Atonement, p. 52, shows) that his faith was especially superior, as being not only directed to God alone (recognizing his existence, authority, and providence) but also to the Great Redeemer, promised immediately after the fall, Gen 3:15 whose expiatory death was typified by animal sacrifice, by offering which Abel had evinced his faith in the great sacrifice of the Redeemer, prefigured by it: and then he obtained that acceptance from God, and witnessing of his offering, which was refused to Cain; see more in Macknight and Scott – Bloomfield.

By which – By which sacrifice so offered. The way in which he obtained the testimony of divine approbation was by the sacrifice offered in this manner. It was not merely by faith, it was by the offering of a sacrifice in connection with, and under the influence of faith.

He obtained witness that he was righteous – That is, from God. His offering made in faith was the means of his obtaining the divine testimonial that he was a righteous man. Compare the notes on Heb 11:2. This is implied in what is said in Gen 4:4. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering; that is, he regarded it as the offering of a righteous man.

God testifying of his gifts – In what way this was done is not mentioned either here or in Genesis. Commentators have usually supposed that it was by fire descending from heaven to consume the sacrifice. But there is no evidence of this, for there is no intimation of it in the Bible. It is true that this frequently occurred when an offering was made to God, (see Gen 15:17; Lev 9:24; Jdg 6:21; 1Ki 18:38), but the sacred writers give us no hint that this happened in the case of the sacrifice made by Abel, and since it is expressly mentioned in other cases and not here, the presumption rather is that no such miracle occurred on the occasion. So remarkable a fact – the first one in all history if it were so – could hardly have failed to be noticed by the sacred writer. It seems to me, therefore, that there was some method by which God testified his approbation of the offering of AbeL which is unknown to us, but in regard to what it was conjecture is vain.

And by it he, being dead, yet speaketh – Margin, Is yet spoken of. This difference of translation arises from a difference of reading in the mss. That from which the translation in the text is derived, is lalei – he speaketh. That from which the rendering in the margin is derived, is laleitai – is being spoken of; that is, is praised or commended. The latter is the common reading in the Greek text, and is found in Walton, Wetstein, Matthzei, Titman, and Mill; the former is adopted by Griesbach, Koppe, Knapp, Grotius, Hammond, Storr, Rosenmuller, Prof. Stuart, Bloomfield, and Hahn, and is found in the Syriac and Coptic, and is what is favored by most of the Fathers. See Wetstein. The authority of manuscripts is in favor of the reading laleitai – is spoken of. It is impossible, in this variety of opinion, to determine which is the true reading, and this is one of the cases where the original text must probably be forever undecided.

Happily no important doctrine or duty is depending on it. Either of the modes of reading will give a good sense. The apostle is saying that it is by faith that the elders have obtained a good report (Heb 11:2); he had said (Heb 11:4), that it was by faith that Abel obtained the testimony of God in his favor, and if the reading is spoken of be adopted, the apostle means that in consequence of that offering thus made, Abel continued even to his time to receive an honorable mention. This act was commended still; and the good report of which it had been the occasion, had been transmitted from age to age. A sentiment thus of great beauty and value may be derived from the passage – that true piety is the occasion of transmitting a good report – or an honorable reputation, even down to the latest generation. It is what will embalm the memory in the grateful recollection of mankind; that on which they will reflect with pleasure, and which they will love to transmit to future ages. But after all, it seems to me to be probable that the true sentiment in this passage is what is expressed in the common version, he yet speaketh. The reasons are briefly these:

(1) The authority of manuscripts, versions, editions, and critics, is so nearly equal, that it is impossible from this source to determine the true reading, and we must, therefore, form our judgment from the connection.

(2) The apostle had twice in this verse expressed substantially the idea that he was honorably testified of by his faith, and it is hardly probable that he would again repeat it so soon.

(3) There seems to be an allusion here to the language used respecting Abel Gen 4:10, The voice of thy brothers blood crieth unto me from the ground; or utters a distinct voice – and the apostle seems to design to represent Abel as still speaking.

(4) In Heb 12:24, he represents both Abel and Christ as still speaking – as if Abel continued to utter a voice of admonition. The reference there is to the fact that he continued to proclaim from age to age, even to the time of the apostle, the great truth that salvation was only by blood. He had proclaimed it at first by his faith when he offered the sacrifice of the lamb; he continued to speak from generation to generation, and to show that it was one of the earliest principles of religion that there could be redemption from sin in no other way.

(5) The expression yet speaketh accords better with the connection. The other interpretation is cold compared with this, and less fits the case before us. On the faith of Noah, Abraham, and Moses, it might be said with equal propriety that it is still commended or celebrated as well as that of Abel, but the apostle evidently means to say that there was a voice in that of Abel which was special; there was something in his life and character which continued to speak from age to age. His sacrifice, his faith, his death, his blood, all continued to lift up the voice, and to proclaim the excellence and value of confidence in God, and to admonish the world how to live.

(6) This accords with usage in classic writers, where it is common to say of the dead that they continue to speak. Compare Virgil, Aeneid vi. 618.

Et magna testatur voce per umbras:

Discite justitiam moniti, et non temnere Divos.

If this be the true meaning, then the sense is that there is an influence from the piety of Abel which continues to admonish all coming ages of the value of religion, and especially of the great doctrine of the necessity of an atonement by blood. His faith and his sacrifice proclaimed from age to age that this was one of the first great truths made known to fallen man; and on this he continues to address the world as if he were still living. Thus, all who are pious continue to exert an influence in favor of religion long after the soul is removed to heaven, and the body consigned to the grave. This is true in the following respects:

(1)They speak by their example. The example of a pious father, mother neighbor will be remembered. It will often have an effect after their death in influencing those over whom it had little control while living.

(2)They continue to speak by their precepts. The precepts of a father may be re membered, with profit, when he is in his grave, though they were heard with indifference when he lived; the counsels of a minister may be recollected with benefit though they were heard with scorn.

(3)They continue to speak from the fact that the good are remembered with increasing respect and honor as long as they are remembered at all.

The character of Abel, Noah, and Abraham, is brighter now than it was when they lived, and will continue to grow brighter to the end of time. The name of the wicked will rot, and the influence which they had when living will grow feebler and feebler until it wholly dies away. Howard will be remembered, and will proclaim from age to age the excellence of a life of benevolence; the character of Nero, Caligula, and Richard III, has long since ceased to exercise any influence whatever in favor of evil, but rather shows the world, by contrast, the excellence of virtue: and the same will yet be true of Paine, and Voltaire, and Byron, and Gibbon, and Hume. The time will come when they shall cease to exert any influence in favor of infidelity and sin, and when the world shall be so satisfied of the error of their sentiments, and the abuse of their talents, and the corruption of their hearts, that their names, by contrast, will be made to promote the, cause of piety and virtue. If a man, wishes to exert any permanent influence after he is dead, he should be a good man. The strength of the faith of Abel here commended, will be seen by a reference to a few circumstances:

(1) It was manifested shortly after the apostasy, and not long after the fearful sentence had been pronounced in view of the sin of man. The serpent had been cursed; the earth had been cursed; woe had been denounced on the mother of mankind; and the father of the apostate race and all his posterity, doomed to toil and death. The thunder of this curse had scarcely died away; man had been ejected from Paradise and sent out to enter on his career of woes; and the earth was trembling under the malediction, and yet Abel maintained his confidence in God.

(2) There was then little truth revealed, and only the slightest intimation of mercy. The promise in Gen 3:15, that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent, is so enigmatical and obscure that it is not easy even now to see its exact meaning, and it cannot be supposed that Abel could have had a full understanding of what was denoted by it. Yet this appears to have been all the truth respecting the salvation of man then revealed, and on this Abel maintained his faith steadfast in God.

(3) Abel had an older brother, undoubtedly an infidel, a scoffer, a mocker of religion. He was evidently endowed with a talent for sarcasm Gen 4:9, and there is no reason to doubt, that, like other infidels and scoffers, he would be disposed to use that talent when occasion offered, to hold up religion to contempt. The power with which he used this, and the talent with which he did this, may be seen illustrated probably with melancholy fidelity in Lord Byrons Cain. No man ever lived who could more forcibly express the feelings that passed through the mind of Cain – for there is too much reason to think that his extraordinary talents were employed on this occasion to give vent to the feelings of his own heart in the sentiments put into the mouth of Cain. Yet, notwithstanding the infidelity of his older brother, Abel adhered to God, and his cause. Whatever influence that infidel brother might have sought to use over him – and there can be no reason to doubt that such an influence would be attempted – yet he never swerved, but maintained with steadfastness his belief in religion, and his faith in God.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Heb 11:4

By faith Abel offered

External worship rendered by two kinds of men

I.

CARNAL MEN MAY JOIN WITH THE PEOPLE OF GOD IN EXTERNAL DUTIES OF WORSHIP.

1. Natural conscience will put men upon worship.

2. Custom will direct to the worship then in use and fashion.

3. Carnal impulses will add force and vigour to the performances.

(1) Vainglory.

(2) Secular aims and advantages. Use

1. It serves to inform us that the bare performance of the duties of religion is no gracious evidence. Cain may sacrifice as well as Abel. A Christian is rather tried by his graces than by his duties; and yet this is the usual fallacy that we put upon our own consciences. Use

2. If it be so, that carnal men may join with the people of God in duties of worship, here is direction: in all your duties put your hearts to this question, Wherein do I excel a hypocrite? So far a natural man may go. As Christ said (Mat 5:47).

II. THAT THERE IS A SENSIBLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE GODLY AND THE WICKED IN THEIR SEVERAL DUTIES AND PERFORMANCES.

1. Why is it so?

(1) They have another nature than wicked men. Water can rise no higher than its fountain; acts are according to their causes; nature can but produce a natural act. The children of God have the Spirit of grace bestowed upon Zec 12:10).

(2) They have other assistance. The children of God have a mighty Spirit to help them (Jud 1:20).

2. Wherein lies the difference between the worship of the godly and the worship of carnal men that live in the Church. I answer, In three things mainly–in the principle, in the manner, and in the end.

(1) In the principle. Natural men do nothing out of the constraints of love, but out of the enforcement of conscience; duty is not their delight, but burden.

(2) There is a difference in the manner how these duties are to be performed; this is to be regarded as well as the matter. A man may sin in doing good, but he can never sin in doing well. A man may sin though the matter be lawful, for the manner is all (Luk 8:18).

(3) There is a difference in regard of the end. Now there is a general and a particular end of worship.

(a) A general end, and that is twofold; to glorify God and to enjoy God; the one is the work of duty, and the other is the reward of duty. Now carnal men are content with the duty instead of God and satisfy themselves with the work wrought, though there be no intercourse between God and their souls. Therefore a godly man looks at this, what of God he hath found. You must not be content with the duty instead of God.

(b) There is a peculiar aim, and that is always suited to the particular part of worship, and that is a right intention.

III. THIS SENSIBLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE DUTIES OF THE GODLY AND THE WICKED IS OCCASIONED BY THE INFLUENCE AND EFFICACY OF FAITH. Here I shall state

(1) What this faith of Abel was;

(2) I shall handle the general ease. What this faith of Abel was.

1. There was a faith of his being accepted with God when his service was suited to the institution. Such a promise was intimated to them, as appears by Gods expostulation with Cain (Gen 4:7).

2. It was a faith in the general rewards and recompenses of religion. Abel looked to the good things to come, and so his hopes had an influence upon his practice: Cains heart was altogether chained to earthly things, therefore he looks upon that as lost which was spent in sacrifice.

3. It was a faith in the Messiah to come.

For the reasons of the point, Why faith makes this difference between worship and worship, that it makes the duties and worship of believers to be so different from that of carnal men?

1. I answer, because it discerneth by a clearer light and apprehension. Faith is the eye of the soul. A beast liveth by sense, a man by reason, and a Christian by faith.

2. Faith receives a mighty aid and supply from the Spirit of God. Faith plants the soul into Christ, and so receives influence from Him; it is the great band of union between us and Christ, and the hand whereby we receive all the supplies of Jesus Christ. Christ lives in us by His Spirit, and we live in Him by faith.

3. As it receives a mighty aid, so it works by a forcible principle, and that is by love; for Faith works by love (Gal 5:6). We live by faith, and we work by love. Where faith is, there is love; and where love is, there is work. Affection follows persuasion, and operation follows affection.

4. It discourseth and pleads with the soul with strong reasons and enforcements. Faith is a notable orator to plead for God; it pleads partly from the mercies, and partly from the promises of God. (T. Manton, D. D.)

Abels offering

I. THE NATURE OF ABELS OFFERING.

II. THE PRINCIPLE BY WHICH HE WAS ACTUATED IN PRESENTING IT.

III. THE TOKEN OF THE ACCEPTANCE OF ABELS SACRIFICE. Learn:

1. The value of religious observances.

2. In order to be accepted, our observances must proceed from right views.

3. It is not on the footing of innocence we are accepted, but of expiation.

4. Your services are not less acceptable because there may be others who engage in the same acts of worship whose character is such as God cannot approve.

5. However holy your character may be, it is hereafter, not here, that you are to look for your reward. (R. Brodie, M. A.)

Abel; or, mans religion

I. THE RELIGION OF MAN HAS TO DO WITH SACRIFICE.

II. THE RELIGION OF MAN IS VALUABLE ONLY AS IT IS BASED ON EVANGELICAL FAITH.

III. THE RELIGION OF MAN HAS EVER BEEN OF IMMENSE WORTH. Paul speaks of faith as doing three things.

1. Giving Divine acceptableness to existence.

2. Giving moral righteousness to existence.

3. Giving an honourable and lasting significance to existence. (Homilist.)

The voice of Abel

I. ABELS FAITH SPEAKS. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6). Homage to the all-wise Creator, gratitude to the all-bountiful Benefactor, submission to the all-powerful Ruler, sacrifice to the all-loving Father, are not enough. The first and indispensable element in all acceptable service is faith in the Redeemer, and implicit confidence in Him who justifies the ungodly.

II. ABELS OFFERING TESTIFIES: Without shedding of blood there is no remission (Heb 9:22). It was an embodiment of the truths which were afterwards more fully developed in the sacrificial system of the Mosaic economy, and which are now revealed in the gospel in all their clearness, simplicity, and fulness. Not that Abel understood them in all the height and depth, length and breadth of their spiritual significance. Abel looked upon the bud: we behold the flower. Christ having come, and having offered up Himself as a sacrifice for human sin, a lamb without spot and blemish, a light is reflected back upon all the sacrificial offerings of ancient days, which enables us to see that one grand truth was prefigured by them all, and that one solemn voice was uttered by them all. Without shedding, &c.

III. ABELS ACCEPTANCE HAS A VOICE: To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted unto righteousness (Rom 4:5). The important point is, that God gave him evidence of his acceptance in response to his faith. And what was this but another version of the great gospel doctrine that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law, yet not by a faith which is unaccompanied by works, but by a faith which reveals itself through works? Abel believed Gods promise, and complied with Gods prescription as to offering a bleeding sacrifice; and Abels faith was counted unto him for righteousness: that is, God, in justifying Abel, had regard to faith.

IV. ABELS DEATH CRIES: They who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2Ti 3:12). The account of Abels untimely end is simply given (Gen 4:8). It was an early and a bitter fruit of sin, a ghastly revelation, and a woeful foretaste of the promised enmity between the serpents seed and the womans. A decisive indication that these two seeds were to be found in two different sections of the human family. That fratricide was the first blow in the world-wide and time-long conflict that had already been predicted. The culmination of the battle was when Christ despoiled the principalities and powers of evil by His cross. Yet the enmity is not ended. In consequence of Christs death the victory of the seed of the woman is secure; but till the final triumph comes, they must suffer persecution. Just because they are the womans seed and Christs seed, the thing is inevitable.

V. ABELS GRAVE SHOUTS: The Lord will avenge the blood of His servants (Deu 32:43). God regards the saints as His peculiar possession, as the work of His hands. Christ esteems His people, not simply as His servants, disciples, followers, friends, but as members of His body, linked to His heart by the most tender ties of sympathy. Hence He watches over them with jealous care, protects them when in danger, feels for them and with them when they suffer, and avenges them when they are wronged. Sometimes in His wise but mysterious Providence He may suffer their liberties to be destroyed and their lives to be spilt; but Vengeance is mine; I will repay! saith the Lord. Witness Cain, Pharaoh, Ahab, Jezebel, Haman, Belshazzar, Herod, Nero, and others.

VI. ABELS MEMORY ECHOES: The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance (Psa 112:6). For sixty centuries at least the name of Abel has been enshrined in affectionate remembrance, not for great deeds done, but for simple faith cherished, and for bitter suffering endured. Worth observing that being and suffering are sometimes as sure passports to renown as doing. Not the great actors on times stage alone have their names transmitted to posterity, but the great sufferers as well. Not those alone who have lived brilliantly, but those also who have walked humbly. And this perhaps is right, for after all it may be questioned if to believe strongly, to live humbly, and to suffer patiently are not greater achievements than to act largely and to speak loudly. (Thomas Whitelaw, M. A.)

Accepted of God

I. EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE IN SUFFERING SHALL ADD TO THE GLORY OF THE SUFFERER; and those who suffer here for Christ without witness, as many have done to death in prisons and dungeons, have yet an all-seeing witness to give them testimony in due season. The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance; and nothing that is done or suffered for God shall be lost for ever.

II. WE ARE TO SERVE GOD WITH THE BEST THAT WE HAVE, the best that is in our power, with the best of our spiritual abilities; which God afterwards fully confirmed.

III. God gives no consequential approbation of any duties of believers, BUT WHERE THE PRINCIPLE OF A LIVING FAITH GOES PREVIOUSLY IN THEIR PERFORMANCE.

IV. OUR PERSONS MUST BE FIRST JUSTIFIED, BEFORE OUR WORKS OF OBEDIENCE CAN BE ACCEPTED WITH GOD; for by that acceptance He testifies that we are righteous.

V. THAT THOSE WHOM GOD APPROVES MUST EXPECT THAT THE WORLD WILL DISAPPROVE THEM, and ruin them if it can.

VI. Where there is a difference within, in the hearts of men, on the account of faith and the want of it, THERE WILL FOR THE MOST PART BE UNAVOIDABLE DIFFERENCES ABOUT OUTWARD WORSHIP. SO there hath been always between the true Church and false worshippers.

VII. GODS APPROBATION IS AN ABUNDANT RECOMPENSE FOR THE LOSS OF OUR LIVES.

VIII. THERE IS A VOICE IN ALL INNOCENT BLOOD SHED BY VIOLENCE.

Abels offering

I. ABELS OFFERING HAD REFERENCE TO A DIVINE COMMAND AND PROMISE. Abel acknowledged his sin, and believed what God had said in reference to pardon, hence his sacrifice was one of faith.

II. THE COMPARATIVE WORTH OF ABELS OFFERING. By faith he offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. The meaning is that it was a fuller sacrifice, it embraced more, it meant more than that presented by Cain. Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. The latter phrase evidently indicates that the life was taken before the sacrifice was offered. Hereby was admitted

1. The deadly nature of sin. Sin leads to destruction. The fact of atonement being necessary proves the enormity of sin.

2. The hope of pardon. To Abel it became apparent that there was a way by which man could rise, a plan by which he could become reconciled to God.

III. THE ASSURANCE OF ACCEPTANCE ABEL RECEIVED. He obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. This assurance would probably be twofold, the outward and the visible, and the inward and spiritual. The witness from without would be given by fire descending and consuming the sacrifice. But there was also the inward testimony Abel receives. He obtained witness that he was righteous. His sins were blotted out, he was at peace with God, and the Spirit of God was his witness that he was accepted. He was made a partaker of the righteousness, which is by faith.

IV. ABEL, BECAUSE OF HIS FAITH AND SERVICE, IS YET SPOKEN OF. He being dead, yet speaketh. (Richard Nicholls.)

Abels sacrifice

I. WHAT WAS THE SPECIAL OCCASION OF THIS SACRIFICE? That may be gathered out of the phrase used (Gen 4:3). God taught Adam by revelation, and he his son by instruction, that men should at the years end, in a solemn manner, sacrifice with thanks to God, when they had gathered in the fruits of the earth. This tradition was afterwards made a written law Exo 22:29). These solemn sacrifices at the end of days had a double use.

1. To be a figure of the expiation promised to Adam in Christ.

2. To be a solemn acknowledgment of their homage and thankfulness to God.

1. The general use of these sacrifices was to remember the seed of the woman, or Messiah to come, as the solemn propitiatory sacrifice of the Church. And indeed there was a notable resemblance between those offerings and Jesus Christ: Abel offered a lamb; and Christ is the Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world (Joh 1:29). And because of these early sacrifices, therefore is that expression used (Rev 13:8). And He also is the first-fruits (Psa 89:27). Though God had other children by creation besides Christ, yet He is the first-born. What shall we gather from hence? That in all our addresses to God we must solemnly remember and honour Christ. We must do duties to God, so as we may honour Christ in them. It may be you will ask, How do we honour Christ in doing of duties?

(1) When you look for your acceptance in Christ, as Abel comes with a lamb in faith.

(2) This is to honour Christ in duties, when you look for your assistance from the Spirit of Christ.

(3) When the aim of the worship is to set up and advance the mediator.

2. The special use of this worship was to profess their homage and their thankfulness to God. They were to come as Gods tenants, and pay Him their rent. Therefore God puts words into the Israelites mouths Deu 26:10). The note from hence is–That in the times of our increase and plenty we must solemnly acknowledge God. The best way to secure the farm, and keep it in our possession, is to acknowledge the great Landlord of the whole world–Lord, I have been a poor creature, and Thou hast blest me wonderfully. There is a rent of praise and a thank-offering due to God.

II. The second question is, WHAT WAS THE WARRANT OF THIS WORSHIP? Was it devised according to their own will, or was it commanded by God? The reason of the inquiry is because some say that before the law the patriarchs did, without any command, out of their private good intention, offer sacrifice to God; and they prove it, because the Gentiles that were not acquainted with the institutions of the Church used the same way of worship. But this opinion seemeth little probable

1. Because this is above the light of corrupt nature to prescribe an acceptable worship to God.

2. It was by some appointment; for no worship is acceptable to Him but that which is of His appointment.

3. There could have been else no faith nor obedience in it, if the institution had been wholly human; there is no faith without some promise of Divine grace, no obedience without some command.

4. The wonderful agreement that is between this first act of solemn worship and the solemn constitutions of the Jewish Church doth wonderfully evince that there was some rule and Divine institution according to which this worship was to be regulated, which, probably, God revealed to Adam, and He taught it, as He did other parts of religion, to His children: therefore it was done by virtue of an institution. Abel looked to the command of God, and promise of God, that so he might do it in faith and obedience.

The note from this–That whatever is done in worship must be done out of conscience, and with respect to the institution. But you will say, What is it to do a thing by virtue of an institution? For answer

1. I shall show you what an institution is. Every word of institution consists of two parts–the word of command, and the word of promise.

2. What is it to do a duty in respect to the institution? I answer, it is to do it in faith and obedience: faith respects the word of promise, obedience the word of command. But now how shall I know when I do duty in faith and obedience?

I answer

1. You come in obedience when the command is the main motive and reason upon your spirit to put you upon the duty. It is enough to a Christian to say, This is the will of God (1Th 5:18).

2. Would you know when you come in faith? when you look to the word of promise? You may know that by the earnest expectation and considerateness of the soul.

III. The third question is, WHEREIN LIES THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO SACRIFICES?

1. In the faith of Abel. Abels principle was faith, Cains distrust.

2. In the willing mind of Abel. Cain looked upon his sacrifice as a task rather than a duty; his fruits were brought to God as a fine rather than an offering, as if an act of worship had been an act of penance, and religion was his punishment.

3. In the matter offered. It is said of Cains offering (Gen 4:3), That he brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. The

Holy Ghost purposely omits the description of the offering. Being hastily taken, and unthankfully brought, it is mentioned without any additional expression to set off the worth of them; it should have been the first and the fairest. But for Abel, see how distinct the Spirit of God is in setting forth his offering (verse 4); not only the firstlings, that the rest might be sanctified, but he brought the best, the chiefest, the fattest. All these were afterwards appropriated to God (Lev 3:16-17).

Now observe from hence–That when we serve God, we must serve Him faithfully, with our best.

1. God must have the best of our time. Consider, we can afford many sacrilegious hours to our lusts, and can scarce afford God a little time without grudging. Is not there too much of Cains spirit in this?

2. With your best parts. You come to worship God not only with your bodies, but your souls, with the refined strength of your reason and thoughts (Psa 108:1). (T. Manton, D. D.)

Abel:

The text carries us back to the worlds youngest days, and it introduces us to the worlds earliest brothers, the children of the first man. But how different the after history of the brothers who were thus named! Cain, the fondly imagined destroyer of the serpent, growing up into his slave; Abel, the first to experience death, and the first to triumph over it by a power that was mightier than his own. Cain, the first rebel–Abel, the first pardoned sinner; the one Divinely branded as that wicked one who slew his brother, the other bearing his appropriate and lasting surname of righteous Abel.

I. FIRST, HE IS BROUGHT BEFORE US AS OFFERING AN ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICE. Perhaps the main difference will be found in the fact that Cains was a eucharistic, Abels an expiatory sacrifice. In the one there was a recognition, in the other there was a refusal of the ordinance of God, that without the shedding of blood there could be no remission of sin. Moreover, the apostle declares that the sacrifice of Abel was offered in faith. Now, faith must have respect to some revelation that has been previously given, as well as to some other blessing which the future will reveal. Some have wondered sometimes why, if sacrifice were of Divine origin, there should be no express enactment on record. But even if there be no record of it, it would be rash to conclude that there was therefore no revelation. There lurks in this supposition the fallacy of believing that the book of Genesis bore to the Jewish the same relation which the book of Leviticus bore to the Mosaic dispensation–that it was written not by the historian but by the law-giver. But we cannot imagine that the patriarchs knew no more of truth than is recorded in the historians narrative. Indeed, we know they did; for Abrabam had revelations of a future state, and Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, as we learn from the New Testament, concerning the coming of the Lord in judgment. Neither of these things is recorded in the book of Genesis. Whatever this promise is, it is a promise of spiritual blessing. You look into it further, and you discover that there is in it a promise of a Redeemer–a promise of a Redeemer of superior nature to the destroyer, and yet to be of the seed of the woman. You look further into the promise, and find that He is to be bruised. If His essential power is greater than the power of His adversary, then any suffering that comes upon Him must be endured by His own consent. If it be voluntary, then this leads you to another step in the argument–it must be vicarious; it must be undertaken for some one else; undertaken as a substitute for some one whom He has voluntarily pledged Himself to redeem. Then here comes the great idea of satisfaction–suffering endured by a Saviour in the room and in the stead of another. But if vicarious, you go further still. In such a Being–in a Being of such acknowledged power, it must be available; it must be efficacious for the destruction of the evils that were introduced by the adversary. Now, if you will just think of this argument, I fancy you will find that it will hold, and that it is not improbable that, in the absence of direct revelation our first parents discovered in the earliest promise the Divine nature of the Redeemer, the mystery of His incarnate life, and outlines of that grand and wonderful scheme of redemption by which He offered Himself, the Just, or the unjust, that He might bring us to God. Here, then, is the foundation of the rite of sacrifice; and you cannot wonder that the faith of Abel, resting upon the scheme of mediation, should find visible expression, analogous to the way in which the offering was to be wrought out, by the offering of the firstling upon the altar, nor that God attesting that sacrifice, and honouring the spirit which prompted it, should have accepted it in the consuming fire.

II. We find, in the second place, THE RESULTS OF THIS FAITH–THAT GOD GAVE HIM A TESTIMONY. He received a Divine testimony: by it he obtained witness that he was righteous–God testifying of his gifts. God is said to have testified to the acceptance of his offering, and to have witnessed to his own personal acceptance as well. The manner of this testimony is not distinctly stated, but the analogy would be that it was given by fire. God testified to his gifts and to his faith. God testified to his gifts; and those gifts were the gifts of blood. He was the first saved sinner, and he stands typal and exemplary of all the rest. God set His seal thus early upon the one method of reconciliation that all the ages might learn the lesson. Human nature, if it would be accepted in heaven, must not come and stand in its erectness, as if it had never sinned; it must be contrite in its trust; it must be firm in its reliance upon the sacrifice which has purged its sin away. Here is salvation costlier than human price can buy; here is salvation fuller than imagination can conceive; here is salvation lasting through all the ages of eternity; and it is offered–offered upon understood and easy terms. Here is a Redeemer gifted with every qualification, and infinite in His willinghood of love. And this Redeemer wills to save you; He has paid the price; He does not want any paltry price of yours.

III. Abel is presented in the text as EXERTING AN UNDYING INFLUENCE. By it he being dead yet speaketh. He is brought before us as an historical exemplification of the power of faith. He has gained by it an undying memory; he is thrown by it among the moral heroes of the olden times. There issues from him, because of it, an influence which spreads and grows for ages. He teaches to after generations many great lessons; he teaches the lesson of contrition, and of gratitude, and of humble hope, and of far-sighted reliance which fastens its gaze upon the Cross, and stays its spirit there! (W. M. Putxshort.)

Abel:

The great lesson we learn is this: there is one appointed way of approaching God, and only one; no other way devised by human cunning or human invention can or will bring us to God; and faith is the principle by which we do thus approach God. There are two classes which this speaks to

1. Those who are convinced of the right way to heaven, and willing to walk in it.

2. Those who are wholly mistaken as to the way of salvation. Of the latter first. There is an inclination in man to strike out a way of his own, and that, usually, exactly contrary to Gods appointed way to final happiness.

Thus here is God the Creator appointing a way for man to walk in, and man refusing to walk therein is therefore lost. The common occasion on which men will choose their own way is in the means of salvation being by Christ, in the necessity of the aid of the Spirit, in the necessity of showing forth that work of the Spirit by holy living; very often such men begin their whole scheme of contradiction by denying the doctrine of original sin. By this means men try to make their way to heaven, What in these particulars is Gods appointed way?

1. Man says he is not a sinner by birth and practice, root and branch a sinner, but he is only very weak, very various, some better than others, and so forth. God says, There is none that doeth good; no, not one.

2. Or again, some say, Your amiability and morality are so great you need not think of any means of salvation; you may deserve heaven by the beauty of your own character or the force of your own works.

3. Again, some men talk of their own unaided strength helping them to perform good works.

4. And again; some men tell us there is no need of good works at all, but that a man may live in the constant habit of sin, and yet please God, and consider himself a servant of God; what says the Word of God? Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. We are His workmanship, created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works.

Thus, then, mans way in the world greatly differs from Gods way of salvation. But again, the example of Abel speaks to Christians too. Do I speak to some such now–men who will not accept the means which God has appointed to bring them near to Himself? who wish to belong to Him, and try to be reconciled, and believe Christ only can do it, and yet will not go to the means ordered by God, but strike out ways of their own, and then wonder why they do not gain their end?

1. There are some such who will not receive the sacrament of the Lords Supper, choosing to expect a fitness which the Bible does not speak of: and thus, though Christ has appointed this way of approaching Him, they persist in refusing to walk in it. How is it you dare thus to trifle with God? How can you hope to be better or happier while, like Cain, you will come to God in your own devised manner, however well arranged, and not in His revealed, appointed method of approach?

2. Or again; some men will not pray; they think hearing is enough, or knowing is enough, or feeling is enough, or thinking is enough. They will not pray, while prayer is the very life of the soul.

3. Or again; some men will not read the Bible; the call of business or domestic life is the excuse they plead against ever reading the Word of God; and yet we are told to search the Scriptures.

4. Again; some men will not come to church, thinking they can serve God as well at home, not seeing how it can matter, if they pray at home, whether they pray there or at church; not seeing that the whole consists in one being Gods appointed means, the other not. Thus do men, good on the whole, sin as Cain, by choosing their own ways, in certain particulars, to approach God, and despising and neglecting others. Remember, it is by faith you will follow Abel. Use Gods appointed means–faith. (E. Monro.)

Abel

I. ABEL AT THE ALTAR.

1. The principle of the offerer–Faith.

2. The material of the offering–A more excellent sacrifice.

(1) Select.

(2) Suitable.

(3) Surprising. More excellent than Cain.

(a) The privileges of both were the same.

(b) The mother esteemed Cain, but ignored Abel.

(c) Revelation was very meagre.

(d) The bad example of a constant associate. Wickedness is contagious. The religion of Abel was sin-proof. The Divine in him was mightier than the satanic in his brother.

II. ABEL THE RECIPIENT OF A DIVINE TESTIMONIAL. Previously we saw Abel giving to God; here we see him receiving from God. Those who give also get (Joh 1:12).

1. The testimonial. Righteous–justified–absolved from all wrong–accepted as one right in all his relationships–with conscience, the world, death, judgment, God.

2. The testifier, God. The authority is the highest and the truest. The keys of destiny hang at His girdle. His smile is heaven.

III. ABEL THE PROCLAIMER OF DIVINE TRUTH. Being dead, yet speaketh. Most men speak before death; many speak when dying; but Abel speaks after death. There is a peculiarity in the influence of Abel. He teaches

1. That fallen man may again approach God.

2. That worship must be through the medium of sacrifice.

3. That acceptance with God is the highest favour.

4. That a godly life is immortal in its influence. (B. D. Johns.)

Faith the secret of accepted worship:

Faith is spiritual sight. It is the apprehension of the unseen. It is the realisation of the Invisible. By faith, by an exercise of that souls sight which faith is, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. The Searcher of hearts saw in Abel, saw not in Cain, that sight of the Invisible which is the condition of worship. The difference lay not in the form of the offering, but in the spirit of the offerer. In vain we obtrude our poor human assistance for the discrimination of the two sacrifices. God required no outward sign, no visible or tangible material, to inform or to guide His judgment. His eye could pierce, at once and by intuition, to the discerning of soul and spirit. And here we read what He judged by–not the substance of the sacrifice, but the hearts heart of the worshipper. By faith–by that souls sight of which the Omniscient alone can take knowledge–Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. By which sacrifice–or, by which faith–for the relative is ambiguous in the Greek–he obtained witness that he was righteous–he was attested as righteous–the testimony of God, in Holy Scripture, was borne to him as being righteous–God testifying of his gifts. It was not the sacrifice which made him righteous–it was the righteousness which offered, and which consecrated the offering. He was attested as righteous, God testifying of His gifts. We know not how, by what visible or invisible token, the acceptance, the respect, was evidenced to the one offerer, and its absence indicated to the other. The reference of the text is to the record in Scripture. And by it he being dead yet speaketh. The same ambiguity rests upon by it as upon by which above. By the sacrifice? or, by the faith? By the sacrifice offered in faith? or, by the faith in which the sacrifice was offered? It is a distinction without a difference as regards the doctrine. We have three lessons to learn.

1. By faith Abel offered. Faith has a province in the present. The past belongs wholly to her–the future belongs wholly to her–the present belongs to her in part. There are things present of which sight and sense can take notice. But the spiritual, the heavenly, the Divine, is ever present–and of this the senses tell nothing. There are two kinds of worship, asthere are two characters and classes of worshippers. There are those who come to worship with earthly, sensual, diabolical minds. There are those who bring something in their hands–it may be a few herbs or flowers, it may be a sheaf of corn or a bag of money, it may be the bread and wine of a Sacrament, it may be the bended knee or the uttered liturgy of a Church calling itself Reformed, calling itself Evangelical–and who yet never stir up themselves to lay hold of the Invisible and the Eternal–come together with earthward eyes and earth-bound souls–do not speak one word to God Himself as Spirit and Life and Love–do not breathe really into His ear one syllable of deep heartfelt confession, praise, or prayer–go as they came, self-satisfied or else murmuring, earth-filled or else empty, giddy and trifling or else disconsolate–at all events, without that faith which is the realisation of God Himself–and therefore to them and to their offering He has not, cannot have, respect.

2. God testifying of His gifts. There is a worship to which God has respect. That worship varies in shape and form. Once it was embodied in ritual. A service of rule and ceremony, of incense and vestment, of gift and sacrifice. Now it is a service of greater simplicity–of words read from a book, of Psalms recited or chanted, of hymns sung and accompanied, of instruction and exhortation spoken and listened to. Yet the idea of worship is one and the same. Six thousand years ago Abel worshipped: we worship to-day. The idea, as the object, of worship, is unchanged. If it is effectual, if it is successful, God testifies of it still. Generally, in His Word–assuring us of its acceptance if it be this and this. Personally, in the soul–giving an answer of peace–calming, satisfying, strengthening, comforting, according to the need of each one.

3. Finally, he being dead yet speaketh. The immortality of faith is a voice also. Abel speaks still. He, you will say, has a place in the Bible–and the text is of course exceptionally true of Scripture saints. Those to whom God hath borne witness in that Book which hath immortality, of course share the immortality of the Book and of its Author. It is true even of the wicked–even of the bad immortality which a place in the Bible gives if it givenot the good. It is true of the Cains as well as the Abels–of the Ahabs as of the Elijahs–of the Gallios and the Demases as much as of St. Luke and of St. Paul. But we speak now of the undying voices of the faithful. Is it not true of them that they almost gain in audibility by distance? When did Paul himself ever speak as he spoke in the great Reformation, fifteen hundred years after he fell on sleep, quickening Luther and Calvin, quickening Germany and England, with that life which has carried mind and might with it across two hemispheres? Nor is it only of inspired men, or of Bible characters, that the words of the text are true. Being dead he yet speaketh has an application, not to heroes of faith alone, but to very common inmates of very obscure homes. This will be in exact proportion as they have been enabled to live and to die in the light of a Divine revelation which is no respecter of persons. It is not only where biographies have kept alive the memory, and made the example of some Brainerd or Swarz, some Martyn or Patteson, vocal for ever to Christian homes and Christian Churches. (Dean Vaughan.)

The sacrifices of Cain and Abel:

Both these sacrifices were in themselves acceptable to God, for under the Levitical institutions, wheat and barley were offered by the Divine command, as well as lambs, and bullocks, and goats. But the faith of Abel made his sacrifice more excellent than that of Cain; and by his faith, not by his sacrifice, he obtained witness that he was righteous God in some way, bearing testimony to him when he was presenting his gifts. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

Abels faith

God is not taken with the cabinet, but with the jewel; He first respected Abels faith and sincerity, and then his sacrifice; He disrespected Cains infidelity and hypocrisy, and then his offering. (S. Charnock.)

He being dead, yet speaketh

Posthumous influence

1. It is a natural desire of the human heart to prolong its relations to the world after death. All expect to die, but no one desires to be forgotten. We want to get the better of death.

2. This is, in one sense, a strange desire. Can we not trust our fellows without stretching out one dead hand from the grave to guide? Would it not be better to be forgotten? Still, we do not love to think of sundering wholly our relations with this world.

3. The desire for posthumous influence is an instinct implanted by God, a sign of the grandeur of the human soul, and suggestive of its destiny.

4. This desire of posthumous influence can be realised in three ways.

(1) First, by our speech. It is not by the mastery of words alone that influence is perpetuated–by poet, scholar, or philosopher. You may lead a humble life, but your deliberate or casual speech will do a blessed or a baneful work ages hence.

(2) By what we do. While one may with his wealth found a hospital, endow a college, equip a library, or build a fountain in the central square of some city, it is possible that an inconspicuous life may become a perpetual fountain for good after that life on earth has closed.

(3) By what we are. Character is of all the most potent. Invisible as the wind and inaudible as the light, it is a real and enduring force. It is here that man exerts the greatest power for good or evil. It is here that a soul propagates influence on and through the ages for ever.

5. The influence that lives after us is not always what we intended it should be. In a moment of forgetfulness or passion we may speak that which will be remembered when all the good words we have uttered are forgotten.

Lessons:

1. We infer from these solemn facts the immense extension of responsibility. Plant a tree, Jamie, said Sir Walter Scott, it will be growing while you are sleeping. So with our acts.

2. Those who have left us are still with us by their posthumous influence.

3. Remember that this continued activity of the dead is not the whole of the idea of a future life. We have a grander goal. There is another shore beyond the blue horizon, which the ship will surely reach; another nest to which we fly, where our ears again shall be gladdened by songs from those we have known, and by those whom, not having known, we influence. Those whom God has taken, who were, still are. (E. B. Coe, D. D.)

The teaching of the dead

I. THAT ALL THOSE PROJECTS AND ANTICIPATIONS, THOSE PURSUITS AND ENJOYMENTS, WHICH HAVE NOT A REFERENCE TO OUR ETERNAL STATE, ARE

VAIN, FOOLISH, AND DELUSIVE. Ambitious men! some of these dead cry to you,–I have been surrounded by that glory which dazzles you; I have possessed those dignities for which you are struggling; I have been eulogised and applauded by men: but whither have all my honours conducted me? To the tomb! Whither will yours conduct you? To the tomb! Covetous men! listen to what some of these dead cry to you: I have accumulated riches; I have acquired revenues almost exhaustless. But of them all, what have I carried with me to the grave? A coffin and a shroud! What will you carry with you of the riches that you are amassing? A coffin and a shroud! Sensualists! listen to what some of these dead cry to you: I have indulged myself in every pleasure; I have refused nothing to my senses; I have rioted in sensual joys. But where did these joys terminate? In the tomb, in remorse, in perdition! What you are, I have been; what I am, you will shortly be.

II. THAT LIFE IS BOTH SHORT AND UNCERTAIN, Visit the repositories of the dead, and learn that man that is born of a woman, is of few days: that he fleeth as a shadow, and continueth not. Do you not there hear those who were most advanced in age saying to you: My associates spoke of the length of my life, of the number of my years, but now that I compare this life with the eternity which for me has swallowed up all time, how does it appear? Less than an atom, compared to the immensity of the universe; less than a drop of water, compared to the extended ocean. (H. Kollock, D. D.)

Influence after death

Those who spend their days on earth usefully and well, live after death by their example. A fathers worth, and a mothers care, and a neighbours kindness, will be remembered long, and, in many cases, be imitated by those who come after. The upright live after death by their precepts. They may have been wholly disregarded by those to whom they were first addressed; but the good seed will take root, and, sooner or later, yield fruits of increase. On the other hand, we are told that the name of the wicked shall rot (Pro 10:7). Their influence may have been exceedingly great, but it shall become less and less, until it wholly dies away. If any one desires, then, that his name shall be remembered after death with feelings of gratitude and satisfaction, let him strive to be good.

I. A MOTHERS influence after death. When I was a little child, says one, my mother used to bid me kneel beside her, and place her hand upon my head while she prayed. Before I was old enough to know her worth, she died, and I was left too much to my own guidance. In the midst of temptations, whether at home or abroad, I have felt myself, again and again, irresistibly drawn back by the pressure of that same soft hand. A voice in my heart seemed to say: Oh, do not this wickedness, my child, nor sin against God! I did not dare to disregard the call. Who has not heard of reprobate sons, after years of vice, stopped short in their course by remembrances of scenes of innocence and peace, in which a mothers anxious concern, a mothers reproving look, and a mothers gentle voice, speaking from the dead, exerted an influence more powerful than she could possibly have possessed while sitting under her own roof, and by her own fireside? Let Christian parents use this influence well, and the effect of their instructions shall never die.

II. TEACHERS influence after death. The instructors office is seldom estimated aright. How many difficulties to be overcome! How much discretion to be used! The tear of fond regret will glisten in the eye as the scholars, grown to adult age, make mention of their old teacher–the teacher in his grave. He, being dead, yet speaketh. Have not instructors a high incentive to prove themselves faithful?

III. The PHILANTHROPISTS influence after death. Kind and compassionate ones, go on in your useful ways. You are purchasing for yourselves immortality.

IV. An AUTHORS influence after death. Books, says Addison, are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind. The author dies. Not so his works. He still speaks through many lands by many tongues. Though already entered into his rest, he is, in reality, vigorously at work. He is moulding the minds, and influencing the hearts of untold thousands.

V. The CLERGYMANS influence after death. His life may have passed noiselessly away. His spirit–the fragrant memory of his life–lingers with his flock, and He, being dead, yet speaketh.

VI. The influence of every GOOD PERSON after death. (J. N. Norton, D. D.)

The moral influence we exert after death:

Every man that plays a part in the great drama of human life, leaves, at his departure, an impress and an influence, more or less extensive and lasting. No fact is more self-evident, or more universally admitted, than the text; and no fact withal is more generally disregarded by the living. And, just in proportion to the width of the sphere in which the departed moved, and the strength of intellectual and moral character they possessed and developed, will be the duration and the plastic power of that influence they have left behind them. This is the fair side of the portrait; and were the influence left behind by the dead universally of this holy character, then would men be throughout their biography like visitant angels of mercy passing athwart our miserable world, distilling balm and scattering light among mens sons; or as transient gales from the spicy lands of the East, or glorious meteors arising in rapid succession amidst the moral darkness of the earth, imparting light and fearlessness to its many pilgrims, and this would be bettered by every successive generation, till it arose and expanded to its millenial blessedness and peace. But alas! if many of the dead yet speak for God, and for the eternal welfare of humanity, many, many also speak for Satan, and ply after, as before their death, the awful work of sealing souls in their slumber, and smoothing and adorning the paths that lead to eternal death. Thus the departed sinner, as well as the departed saint, being dead yet speaketh. Thus our sins as well as our virtues survive. Thus we exert a posthumous influence which adds either an impulse upon the advancing chariot of salvation, or throws stumblingblocks and obstacles in its way. If any earth-born joys are admitted as visitants amid the celestial choirs, the joy that springs from having written saving and sanctifying works, is the sweetest that reaches the hearts of the saved. And I can fancy a Baxter, a Newton, a Scott, a Rutherford, rejoice with exceeding joy when the angels that minister to them that are to be heirs of salvation, bring word that, in consequence of the Awakening Call to the Unconverted, or The Force of Truth, or the Letters from the Prison of Aberdeen, some sinner has been aroused from his lethargy, and made a partaker of grace, and mercy, and peace. And if, as we believe, any poignant recollections from this side the bourne whence no traveller returns, roach the memories of the lost, not the least bitter will be the remembrance of having written volumes which are circulated by every library, and sold by every vender, in which the foundations of morality are sapped, and the youth of our world poisoned throughout the whole range of their moral economy. Oh, it will be the sorest sting of that worm which never dies, that their name, and their creed, and their principles after them, gather converts on earth, and carry fell desolation to homes that had otherwise been happy, and corruption to hearts that had else beat high with philanthropy and piety. (J. Cumming, D. D.)

A voice from the grave

I. THE FAITHFUL CHRISTIAN MINISTER BEING DEAD, YET SPEAKETH IN HIS WRITINGS.

II. A CHRISTIAN MINISTER BEING DEAD, YET SPEAKETH BY THE MOUTH OF THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN BORN AGAIN UNDER HIS MINISTRY.

III. THE FAITHFUL MINISTER OF CHRIST BEING DEAD, YET SPEAKETH THROUGH HIS EXAMPLE. It IS said of the virtuous and amiable Fenelon, that his life was even more eloquent than his discourses.

IV. A FAITHFUL MINISTER BEING DEAD, YET SPEAKETH, THROUGH THE MEMORY AND CONSCIENCE OF THEM THAT HEARD HIM. (M. Leishman.)

The speech of the dead

St. Paul seems to make it part of the recompense of Abel that he speaketh, though dead. The speaking after death appears given as a privilege or reward; and it will be both interesting and instructive to survey it under such point of view.

I. Let us, therefore, examine, in the first place, THE FACT HERE ASSERTED OF ABEL, and then consider it as constituting a portion of his recompense–a recompense which, if awarded to one of the righteous, may lawfullybe desired by all. We conclude that Adam was not left to invent a religion for himself when he carried with him from Paradise a prophetic notice of the seed of the woman. In the words which precede our text, the apostle states that by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. It would be hard to define wherein the faith was exhibited, if not in the nature of the offering. Cain, as well as Abel, displayed faith in the existence of God, and owned in Him the Creator and Preserver. But Abel alone displayed faith in an appointed expiation, conforming himself, on a principle of faith, to what had been made a fundamental article in the theology of the guilty. So that, by and through his sacrifice and its consequences, was Abel the energetic preacher of the great scheme of redemption, the witness to our race, in the very infancy of its being, of a Mediator to be provided and a Mediator to be rejected. And not only then. He sealed his testimony with his blood, but he was not silenced by death. We still go to his sepulchre when we seek an eloquent and thrilling assertion of the peril of swerving from the revealed will of God. He rises up from the earth, which drank in the blood of his offering and then of himself, and warns the self-sufficient that their own guidance can lead them to nothing but destruction. I hear the utterances of this slaughtered worthy. They are utterances, loud and deep, against any one amongst us who is too philosophical for the gospel or too independent for a Redeemer. They denounce the rationalist who would make his theology from creation, the self-righteous who would plead his own merit, and the flatterer who would think that there may be a path to heaven which is not a path of tribulation.

II. And now let us consider the fact alleged in our text under THE LIGHT OF A RECOMPENSE TO ABEL. The manner in which the fact is introduced indicates that it was part of the reward procured to Abel by his faith, that he should be a preacher to every generation. But that with which a righteous man is rewarded must be a real good, and, as such, may justly be sought by those who copy his righteousness. This opens before us an interesting field of inquiry. If Abel were recompensed by the being appointed, as it were, a preacher to posterity, it seems to follow that it may fitly be an object of Christian desire to do good to after-generations, and that it is not necessarily a proud and unhallowed wish to survive dissolution and be remembered when dead. It cannot indeed become us as Christians to make our own fame or reputation our end; but it is another question whether Christianity afford no scope for the passion for distinction which beats so high and prompts to so much. Let it be, for example, a mans ruling desire that he may be instrumental in spreading through the world the knowledge of Christ, and we may say of him that he is actuated by a motive which actuates the Almighty Himself, and that there is something in his ambition which deserves to be called god-like. It is not possible that a grander aim should be proposed, nor a purer impulse obeyed, by any of our race. And where this ambition is entertained–and it is an ambition in which every true Christian must share–can there lawfully be no consciousness of the worth, no desire for the possession of the recompense awarded to Abel? We believe of this worthy that, having his own faith fixed on a propitiation for sin, he must have longed to bring others to a similar confidence. Would it then have been no recompense to him had he been assured that the memory of his sacrifice was never to perish? Could it have been a recompense only on the supposition that he craved human distinction and longed, like candidates for earthly renown, to transmit his name with honour to posterity? Not so. It has been for the good of the Church that Abel has preached, and still preaches, to the nations. Many, in every age, have been strengthened by his example, many animated by his piety, many warned by his death. Thus the result of his surviving his dissolution has been the furtherance of the objects which we may suppose most desired by Abel. And the like may be declared of others. I take the case of some great champion of the faith, some bold confessor, who zealously published the truth and then sealed it with his blood. The place where this man preached, and that where he died, are hallowed spots; and the tomb in which his ashes sleep is an altar on which successive generations consecrate themselves to God. The martyr survives the stake or the scaffold, and leads on in after-ages the armies of the Lord. The, tyrant who crushed him made him imperishable, and he died that he might be life to the faith of posterity. And is it not reward to the worthies of an earlier time that they are thus instrumental in upholding the doctrines which they contended for as truth; that they still publish the tenets in whose support they lifted up their voices till the world rang with the message; and that districts or countries are so haunted by their memories, that the righteous seem to have them for companions and to be cheered by their counsels? And who further will doubt that a reputation such as this, thus precious and profitable, might be lawfully desired by the most devoted of Christs followers. There is something grand and ennobling about such ambition. It seems to me that the man who entertains and accomplishes the desire of witnessing for truth after death, triumphs over death in the highest possible sense. I could almost dare to say of such a man that he never dies. (H. Melvill, B. D.)

Speech from the speechless:

These are strange words, are they not?–a dead man speaking. Yet they are true, although Abel has been dead a long time. But we must attend to what Abel is saying just now to us, for he being dead is yet speaking.

1. He says, Take care how you worship God. Do not be misled by bad examples. When you come to worship, come as Abel did, to worship before the Lord, and to hear what He says, and try to do it.

2. But Abel speaks this also–Beware, he says, of envy. The Bible tells us that Cain hated Abel, because Abels works were good, while his were evil. Bad people always hate good people, just because they are good, and so different from themselves. They begin with envy, then envy becomes prejudice, and prejudice grows into spite, and then spite becomes hatred.

3. Abels tone gets graver still when he says, There are some things that can never be mended. No, never I When once Cain had struck that blow at his brother, could he bring Abel back to life again? When you are ten years old, can you go back and become just nine? When a man is thirty years old, can he ever again become ten? No; you see there are some things that can never be undone. Now the Lord says, they that seek Him early shall find Him.

4. But Abel also says, There is not such a thing as a secret. Cain thought, maybe, he could easily hide his crime. But no! God saw it. (J. R. Howatt.)

Earthly immortality:

Very little is known of Abel, of whom this is spoken, except that he represented before God the spiritual element, while his brother represented the carnal and the secular. He must have been a man whose moral nature was impressive, mild, gentle. Yet he produced an effect, not only upon his own time, but upon after times. This living after a man is gone, may almost be said to be a universal aspiration. Almost all men, when they rise out of the savage state, begin to come under the influence of this ambition. We are not content, either, with our individual sphere. We desire to be known and felt outside of ourselves, outside of our household, outside of our neighbourhood. And our satisfaction grows if we find that our life affects the life of larger communities, and goes out through the nation and through the world. To a highly poetic nature, it seems as though it were a kind of earthly immortality. There is, however, a great difference in mens ambitions for such prolonged life. There is a great difference in the moral values of this longing for extended being and influence. If it be the ambition of vanity; if men desire, while alive, to be felt in order that they may be praised; if their thought of other persons is simply how to draw from them revenue for themselves, or how they can make themselves idols, and make men believe that they are gods–if it be this, then it is a base and perverted form of that which is a very good thing in its nobler and higher form. And such men are very poor indeed, and contemptible, after death. Selfishness, by its own law, not only moves in simple circles, but is short-lived. What men do for themselves is soon expended, and is soon forgotten. Only that part of a mans life which includes other mens good, and especially the public good, is likely to be felt long after he himself is dead. The physical industries of this world have two relations in them–one to the actor and one to the public. Honest business is more really a contribution to the public than it is to the manager of the business himself. Who built that old mill which has ground the bread of two generations? Men do not know. His name may be on some mouldering stone in the graveyard. But it is the man who built it that is working in it still. It was his skill and engineering industry that put it up. The builders of stores, and warehouses, and shops, and dwellings, are not building them for wages merely. They build them upon contract, to be sure; but their interest in them does not expire with the fulfilment of that contract. It is not how much these things have done for them that limits their interest in them, but how much they were able, through these things, to make the brain work in the future, and so to incorporate their usefulness into the lower ranges and economies of human life. So not alone are those men benefactors who are warriors, and statesmen, and scholars, and poets. These other men, too, in a humbler way, but really, ought to have a share of our thought and credit. They who promote industry, and make it more prolific of profit, are benefactors. Oh! that men might know how much benefit there is in mechanical operations and in benevolent art! Oh! that men might take comfort in knowing that when they are dead they shall yet speak. Experience shows that these advances in physical things are more beneficently felt by the poor than by others. They are felt by the rich; but everything that contributes to the convenience and prosperity of the community, and so raises it in the scale, is, first or last, a greater benefit to the poor than to any others. It is not the selfish or personal element that prolongs ones life. A man that is dead is not to be remembered simply because he invented something. He is to be remembered because that which he invented goes on working benefit after he is dead. And so long as it is doing good to men, so long he is to be remembered. It is that which we do for the public good that makes our physical industries virtuous and beneficent. Next, men who organise their money into public uses, live as long as the benefaction itself serves the public. There is many a man who, having money, says to his right hand, to which the Lord denied the sculptors art, Thou shalt carve a statue; and he takes some poor unfriended artist from the village, and endows him, and sends him to Rome, and brings him back, and puts him into life. Powers and Jacksons carve beauteous figures to last for generations; and it is the rich man who patronised them who is working through the men that he fashioned and formed. There is many a man who says, Oh, tongue I thou art dumb; but thou shalt have tongues that shall speak. And he searches out from among the poor those that are ambitious to learn, and that are likely to become scholars, and puts them forward, and sees that they are educated. And thereafter this worthy minister, this true statesman, that wise and upright lawyer, and this unimpeachable judge, become, as it were, an extension of its own self. A man has the gift of wealth-amassing; and he says to himself, Selfish gains will die with me, and be buried with me so far as I am concerned. And he thinks of the village where as a boy he played, and remembers its barrenness from want of taste and from poverty, and says, I will go back there, and that village shall be made beautiful. And not only does he build there, within moderation, and with taste and beauty, a dwelling, but his house becomes the measure and the mark of all the houses in the neigbourhood. It is his fence that set all the people in the village putting their fences right. And more generous ideas in regard to houses and grounds are instilled into the minds of the young. And the young men and maidens, when they get married and settle down in life, exercise better taste in fitting up their homes. Their houses, though small and plain, are more tastefully planned, and there are more trees about their grounds, and more flowers in their gardens. There springs up on every side an imitation of that rich mans example. And in the course of twenty or twenty-five years, he will have generated the taste of the community. Or he goes beyond that. He inspires in all the neighbourhood a disposition for beauty by planting trees along the highway. And when he shall have been dead a hundred years, he will be remembered as the man who made that long walk of beauty. Not only may wealth be organised into institutions of secular pleasure and comfort and beauty, but it may be organised still more potently into institutions of mercy–into houses of refuge; into retreats for the unfortunate; into hospitals for the sick; into orphan asylums; into houses of industry and of employment. You will die in a score of years, perhaps; but not a score of centuries need slay the institution which you have reared. Oh I what a benefaction for any man that has money, and has faith to see how it can work after he has gone, and a heart to set it to work. Being dead, he speaks, and speaks chorally. But even more important are those institutions which go before society, march ahead, as it were, and by distributing intelligence and promoting virtue, prevent suffering. Take, for instance, that single foundation, the Bampton Lectures. A New England man, dying, left a fund the income of which every year was to be devoted to paying for a course of lectures which were to vindicate the authenticity of the Scriptures and the divinity of our Lord, and the evangelical religion. From that fund there has sprung a line of lectures that constitutes one of the most noble monuments of learning and piety that has been known in any language on the globe. Could money be made to work such important results in any other way? These endowments have in them immortality on earth. This is the reason why I say that men ought not to be poor if they can be rich. We may rise to a higher grade and to a more familiar ground, therefore, since it is more frequently inculcated in the pulpit. As virtue and spirituality are higher than physical qualities; as the wealth of society lies more in the goodness of Christian institutions and Christian men than in ease, or abundance, or pleasure, so he most wisely prolongs his life to after-days who so lives as to give form and perpetuity to spiritual influences. Whoever makes the simple virtues more honourable and attractive among men, prolongs his own life. The evil of untruth I need not expound to you. He who makes truth beautiful to men in his day; he who makes men want to be true, and seek after truth, and believe in it, becomes a benefactor. So that I think one single character in Walter Scotts novels is worth more than all the characters put together of many more fashionable novels. All who have opened the Divine nature to men; all who have developed to men higher moral truths, and made them like their daily bread; all who have lifted the life of the world up into a higher sphere–they, although dead, yet speak. They may not be spoken of; but, what is more to the point, they themselves speak, and speak the same language; and all the better, because when a man is dead the prejudices and the imperfections that fingered about him are dead too. And then his voice becomes clearer, and his testimony is more widely received. Lastly, those who have the gift of embodying moral truths and noble experiences (which are the best truths that ever dawn on the world) in verse; those who have the power to give their higher thoughts and feelings the wings of poetry–they, being dead, speak far back. We hear Homer chanting yet, and chanting the best things that men knew in his day. And the world is still willing to listen to the oldest poet. And: he who has had permission to write one genuine hymn, to send forth one noble sonnet, to sing one stately epic, may well fold his wings and his hands, and say, Now let Thy servant depart in peace. What are you doing? Young man, what do you propose? Will you build pyramids of stone, or will yon build pyramids of thought? He that puts his life into doing good; he that would purify men; he that would suffer for the sake of suffering men; he that puts the enginery of feeling and the power of business into the work of beneficence in this world, though he may be subject to obloquy, though he may be under a cloud, though he may lose himself, will be remembered when he is dead. The time will come when his name will shine out brighter than the morning star. (H. W. Beecher.)

Abel, the model speaker:

From what the apostle says of Abel in our text, we may consider him as the model speaker. It may seem strange to take this view of him when we do not know a single word that he ever spoke. Actions speak louder than words.

I. THE MATTER OF ABELS SPEAKING, or what he spoke about. When a person is going to make a speech, it is very important for him to choose a good subject. Abel did this. The thing to which the apostle here refers, as that by which Abel speaks to us, is the sacrifice which he offered. Abel was a model speaker because, by what he did, he spoke about Christ and His death. And this is the most important thing that any one can ever speak about.

1. This is an important subject to speak about, because we cannot be good till we know about Jesus and His death.

2. We cannot be happy till we know about Christ and His death.

3. We cannot be safe till we know about Jesus and His death.

II. Abel was a model speaker also because of the MANNER of his speaking. He spoke by his life, or actions; and there are three ways in which this made him a model speaker.

1. In the first place, it made him a plain speaker. Everybody who has heard what the Apostle Paul says about Abels sacrifice, understands what it meant. When he spoke by that action, Abel was speaking plainly.

2. This made him a loud speaker. He spoke so loudly by that act, that all round the world, wherever the Bible has gone, the voice of what he did has been heard. And if we wish to speak so loudly, that we may be heard for a long time and to a great distance, we must speak by our actions, by doing what God tells us to do.

3. Abel was a model speaker, because the action by which he spoke made him an effectual speaker. The action of Abel in offering his sacrifice spoke very effectually to the Apostle Paul. And nothing that Abel could have said by words about the sacrifice of Christ would have had so much effect in making people feel the importance of that sacrifice as his quiet action in standing by his altar and presenting on it the sacrifice which God had commanded to be offered. (R. Newton, D. D.)

The dead speaking

There is a double solemnity in the life that we lead. We believe we are to be judged at Gods bar for the deeds done in the body; but by those same deeds we are doomed to help or hurt all with whom we are or shall be connected here below. This is not an arbitrary decree: it is the necessary condition of human life. It is a monitory, and at the same time a cheering doctrine. One might think the joyful side of the alternative would alone suffice to make every man good and faithful. As the tree dies, but in its very decay nourishes the roots of a new forest; as the little silkworm dies, but his fine fabric does not perish; as the coral-insect dies, but his edifice breaks the angry wave that has traversed the ocean, and becomes the foundation of greenness and future harvests: so, when you die, be your place lofty or lowly, your self-sacrificing endeavours shall leave enduring riches and a moral bulwark. With what new interest does this thought clothe all the relations of human life! It speaks to you, parents. The dead speak, however brief the term of the moral career, and even though that career be closed while the moral nature still sleeps in Gods own charge. The little child, fading like a tender plant, has not wholly perished even from the earth. Though it came but to smile and die, yet has it left an influence not fleeting, but long abiding. That gentle image of innocence, that strange power of patience, shall soften your heart, and make it move with tender sympathy to the distresses of your kind, even to the end of your own days. But a peculiar power belongs to those who have been wayfarers upon earth, who have fought the battle of life, and gained the victory over temptation. They encourage me in my toils; they say to me, Here is the end of thy griefs; they warn me against the indulgence of my errors and sins

Soft rebukes in blessings ended,

Breathing from their lips of air.

What, then, are we doing, what principles cherishing, what dispositions manifesting? How shall we reappear to the contemplative eye of those who shall here outlive us? How would you return in the survivors memory, were you now to receive from God your summons? As a faithful father who let slip no opportunity to train up his offspring in the way of virtue, who never sacrificed the welfare of his family to his own pursuit of profit and pelf, but sought for them the treasure that is better than gold? And how would it be with you, children, were you called out of the world? You would not utterly vanish. Your parents, at least, would still behold you? Would it be with unmingled satisfaction that your reappearing images would inspire them? But the appeal is to every mortal. No man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. Place thyself in thought on the other side of the grave, and, with reverted eye, mark how it will be. From that position, dost thou look back, and see selfishness, meanness, pride, envy, lust, passion, absorbing love of the world, all from thy life working ruin according to their nature, on thy associates and fellow-men? God forbid! (C. A.Bartol.)

Posthumous influence:

Who can estimate the influence of the great departed on successive generations? Achilles, the Grecian hero, as described by Homer, is said to have formed Alexander, and Napoleon had the Macedonian conqueror ever before his mind. Julius Caesar was the hero of Wellington, and the Commentaries of that Roman general were, like the Iliad to Alexander, his constant text-book. Socrates and Plato, Aristotle and Euclid, have long held sway in the schools of the learned, and continue to form the minds of modern youth as they did those of old. Moses moulded Hebrew legislation, and David gave to his nation a character. Luther breathed his ardent spirit into the piety and church of his fatherland, and Calvins clear intellect and systematic thought pervaded a large portion of Christendom. The myriad-minded Shakespeare, the sententious Bacon, the translators of the Bible in their expressive Saxon, moulded English literature, while the galaxy of illustrious statesmen, warriors, and merchants of bygone days, made England what it has become. Wallace and Bruce, Knox and Melville, are the representative men of Scotland, and the fathers of their country. (S. Steel.)

Dead, yet living:

The cedar, says a Christian writer, is the most useful when dead. It is the most productive when its place knows it no more. There is no timber like it. Firm in the grain, and capable of the finest polish, the tooth of no insect will touch it, and Time himself can hardly destroy it. Diffusing a perpetual fragrance through the chambers which it ceils, the worm will not corrode the book which it protects, nor the moth corrupt the garment which it guards; all but immortal itself, it transfuses its amaranthine qualities to the objects around it. Every Christian is useful in his life, but the goodly cedars are the most useful afterwards. Luther is dead, but the Reformation lives. Bunyan is dead, but his bright spirit still walks the earth in his Pilgrims Progress. Baxter is dead, but souls are quickened by the Saints Rest. Elliot is dead, but the missionary spirit is young. Howard is dead, but modern philanthropy is only commencing its career. Raikes is dead, but the Sunday-schools go on.

Infuence lost in form but not in force

The Amazon, the River Plata, Orinoco, Mississippi, Zaire, Senegal, Indus, Ganges, Yangtsee, or Irawaddy, &c., &c.
these, and such like stupendous rivers, extend their influence to a considerable distance from the coast, and occasionally perplex and delay the navigator in open sea, who finds himself struggling against a difficulty wholly unconscious of the cause. The River Plata, at a distance of six hundred miles from the mouth of the river, was found to maintain a rate of a mile an hour; and the Amazon, at three hundred miles from the entrance, was found running nearly three miles per hour, its original direction being but little altered, and its water nearly fresh. We are reminded by this of other influences which also lose their form, but not their force. Though the man dies, his influence still lives. He no longer acts upon the world in the capacity of public speaker, writer or statesman, but his influence has gone forth and joined the great ocean of thought. The sect or party changes its form and loses its individuality, but its influence has gone forth and is felt in the current of opinion. All the separate and distinct influences of men and sects become universalised in the great sea of eternity. (Scientific Illustrations and Symbols.)

The ministry of the dead to the living:

When, says Louis Figuier, the leaves have performed their functions, when the fruits have appeared, matured, ripened, vegetation has entered into a new phase; the leaves lose their brilliant green and assume their autumnal tint. A certain air of sadness pervades these ornaments of our fields which proclaims their approaching dissolution. The leaves, withered and deformed, will soon cumber the ground to be blown hither and thither by the wind. But when separated from the vegetable which has given birth to and matured them, they are not lost to the earth which receives them. Everything in nature has its use, and leaves have their uses also in the continuous circle of vegetable reproduction. The leaves which strewed the ground at the foot of the trees, or which have been disseminated by the autumn winds over the country, perish slowly upon the soil, where they are transformed into the humus, or vegetable moulds, indispensable to the life of plants. Thus the debris of vegetable purposes for the coming and formation of a new vegetation. Death prepares for new life; the first and the last give their hands, so to speak, in vegetable nature, and form the mysterious circle of organic life which has neither beginning nor end. When man has performed his functions here and ended his labours, he too fades like the leaf, and is borne away by the cold breeze of death. But like the leaf in death, so man, though dead, ministers to the living. He has not merely consumed so much of the productions of the earth, leaving nothing in return. He has left behind him his thoughts, his act, his example, his experiences, written or unwritten, and these will all perform their valuable ministration to the living, as do those leaves of autumn to the younger life which grows over their graves. (Scientific Illustrations and Symbols)

Dead, yet speaking:

About the middle of the seventeenth century, the venerable John Flavel was settled at Dartmouth, where his labours were greatly blessed. On one occasion he preached from these words: If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha. The discourse was unusually solemn. At the conclusion of the service, when Mr. Flavel arose to pronounce the benediction, he paused, and said, How shall I bless this whole assembly, when every person in it who loveth not the Lord Jesus Christ is anathema, maranatha? The solemnity of this address deeply affected the audience, and one gentleman, a person of rank, was so much overcome by his feelings, that he fell senseless to the floor. In the congregation was a lad named Luke Short, then about fifteen years old, a native of Dartmouth, who, shortly after the event just narrated, entered into the seafaring line, and sailed to America, where he passed the rest of his life. Mr. Shorts life was lengthened much beyond the usual term; and when a hundred years old, he had sufficient strength to work on his farm, and his mental faculties were very little impaired. Hitherto he had lived in carelessness and sin; he was now a sinner a hundred years old, and apparently ready to die accursed. But one day, as he sat in his field, he busied himself in reflecting on his past life. Recurring to the events of his youth, his memory fixed upon Mr. Flavels discourse, already alluded to, a considerable part of which he was able to recollect. The affectionate earnestness of the preachers manner, the important truths which he delivered, and the effects produced on the congregation, were brought fresh to his mind. The blessing of God accompanied his meditations; he felt that he had not loved the Lord Jesus Christ; he feared the dreadful anethema; conviction was followed by repentance, and at length this aged sinner obtained peace through the blood of Christ, and was found in the way of righteousness. He joined the Congregational church in Middleborough, and till the period of his death, which took place in his one hundred and sixteenth year, he gave pleasing evidence of true piety. (K. Arvine.)

Posthumous influence:

Da Vincis famous painting of The Lords Supper, originally adorning the dining-room of a convent, has suffered such destruction from the ravages of time, war, and abuse, that none of its original beauty remains. Yet it has been copied and engraved; and impressions of the great picture have been multiplied through all civilised lands. Behold a parable of posthumous influence. (New Cyclopaedia of Illustrations.)

Posthumous influence:

Some stars are so distant that their beams may have occupied thousands of years in journeying to the earth, and yet these bodies, if suddenly annihilated, would still continue to shine upon us for thousands of years to come. So, too, there are great men whose existence has long since terminated, but the influence of whose spirit still irradiates our world. Milton, Shakespeare, and Christ, though gone from our sphere, still shine upon it as spiritual stars of the first magnitude. (Scientific Illustrations and Symbols.)

Influence seen after many days:

Between the sowing and the reaping there may be a long interval. The hand that gave either the rich mans abundance or the poor widows farthing for the spread of the gospel, and the lip that either falteringly or eloquently spoke for Christ, may lie cold in the grave; but the good seed sowed in Gods husbandry shall yet yield a glorious harvest. I have seen a little four-paged tract, written half a century ago, that recently found its way into a heathen hamlet, and converted a whole household. There lives on yonder Pacific coast a faithful follower of Jesus whose youthful waywardness brought down a parents grey head in sorrow to the grave. But the while her weeping words of prayer had buried themselves deep in the boys bosom; and when they told him of her death it was as if a spirit had come back from eternity to glide through his chambers of imagery, breathing again her tender words, and looking on him with her eyes of weeping love–and the strong man was a child again, a child of grace–yea, a child of glory. (C. Wadsworth.)

The after-glow of life:

When the sun goes below the horizon he is not set; the heavens glow for a full hour after his departure. And when a great and good man sets, the sky of this world is luminous long after he is out of sight. Such a man cannot die out of this world. When he goes he leaves behind much of himself. Being dead he speaks. (H. W. Beecher.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 4. By faith Abel offered – a more excellent sacrifice] . 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, . 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. Abel, being a shepherd or a feeder of cattle, brought, not only the eucharistic offering, but also of the produce of his flock as a sin-offering to God, by which he acknowledged his own sinfulness, God’s justice and mercy, as well as his being and providence. Cain, not at all apprehensive of the demerit of sin, or God’s holiness, contented himself with the mincha, or thank-offering: this God could not, consistently with his holiness and justice, receive with complacency; the other, as referring to him who was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, God could receive, and did particularly testify his approbation. Though the mincha, or eucharistic offering, was a very proper offering in its place, yet this was not received, because there was no sin-offering. The rest of the history is well known.

Now by this faith, thus exercised, in reference to an atonement, he, Abel, though dead, yet speaketh; i.e. preacheth to mankind the necessity of an atonement, and that God will accept no sacrifice unless connected with this. See this transaction explained at large in my notes on “Ge 4:3“, &c.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

The Spirit beginneth here to illustrate his description of faith, by induction of instances throughout the former ages of the church to the time of these Hebrews; and he begins with believers in the old world before the flood. Faith is the same Divine grace as described before, only here to be considered as fully receiving of Gods will in Christ as to sacrificing work, and remitting such affections and operations to God in it as were agreeable thereunto.

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain: Abel, the younger son of Adam, an eminent believer, whose faith orders him and his worship, the first martyr for religion in the world, Luk 11:51, who sealed the truth of God with his blood; he, in the end of days, that is, the sabbath, Gen 4:3,4, brought a bloody sacrifice of the fattest and best of the flock, and offered up to the Divine Majesty, the true and living God, his Creator and Redeemer, to atone him for his sin; having a regard to, and faith in, the great sacrifice of the Seed of the woman, for him in fulness of time to be offered up, and of which his was but a type. This sacrifice was fuller of what God required in offerings, than Cain his elder brothers, not, it may be, for external price, but internal worth. Cain offered the fruits of the ground, such as God afterwards required in the ceremonial law, but he was not sensible of the guilt and filth of sin, and of its demerits, nor desirous to remove it in the due way and order appointed, as appears by his murdering of his brother after: Abels sacrifice was better, more excellent, because more fully agreeable to Gods will for purging and pardoning sin, full of self-denial and abasement for sin, and faith in Christs sacrifice.

By which he obtained witness that he was righteous; by which sacrifice of faith he had testimony that he acknowledged himself a sinner, that had need of the blood of Christ to sprinkle him; yet he was righteous by the righteousness of faith, Rom 3:22,25,26, which is upon Abel, as all other believers, Phi 3:9. And this testified to his soul, by Gods Spirit, that he was justified and sanctified, and so eminently righteous; and it was mainfested to others, Christ himself, God-man, witnessing of it, Mat 23:35.

God testifying of his gifts; God himself witnessed from heaven to the truth of his state, by accepting of his person and sacrifice, and giving a visible sign of it, so as Cain could observe it, and be displeased at the difference God made between him and his brother, Gen 4:4,5,7; likely it was by sending fire from heaven, and consuming Abels sacrifice, as he did others afterwards, Lev 9:24; Jdg 6:19,21; 1Ki 18:38; 2Ch 7:1; and by it testified him to be righteous.

And by it he being dead yet speaketh; by his faith, though murdered out of this world, and his place here knows him no more, and with a design that he should never speak nor be spoken of more, yet he now speaketh, i.e. liveth, Mat 22:32, and testifieth to God that he is true, and the only true God to make souls happy. He, in his example, and his record in Scripture, bespeaketh all that read his story to imitate him in his faith and worshipping of God, and his patient martyrdom for God and his gospel worship through Christ. And by his blood he crieth for justice against his murderer, as Gen 4:10; see Heb 12:24; and its joined with the rest of the martyrs of Jesus, impleads Gods righteous vengeance to be executed on their bloody persecutors, Luk 11:51; Rev 6:10,11. By reason of his faith he is spoken of throughout all generations, recorded among the excellent sons of God, and renowned in the church to this day. Such a force hath faith to eternize the persons of believers in acceptance with God through Christ, their wrongs, injuries, and blood on Gods remembrance, and their names in heaven and the church below.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

4. more excellent sacrificebecauseoffered in faith. Now faith must have some revelationof God on which it fastens. The revelation in this case wasdoubtless God’s command to sacrifice animals (“thefirstlings of the flock”) in token of the forfeiture of men’slife by sin, and as a type of the promised bruiser of the serpent’shead (Ge 3:15), the one comingsacrifice: this command is implied in God’s having made coats of skinfor Adam and Eve (Ge 3:21): forthese skins must have been taken from animals slain in sacrifice:inasmuch as it was not for food they were slain, animal foodnot being permitted till after the flood; nor for mere clothing,as, were it so, clothes might have been made of the fleeces withoutthe needless cruelty of killing the animal; but a coat of skin put onAdam from a sacrificed animal typified the covering or atonement (theHebrew for atone means to cover) resulting fromChrist’s sacrifice. The Greek is more literally rendered[KENNICOTT] by WYCLIFFE,”a much more sacrifice”; and by Queen Elizabeth’sversion “a greater sacrifice.” A fuller, more amplesacrifice, that which partook more largely and essentially of thetrue nature and virtue of sacrifice [ARCHBISHOPMAGEE]. It was not anyintrinsic merit in “the firstling of the flock” above “thefruit of the ground.” It was God’s appointment that gave it allits excellency as a sacrifice; if it had not been so, it would havebeen a presumptuous act of will-worship (Col2:23), and taking of a life which man had no right over beforethe flood (Ge 9:1-6). Thesacrifice seems to have been a holocaust, and the sign of the divineacceptance of it was probably the consumption of it by fire fromheaven (Ge 15:17). Hence, “toaccept” a burnt sacrifice is in Hebrew “to turn itto ashes” (Ps 20:3,Margin). A flame seems to have issued from the Shekinah, orflaming cherubim, east of Eden (“the presence of the Lord,”Ge 4:16), where the firstsacrifices were offered. Cain, in unbelieving self-righteousness,presented merely a thank offering, not like Abel feeling hisneed of the propitiatory sacrifice appointed on account of sin. God”had respect (first) unto Abel, and (then) to his offering”(Ge 4:4). Faith causes thebeliever’s person to be accepted, and then his offering. Even ananimal sacrifice, though of God’s appointment, would not have beenaccepted, had it not been offered in faith.

he obtained witnessGodby fire attesting His acceptance of him as “righteous by faith.”

his giftsthe commonterm for sacrifices, implying that they must be freely given.

by itby faithexhibited in his animal sacrifice.

dead, yet speakethHisblood crying front the ground to God, shows how precious,because of his “faith,” he was still in God’s sight, evenwhen dead. So he becomes a witness to us of the blessed effects offaith.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

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 them; or because the apostle speaks only of such who had received some eminent testimony by faith, and therefore passes by many believers, and hastens to Abraham, the father of the Jews. The superior excellency of Abel’s sacrifice to Cain’s, lay both in the matter, and in the manner of it; the one was offered heartily to the Lord, the other only in show; the one was offered in faith, the other not; Abel looked through his sacrifice to the sacrifice of Christ, not so Cain. Abel’s sacrifice was a lamb, a type of Christ, the Lamb of God; a firstling, a figure of him who is the firstborn of every creature; one of the fattest of his flock, expressive of the excellency of Christ; and this was offered up at the end of days, as Christ at the end of the world; and the superior excellency of the sacrifice of the one to that of the other, appears from God’s regard to the one, and not to the other, Ge 4:3 from whence it may be observed, that sacrifices were of divine institution, and were very early types of Christ; and that there always were two sorts of worshippers, spiritual and carnal ones, whom God can distinguish, for he seeth not as man seeth; that the acceptance of persons is in Christ, and is previous to their offerings; that whatsoever works do not spring from faith are unacceptable to God; that no dependence is to be had on birth privileges, or outward actions; and that electing and distinguishing grace very early took place, and appeared.

By which he obtained witness that he was righteous; not righteous by his offering, nor by his faith, but by the righteousness of Christ, which his faith in his sacrifice looked unto; though it was by his faith that he obtained, or received a witness in his own conscience, from the Spirit of God, testifying that he was a justified person; and in consequence of this, he had an outward testimony bore to him in the Scriptures, that he was a righteous person hence he is called righteous Abel, Mt 23:35.

God testifying of his gifts: not of his own gifts, temporal or spiritual, but of Abel’s gifts, which he offered to the Lord; that is, his sacrifices; of these he testified, when he showed respect either by an audible voice, declaring his acceptance of them; or by sending down fire from heaven, upon his sacrifice, which in later times was a symbol of acceptance.

And by it, he being dead, yet speaketh; good men die, and some of them die a violent death, as did Abel, yet he speaks in the Scriptures, which have a voice in them, Lu 16:29 or by his blood, which calls for vengeance; or rather by, or because of his faith, though he is dead, “he is yet spoken of”, as the word may be rendered.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Exemplars of Faith.	A. D. 62.

      4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.   5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.   6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.   7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. 8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 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: 10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. 17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure. 20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. 21 By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones. 23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. 24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; 25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. 27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. 28 Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. 29 By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. 31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.

      The apostle, having given us a more general account of the grace of faith, now proceeds to set before us some illustrious examples of it in the Old-Testament times, and these may be divided into two classes:1. Those whose names are mentioned, and the particular exercise and actings of whose faith are specified. 2. Those whose names are barely mentioned, and an account given in general of the exploits of their faith, which it is left to the reader to accommodate, and apply to the particular persons from what he gathers up in the sacred story. We have here those whose names are not only mentioned, but the particular trials and actings of their faith are subjoined.

      I. The leading instance and example of faith here recorded is that of Abel. It is observable that the Spirit of God has not thought fit to say any thing here of the faith of our first parents; and yet the church of God has generally, by a pious charity, taken it for granted that God gave them repentance and faith in the promised seed, that he instructed them in the mystery of sacrificing, that they instructed their children in it, and that they found mercy with God, after they had ruined themselves and all their posterity. But God has left the matter still under some doubt, as a warning to all who have great talents given to them, and a great trust reposed in them, that they do not prove unfaithful, since God would not enroll our first parents among the number of believers in this blessed calendar. It begins with Abel, one of the first saints, and the first martyr for religion, of all the sons of Adam, one who lived by faith, and died for it, and therefore a fit pattern for the Hebrews to imitate. Observe,

      1. What Abel did by faith: He offered up a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, a more full and perfect sacrifice, pleiona thysian. Hence learn, (1.) That, after the fall, God opened a new way for the children of men to return to him in religious worship. This is one of the first instances that is upon record of fallen men going in to worship God; and it was a wonder of mercy that all intercourse between God and man was not cut off by the fall. (2.) After the fall, God must be worshipped by sacrifices, a way of worship which carries in it a confession of sin, and of the desert of sin, and a profession of faith in a Redeemer, who was to be a ransom for the souls of men. (3.) That, from the beginning, there has been a remarkable difference between the worshippers. Here were two persons, brethren, both of whom went in to worship God, and yet there was a vast difference. Cain was the elder brother, but Abel has the preference. It is not seniority of birth, but grace, that makes men truly honourable. The difference is observable in their persons: Abel was an upright person, a righteous man, a true believer; Cain was a formalist, had not a principle of special grace. It is observable in their principles: Abel acted under the power of faith; Cain only from the force of education, or natural conscience. There was also a very observable difference in their offerings: Abel brought a sacrifice of atonement, brought of the firstlings of the flock, acknowledging himself to be a sinner who deserved to die, and only hoping for mercy through the great sacrifice; Cain brought only a sacrifice of acknowledgment, a mere thank-offering, the fruit of the ground, which might, and perhaps must, have been offered in innocency; here was no confession of sin, no regard to the ransom; this was an essential defect in Cain’s offering. There will always be a difference between those who worship the true God; some will compass him about with lies, others will be faithful with the saints; some, like the Pharisee, will lean to their own righteousness; others, like the publican, will confess their sin, and cast themselves upon the mercy of God in Christ.

      2. What Abel gained by his faith: the original record is in Gen. iv. 4, God had respect to Abel, and to his offering; first to his person as gracious, then to his offering as proceeding from grace, especially from the grace of faith. In this place we are told that he obtained by his faith some special advantages; as, (1.) Witness that he was righteous, a justified, sanctified, and accepted person; this, very probably, was attested by fire from heaven, kindling and consuming his sacrifice. (2.) God gave witness to the righteousness of his person, by testifying his acceptance of his gifts. When the fire, an emblem of God’s justice, consumed the offering, it was a sign that the mercy of God accepted the offerer for the sake of the great sacrifice. (3.) By it he, being dead, yet speaketh. He had the honour to leave behind him an instructive speaking case; and what does it speak to us? What should we learn from it? [1.] That fallen man has leave to go in to worship God, with hope of acceptance. [2.] That, if our persons and offerings be accepted, it must be through faith in the Messiah. [3.] That acceptance with God is a peculiar and distinguishing favour. [4.] That those who obtain this favour from God must expect the envy and malice of the world. [5.] That God will not suffer the injuries done to his people to remain unpunished, nor their sufferings unrewarded. These are very good and useful instructions, and yet the blood of sprinkling speaketh better things than that of Abel. [6.] That God would not suffer Abel’s faith to die with him, but would raise up others, who should obtain like precious faith; and so he did in a little time; for in the next verse we read,

      II. Of the faith of Enoch, v. 5. He is the second of those elders that through faith have a good report. Observe,

      1. What is here reported of him. In this place (and in Gen. v. 22, &c.) we read, (1.) That he walked with God, that is, that he was really, eminently, actively, progressively, and perseveringly religious in his conformity to God, communion with God, and complacency in God. (2.) That he was translated, that he should not see death, nor any part of him be found upon earth; for God took him, soul and body, into heaven, as he will do those of the saints who shall be found alive at his second coming. (3.) That before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. He had the evidence of it in his own conscience, and the Spirit of God witnessed with his spirit. Those who by faith walk with God in a sinful world are pleasing to him, and he will give them marks of his favour, and put honour upon them.

      2. What is here said of his faith, v. 6. It is said that without this faith it is impossible to please God, without such a faith as helps us to walk with God, an active faith, and that we cannot come to God unless we believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him. (1.) He must believe that God is, and that he is what he is, what he has revealed himself to be in the scripture, a Being of infinite perfections, subsisting in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Observe, The practical belief of the existence of God, as revealed in the word, would be a powerful awe-band upon our souls, a bridle of restraint to keep us from sin, and a spur of constraint to put us upon all manner of gospel obedience. (2.) That he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him. Here observe, [1.] By the fall we have lost God; we have lost the divine light, life, love, likeness, and communion. [2.] God is again to be found of us through Christ, the second Adam. [3.] God has prescribed means and ways wherein he may be found; to with, a strict attention to his oracles, attendance on his ordinances, and ministers duly discharging their office and associating with his people, observing his providential guidance, and in all things humbly waiting his gracious presence. [4.] Those who would find God in these ways of his must seek him diligently; they must seek early, earnestly, and perseveringly. Then shall they seek him, and find him, if they seek him with all their heart; and when once they have found him, as their reconciled God, they will never repent the pains they have spent in seeking after him.

      III. The faith of Noah, v. 7. Observe,

      1. The ground of Noah’s faitha warning he had received from God of things as yet not seen. He had a divine revelation, whether by voice or vision does not appear; but it was such as carried in it its own evidence; he wasforewarned of things not seen as yet,  that is, of a great and severe judgment, such as the world had never yet seen, and of which, in the course of second causes, there was not yet the least sign. This secret warning he was to communicate to the world, who would be sure to despise both him and his message. God usually warns sinners before he strikes; and, where his warnings are slighted, the blow will fall the heavier.

      2. The actings of Noah’s faith, and the influence it had both upon his mind and practice. (1.) Upon his mind; it impressed his soul with a fear of God’s judgment: he was  moved with fear.  Faith first influences our affections, then our actions; and faith works upon those affections that are suitable to the matter revealed. If it be some good thing, faith stirs up love and desire; if some evil thing, faith stirs up fear. (2.) His faith influenced his practice. His fear, thus excited by believing God’s threatening, moved him to prepare an ark, in which, no doubt, he met with the scorns and reproaches of a wicked generation. He did not dispute with God why he should make an ark, nor how it could be capable of containing what was to be lodged in it, nor how such a vessel could possibly weather out so great a storm. His faith silenced all objections, and set him to work in earnest.

      3. The blessed fruits and rewards of Noah’s faith. (1.) Hereby himself and his house were saved, when a whole world of sinners were perishing about them. God saved his family for his sake; it was well for them that they were Noah’s sons and daughters; it was well for those women that they married into Noah’s family; perhaps they might have married to great estates in other families, but then they would have been drowned. We often say, “It is good to be akin to an estate;” but surely it is good to be akin to the covenant. (2.) Hereby he judged and condemned the world; his holy fear condemned their security and vain confidence; his faith condemned their unbelief; his obedience condemned their contempt and rebellion. Good examples will either convert sinners or condemn them. There is something very convincing in a life of strict holiness and regard to God; it commends itself to every man’s conscience in the sight of God, and they are judged by it. This is the best way the people of God can take to condemn the wicked; not by harsh and censorious language, but by a holy exemplary conversation. (3.) Hereby  he became an heir of the righteousness which is by faith.  [1.] He was possessed of a true justifying righteousness; he was  heir to it:  and, [2.] This his right of inheritance was through faith in Christ, as  a member of Christ, a child of God,  and, if a child, then an heir. His righteousness was relative, resulting from his adoption, through faith in the promised seed. As ever we expect to be justified and saved  in the great and terrible day of the Lord,  let us now prepare an ark, secure an interest in Christ, and in the ark of the covenant, and do it speedily, before the door be shut, for there is not salvation in any other.

      IV. The faith of Abraham, the friend of God, and father of the faithful, in whom the Hebrews boasted, and from whom they derived their pedigree and privileges; and therefore the apostle, that he might both please and profit them, enlarges more upon the heroic achievements of Abraham’s faith than of that of any other of the patriarchs; and in the midst of his account of the faith of Abraham he inserts the story of Sarah’s faith, whose daughters those women are that continue to do well. Observe,

      1. The ground of Abraham’s faith, the call and promise of God,  v. 8. (1.) This call, though it was a very trying call, was the call of God, and therefore a sufficient ground for faith and rule of obedience. The manner in which he was called Stephen relates in  Acts vii. 2, 3,  The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in MesopotamiaAnd said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I will show thee.  This was an effectual call, by which he was converted from the idolatry of his father’s house,  Gen. xii. 1. This call was renewed after his father’s death in Charran. Observe, [1.] The grace of God is absolutely free, in taking some of the worst of men, and making them the best. [2.] God must come to us before we come to him. [3.] In calling and converting sinners, God appears as a God of glory, and works a glorious work in the soul. [4.] This calls us not only to leave sin, but sinful company, and whatever is inconsistent with our devotedness to him. [5.] We need to be called, not only to set out well, but to go on well. [6.] He will not have his people take up that rest any where short of the heavenly Canaan. (2.) The promise of God. God promised Abraham that the place he was called to he should afterwards receive for an inheritance, after awhile he should have the heavenly Canaan for his inheritance, and in process of time his posterity should inherit the earthly Canaan. Observe here, [1.] God calls his people to an inheritance: by his effectual call he makes them children, and so heirs. [2.] This inheritance is not immediately possessed by them; they must wait some time for it: but the promise is sure, and shall have its seasonable accomplishment. [3.] The faith of parents often procures blessings for their posterity.

      2. The exercise of Abraham’s faith: he yielded an implicit regard to the call of God. (1.)  He went out, not knowing whither he went.  He put himself into the hand of God, to send him whithersoever he pleased. He subscribed to God’s wisdom, as fittest to direct; and submitted to his will, as fittest to determine every thing that concerned him. Implicit faith and obedience are due to God, and to him only. All that are effectually called resign up their own will and wisdom to the will and wisdom of God, and it is their wisdom to do so; though they know not always their way, yet they know their guide, and this satisfies them. (2.)  He sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country.This was an exercise of his faith. Observe, [1.] How Canaan is called the land of promise, because yet only promised, not possessed. [2.] How Abraham lived in Canaan, not as heir and proprietor, but as a sojourner only. He did not serve an ejectment, or raise a war against the old inhabitants, to dispossess them, but contented himself to live as a stranger, to bear their unkindnesses patiently, to receive any favours from them thankfully, and to keep his heart fixed upon his home, the heavenly Canaan. [3.] He dwelt in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. He lived there in an ambulatory moving condition, living in a daily readiness for his removal: and thus should we all live in this world. He had good company with him, and they were a great comfort to him in his sojourning state. Abraham lived till Isaac was seventy-five years old, and Jacob fifteen. Isaac and Jacob were heirs of the same promise; for the promise was renewed to Isaac (Gen. xxvi. 3), and to Jacob,  Gen. xxviii. 13. All the saints are heirs of the same promise. The promise is made to believers and their children, and to as many as the Lord our God shall call. And it is pleasant to see parents and children sojourning together in this world as heirs of the heavenly inheritance.

      3. The supports of Abraham’s faith (v. 10):  He looked for a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.  Observe here, (1.) The description given of heaven: it is a city, a regular society, well established, well defended, and well supplied: it is a city that hath foundations, even the immutable purposes and almighty power of God, the infinite merits and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the promises of an everlasting covenant, its own purity, and the perfection of its inhabitants: and it is a city whose builder and maker is God. He contrived the model; he accordingly made it, and he has laid open a new and living way into it, and prepared it for his people; he puts them into possession of it, prefers them in it, and is himself the substance and felicity of it. (2.) Observe the due regard that Abraham had to this heavenly city: he looked for it; he believed there was such a state; he waited for it, and in the mean time he conversed in it by faith; he had exalted and rejoicing hopes, that in God’s time and way he should be brought safely to it. (3.) The influence this had upon his present conversation: it was a support to him under all the trials of his sojourning state, helped him patiently to bear all the inconveniences of it, and actively to discharge all the duties of it, persevering therein unto the end.

      V. In the midst of the story of Abraham, the apostle inserts an account of the faith of Sarah. Here observe,

      1. The difficulties of Sarah’s faith, which were very great. As, (1.) The prevalency of unbelief for a time: she laughed at the promise, as impossible to be made good. (2.) She had gone out of the way of her duty through unbelief, in putting Abraham upon taking Hagar to his bed, that he might have a posterity. Now this sin of hers would make it more difficult for her to act by faith afterwards. (3.) The great improbability of the thing promised, that she should be the mother of a child, when she was of sterile constitution naturally, and now past the prolific age.

      2. The actings of her faith. Her unbelief is pardoned and forgotten, but her faith prevailed and is recorded:  She judged him faithful, who had promised,  v. 11. She received the promise as the promise of God; and, being convinced of that, she truly judged he both could and would perform it, how impossible soever it might seem to reason; for the faithfulness of God will not suffer him to deceive his people.

      3. The fruits and rewards of her faith. (1.)  She received strength to conceive seed.  The strength of nature, as well as grace, is from God: he can make the barren soul fruitful, as well as the barren womb. (2.)  She was delivered of a child,  a man-child, a child of the promise, and comfort of his parents’ advanced years, and the hope of future ages. (3.) From them, by this son, sprang a numerous progeny of illustrious persons,  as the stars of the sky  (v. 12)a great, powerful, and renowned nation, above all the rest in the world; and a nation of saints, the peculiar church and people of God; and, which was the highest honour and reward of all,  of these, according to the flesh, the Messiah came, who is over all, God blessed for evermore.

      VI. The apostle proceeds to make mention of the faith of the other patriarchs, Isaac and Jacob, and the rest of this happy family,  v. 13. Here observe,

      1. The trial of their faith in the imperfection of their present state. They had not received the promises, that is, they had not received the things promised, they had not yet been put into possession of Canaan, they had not yet seen their numerous issue, they had not seen Christ in the flesh. Observe, (1.) Many that are interested in the promises do not presently receive the things promised. (2.) One imperfection of the present state of the saints on earth is that their happiness lies more in promise and reversion than in actual enjoyment and possession. The gospel state is more perfect than the patriarchal, because more of the promises are now fulfilled. The heavenly state will be most perfect of all; for there all the promises will have their full accomplishment.

      2. The actings of their faith during this imperfect state of things. Though they had not received the promises, yet,

      (1.) They saw them afar off. Faith has a clear and a strong eye, and can see promised mercies at a great distance. Abraham saw Christ’s day, when it was afar off, and rejoiced,  John viii. 56.

      (2.) They were persuaded of them, that they were true and should be fulfilled. Faith sets to its seal that God is true, and thereby settles and satisfies the soul.

      (3.) They embraced them. Their faith was a faith of consent. Faith has a long arm, and can lay hold of blessings at a great distance, can make them present, can love them, and rejoice in them; and thus antedate the enjoyment of them.

      (4.) They  confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth.  Observe, [1.] Their condition:  Strangers and pilgrims.  They are strangers as saints, whose home is heaven; they are pilgrims as they are travelling towards their home, though often meanly and slowly. [2.] Their acknowledgment of this their condition: they were not ashamed to own it; both their lips and their lives confessed their present condition. They expected little from the world. They cared not to engage much in it. They endeavoured to lay aside every weight, to gird up the loins of their minds to mind their way, to keep company and pace with their fellow-travellers, looking for difficulties, and bearing them, and longing to get home.

      (5.) Hereby they declared plainly that they sought another country (v. 14), heaven, their own country. For their spiritual birth is thence, there are their best relations, and there is their inheritance. This country they seek: their designs are for it; their desires are after it; their discourse is about it; they diligently endeavour to clear up their title to it, to have their temper suited to it, to have their conversation in it, and to come to the enjoyment of it.

      (6.) They gave full proof of their sincerity in making such a confession. For, [1.] They were not mindful of that country whence they came,  v. 15. They did not hanker after the plenty and pleasures of it, nor regret and repent that they had left it; they had no desire to return to it. Note, Those that are once effectually and savingly called out of a sinful state have no mind to return into it again; they now know better things. [2.] They did not take the opportunity that offered itself for their return. They might have had such an opportunity. They had time enough to return. They had natural strength to return. They knew the way. Those with whom they sojourned would have been willing enough to part with them. Their old friends would have been glad to receive them. They had sufficient to bear the charges of their journey; and flesh and blood, a corrupt counsellor, would be sometimes suggesting to them a return. But they stedfastly adhered to God and duty under all discouragements and against all temptations to revolt from him. So should we all do. We shall not want opportunities to revolt from God; but we must show the truth of our faith and profession by a steady adherence to him to the end of our days. Their sincerity appeared not only in not returning to their former country, but in desiring a better country, that is, a heavenly. Observe,  First,  The heavenly country is better than any upon earth; it is better situated, better stored with every thing that is good, better secured from every thing that is evil; the employments, the enjoyments, the society, and every thing in it, are better than the best in this world.  Secondly,  All true believers desire this better country. True faith draws forth sincere and fervent desires; and the stronger faith is the more fervent those desires will be.

      (7.) They died in the faith of those promises; not only lived by the faith of them, but died in the full persuasion that all the promises would be fulfilled to them and theirs,  v. 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. Now observe,

      3. The gracious and great reward of their faith:  God is not ashamed to be their God, for he hath prepared for them a city,  v. 16. Note, (1.) God is the God of all true believers; faith gives them an interest in God, and in all his fullness. (2.) He is called their God. He calls himself so:  I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;  he gives them leave to call him so; and he gives them the spirit of adoption, to enable them to cry,Abba, Father.  (3.) Notwithstanding their meanness by nature, their vileness by sin, and the poverty of their outward condition, God is not ashamed to be called  their God:  such is his condescension, such is his love to them; therefore let them never be ashamed of being called his people, nor of any of those that are truly so, how much soever despised in the world. Above all, let them take care that they be not a shame and reproach to their God, and so provoke him to be ashamed of them; but let them act so as to be to him for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory. (4.) As the proof of this, God has prepared for them a city, a happiness suitable to the relation into which he has taken them. For there is nothing in this world commensurate to the love of God in being the God of his people; and, if God neither could nor would give his people anything better than this world affords, he would be ashamed to be called their God. If he takes them into such a relation to himself, he will provide for them accordingly. If he takes them into such a relation to himself, he will provide for them accordingly. If he takes to himself the title of their God, he will fully answer it, and act up to it; and he has prepared that for them in heaven which will fully answer this character and relation, so that it shall never be said, to the reproach and dishonour of God, that he has adopted a people to be his own children and then taken no care to make a suitable provision for them. The consideration of this should inflame the affections, enlarge the desires, and excite the diligent endeavours, of the people of God after this city that he has prepared for them.

      VII. Now after the apostle has given this account of the faith of others, with Abraham, he returns to him again, and gives us an instance of the greatest trial and act of faith that stands upon record, either in the story of the father of the faithful or of any of his spiritual seed; and this was his offering up Isaac:  By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises offered up his only-begotten son,  v. 17. In this great example observe,

      1. The trial and exercise of Abraham’s faith; he was tried indeed. It is said (Gen. xxii. 1),  God in this tempted Abraham;  not to sin, for so God tempteth no man, but only tried his faith and obedience to purpose. God had before this tempted or tried the faith of Abraham, when he called him away from his country and father’s house,when by a famine he was forced out of Canaan into Egypt,when he was obliged to fight with five kings to rescue Lot,when Sarah was taken from him by Abimelech, and in many other instances. But this trial was greater than all; he was commanded to offer up his son Isaac. Read the account of it,  Gen. xxii. 2. There you will find every word was a trial: “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.  Take thy son, not one of thy beasts or slaves, thy only son by Sarah, Isaac thy laughter, the child of thy joy and delight, whom thou lovest as thine own soul; take him away to a distant place, three days’ journey, the land of Moriah; do not only leave him there, but offer him for a burnt offering.” A greater trial was never put upon any creature. The apostle here mentions some things that very much added to the greatness of this trial. (1.) He was put upon it after he had received the promises, that this Isaac should build up his family, that in him his seed should be called (v. 18), and that he should be one of the progenitors of the Messiah, and all nations blessed in him; so that, in being called to offer up his Isaac, he seemed to be called to destroy and cut off his own family, to cancel the promises of God, to prevent the coming of Christ, to destroy the whole world, to sacrifice his own soul and his hopes of salvation, and to cut off the church of God at one blow: a most terrible trial! (2.) That this Isaac was his only-begotten son by his wife Sarah, the only one he was to have by her, and the only one that was to be the child and heir of the promise. Ishmael was to be put off with earthly greatness. 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. A son for whom he waited so long, whom he received in so extraordinary a manner, upon whom his heart was setto have this son offered up as a sacrifice, and that by his own hand; it was a trial that would have overset the firmest and the strongest mind that ever informed a human body.

      2. The actings of Abraham’s faith in so great a trial: he obeyed; he offered up Isaac; he intentionally gave him up by his submissive soul to God, and was ready to have done it actually, according to the command of God; he went as far in it as to the very critical moment, and would have gone through with it if God had not prevented him. Nothing could be more tender and moving than those words of Isaac:  My father, here is the wood, here is the fire; but where is the lamb for the burnt-offering?  little thinking that he was to be the lamb; but Abraham knew it, and yet he went on with the great design.

      3. The supports of his faith. They must be very great, suitable to the greatness of the trial:  He accounted that God was able to raise him from the dead,  v. 19. His faith was supported by the sense he had of the mighty power of God, who was able to raise the dead; he reasoned thus with himself, and so he resolved all his doubts. It does not appear that he had any expectation of being countermanded, and prevented from offering up his son; such an expectation would have spoiled the trial, and consequently the triumph, of his faith; but he knew that God was able to raise him from the dead, and he believed that God would do so, since such great things depended upon his son, which must have failed if Isaac had not a further life. Observe, (1.) God is able to raise the dead, to raise dead bodies, and to raise dead souls. (2.) The belief of this will carry us through the greatest difficulties and trials that we can meet with. (3.) It is our duty to be reasoning down our doubts and fears, by the consideration of the almighty power of God.

      4. The reward of his faith in this great trial (v. 19): he received his son from the dead in a figure, in a parable. (1.) He received his son. He had parted with him to God, and God gave him back again. The best way to enjoy our comforts with comfort is to resign them up to God; he will then return them, if not in kind, yet in kindness. (2.) He received him from the dead, for he gave him up for dead; he was as a dead child to him, and the return was to him no less than a resurrection. (3.) This was a figure or parable of something further. It was a figure of the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ, of whom Isaac was a type. It was a figure and earnest of the glorious resurrection of all true believers, whose life is not lost, but hid with Christ in God. We come now to the faith of other Old-Testament saints, mentioned by name, and by the particular trials and actings of their faith.

      VIII. Of the faith of Isaac,  v. 20. Something of him we had before interwoven with the story of Abraham; here we have something of a distinct naturethat by faith he blessed his two sons, Jacob and Esau,  concerning things to come.  Here observe,

      1. The actings of his faith: He  blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.  He blessed them; that is, he resigned them up to God in covenant; he recommended God and religion to them; he prayed for them, and prophesied concerning them, what would be the condition, and the condition of their descendants: we have the account of this in  Gen. xxvii. Observe, (1.) Both Jacob and Esau were blessed as Isaac’s children, at least as to temporal good things. It is a great privilege to be the offspring of good parents, and often the wicked children of good parents fare the better in this world for their parents’ sake, for things present are in the covenant; but they are not the best things, and no man knoweth love or hatred by having or wanting such things. (2.) Jacob had the precedency and the principal blessing, which shows that it is grace and the new birth that exalt persons above their fellows and qualify them for the best blessings, and that it is owing to the sovereign free grace of God that in the same family one is taken and another left, one loved and the other hated, since all the race of Adam are by nature hateful to Godthat if one has his portion in this world, and the other in the better world, it is God who makes the difference; for even the comforts of this life are more and better than any of the children of men deserve.

      2. The difficulties Isaac’s faith struggled with. (1.) He seemed to have forgotten how God had determined the matter at the birth of these his sons,  Gen. xxv. 23. This should have been a rule to him all along, but he was rather swayed by natural affection, and by general custom, which gives the double portion of honour, affection, and advantage, to the first-born. (2.) He acted in this matter with some reluctance. When he came to pronounce the blessing,  he trembled very exceedingly  (Gen. xxvii. 33); and he charged Jacob that he had subtly taken away Esau’s blessing,  v. 33, 35. 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. Now, the faith of Isaac thus prevailing over his unbelief, it has pleased the God of Isaac to pass by the weakness of his faith, to commend the sincerity of it, and record him among the elders,  who through faith have obtained a good report.  We now go on to,

      IX. The faith of Jacob (v. 21), who,  when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph, and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.  There were a great many instances of the faith of Jacob; his life was a life of faith, and his faith met with great exercise. But it has pleased God to single two instances out of many of the faith of this patriarch, besides what has been already mentioned in the account of Abraham. Here observe,

      1. The actings of his faith here mentioned, and they are two:

      (1.)  He blessed both the sons of Joseph,  Ephraim and Manasseh; he adopted them into the number of his own sons, and so into the congregation of Israel, though they were born in Egypt. It is doubtless a great blessing to be joined to the visible church of God in profession and privilege, but more to be so in spirit and truth. [1.] He made them both heads of different tribes, as if they had been his own immediate sons. [2.] He prayed for them, that they might both be blessed of God. [3.] He prophesied that they should be blessed; but, as Isaac did before, so now Jacob prefers the younger, Ephraim; and though Joseph had placed them so, that the right hand of his father should be laid on Manasseh, the elder, Jacob wittingly laid it on Ephraim, and this by divine direction, for he could not see, to show that the Gentile church, the younger, should have a more abundant blessing than the Jewish church, the elder.

      (2.)  He worshipped, leaning on his staff;  that is, he praised God for what he had done for him, and for the prospect he had of approaching blessedness; and he prayed for those he was leaving behind him, that religion might live in his family when he was gone. He did this  leaning on the top of his staff;  not as the papists dream, that he worshipped some image of God engraven on the head of his staff, but intimating to us his great natural weakness, that he was not able to support himself so far as to sit up in his bed without a staff, and yet that he would not make this an excuse for neglecting the worshipping of God; he would do it as well as he could with his body, as well as with his spirit, though he could not do it as well as he would. He showed thereby his dependence upon God, and testified his condition here as a pilgrim with his staff, and his weariness of the world, and willingness to be at rest.

2. 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. Faith has its greatest work to do at last, to help believers to finish well, to die to the Lord, so as to honour him, by patience, hope, and joyso as to leave a witness behind them of the truth of God’s word and the excellency of his ways, for the conviction and establishment of all who attend them in their dying moments. The best way in which parents can finish their course is blessing their families and worshipping their God. We have now come to,

      X. The faith of Joseph,  v. 22. And here also we consider,

      1. What he did by his faith:  He made mention of the departing of the children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones.  The passage is out of  Gen. l. 24, 25. Joseph was eminent for his faith, though he had not enjoyed the helps for it which the rest of his brethren had. He was sold into Egypt. 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. (1.) He made mention by faith of the departing of the children of Israel, that the time should come when they should be delivered out of Egypt; and he did this both that he might caution them against the thoughts of settling in Egypt, which was now a place of plenty and ease to them; and also that he might keep them from sinking under the calamities and distresses which he foresaw were coming upon them there; and he does it to comfort himself, that though he should not live to see their deliverance, yet he could die in the faith of it. (2.) He gave commandment concerning his bones, that they should preserve them unburied in Egypt, till God should deliver them out of that house of bondage, and that then they should carry his bones along with them into Canaan and deposit them there. Though believers are chiefly concerned for their souls, yet they cannot wholly neglect their bodies, as being members of Christ and parts of themselves, which shall at length be raised up, and be the happy companions of their glorified souls to all eternity. Now Joseph gave this order, not that he thought his being buried in Egypt would either prejudice his soul or prevent the resurrection of his body (as some of the rabbis fancied that all the Jews who were buried out of Canaan must be conveyed underground to Canaan before they could rise again), but to testify, [1.] That though he had lived and died in Egypt, yet he did not live and die an Egyptian, but an Israelite. [2.] That he preferred a significant burial in Canaan before a magnificent one in Egypt. [3.] That he would go as far with his people as he could, though he could not go as far as he would. [4.] That he believed the resurrection of the body, and the communion that his soul should presently have with departed saints, as his body had with their dead bodies. [5.] To assure them that God would be with them in Egypt, and deliver them out of it in his own time and way.

      2. When it was that the faith of Joseph acted after this manner; namely, as in the case of Jacob, when he was dying. God often gives his people living comforts in dying moments; and when he does it is their duty, as they can, to communicate them to those about them, for the glory of God, for the honour of religion, and for the good of their brethren and friends. We go on now to,

      XI. The faith of the parents of Moses, which is cited from  Exod. ii. 3, &c. Here observe, 1. The acting of their faith: they hid this their son three months. Though only the mother of Moses is mentioned in the history, yet, by what is here said, it seems his father not only consented to it, but consulted about it. It is a happy thing where yoke-fellows draw together in the yoke of faith, as heirs of the grace of God; and when they do this in a religious concern for the good of their children, to preserve them not only from those who would destroy their lives, but from those who would corrupt their minds. Observe, Moses was persecuted betimes, and forced to be concealed; in this he was a type of Christ, who was persecuted almost as soon as he was born, and his parents were obliged to flee with him into Egypt for his preservation. It is a great mercy to be free from wicked laws and edicts; but, when we are not, we must use all lawful means for our security. In this faith of Moses’s parents there was a mixture of unbelief, but God was pleased to overlook it. 2. The reasons of their thus acting. No doubt, natural affection could not but move them; but there was something further. They  saw he was a proper child, a goodly child  (Exod. ii. 2),  exceedingly fair,  as in  Acts vii. 20,  asteios to Theovenustus Deofair to God.  There appeared in him something uncommon; the beauty of the Lord sat upon him, as a presage that he was born to great things, and that by conversing with God his face should shine (Exod. xxxiv. 29), what bright and illustrious actions he should do for the deliverance of Israel, and how his name should shine in the sacred records. Sometimes, not always, the countenance is the index of the mind. 3. The prevalency of their faith over their fear. They were not afraid of the king’s commandment,  Exod. i. 22. That was a wicked and a cruel edict, that all the males of the Israelites should be destroyed in their infancy, and so the name of Israel must be destroyed out of the earth. But they did not so fear as presently to give up their child; they considered that, if none of the males were preserved, there would be an end and utter ruin of the church of God and the true religion, and that though in their present state of servitude and oppression one would praise the dead rather than the living, yet they believed that God would preserve his people, and that the time was coming when it would be worth while for an Israelite to live. Some must hazard their own lives to preserve their children, and they were resolved to do it; they knew the king’s commandment was evil in itself, contrary to the laws of God and nature, and therefore of no authority nor obligation. Faith is a great preservative against the sinful slavish fear of men, as it sets God before the soul, and shows the vanity of the creature and its subordination to the will and power of God. The apostle next proceeds to,

      XII. The faith of Moses himself (v. 24, 25, &c.), here observe,

      1. An instance of his faith in conquering the world.

      (1.) He  refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,  whose foundling he was, and her fondling too; she had adopted him for his son, and he refused it. Observe, [1.] How great a temptation Moses was under. Pharaoh’s daughter is said to have been his only child, and was herself childless; and having found Moses, and saved him as she did, she resolved to take him and bring him up as her son; and so he stood fair to be in time king of Egypt, and he might thereby have been serviceable to Israel. He owed his life to this princess; and to refuse such kindness from her would look not only like ingratitude to her, but a neglect of Providence, that seemed to intend his advancement and his brethren’s advantage. [2.] How glorious was the triumph of his faith in so great a trial. Herefused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter  lest he should undervalue the truer honour of being a son of Abraham, the father of the faithful;  he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter  lest it should look like renouncing his religion as well as his relation to Israel; and no doubt both these he must have done if he had accepted this honour; he therefore nobly refused it.

      (2.) He chose  rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season,v. 25. He was willing to take his lot with the people of God here, though it was a suffering lot, that he might have his portion with them hereafter, rather than to enjoy all the sensual sinful pleasures of Pharaoh’s court, which would be but for a season, and would then be punished with everlasting misery. Herein he acted rationally as well as religiously, and conquered the temptation to worldly pleasure as he had done before to worldly preferment. Here observe, [1.] The pleasures of sin are and will be but short; they must end in speedy repentance or in speedy ruin. [2.] The pleasures of this world, and especially those of a court, are too often the pleasures of sin; and they are always so when we cannot enjoy them without deserting God and his people. A true believer will despise them when they are offered upon such terms. [3.] Suffering is to be chosen rather than sin, there being more evil in the least sin than there can be in the greatest suffering. [4.] It greatly alleviates the evil of suffering when we suffer with the people of God, embarked in the same interest and animated by the same Spirit.

      (3.) He accounted  the reproaches of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt,  v. 26. See how Moses weighed matters: in one scale he put the worst of religionthe reproaches of Christ,  in the other scale the best of the worldthe treasures of Egypt;  and in his judgment, directed by faith, the worst of religion weighed down the best of the world. The reproaches of the church of God are  the reproaches of Christ,  who is, and has ever been, the head of the church. Now here Moses conquered the riches of the world, as before he had conquered its honours and pleasures. God’s people are, and always have been, a reproached people. Christ accounts himself reproached in their reproaches; and, while he thus interests himself in their reproaches, they become riches, and greater riches than the treasures of the richest empire in the world; for Christ will reward them with a crown of glory that fades not away. Faith discerns this, and determines and acts accordingly.

      2. The circumstance of time is taken notice of, when Moses by his faith gained this victory over the world, in all its honours, pleasures, and treasures:  When he had come to years  (v. 24); not only to years of discretion, but of experience, to the age of forty yearswhen he was great, or had come to maturity. Some would take this as detracting from his victory, that he gained it so late, that he did not make this choice sooner; but it is rather an enhancement of the honour of his self-denial and victory over the world that he made this choice when he had grown ripe for judgment and enjoyment, able to know what he did and why he did it. It was not the act of a child, that prefers counters to gold, but it proceeded from mature deliberation. It is an excellent thing for persons to be seriously religious when in the midst of worldly business and enjoyments, to despise the world when they are most capable of relishing and enjoying it.

      3. What it was that supported and strengthened the faith of Moses to such a degree as to enable him to gain such a victory over the world:  He had respect unto the recompense of reward,  that is, say some, the deliverance out of Egypt; but doubtless it means much morethe glorious reward of faith and fidelity in the other world. Observe here, (1.) Heaven is a great reward, surpassing not only all our deservings, but all our conceptions. It is a reward suitable to the price paid for itthe blood of Christ; suitable to the perfections of God, and fully answering to all his promises. It is a recompense of reward, because given by a righteous Judge for the righteousness of Christ to righteous persons, according to the righteous rule of the covenant of grace. (2.) Believers may and ought to have respect to this recompense of reward; they should acquaint themselves with it, approve of it, and live in the daily and delightful expectation of it. Thus it will prove a land-mark to direct their course, a load-stone to draw their hearts, a sword to conquer their enemies, a spur to quicken them to duty, and a cordial to refresh them under all the difficulties of doing and suffering work.

      4. We have another instance of the faith of Moses, namely, in forsaking Egypt:  By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king,  v. 27. Observe here, (1.) The product of his faith:  He forsook Egypt,  and all its power and pleasures, and undertook the conduct of Israel out of it. Twice Moses forsook Egypt: [1.] As a supposed criminal, when the king’s wrath was incensed against him for killing the Egyptian (Exod. ii. 14, 15), where it is said he feared, not with a fear of despondency, but of discretion, to save his life. [2.] As a commander and ruler in Jeshurun, after God had employed him to humble Pharaoh and make him willing to let Israel go. (2.) The prevalency of his faith. It raised him above the fear of the king’s wrath. Though he knew that it was great, and levelled at him in particular, and that it marched at the head of a numerous host to pursue him, yet he was not dismayed, and he said to Israel,Fear not,  Exod. xiv. 13. Those who forsook Egypt must expect the wrath of men; but they need not fear it, for they are under the conduct of that God who is able to make the wrath of man to praise him, and restrain the remainder of it. (3.) The principle upon which his faith acted in these his motions:  He endured, as seeing him that was invisible.He bore up with invincible courage under all danger, and endured all the fatigue of his employment, which was very great; and this by seeing the invisible God. Observe, [1.] The God with whom we have to do is an invisible God: he is so to our senses, to the eye of the body; and this shows the folly of those who pretend to make images of God, whom no man hath seen, nor can see. [2.] By faith we may see this invisible God. We may be fully assured of his existence, of his providence, and of his gracious and powerful presence with us. [3.] Such a sight of God will enable believers to endure to the end whatever they may meet with in the way.

      5. We have yet another instance of the faith of Moses, in keeping  the passover and sprinkling of blood,  v. 28. The account of this we have in  Exod. xii. 13-23. Though all Israel kept this passover, yet it was by Moses that God delivered the institution of it; and, though it was a great mystery, Moses by faith both delivered it to the people and kept it that night in the house where he lodged. The passover was one of the most solemn institutions of the Old Testament, and a very significant type of Christ. The occasion of its first observance was extraordinary: it was in the same night that God slew the first-born of the Egyptians; but, though the Israelites lived among them, the destroying angel passed over their houses, and spared them and theirs. Now, to entitle them to this distinguishing favour, and to mark them out for it, a lamb must be slain; the blood of it must be sprinkled with a bunch of hyssop upon the lintel of the door, and on the two side-posts; the flesh of the lamb must be roasted with fire; and it must be all of it eaten that very night with bitter herbs, in a travelling posture, their loins girt, their shoes on their feet, and their staff in their hand. This was accordingly done, and the destroying angel passed over them, and slew the first-born of the Egyptians. This opened a way for the return of Abraham’s posterity into the land of promise. The accommodation of this type is not difficult. (1.) Christ is that Lamb, he is our Passover, he was sacrificed for us. (2.) His blood must be sprinkled; it must be applied to those who have the saving benefit of it. (3.) It is applied effectually only to the Israelites, the chosen people of God. (4.) It is not owing to our inherent righteousness or best performances that we are saved from the wrath of God, but to the blood of Christ and his imputed righteousness. If any of the families of Israel had neglected the sprinkling of this blood upon their doors, though they should have spent all the night in prayer, the destroying angel would have broken in upon them, and slain their first-born. (5.) Wherever this blood is applied, the soul receives a whole Christ by faith, and lives upon him. (6.) This true faith makes sin bitter to the soul, even while it receives the pardon and atonement. (7.) All our spiritual privileges on earth should quicken us to set out early, and get forward, in our way to heaven. (8.) Those who have been marked out must ever remember and acknowledge free and distinguishing grace.

      XIII. The next instance of faith is that of the Israelites passing through the Red Sea under the conduct of Moses their leader,  v. 29. The story we have in Exodus,  ch. xiv. Observe,

      1. The preservation and safe passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea, when there was no other way to escape from Pharaoh and his host, who were closely pursuing them. Here we may observe, (1.) Israel’s danger was very great; an enraged enemy with chariots and horsemen behind them; steep rocks and mountains on either hand, and the Red Sea before them. (2.) Their deliverance was very glorious. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; the grace of faith will help us through all the dangers we meet with in our way to heaven.

      2. The destruction of the Egyptians. They, presumptuously attempting to follow Israel through the Red Sea, being thus blinded and hardened to their ruin, were all drowned. Their rashness was great, and their ruin was grievous. When God judges, he will overcome; and it is plain that the destruction of sinners is of themselves.

      XIV. The next instance of faith is that of the Israelites, under Joshua their leader, before the walls of Jericho. The story we have  Josh. vi. 5, &c. Here observe, 1. The means prescribed to God to bring down the walls of Jericho. It was ordered that they should compass the walls about once a day for seven days together and seven times the last day, that the priests should carry the ark when they compassed the walls about, and should blow with trumpets made of rams’ horns, and sound a longer blast than before, and then all the people should shout, and the walls of Jericho should fall before them. Here was a great trial of their faith. The method prescribed seemed very improbable to answer such an end, and would doubtless expose them to the daily contempt of their enemies; the ark of God would seem to be in danger. But this was the way God commanded them to take, and he loves to do great things by small and contemptible means, that his own arm may be made bare. 2. The powerful success of the prescribed means. The walls of Jericho fell before them. This was a frontier town in the land of Canaan, the first that stood out against the Israelites. God was pleased in this extraordinary manner to slight and dismantle it, in order to magnify himself, to terrify the Canaanites, to strengthen the faith of the Israelites, and to exclude all boasting. God can and will in his own time and way cause all the powerful opposition that is made to his interest and glory to fall down, and the grace of faith is mighty through God for the pulling down of strong-holds; he will make Babylon fall before the faith of his people, and, when he has some great thing to do for them, he raises up great and strong faith in them.

      XV. The next instance is the faith of Rahab,  v. 31. Among the noble army of believing worthies, bravely marshalled by the apostle, Rahab comes in the rear, to show  that God is no respecter of persons.  Here consider,

      1. Who this Rahab was. (1.) She was a Canaanite, a  stranger to the commonwealth of Israel,  and had but little help for faith, and yet she was a believer; the power of divine grace greatly appears when it works without the usual means of grace. (2.) She was a harlot, and lived in a way of sin; she was not only a keeper of a public house, but a common woman of the town, and yet she believed that the greatness of sin, if truly repented of, shall be no bar to the pardoning mercy of God. Christ has saved the chief of sinners.  Where sin has abounded, grace has superabounded.

      2. What she did by her faith:  She received the spies in peace,  the men that Joshua had sent to spy out Jericho,  Josh. ii. 6, 7. She not only bade them welcome, but she concealed them from their enemies who sought to cut them off, and she made a noble confession of her faith,  v. 9-11. She engaged them to covenant with her to show favour to her and hers, when God should show kindness to them, and that they would give her a sign, which they did, a line of scarlet, which she was to hang forth out of the window; she sent them away with prudent and friendly advice. Learn here, (1.) True faith will show itself in good works, especially towards the people of God. (2.) Faith will venture all hazards in the cause of God and his people; a true believer will sooner expose his own person than God’s interest and people. (3.) A true believer is desirous, not only to be in covenant with God, but in communion with the people of God, and is willing to cast in his lot with them, and to fare as they fare.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

A more excellent sacrifice ( ). Literally, “more sacrifice” (comparative of , much). For this rather free use of with the point implied rather than stated see Matt 6:25; Luke 10:31; Luke 12:23; Heb 3:3.

Than Cain ( ). For this use of after comparative see Heb 1:4; Heb 1:9. For the incident see Ge 4:4.

Through which (‘ ). The sacrifice ().

He had Witness borne to him (). First aorist passive indicative of as in verse 2, “he was witnessed to.”

That he was righteous ( ). Infinitive in indirect discourse after , personal construction of (predicate nominative after ) agreeing with the subject of (cf. Ro 1:22, ).

God bearing witness ( ). Genitive absolute with present active participle of .

Through it (‘ ). Through his faith (as shown by his sacrifice). Precisely why Abel’s sacrifice was better than that of Cain apart from his faith is not shown.

Being dead (). Second aorist active participle of , “having died.”

Yet speaketh ( ). Cf. Gen 4:10; Heb 12:24. Speaks still through his faith.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Abel offered unto God (Abel proshnegken tw qew). For the phrase see ch. Heb 9:14.

A more excellent sacrifice [ ] . Greater in value in God ‘s eyes. For pleiwn in this sense, see ch. Heb 3:3; Mt 6:25; Luk 11:31; Luk 12:23. In Paul never in this sense. Others explain a more abundant sacrifice, referring to the material character of the offerings. See Gen 4:4. But the difference between the offerings of Abel and Cain, considered in themselves, is largely a matter of speculation, and, as L?n justly remarks, such an interpretation accentuates unduly a purely external feature. 227 By which he obtained witness [ ] . Lit. was witnessed to, as ver. 2. The pronoun which may refer either to the sacrifice or to faith. Better the latter, as is apparent from ver. 2, and probably from ver. 7, although the relation there is somewhat different.

Righteous [] . Abel is called righteous by Christ himself. Mt 23:35. Comp. 1Jo 3:12. See on Rom 1:17.

God testifying of his gifts [ ] . Defining more specifically the general was witnessed to. God bore witness by his acceptance of the gifts. jEpi marks the fact on which the witness was based.

Yet speaketh [ ] . Comp. Gen 4:10. Still, although ages have passed since his death. Comp. ch. Heb 12:24. Not that his voice still cries to God (so Bleek and others), but that by his faith he still speaks to us in the O. T. Scriptures, though dead. Const. eti yet with lalei speaketh; not with being dead, in the logical sense, “even being dead,” as Rom 3:7.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “By faith Abel offered to God,” (pistei abel prosenegken) “By means of faith (the gift of faith) Abel offered; The gift of faith (Gk. pistis) enabling, driving power, placed by a repenting sinner, in Jesus -Christ, brings one eternal life, Eph 2:8-9; Act 20:21; Joh 1:11-12; Gal 3:26. This faith, accepted as the first of three spiritual gifts from God, enables or causes a child of God to grow and bear fruit to God, 2Pe 1:4-9.

2) “A more excellent sacrifice than Cain,” (pleiona thusian kain) “A greater (better in degree) sacrifice than Cain; Heb 9:22; Gen 4:4. Sacrifices and services may be offered to God acceptably only by one who first acknowledges he is a sinner, needs a Saviour, and desires to follow that Saviour as Lord of his life, Luk 9:23. A gift or sacrifice or religious rite, not preceded by faith in Jesus as Saviour, avails nothing, Joh 8:24.

3) “By which he obtained witness that he was righteous,” (di hes emarturethe einai dikaios) “Through which he obtained, secured witness (to be recognized as) a just or righteous man; The sacrifice did not make him righteous, neither does baptism or the Lord’s supper today, Gal 3:26-27.

4) “God testifying of his gifts,” (marturountos epi tois dorois autou tou theou) “Because of God’s witnessing over his gifts,” by some divine manifestation such as the shekina light of glory, or the cloud of smoke glory that filled the temple, or the fire may have consumed the sacrifice; at least Cain visibly saw some manifestation of it, Gen 4:5; 2Ch 7:1-3.

5) “And by it he being dead yet speaketh,” (kai di’ autes apothanon eti lalei) “And through it, (Abel’s better sacrifice of blood) though he has died, he speaks on,” keeps on witnessing, generation after generation; By his faith in worshipping properly he encourages people, even today, Rev 14:13.

POSTHUMOUS INFLUENCE

Joseph, while he lived, saved much people alive, and his own lofty goodness was an impressive and elevating pattern to his relenting and admiring brethren. But as an instance of special providence, and an example of untarnished excellence amidst terrible temptations, Joseph dead has spoken to more than Joseph living. The sweet singer of Israel, while he lived, taught many to handle the harp, and infected not a few with his thankful, adoring spirit. But David being dead yet singeth, and can hardly name the psalm, or hymn, or spiritual song, of which the lesson was not learned from the son of Jesse. Paul, in his living day, preached many a sermon, and made a convert to the faith of Jesus. But Paul being dead yet preacheth, and they were sermons from his sepulchre which converted Luther, and Zwingle, and most of our modern evangelists. And Luther is dead but the Reformation lives. Calvin is dead, but his vindication of God’s free and sovereign grace will never die. Knox, Melville, and Henderson are dead, but Scotland still retains a Sabbath and a Christian peasantry, a Bible in every house, and a school in every parish. Bunyan is dead, but his bright spirit still walks the earth in its “Pilgrim’s Progress.” Baxter is dead, but souls are still quickened by the “Saints’ Rest” and the “Call to the Unconverted.” Cowper is dead, but the “golden apples” are still as fresh as when newly gathered in the “Silver Basket” of the Olney Hymns. Eliot is dead, but the missionary enterprise is young. Henry Martyn is dead, but who can count the apostolic spirits, who, Phoenix-wise have started from his funeral? Howard is dead, but modern philanthropy is only commencing its career. Raikes is dead, but the Sabbath schools go on. Wilberforce is dead, but the Negro will find for ages a protector in his memory.

– J. Hamilton

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

4. By faith Abel offered, etc. The Apostle’s object in this chapter is to show, that however excellent were the works of the saints, it was from faith they derived their value, their worthiness, and all their excellences; and hence follows what he has already intimated, that the fathers pleased God by faith alone.

Now he commends faith here on two accounts, — it renders obedience to God, for it attempts and undertakes nothing, but what is according to the rule of God’s word, — and it relies on God’s promises, and thus it gains the value and worth which belongs to works from his grace alone. Hence, wherever the word faith is found in this chapter, we must bear in mind, that the Apostle speaks of it, in order that the Jews might regard no other rule than God’s word, and might also depend alone on his promises.

He says, first, that Abel’s sacrifice was for no other reason preferable to that of his brother, except that it was sanctified by faith: (207) for surely the fat of brute animals did not smell so sweetly, that it could, by its odor, pacify God. The Scripture indeed shows plainly, why God accepted his sacrifice, for Moses’s words are these, “God had respect to Abel, and to his gifts.” It is hence obvious to conclude, that his sacrifice was accepted, because he himself was graciously accepted. But how did he obtain this favor, except that his heart was purified by faith.

God testifying, etc. He confirms what I have already stated, that no works, coming from us can please God, until we ourselves are received into favor, or to speak more briefly, that no works are deemed just before God, but those of a just man: for he reasons thus, — God bore a testimony to Abel’s gifts; then he had obtained the praise of being just before God. (208)

This doctrine is useful, and ought especially to be noticed, as we are not easily convinced of its truth; for when in any work, anything splendid appears, we are immediately rapt in admiration, and we think that it cannot possibly be disapproved of by God: but God, who regards only the inward purity of the heart, heeds not the outward masks of works. Let us then learn, that no right or good work can proceed from us, until we are justified before God.

By it he being dead, etc. To faith he also ascribes this, — that God testified that Abel was no less the object of his care after his death, than during his life: for when he says, that though dead, he still speaketh, he means, as Moses tells us, that God was moved by his violent death to take vengeance. When, therefore, Abel or his blood is said to speak, the words are to be understood figuratively. It was yet a singular evidence of God’s love towards him, that he had a care for him when he was dead; and it hence appears, that he was one of God’s saints, whose death is precious to him. (209)

(207) “Abel’s offering was more acceptable than that of Cain, because he had faith.” — Grotius.

The word “sacrifice,” θυσία, means properly an offered victim, but sometimes anything offered to God. Indeed Abel’s sacrifice is called in Gen 4:4, an offering. The word πλείων is literally more, but is used in the sense of more in number, quantity or excellency. The last is evidently the meaning here; for Abel’s offering, according to the account given, was not in the number or quantity, but in quality. Then a better or a more excellent sacrifice, and not a fuller, as some have rendered it, is the right version. — Ed

(208) What the Apostle evidently refers to are these words, “the Lord had respect to Abel and to his offering.” He calls this “testifying.” How this was done, we are not told. The divine approbation was in some way conveyed; there was respect had to Abel and to his offering, but not to Cain nor to his offering. The Apostle says here first, that Abel “obtained a testimony that he was righteous,” and then he adds by way of explanation: God testifying of his gifts. It seems then that the approbation of his gifts was the testimony he received that he was righteous, this was evidently the meaning of the Apostle. Now the question is, how was this testimony as to that sacrifice. What was it? Such, we may reasonably conclude as was given in other recorded instances; it was by fire sent from heaven to consume the sacrifice. See Lev 9:24; 1Kg 18:38; 2Ch 7:1.

“

By which,” and “by it,” are commonly referred to faith, but the passage would be plainer, by referring them to “the sacrifice.” It was by the means or medium of the sacrifice, that the testimony was given, and it was on the account of it that Abel was put to death; “and through it, having died, he yet speaketh;” that is, though he died, owing to his sacrifice being approved, he yet speaketh, that is, by his example as a believer, say some, in the atonement; as a sufferer in behalf of the truth, say others. — Ed.

(209) Though this view has been taken by Grotius and many others, yet the one suggested above is what has been mostly adopted. It is Abel himself who here speaks as a man of faith; it is the voice of his blood that is referred to in Heb 12:24. Instead of the received reading, the preponderance of copies is in favor of λαλεῖ — Ed

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

Heb. 11:4. More excellent.Because Abel made it the offering of himself. It is the offering of the man himself, through his sacrifice, that God accepts. Dead yet speaketh.Philo says, Abelwhich is most strangehas both been slain and lives.

Heb. 11:6. Believe that he is.The two absolutely fundamental truths of universal religion are:

(1) God exists;
(2) God is moral Governor of the universe, and as such rewards the pious, and punishes the ungodly.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Heb. 11:4-6

The Construction of Religion.The direct association of Abels offering with his faith gives the true key to the old Scripture narrative, which in fact records the beginning of religion, which, properly regarded, is mans effort to meet the conditions into which sin has brought him, and to recover the relations which sin has disturbed. Man needs worship; sinful man needs a religion.

I. Mans efforts to construct a religion.The result of incoming sin on the human family was not immediate and absolute loss of the thought and knowledge of God; for Abel and Cain knew of God, and recognised Gods relation to their prosperity. The result of incoming sin was disharmony between mans spirit and mans body, and the body no longer remained, what it was designed to be, the medium and servant of man the spirit. The body now claimed separate and independent rights, and even to dominate the spirit. In Abel we see the harmony of body and spirit; in Cain, the disharmony. God does not pass by that first instance of disharmony. He testifies His approval of Abel and disapproval of Cain. And in that instance, in that verdict, God establishes for all time the law that acceptable worship must have in it the reality, though it need not have the perfection, of harmony between soul and body. The beginning of the construction of religion was bringing an offering to express thankfulness and to ensure the Divine favour. It is important to notice the difference between the spirit of Adam and the spirit of these sons. Sin had brought in the distinction between mine and thine in relation to God. Adam saw all to be Gods. Abel and Cain made gifts, of what was theirs, to God. A religion is only wanted, and is only possible, where there has come about a breaking of the harmony. Religions are, essentially, human endeavours, more or less Divinely guided, to recover lost fellowship, to restore lost relations.

II. God indicating what are the essentials of a right religion.It were a vain thing for man to construct a religion if God held aloof, and was in no way interested in his effort. If God concerned Himself with it, He must indicate what features of mans effort He approved and what He disapproved. And this is precisely the significance of His acceptance and rejection of these different, and differently inspired, offerings. Man made distinct advance in the construction of a religion when he knew what God approved. An offering like Abels, offered in the spirit of Abel, is acceptable to Him. Then what are the essential features of Abels offering, and wherein lies its distinction from Cains. Possibly Cain just took some of his fruits as a man would who performs a duty in which he is not very deeply interested. Possibly Abel selected with care, chose out the fattest and best, as a man would who wanted to make a really acceptable gift, one that would worthily express his thankfulness and love. The Mohammedan legend embodies this idea in an exaggerated form. It says that Cains offering was a sheaf of the very worst of his wheat, but Abels a fat lamb, the very best of his flock. It is better, however, only to say that the light feeling of the one and the intense feeling of the other gave God a basis for further discriminating between them. Abels was a personally religious act; Cains was a formal duty done. Cains bringing his offering was an expression of natural religion; Abels was an expression of personal piety. God could receive both, if both were sincere, but the smile of His special favour must rest on Abel. The point of distinction may even be stated more sharply. The oneCainoffered a gift to God. The otherAbeloffered himself to God by means of a gift. And the opportunity was taken for sealing, once and for ever, the truth that the only offerings God can accept are gifts which carry to Him the givers themselves. Every man, then, wanting a religion, it is remarkable that the first idea men light upon is always the same. The first notion of religion is universally that which is seen in Cain and Abel. Men bring a gift to please the Deity and secure His favour. Cain and Abel did not merely bring their offerings as expressions of their thankfulness for temporal prosperity. The story clearly indicates that they looked for the Divine acceptance of themselves, in some sense, for the sake of their gift. Cain was angry because he did not, by his gift, secure the Divine favour for himself. But no mere gift can ever secure Gods acceptance. The Lord looketh on the heart. Abels gift of a lamb was, in itself, no more acceptable than Cains corn and fruits. Abels humble, earnest, grateful, trusting heart can receive Gods favour. From Cains formalities Gods favour must be withheld. Thus in the very first ages of the world was forcibly presented the law which our Divine Lord expressed so plainly: They that worship the Father must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Not sacrifices, not temples, not services, not prayers, not good deeds, not steadfast morality, not generous giving, can, of themselves, ever gain Divine favour. The Spirit-God asks for spirit-worship. Because man is a spirit it is beneath his dignity to offer, and it is beneath the dignity of God, the great Spirit, to accept, other than spirit-worship.

These points may be impressed. Religion is not sentiment, and yet it goes with sentiment. Religion is not acts, and yet it can express itself in acts. Religion is heart-feeling; it is the devotion of a mans self to God; it is seen in the Divine Man, who offered Himself without spot to God.
(This topic might also have been treated as The Power of Faith in Human Worship.)

Special Study of Cain.

1. In Cain we have sin putting on its outward evil forms: heart-wrong showing itself in outward wrong-doingwrong to others, wrong to society. The difficulty we have with sin is that it never will keep in the heart-sphere; it will persist in coming out and showing what a terrible heart-evil it is, by manifesting in social relationships what a terrible life-evil it is.

2. In Cain we also see the beginning of contentions about religious matters; and we may learn that religious contentions are always about the externals of religion, never about the inner spirit of piety; about mens beliefs, not about their soul-lovings and soul-trustings. It is assumed that all the Churches and all the sects will be happy together in heaven. They will, but only on the deep ground of their common piety, their common life in Christ, which will there take the place of religion. Before men sinned in Eden, and after they have been wholly delivered from sin in Paradise, worship may be required, but not religion, which is entirely relative to mans sinful condition.

SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES

Heb. 11:4. Posthumous Eloquence.The eloquence of life and the eloquence after life are nearly one, the latter for the most part a prolonged reverberation. The life may be still a living epistle, not dependent upon monumental marble, nor the book memoirs. There are, however, special values attaching to the echoes of the life after it has closed on earth.

1. Speaketh through the charitable memoirs of men, kindred, friends, the Church, the communityby word, work, example.
2. Speaketh in testimony and vindication of the truths, the cause for which the life stood as an exponent. A completed argument, the peroration, the most forcible part and the most lasting in impression.
3. Pre-eminently Christian faith gives posthumous power to the life. By it he [Abel], being dead, yet speaketh. Agnosticism, infidelity, pessimism, worldliness, selfishness, in any form not only winds up in despair, but leaves no echo that men care to listen to. Christian faith, as the soul of the Christians life, is immortal and perennial in influence and fruitfulness. It reappears in children and childrens children. It adds continually to the witnesses summoned by the Church in her vindication, adds undying elements to the Churchs endless pilgrim song.J. S. K.

The Witness of Abels Faith.The reference is not to any imaginary continued presence of Abel, nor need it be to the statement in Gen. 4:10, that the voice of Abels blood cried from the ground. The argument of the writer requires that the continued witness of Abel should be the witness of Abels faith. He speaks by his faith to those who should come after him, exhorting and encouraging them to follow his example. That example of faith remains upon the holy records, and affords admonition and instruction to succeeding ages.

The Contrast of Cain and Abel.In the two men, Cain and Abel, we have the types of the two classes into which the world has ever been divided. In Abel we have the soul struggling for restored harmony, seeking to gain its restored rights. In bringing his offering he conquered so far as to make his bodily gift express his souls gratitude, dependence, and faith. As he stood before God with his offering, body and soul were in harmony. But in Cain the harmony is wholly wanting. His body and soul were not together. The bodily gift indeed was offered, but it spoke nothing in behalf of the soul.Age of Great Patriarchs.

Heb. 11:5. Death and Translation.Death requires to be spoken of with care and precision. There is the natural death of the animal which man shares in so far as he too is an animal. But as a being inbreathed with the Divine Spirit, and made a living soul, translation from one bodily organ to another must be thought of as the Divine idea for man, as was realised and illustrated in Enoch. Death for the living soul, in the animal body, is the necessity introduced by human sin.

Pleasing God.Enoch, the devout patriarch, the fearless preacher, the fellow-traveller with God, the triumphant saint who did not see death, but took wing at once by the way of translation into heaven. A glorious man, whose name and character and destiny will live in human memory freshly, until the resurrection of the dead. This is the ground of allthat he pleased God. He did this not by any special superhuman experiences and endeavours, but just in such a way as we may all imitate. The words may never have been uttered to himself at all, but he had the sense of the words in his heartthe deep joyful assurance of Gods approbation and loveand others, by his life and labours, knew that he was an accepted and a favoured servant and saint of God.

I. The necessity for pleasing God.There is a God to please, a living God, who takes a living and continual interest in all human things, whose great endeavour, by all this complicated world-work that He carries on, is to nourish and educate human spirits, that they may, like Him, hate the wrong and love the right, and do it. He is pleased always when the least cause for pleasure is presented to Him. Some say that the attempt to please God is an inferior aim, and that the real end we ought to keep in view is, to be right in everything. But let a man try to be right without any regard to God, and how far will he go? God being an infinite, absolute, all-perfect Being, holding in Himself all principles, all relations, all truth, order, and beauty, to please Him must, in the very nature of the case, be to do right. In the epistle to the Hebrews God is spoken of as Him with whom we have to do. It is not with the duty, but with God in the duty; not with the care, but with the will of God in the care; not with the man, but with God, the maker, ruler, judge, of the man and of all men, with whom we have to do; and therefore we ought to please Him.

II. The way of pleasing God.It is not difficult, if only we take the right way of it. He is not a hard master. I believe we have no idea how simple, how natural, how human-like in the best sense, is the pleasure and joy of God in the obedience of His children. Repentance, faith, practical obedience, are the things which please Him. Enoch lived a public life of service, and pleased God in it. We may do so by action or by suffering; by public testimony or by private prayer; in much or little; by strength or weakness; amid applause or scorn, honour or shame; we may walk with God with a simple, joyful, loving heart.

III. The results of pleasing God.In this way we shall please ourselves as we never can do in any other. There is a kind of self-satisfaction of which the less we have the better. But there is another kind of self-satisfaction which we may and must seek. It is well when a man brings himself up to the bar of his better self. There is something of God in a good man; the enlightened conscience is the echo of the Divine authority and will. And if we please God, we shall ourselves have pleasure in life and the world. He can make our enemies to be at peace with us. In the world we may have tribulation, and yet we may be of good cheer. Come what may in this life, the reward in heaven is always sure. To mortal man the joy of the immortal is not yet revealed; but as the flicker of light on the morning sky is the pledge of the shining sun and the risen dayas the blade above the soil is the earnest of the waving corn-field and the plentiful granaryso are Gods first rewards of service here the fore-tokens and the pre-libations of the joy of heaven.Alexander Raleigh, D.D.

Pleasing God must be essentially the same thing in all ages and everywhere. God is the same everywhere and to everybodythe same absolutely, and the same relatively in adaptation to their varying conditions.

I. What is the condition on which man can please God?Simply thislet him be what God designed he should be. None of us can be pleased when our work is spoiled, or turns out to be other than we intended it to be. We are pleased when our work proves to be what we wanted it to be.

II. What is the reward of pleasing God?We get all the blessingunlimited, unhinderedthat He planned. The Divine expectation of the creature involves the richest blessing of the creature.

Heb. 11:5-6. The Power of Faith on Human Death.Why was the narrative of Enoch recorded in the older Scriptures? and why is it recalled to mind here? Physical death then seemed to be an absolutely hopeless thing. Everybody died. It might seem to be the end of all. In a long and unbroken procession men passed away by death. Men are in the hands of fate. They may become careless. They did become careless. They let loose their passions, and said, Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. A world of dying men was fast becoming utterly corrupt before God. It was necessary to show that death was not inevitable. The order could be broken. Man is in the hands of God, not of fate. This life on earth is neither the only life nor the true. This, in the early days, could only be shown pictorially, by an incident, by a fact. It is shown in the freeing of Enoch from the universal death-law, on the ground of faith, and of the life which his faith inspired. What then is taught the world by the translation of Enoch?

I. The death-penalty on sin may be remitted.It was once; it may be again. It is no absolute law for humanity, against which men may kick in vain. In the first age it was remitted. In the prophetic age it was remitted. In the resurrection of Christ it ceased to be a penalty on man, and its power was once and for ever destroyed. For all who are now in Christ death is not death; it is Enoch-translation. The dead in Christ simply are not; God takes them.

II. There is another world, the spiritual world, into which man the spirit goes.The first age learned thatlearned it from Enoch. Does any man sum up his career thus, I am born, I grow, I live, I die, and that is all; what can he do with Enoch? Enoch lives, while he lives, in the spiritual world. Enoch goes into the spiritual world; he does not die. Where is he? Where is Elijah? Where is Christ? God is not God of the dead, but of the living.

III. The life that is ruled by other-world considerations escapes death.Enoch had this testimony, He pleased God, in living by faith, not by sight. Then in outward and visible ways he shall illustrate the abiding spiritual truth for the race. He was translatedactually freed from death. All who live by faith, by other-world considerations, are translated through death. Absent from the body, present with the Lord.

Heb. 11:6. Postulates of Prayer.For he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that seek after Him. Coming to God is coming with some request; it is prayer. That is declared to be an impossible thing unless two postulates are laid down and fully admitted.

I. Nobody can pray unless he believes that God is.If he did not so believe, it would never enter into his head to pray. And if a man professes to believe that there is no God, and nevertheless prays, that man is manifestly self-deceived. He does believe in God. Men easily deceive themselves by using terms such as force, law, fate, etc. If in any sense they pray to, or depend on these things, they make them God. The personality of God is the thing men resist, but it is necessary to show that personality in God is precisely relative to prayer in man.

II. Nobody can pray unless he believes that God is the rewarder of them that pray.No one would attempt what he was absolutely sure was useless. There must be hope in prayer. But to lay down as a fact that God is a rewarder is to go beyond the assertion that He is, and to assert that He has a moral character, and comes into moral relations with His creatures. It is to advance from natural to revealed religion. Grant these two postulates (God is; God is a rewarder), and we will logically raise a whole religious structure for humanity, which shall be in absolute harmony with, and be the manifestly necessary outcome of, those first principles.

Two Primary Truths.The two fundamental truths of all that can properly be called religion are here adverted to. The first is, a belief that God exists; the second, that He is the moral governor of the universe, i.e. that He rewards those who are pious, and consequently punishes those who are not so. He who denies this, denies all that sanctions religion, and makes it binding upon the consciences of men.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 11

Heb. 11:4. The Living Power of the Dead.Some men we only estimate aright when they have passed from mortal scenes. While most of the members of the vegetable kingdom give out such odour as they may have power to give during life, the vernal grass, the woodruff, and others, are not fragrant till they have been taken away from their roots, and have begun to get dry. The rose, the lilac, the daphne, and the acacia pour forth their perfume as a part of their days duty. The woodruff, that holds up handfuls of little white crosses in the pleasant woods and shady glens, yields no scent till its life has ebbedbeautiful emblem of those who delight us while they live out of the serene abundance of their kindly hearts, but whose richer value we only begin to know when they are gone away, and of whose white souls we then say inwardly, He being dead yet speaketh. So the hay-field that rolls like sea-waves is scentless when we pass it uncut; we hear the measured swish of the scythe, death lays each green head low, and odour rises like mist.L. H. Grindon.

Forgetfulness of the Dead.We shall sleep none the less sweetly, though none be talking about us over our heads. The world has a short memory, and, as the years go on, the list that it has to remember grows so crowded that it is harder and harder to find room to write a new name on it, or to read the old. The letters on the tombstones are soon erased by the feet that tramp across the churchyard.A. Maclaren, D.D.

Missions continued after Death.The cedar is most useful when dead. It is most productive when its place knows it no more. There is no timber like it. Firm in the grain, and capable of the finest polish, the tooth of no insect will touch it, and Time itself can hardly destroy it. Diffusing a perpetual fragrance through the chambers which it ceils, the worm will not corrode the book which it protects, nor the moth corrupt the garment which it guards. All but immortal itself, it transfuses its amaranthine qualities to the objects around it; and however stately in the forest, or brave on the mountains brow, it is more serviceable in Solomons palace, and it receives an illustrious consecration when set up as pillars in the Temple, and carved into doorposts and lintels for the house of the Lord. Every Christian is useful in his life, but the goodly cedars are most useful afterwards. Joseph while he lived saved much people alive, and his own lofty goodness was an impressive and elevating pattern to his relenting and admiring brethren. But as an instance of special providence, and an example of untarnished excellence amidst terrible temptations, Joseph dead has spoken to more than Joseph living. The sweet singer of Israel while he lived taught many to handle the harp, and infected not a few with his thankful, adoring spirit. But David being dead yet singeth, and you can hardly name the psalm or hymn or spiritual song of which the lesson was not learnt from the son of Jesse. Paul in his living day preached many a sermon, and made many a convert to the faith of Jesus. But Paul being dead yet preacheth, and they were sermons from his sepulchre which converted Luther, and Zwingle, and most of our modern evangelists. And Luther is dead, but the Reformation lives. Calvin is dead, but his vindication of Gods free and sovereign grace will never die. Knox, Melville, and Henderson are dead, but Scotland still retains a Sabbath and a Christian peasantry, a Bible in every house, and a school in every parish. Bunyan is dead, but his bright spirit still walks the earth in its Pilgrims Progress. Baxter is dead, but souls are still quickened by the Saints Rest and the Call to the Unconverted. Cowper is dead, but the golden apples are still as fresh as when newly gathered in the silver basket of the Olney Hymns. Eliot is dead, but the missionary enterprise is young. Henry Martyn is dead, but who can count the apostolic spirits, who, phnix-wise, have started from his funeral pile? Howard is dead, but modern philanthropy is only commencing its career. Raikes is dead, but the Sabbath schools go on. Wilberforce is dead, but the negro will find for ages a protector in his memory.Dr. James Hamilton.

Holy Example.If holy example is, as we so often declare to each other, so beneficial, then it must be counted as worthy of mention among Christian privileges that we have now more holy examples than the Christians of the first century had. Each leaf in ecclesiastical history is illuminated with the noble deeds, words, and sufferings of Christs peoplean illustrious succession of spectators and heroes. The Christian Church is like a magnificent temple; each pious and illustrious man that enters it lights a new lamp therein; one after another they come, in solemn yet kingly succession, each making the temple appear more glorious, and bringing out its hidden beauties, by the holy example they set before us.T. R. Stevenson.

Heb. 11:6. Faith in God.Faith regards Gods word as more real than mans acts, as not less real than a star in heaven; and believes that the least promise that God has written will outlive the last pyramid that all the Pharaohs have ever built. When you have a bank-note in your hand, you have no money, nor have you literally books, and clothes, and shoes, and bread, and wine, and all that it can purchase; but you have a promise upon that slip of paper, as real as if you had all the goods that bit of paper can purchase. You do not lay aside Gods word as an obsolete, worthless thing, but you turn it into currency, and treat it as if really fulfilled; for faith is just taking God at His word, and believing the promises just because He says it.Dr. Cumming.

An Infidels Testimony.Dr. Elliot, who was well acquainted with Colonel Allen, a celebrated infidel in America, visited him at a time when his daughter was sick and near death. He was introduced to the library, where the colonel read to him some of his writings with much self-complacency, and asked, Is not that well done? While they were thus employed, a messenger entered, and informed Colonel Allen that his daughter was dying, and desired to speak with him. He immediately went to her chamber, accompanied by Dr. Elliot, who was desirous of witnessing the interview. The wife of Colonel Allen was a pious woman, and had instructed his children in the principles of Christianity. As soon as her father appeared at her bedside, she said to him, I am about to die: shall I believe in the principles you have taught me, or shall I believe in what my mother has taught me? He became extremely agitated; his chin quivered, his whole frame shook; and after waiting a few moments, he replied, Believe what your mother has taught you.

Enoch.

Hast thou not seen at break of day

One only star the east adorning,

That never set or paled its ray,
But seemed to sink at once away

Into the light of morning?

From it the sage no portent drew,

It came to light no meteor fires,

But silver shone the whole night through,
On hawthorn hedges steeped in dew,

And quiet village spires.

Like him of old who dwelt beneath

The tents of patriarchal story,

Who passed without the touch of death,
Without dim eye or failing breath,

At once into Gods glory

The patriarch of one simple spot,

The sire of sons and daughters lowly,

And this the record of his lot,

He walked with God, and he was not,
For the Lord took him wholly.

C. F. Alexander.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

II.

Progressive development of faith during patriarchal and Mosaic dispensations. Heb. 11:4-40.

A.

The antediluvian: faith in God. Heb. 11:4-7.

Text

Heb. 11:4-7

Heb. 11:4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous, God bearing witness in respect of his gifts: and through it he being dead yet speaketh. S By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God translated him: for he hath had witness borne to him that before his translation he had been well-pleasing unto God: Heb. 11:6 and without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that. He is a rewarder of them that seek after Him. Heb. 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; through which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

Paraphrase

Heb. 11:4 By faith, by rightly understanding and believing what was said concerning the seed of the womans bruising the head of the serpent, Abel offered to God more sacrifice than Cain: For with an humble penitent heart he offered a sin-offering, on account of which he was declared to be righteous; God testifying this upon his gifts: and so by that sacrifice, though dead, Abel still speaketh, recommending to us repentance, humility, and faith.

Heb. 11:5 By faith Enoch, having lived in a continued course of piety, was translated in the body from this earth, the habitation of sinners, to heaven, that he might not see death, and was not found, because God had translated him on account of his singular virtue. For before his translation it was testified by Moses, that he walked with God.

Heb. 11:6 But without faith it is impossible, in any dispensation of religion, to please God. For he who worshippeth God acceptably, must believe that He exists, and that He will reward all them who sincerely worship and obey Him, and who persevere in piety and obedience to the end of their life.

Heb. 11:7 By faith Noah, when he received a revelation concerning the destruction of the world by a deluge, a thing which no man had ever seen, being seized with religious fear, prepared an ark, according to Gods command, for the saving of his family: by which religious fear he condemned the inhabitants of the old world, to whom, without success, he preached the revelation which had been made to himself, (2Pe. 2:5), and became an heir of the righteousness of faith; of which his temporal deliverance was a pledge.

Comment

By faith Abel offered unto God

How did he get his faith? He received it like all do, by hearing, Rom. 10:17. God spoke to men directly in that day and Abel knew, just as we knowby hearing.

a more excellent sacrifice than Cain

How was it more excellent? It was offered by faiththat made the difference.

a.

The conditions of offering, some blemish, the wrong kind of offeringwhatever was wrong, it indicated a failure in faith on the part of Cain.

b.

Most people feel Cains offering was vegetable, in place of a blood offering.

Newell, p. 377: Cain forgot that the ground was cursed.

a.

However, animals live off the ground just as much as plants do.

b.

Besides, animals were also cursed; they became wild and uncontrollable.

Of course, only a blood sacrifice could be a type of the coming sacrifice of Christ. More carries the idea of number, quality, or excellency.

through which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous

How it was done, no one knows, but God showed pleasure. Perhaps the sacrifice was consumed by fire, as seen in other instances.

a.

Lev. 9:24 : And there came forth fire.

b.

1Ki. 18:38.

c.

2Ch. 7:1.

Faithlessness, then, must be equivalent to unrighteousness.

God bearing witness in respect of his gifts

Gifts generally refer to free will.

a.

Perhaps Cain was not sincere, and offered a substitute.

b.

It may have been a small offering as the word more allows. How did God bear witness?

a.

Perhaps He consumed it, like He did Elijahs. 1Ki. 18:38.

b.

God has no respect for sacrifices that are not made in faith. John discusses it.

a.

1Jn. 3:12 : Wherefore slew he him? because his works were evil, and his brothers righteous.

and through it he being dead, yet speaketh

What speaks, the offering or Abel? Note that the pronoun shows that Abel speaks, although dead these many centuries. He speaks: Work, serve, offer, by faith.

by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death

Little is known of him.

a.

Gen. 5:24 : And Enoch walked with God and he was not because God took him.

b.

Jud. 1:14 says that he was a prophet, and warned the people.

c.

Gen. 5:18 : He was the son of Jared.

This great character named after Cains first son surely doesnt help the theory of original sin. Gen. 4:17.

a.

Cains child must have been good, or else Enoch would not have been named after him.

b.

No one names their child Cain or Judas.

c.

If Cain had such an awful nature, we might expect this to be passed on directly.

for he had witness borne of him that before his translation

What a joy it must have been to have had the smile of God upon him. Unless we have witness we shall not be translated or received of God.

a.

Rom. 8:16 has a special meaning in the light of Enochs translation.

b.

If we do not measure up to the word, we have no witness.

he had been well pleasing unto God.

Heb. 11:6 : This is done by faith, and without faith it cant be done. These characters represent phases of faith:

a.

Abel represents the path of salvation by faith.

b.

Enoch represents one walking with God, who declared him righteous.

c.

Noah represents the next result of faithtestimony of coming judgment.

d.

Abraham, a tent-dwelling pilgrim, living on divine promises.

and without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing unto him

An earthly parent wants the confidence of his children, as does God.
Look what unbelief does:

a.

It breaks Gods word.

Adam and Eve, Gen. 3:11.

Korah, Jud. 1:11.

b.

It makes men fearful, fear then becomes the ruling motive of life.

Adam: I was afraid, Gen. 3:10.

Cain: They will kill me, Gen. 4:14.

Israel: We are grasshoppers. Num. 13:33.

Peter was afraid and began to sink, Mat. 14:30.

c.

It breaks Gods fellowship.

Adam and Eve hid in the garden.

Gen. 4:16 : Cain went out from the Presence of God. 1Jn. 3:12 : Not as Cain was of the evil one and slew his brother . . . because his works were evil, and his brothers righteous.

d.

It leads to sin.

How impossible then it is for the faithless one to please God.

for he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is

There is a way to God. We must come that way.

a.

Joh. 14:6 : The Way.

b.

Joh. 10:1 : One is a thief and robber if he enters not by the door.

c.

Pro. 28:26 : A fool trusts in his own heart.

Things to believe about God are suggested here.

a.

That He isHe exists.

1.

Psa. 14:1 calls the atheist a fool.

2.

If there is no God, then let us quit saying, Everything has a cause.

3.

If God does not exist who made the world, then I can believe that there was no builder of this building.

a rewarder of them that seek after Him

b.

He is a rewarder to seekers.

1.

God is benevolent, and will balance the accounts.

2.

Right may seem to be on the scaffold, and wrong on the throne, but above is God who keepeth watch over His own.

by faith Noah being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear

Noah alone paid regard to Gods words, though deferred for 120 years. Look what his faith caused him to do:

a.

Prepared the ark.

b.

Condemned the world.

c.

Became an heir of righteousness.

Disbelief makes one fearful, but faith builds a godly fear.

a.

Disbelief makes one inactive.

b.

Faith makes one active.

prepared the ark to the saving of his house

Look how often faith saves the house:

a.

Noah, Heb. 11:7.

b.

Joshua, Jos. 24:15. c. Cornelius, Acts 10.

d.

Lydia, Act. 16:14-15.

e.

Philippian Jailor, Act. 16:34; Act. 18:8.

Pitiful are the stories of lost families where the father did not have faith.

through which he condemned the world

What condemned the world, Noahs deliverance, his faith or the ark?

a.

Calvin says: By the ark he condemned the world, for by being so long occupied in building it, he took away every excuse from the wicked.

b.

Newell: This faith had the double effect of condemning the world. (1) Noahs warning as a preacher of righteousness; (2) the effect of making Noah heir of righteousness.

Milligan feels that his faith condemned the world.

and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith

Moses records that he was a righteous man.

a.

Noah had sin, yes, but the long, laborious work of Noah in the building of the ark must not be shoved aside.

b.

Man has a tendency to condemn a man for one sin and categorize him unjustly.

Study Questions

2121.

How did Abel get his faith?

2122.

If he acted by faith, was he acting upon a command?

2123.

If he had not been given directions, could it have been by faith?

2124.

How was his sacrifice more excellent?

2125.

What made the difference?

2126.

Was Cains less excellent or just plain unsatisfactory?

2127.

What must have been the nature of Cains offering?

2128.

Could a vegetable sacrifice be unsatisfactory because the ground had been cursed after Eden?

2129.

Could Abel have offered animals, but less worthy ones?

2130.

How did Abel know that his sacrifice was acceptable?

2131.

How did God manifest it?

2132.

What did God show Cain to be?

2133.

If obedience makes one righteous, what does failure to obey do?

2134.

Define the word gifts.

2135.

Could this mean that the sacrifices were not done by command, but were free gifts?

2136.

What does Abel speak? What words or message?

2137.

Could we say that Cain also speaks? What?

2138.

What is meant, Enoch was translated?

2139.

Did he have faith that he would be translated?

2140.

What did his faith do for him?

2141.

What do we know about Enoch from other texts?

2142.

Who had the same name?

2143.

What witness had he received of Gods pleasure?

2144.

Does Rom. 8:16 throw any light on the subject?

2145.

Enoch was well pleasing, Can we be too? How?

2146.

Can we be pleasing otherwise?

2147.

What would characterize a person without faith?

2148.

Does an earthly parent want his child to have faith in him?

2149.

What does unbelief do?

2150.

What does it do in relationship to Gods Word?

2151.

What does it do in relationship to courage?

2152.

Give illustrations of fearful people in the scriptures.

2153.

What does it do in relationship to fellowship with God?

2154.

What is essential in order to come to God?

2155.

What approach must be the Christian method?

2156.

What two things must be believed about God?

2157.

If a man does not believe in Gods existence, what is he called?

2158.

Is expectation of reward evil in the light of this verse?

2159.

Are Gods rewards here and now?

2160.

Why did God give a message to Noah?

2161.

What three things did his faith do?

2162.

Can we say that belief makes one active?

2163.

Then what does disbelief do?

2164.

Give the example of Christs warning of Jerusalems destruction.

2165.

A house was saved by the ark. What is meant?

2166.

Name some other houses that were saved.

2167.

What condemned the worlddeliverance, faith, the ark or preaching?

2168.

Could it mean that his faith caused him to preach, thus condemning the world?

2169.

What was he an heir to?

2170.

Is the life of a righteous one a very long one?

2171.

How can we be an heir of righteousness?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(4) A more excellent.The Greek literally means that Abels sacrifice was more than Cains (comp. Heb. 3:3, more glory; Mat. 6:25; Luk. 11:32, et al.). The word sacrifice (which, as is the case with very many words in this chapter, is taken directly from the LXX.) has not its special sense (see Note on Heb. 10:5) in the narrative of Genesis 4; for the offerings of the two brothers are there designated by the same name, both in the Hebrew (offering) and in the Greek (sacrifice). Hence, apart from the first words, by faith, there is nothing here said to explain the superiority of Abels offering; though one who believes sacrifice to have been of Divine institution, and who notes the close connection between Gods word and the actions of the men whose faith is here recorded, may hold it probable that Abels obedience was manifested in his mode of approaching God.

By which he obtained witness.Probably, through which faith, but the Greek may also mean through which sacrifice. The witness (Heb. 11:2) is that borne by God in His acceptance of the offering (shown by some visible sign); we might also add that such a testimony to Abel is implied in the reproof of Cain (Gen. 4:7), but the following words, God bearing witness over (or in regard to) his gifts, show what was chiefly in the writers thought. Such acceptance implied Abels righteousness and thus testified to his faith. It is remarkable that in three out of the four places in which Abel is mentioned in the New Testament this epithet is used (Mat. 23:35; 1Jn. 3:12). In the later Jewish tradition (contained in the Targum of Jerusalem) the brothers are represented as types of faith and unbelief; and in Heb. 11:10, thy brothers blood (Hebrew, bloods) is expanded into the blood of the multitude of the righteous who were to arise from thy brother. In this clause the authorities for the Greek text are much divided. One reading, he testifying over his gifts to God, has the support of the three oldest MSS., but can hardly be correct.

And by it.Better, and through it (his faith). The reference is to Gen. 4:10, the voice of thy brothers blood crieth unto me from the ground (see Heb. 12:24); hence, as Calvin remarks, he was plainly numbered among Gods saints, whose death is precious in His sight.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

4. Abel Passing in significant silence the first of the human race, Adam, and the first born of the race, Cain, our author finds in the second born, Abel, the first decisive instance of heroic faith.

More excellent sacrifice Literally, a more sacrifice; it was more truly an actual offering than Cain’s, because offered in faith. By which, may by its gender be referred to faith or to sacrifice. Lunemann and Alford refer it to the former; but by faith by which makes a very awkward structure of sentence. The true meaning seems to be, that his faithful sacrifice it was which obtained witness from God, exhibited in the divine “respect” thereto. Gen 4:4.

God testifying The Septuagint says, (Gen 4:4,) “And God looked upon Abel and upon his gifts.” Yet is not a designation of time, but signifies notwithstanding, and points the antithesis that, though dead, he nevertheless speaks. But the permanent present tense of speaks expresses the full idea that Abel is forever speaking. What he speaks is not here said. In Heb 12:24, our author, in allusion to Gen 4:10, makes the blood of Abel speak terrible things; but here, by his faith and sacrifice Abel speaks something glorious; namely, he tells us through all ages that faith, evidenced by good works, obtains favour and testimony from God. He is the first memorable example that piety and God, as against wickedness, are on the same side.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous, God bearing witness in respect of his gifts. And through it he being dead yet speaks.’

The first to reveal his faith was Abel. He was a ‘righteous one’ (Mat 23:35) who ‘lived by faith’, and because he was righteous he offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain who did not ‘do well’ (Gen 4:7). Abel offered the firstlings and the fat. He made his many offerings as soon as he received blessing, and he offered much and of the best. His heart was right towards God. Cain’s life on the other hand was not satisfactory to God, and we are probably to see his offering as grudging in the same way as his attitude towards God was seen to be. He was a schemer who brought what he offered to God with a view to how it would benefit him, but he did not ‘do well’. His life was not pleasing to God. And when he did not receive what he thought he ought to have done, he turned sour.

It was not the content of Abel’s sacrifices that was more excellent. Meal offerings were as welcome as blood offerings, and a meal offering could also in fact be a sin offering (Lev 5:11). Furthermore the word used of Abel’s offering is that usually applied, not to sacrifices, but to the meal offering. But it was the spirit of loving faith and gratitude in which they were offered, thus testifying to his righteousness. God bore witness in respect of his gifts by prospering Abel. And the point made is that because of his faith, even though he died at the hands of a persecutor, his offering and his faithful life speak on because God has borne witness to him. He lived on as a witness, and he is a witness even today in many pulpits, as his life is used as an illustration of a true and righteous man, one who was acceptable to God through his faith, and through his offerings offered in faith, with that faith an inspiration to all.

It should be noted that both offered an ‘offering’ (minchah – gift). This is the regular word used for the meal offering and rarely for burnt offerings and sacrifices. Abel’s was thus a primitive offering under this name. An official cult did not commence until Gen 4:26. ‘Minchah’ can be used of a gift or token of friendship (Isa 39:1), or as an act of homage (1Sa 10:27; 1Ki 10:25), or as payment of tribute (Jdg 3:15; Jdg 3:17 ff), or as appeasement to a friend wronged (Gen 32:13; Gen 32:18), or for procuring favour or assistance (Gen 43:11 ff; Hos 10:6), any or all of which ideas might be seen as included in Abel’s offering. But there is never any suggestion anywhere that Abel’s ‘gift’ was more acceptable because it included the shedding of blood. One might feel that to anyone who accepts the nuances of Scripture it could not have been made more clear that Abel’s offering was not to be seen as similar to later blood offerings such as burnt offerings or sin offerings. It was a freewill love offering.

‘And through it he being dead yet speaks.’ But Abel’s life was abruptly cut short by a persecutor, representing the unbelieving world. He should because of his righteousness have lived long and prospered. But he did not. For we are to see that even from the beginning the unrighteous persecuted the righteous.

However, for him death was not the end. His life continued to speak on. Persecutors cannot destroy those who are God’s. And so his life speaks on now to those who are being similarly dealt with. He is the first of many who witness to God’s people (Heb 12:1). His death says, ‘Do not be afraid of what the world can do to you. For you are God’s and your usefulness will live on. Death is not the end. God is in control’

So death did not prove that he was displeasing to God. Rather it proved, because it was at the hand of a persecutor, that God was with him. Thus can all who face persecution look to Abel, who was faithful unto death.

‘He being dead yet speaks.’ There may be a hint here that to the writer he lives on in fact, for he is seen as having a message for the present generation.

The bearing of witness may also refer to the shedding of his blood, seen as acting as a witness to the fact that all martyrdoms will finally bring down God’s vengeance on their perpetrators, for we are told that his blood cried from the ground for justice, and it is elsewhere seen as acting as a witness to the necessity for justice (Gen 4:10; Mat 23:35; Luk 11:51; Heb 12:24). But that is not the stress here. The thought is rather that his faith speaks out to all. So Abel was from the beginning a witness to true righteousness, a righteousness which springs from faith (Gen 15:6), and to true justice, and now speaks through the ages.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Testimony of Abel in the Genealogy of the Heavens and the Earth ( Gen 2:4 to Gen 4:26 ) – The most appropriate testimony of a man who fulfilled his divine commission and received his heavenly promise in the Genealogy of the Heavens and the Earth (Gen 2:4 to Gen 4:26) is Abel. Thus, Heb 11:4 serves as the best testimony of the progression of man’s faith in God in the pre-flood world in that Abel reveals the type of faith that God expects us to live by in order to inherit the promises although it cost him his life, as it will others mentioned later in Heb 11:32-40. Like Rahab’s act of faith in receiving the Israelite messengers, Abel acted out his faith in God and brought his faith to perfection by bringing a more excellent sacrifice than that of Cain. Every man’s actions demonstrate, or prove, his faith in God (Jas 2:18). Heb 11:4 reflects the theme of Heb 10:19 to Heb 11:40, which is perseverance in our divine service.

Jas 2:18, “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.”

Heb 11:4  By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

Heb 11:4 “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain” Comments – The Scriptures tell us that Abel brought his best offering to sacrifice, being a firstfruits and the fat of the animal (Gen 4:4), while the quality of Cain’s offering is not emphasized (Gen 4:3). Abel brought his offering as an act of faith, since it was the first fruits, and he shed blood. We also know that God is more interested in the attitude of the heart than He is the sacrifice itself (Psa 51:17).

Gen 4:3-4, “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:”

Psa 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”

Scripture References – Note:

Pro 21:27, “The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?”

1Jn 3:12, “Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.”

Heb 11:4 “by which he obtained witness that he was righteous” The same Greek verb (G3140) is used in Heb 11:2, “obtained a good report,” and in Heb 11:4, “obtained witness.”

Heb 11:4 “God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh” The word “it” is feminine in the phrase “by it,” referring to the feminine word “sacrifice”; so, we may translate this phrase, “by the sacrifice.” Abel’s is the better sacrifice, so it accepted by God.

How does Able still speak? He continues to speak through the written word, so that “God is testifying of his gifts.” How powerful is the written word. Kenneth Hagin has become perhaps the most power Bible teacher of the twentieth century through the writing of books. I believe that these anointed writings will be available throughout eternity.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Heb 11:4. Abel offered, &c. The divine original sacrifice seems not only strongly insinuated, but plainly demonstrable from this place. It has been inferred from the words , which may be rendered a greater, or fuller sacrifice,that Cain contented himself with presenting only the mincha,a bread-offering without a victim; whereas Abel sacrificed both; and by presenting a lamb, shewed his faith in the great sacrifice of the Lamb of God. There can be no doubt from the words of the sacred writer, that in whatever Abel’s sacrifice consisted, it was his faith which gave its excellence to it. For the next clause, see Gen 4:4. It is added, And by it (his faith), he bring dead, yet speaketh,recommending to us in all ages, that believing regard to the great Atonement, which he expressed by bringing an animal sacrifice, while Cain contented himself with the fruits of the earth; and though Abel became the early victim of Cain’s rage, yet that circumstance, in conjunction with the declaration thathe received of the divine acceptance and favour, is very instructive, in that it affords so powerful an evidence of a future state. And as his blood cried to God for vengeance against his murderer, (Gen 4:10-11.) so it warns others, in all ages, that the righteous blood of God’s servants will cry to him for vengeance against them that shed it. See 1Jn 3:11-12.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Heb 11:4 . The example of Abel . Comp. Gen 4:3 ff.

] belongs to the whole statement: . The conjoining of the same merely with (Bisping) has against it the analogy of the following instances, and would weaken the force of the emphatically preposed . The dative, however, indicates, as Rom 11:20 and frequently, the cause or occasion. See Winer, Gramm. , 7 Aufl. p. 202 f. By reason of his faith (or because he had faith) Abel offered to God a greater sacrifice than Cain; i.e. the faith of Abel, which was wanting to Cain, was the cause that in the estimation of God Abel’s sacrifice had greater value than that of Cain.

] a greater sacrifice , namely, in a qualitative respect, thus a better, more excellent one. Comp. Heb 3:3 ; Mat 6:25 ; Mat 12:41-42 , al . The quantitative acceptation (Valla: plus hostiarum ; Erasmus, Clarius: copiosiorem hostiam ; Zeger: abundantiorem ) finds no point of support in the narrative of Genesis, and would unsuitably accentuate a purely external feature.

] is by Grotius and others made equivalent to , which is admissible, it is true, but not at all necessary. On after the comparative, see at Heb 1:4 .

] By it he obtained the testimony that he was righteous .

] sc . , not (Cramer). For the is the main idea in the whole description, and manifestly glances back at , Heb 11:2 .

] Of whom? Not of Christ , by virtue of the declaration Mat 23:35 (Primasius, Faber Stapulensis, Justinian), but of God ; as, accordingly, the author himself adds, more nearly defining the : ] in that , namely, God gave testimony in respect of his offerings . What is meant is the testimony given in the fact that God looked with satisfaction upon Abel and his sacrifice (comp. LXX. Gen 4:4 : ), thus, in point of fact, recognised him as a (comp. Mat 23:35 : , and 1Jn 3:12 ).

] and by virtue of the same (namely: his faith, not: his sacrifice) he yet speaks after his death .

] is a purely parenthetic member: although he has died , and forms with an oxymoron. Hardly is it in accordance with the intention of the author to comprehend in one and . In addition to the ordinary one, this explanation also is proposed by Oecumenius, in referring the pronoun back to the by which the violent death of Abel was occasioned; it is followed by Bengel, with the difference that he supplements by , and will have taken in the sense of or .

] is not the temporal: still, adhuc (Theodoret: ), so that would signify: he speaks to us of himself and his faith or piety (Theodoret: ; Heinsius, Bengel: loquitur de se et sui similibus contra Cainos, al .), or: he summons posterity to the imitation of his faith (Chrysostom: , ; Cornelius a Lapide, Valckenaer, Kuinoel, Paulus, Klee, Bloomfield, and others). Rather is employed, as Rom 3:7 and frequently, in the logical sense, and serves for the emphasizing of the contrast: “even being dead,” or: “notwithstanding he is dead, he nevertheless speaks,” while is to be regarded as the more vividly descriptive pracsens historicum (Winer, Gramm. , 7 Aufl. p. 250), and is to be referred to the thought that the shed blood of Abel called to God for vengeance, and God, listening to this cry, was concerned about the slain Abel, as though he were still living. For manifestly, as appears also from the parallel Heb 12:24 , there is an allusion in to the words, Gen 4:10 : .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

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ABELS OFFERING INSTRUCTIVE TO US

Heb 11:4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

IN reading the history of the saints under the Old Testament dispensation, we are constrained to admire their conduct on many occasions, and to regard them as excellent patterns for our imitation. But we should not readily have traced all their diversified excellencies to one principle, and still less to the principle of faith, if it had not been done for us by an inspired writer. But, now that it is done, we see the truth, and the importance too, of the suggestion; and are stirred up to cultivate the same principle in order to the attainment of their virtues.

The Apostle, in adducing instances of the power of faith from the beginning of the world to the close of the Jewish records, omits all mention of Adam, who, we doubt not, both lived and died in faith. But his aim in this part of his epistle is to encourage the believing Hebrews to persevere in their holy profession, notwithstanding all the trials to which they might be subjected on account of it: and, as nothing particular is recorded concerning Adams faith, and Abel was a martyr for the faith, it was more to his purpose to commence his catalogue of worthies with the name of Abel; of whose offering we are now more particularly called to speak. To illustrate what the Apostle says concerning it, I shall shew,

I.

In what consisted the peculiar excellence of Abels offering as contrasted with that of Cain

By referring to the account given us in the book of Genesis, we find,

1.

That Abels offering differed widely from that of Cain

[Cain brought only of the fruits of the ground [Note: Gen 4:3.]. Now this he might have done even in Paradise; since it was only a tribute of gratitude towards his heavenly Benefactor, and an acknowledgment of dependence on him for a continuance of his favours. But Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat [Note: Gen 4:4.] by which he acknowledged himself a sinner deserving of death, and his hope of mercy only through the intervention of a vicarious sacrifice. By this act, he professed his faith in that Saviour who was in due time to die for the sins of the whole world, and whom the sacrificial ordinances already instituted were intended to prefigure. That sacrifices had been ordained of God, is evident, from its being said that Abel offered his sacrifice by faith: for had Abel offered this sacrifice of his own mind, there could have been no scope for the exercise of faith; since faith necessarily has respect to some divine declaration; and in this instance must have had respect to a command from God to present such an offering, and a promise from God to accept it. When the command was first given, we are not certainly informed: but I conceive it to have been immediately after the Fall, when, as we are told, the Lord God made coats of skins, to clothe our first parents [Note: Gen 3:21.]. It is evident that living creatures were then slain; and slain by Gods command: and, if we suppose those living creatures then offered in sacrifice, we have the most complete exhibition of the way of salvation that is contained in all the sacred records: since, as the sin of our first parents was atoned for by the blood of those sacrifices, and the shame of their nakedness was covered by their skins, so are our sins expiated by the blood of our great Sacrifice, and our souls are clothed in the robe of his unspotted righteousness. At all events the fact is clear, that such an institution had been formed by God; else Abels faith could not have had respect to it: and no other period for the commencement of it seems so proper as that to which we have referred, because it is the only period mentioned in the inspired history, and because, if not instituted till the time of Abel, our first parents must have been left many years without that instruction and consolation which such an ordinance was calculated to convey.

It is evident then that Abels offering excelled that of Cain in two most important respects, namely, in the matter of it, and in the disposition with which it was offered: his being a firstling of his flock, whilst Cains was only of the fruits of the ground; and being offered with an express view to the sacrifice which was in due time to be offered, whilst Cain had no respect whatever to himself as needing salvation, or to the Saviour by whom alone he could find acceptance with God.]

2.

That God had respect to Abels offering, and not to Cains

[In what way God testified his acceptance of Abels offering we are not informed: we are sure however that it was in some way clearly understood by Abel, and as clearly by Cain also; since it was the means of filling him with envy and wrathful indignation. It is probable, that God sent fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice of Abel. This in after ages was frequently done by God; as at the first offering of sacrifices by Aaron in the tabernacle [Note: Lev 9:24.], and at the first offering of sacrifices also in the temple of Solomon [Note: 2Ch 7:1.]. Whatever the testimony was, God shewed, by it, that he accepted both the person and the offering of Abel, whilst neither the person nor the offering of Cain were at all acceptable in his sight [Note: Gen 4:4-5.].]

Such being the acknowledged superiority of Abels sacrifice, let us consider,

II.

What instruction the pre-eminent acceptance of it conveys to us

We are told that by it, he being dead yet speaketh. The whole record concerning it shews,

1.

That man, how righteous soever he may be, needs a sacrifice

[Abel is characterized by our blessed Lord himself as eminently righteous; being designated by the name righteous Abel [Note: Mat 23:35.]. And in our text it is said, that God bore testimony to him as a righteous man. But did he on account of his distinguished piety not need an atonement? or did he think himself entitled to approach his God in any other way than as a self-ruined sinner, that could be saved only through the blood of a vicarious sacrifice? No; it is remarkable that Cain, who was at heart a murderer, thought he might find acceptance with God without such a sacrifice; whilst righteous Abel dared not to hope for mercy in any other way than through the sacrifice of Christ: and at this very hour none more deride the necessity of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in his atoning blood, than those who are hostile in their hearts to all vital godliness. But, however moral any may have been, they are sinners before God, and must seek for mercy solely through the blood and righteousness of Christ: for an Apostle expressly tells us, that without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins [Note: Heb 9:22.]. Let this then be remembered by us all: for it is by no means so deeply considered as it ought: there lurks in all of us a self-righteous disposition: we, no less than the Jews of old, are averse to submit to the righteousness of God, and make the Lord Jesus Christ a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. But there is no way to the Father but by him [Note: Joh 14:6.], nor any name under heaven but his whereby any man can be saved [Note: Act 4:12.].]

2.

That a sacrifice has been appointed of God for the sins of the whole world

[It has been before shewn, that Abels faith necessarily presupposes a divine institution as the object of his faith. And what was the sacrifice that was ordained of God? Was it to the blood of bulls or goats that men were taught to look? The blood of bulls and of goats, as the Apostle tells us, could never take away sins. That same person who was foretold to Adam as the Seed of the woman who should bruise the serpents head, was to effect that victory by having his own heel first bruised [Note: Gen 3:15.], or, as Saint Paul expresses it, he was through death to destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil [Note: Heb 2:14.]: in a word, he was to redeem us to God by his blood, and to be the propitiation not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world. He it was who, both in Abels sacrifice, and in all the sacrifices under the law, was shadowed forth; and who is therefore called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world [Note: Rev 13:8.]. Before he came into the world, his sacrifice had a retrospective, as at the time of its being offered it had a prospective, efficacy for the salvation of all who trusted in it; so that, from the beginning to the end of time, he is the only Saviour of sinful man.]

3.

That through that sacrifice all who believe in it shall assuredly be saved

[We are told that the record concerning Abrahams having his faith imputed to him for righteousness, was not written for his sake alone, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead [Note: Rom 4:23-24.]. And we may be perfectly sure, that the record concerning the efficacy of Abels faith, and the testimony given to him from God respecting the acceptableness of his sacrifice, was not for his honour merely, but for our encouragement. It shews to us how pleasing in Gods sight the humble Publican is in comparison of the self-applauding Pharisee, especially when he rests all his hopes of mercy on the atoning blood of Christ. It shews us, that God will fill the hungry with good things, whilst the rich he will send empty away. In a word, it shews us, that the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse from all sin; that whosoever cometh unto God by him shall in no wise be cast out; and that all who believe in him shall be justified from all things. Thus, whilst it directs us to the blood of Christ as the ground of our hope, it assures us, that that blood speaketh not only as much and as satisfactorily as the blood of Abel did, but far better things than that ever did or could speak [Note: Heb 12:24.].]

There is one thing not yet noticed in our text, which deserves particular attention, and which will serve us for an APPLICATION of the subject to our souls

By his faith, and the consequent acceptance of his sacrifice, Abel, though dead, yet speaketh to us.
Hear then Abel as now speaking to you from the dead.
[Brethren, though dead, I yet live; and though I have been dead almost six thousand years, I would speak to you as though I had died but yesterday. I am concerned that you should profit by my experience. You are all assembled to worship and serve your God: and you are ready to conceive, that on that account you are all rendering unto God an acceptable service. But I must declare to you that this is far from being the case. Your outward forms, considered independently of the frame of mind in which you engage in them, are of no value in the sight of God. You may kill an ox in sacrifice, and be only as if you slew a man: you may sacrifice a lamb, and be as if you cut off a dogs neck: you may offer an oblation, and be as if you offered swines blood: you may burn incense, and be no more accepted, than if you blessed an idol [Note: Isa 66:3.]. God looks not at the act, but at the heart: and if that be not right with him, your sacrifices, how costly soever they may be, are only an abomination to him [Note: Pro 21:27.]. Of all this you may be assured from what is related concerning my brother Cain and myself. He, as you have been told, was not accepted, whilst I was honoured with tokens of Gods merciful approbation. What was it that made the difference? Why did God look on me with complaccncy, and with abhorrence on him? It was because I approached him as a sinner, whose hopes were founded solely on the sacrifice of his Son, whilst my brother approached him without any such exercise of repentance and faith. And so it is with you. On those who draw nigh to him with a broken and contrite spirit, and with their eyes fixed on the Lamb of God to take away their sins, he looks with delight: he will even give to them sweet tokens of his acceptance, and testimonies of his love: and, if he do not give the same visible demonstrations of his love to them, as he did to me, he will not leave them without witness even in the minds of their enemies: for he will so enrich their souls by his grace, as shall make it evident, that God is with them of a truth. But on the proud self-righteous formalist he will look with scorn and indignation. Yes, to those of you who have come up hither merely to perform a duty which custom has prescribed, he says, Ye hypocrites, in vain do ye worship me, seeing that, whilst you draw nigh to me with your mouths, and honour me with your lips, your hearts are far from me [Note: Mat 15:7-9.]. I warn you then not to deceive your own souls: for assuredly, whether ye will believe it or not, God will ere long make the same distinction between you that he did between me and Cain: the contrite and believing worshippers shall have a testimony of his approbation before the whole assembled universe; but the impenitent and unbelieving shall be marked out as monuments of his everlasting displeasure. As for you who worship him in faith, he may for the present leave you in the hands of the ungodly, who from envy may be incensed against you; he may even suffer your greatest enemies to be those of your own household; yea, he may leave you even to be put to death, and to suffer martyrdom for your fidelity to him. But let not that deter you from confessing him openly before men. I have never regretted the sufferings I endured for him; nor will you ever regret any thing which you may be called to sustain. Even the testimony which you shall now enjoy in your own conscience, shall be an ample recompence for all: what then shall that testimony in the day of judgment be, when he shall say, Well done, good and faithful servants, enter ye into the joy of your Lord? Go on then without fear, and hold fast the profession of your faith without wavering. Be faithful unto death; and he will give you a crown of life [Note: Rev 2:10. If this be the subject of a Funeral Sermon, it may be proper here to shew what the deceased person did say, or would say.].

Such we may well conceive to be the strains in which Abel would now address you: and I pray God that they may sink down into our ears, and produce a saving effect upon our souls. Are there any here who are going in the way of Cain [Note: Jude, ver. 11.], and hating those who are more righteous than themselves [Note: 1Jn 3:11-12.]? Ah! think what misery attaches to such a state of mind, both in this world and the next. Even here, as God has said, there is no peace to the wicked; but they are like the troubled sea, whose waters cast up mire and dirt [Note: Isa 57:20-21.]: and what will they be hereafter? What does Cain now think of that piety that he despised, and of that enmity with which he persecuted it even unto death? Now he knows who was right: and so will ye ere long, whether ye will now learn it or not. But O! stop ere it be too late: and have recourse to that sacrifice which will avail for all who trust in it. And ye who are suffering for righteousness sake, marvel not as though some strange thing happened unto you, but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Abels sufferings and of Christs also, that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy [Note: 1Pe 4:12-13.].]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

The Holy Ghost having first established the truth of the principle of faith itself, and having shewn both the nature of it, and the operation of it, in the properties induced by it, in the lives of the faithful; how proceeds to exemplify its gracious actings, in the lives of those holy men of old, who by it obtained a good report. And the Lord begins with the history of the faith of Abel. And nothing surely can be more strong and decisive, on the subject. The faith of Abel is contrasted to the unbelief of Cain. Both brought their offerings to the Lord. But the Holy Ghost hath marked the vast difference. Cain brought of the fruits of the earth, as one that considered himself a Tenant to he Lord; and no more. He thought the Lord was, as he undoubtedly is, both Lord and Proprietor of all things. And Cain acknowledged him as such, and brought his rent. Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock, and offered in sacrifice as a sinner. And the Lord had respect unto Abel, and his offering: but unto Cain, and to his offering he had not respect, Gen 4:5Gen 4:5 . Now we should not have known, with that clearness we now do, through divine teaching, what made the vast difference in those men, and the Lord’s different acceptance of their Persons and offerings; but from God the Spirit’s teaching, in this holy scripture. But when the Lord saith, that it was by faith Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, we discover the reason. Abel had an eye, by faith, to Christ, the Promised Seed, Abel knew himself to be a sinner, sprung from the fallen race of Adam, and therefore came with the firstlings of his flock, in token of his conscious sin, and that he looked wholly for acceptance in the blood of Christ. Cain in his offering, had respect only to God as a Creator, neither confessing himself as a sinner, or as one needing a Redeemer; and, therefore, was the first Deist the world ever knew. Hence the Lord had respect to Abel and his offering; but to Cain, he had not respect. Hence also, the blessed testimony here given, by the Holy Ghost to Abel, and the rejection of Cain. And though so many ages have passed since those events took place, yet are they still in relation before us. Abel, though dead, yet speaketh.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

Ver. 4. A more excellent sacrifice ] Good actions and good aims make a man good in the sight of God. Cain may offer as well as Abel. Doeg may set his foot as far within the sanctuary as David, the Pharisee as the publican, but with different success.

God testifying of his gifts ] By fire from heaven, or some other visible expression of his gracious acceptation, whereby Abel’s faith was confirmed touching life and salvation in Christ. Paulus Phagius tells us out of the Rabbins, that a face of a lion was seen in the heavenly fire inflaming the sacrifice. (Armor. in Chal. Paraphr.) Which (if it be true) did probably shadow out the “Lion of the tribe of Judah,” of whom all the sacrifices were types.

Being dead yet speaketh ] , or, is yet spoken of, being registered for the first martyr in the Old Testament, as Stephen was in the New, and as Mr Rogers was here in the Marian persecution.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

4 .] By faith (see above) Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain (not elliptic, for : but as in reff., ‘than Cain did.’ But how ? First, there can be no doubt that the adj. must be taken not of quantity, but of quality. So Chrys., , , : and Thdrt. and Thl., . But how was it so? Our text answers us, . The more excellence must be looked for then rather in the disposition with which the sacrifice was offered than in the nature of the sacrifice itself. Gregory the Great (cited by Del.) says well, “Omne quod datur Deo, ex dantis mente pensatur; unde scriptum est, ‘Respexit Deus ad Abel et ad munera ejus, ad Cain autem et ad munera ejus non respexit.’ Neque enim sacrum eloquium dicit, respexit ad munera Abel et ad Cain munera non respexit, sed prius ait quia respexit ad Abel, ac deinde subjunxit, ‘et ad munera ejus.’ Idcirco non Abel ex muneribus, sed ex Abel munera oblata placuerunt.” This beyond doubt is the principal ground of the . With regard to the sacrifices themselves; with our present knowledge of type and sacrifice, many reasons might be alleged why that of Abel should be more according to God’s will than that of Cain; but none of those reasons can be safely or decisively applied here. That Abel’s consisted of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof the first and the best , whereas Cain’s was merely an offering of the fruit of the ground, perfunctory and common-place, may be a circumstance not without weight in appreciating the term . That Abel’s was an offering of slain animals, God’s own appointed way, so soon after, of the sinner’s approach to Him, whereas Cain’s was only a gift, as if he could approach God without shedding of blood, this may also be an important element in the term . But it would not be safe here to insist on either of these. The difference alleged by Hofmann, Schriftb. ii. 1. 141, that Abel brought the flesh of those beasts whose skin had covered his bodily nakedness, in faith, as an offering imputing the covering of his soul’s nakedness by God’s grace, is too far-fetched, and too alien from any subsequent typology of sacrifice, to be entertained for a moment), by means of which (viz. which faith , not, which sacrifice , as Cramer: must apply to the same as below, and that surely can refer to nothing but the which is the great leading idea of the chapter) he was testified (see above, Heb 11:2 ) to be righteous (when? by whom? not, by our Saviour, nor by St. John (reff.), though in both places such testimony is borne to him: but as explained in the next clause, at the time of his sacrifice, and by God Himself), God bearing testimony upon (in regard to: the same prep. and case, as in Gen 4:4 , ) his gifts (of what kind this testimony was, there can be little doubt. Theodotion’s rendering, , though wrong as a rendering, is probably right in fact. Cf. Exo 14:24 ; 1Ki 18:24 ; 1Ki 18:38 . Chrys. refers to this rendering, but erroneously attributes it to the Syr.: Thl. says, , . ; , . c. also mentions the report); and by means of it (his faith, again, not, as c., al., his sacrifice: see above) having died (join together, not , as c., , but : see below) he yet speaketh (viz. as interpreted by the parallel place, ch. Heb 12:24 , where it is said of the , that it , by means of his blood, of which it is said by God in Gen 4:10 , . So Th. Aquinas, Galen, Ribera, Jac. Cappell., Grot., Erasm., al., Bleek, De Wette, Lnem., Ebrard, Delitzsch. The interpretation of (and of , so that no safe inference can be gathered as to the reading from the fact of this interpretation) has usually been as in Chrys., ; (see also below): Thdrt., , , : c., , , : Thl., , , . Probably the change to the passive has been due to this interpretation, that voice seeming more naturally to express it. Some of those who read , have taken it in the sense of “speaks to us to follow his example.” So Chrys. in the next words to those quoted above: , : Thl., , . . .: Corn. a-Lapide, joining however the two, “Pietas, martyrium et memoria adhuc recens est et celebratur apud omnes fideles eosque ad sui imitationem exhortatur melius quam si Abel mille linguis eos exhortaretur:” Valcknaer, Kuinoel, al. And perhaps Stuart may be partly right, who, recognizing the allusion to Gen 4:10 , says, “The form of expression only in our verse seems to be borrowed from Gen 4:10 ; for here it is the faith of Abel which makes him speak after his death; viz. to those who should come after him, exhorting and encouraging them to follow his example.” I say partly right, for however this may be in the background, the cry of his blood is obviously primary in the Writer’s thought, from ch. Heb 12:24 , where the voice of Abel is contrasted with that of the Christian blood of sprinkling. Calvin and Delitzsch appear to have exactly hit the right point, in saying, “Porro singulare divini erga eum amoris hoc testimonium fuit, quod Deus curam habuit mortui: atque inde patet reputari inter Dei sanctos, quorum mors illi pretiosa est”).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Heb 11:4 . . “By faith Abel offered to God a more adequate sacrifice than Cain.” literally “more,” but frequently used to express “higher in value” “greater in worth,” as in Mat 12:41-42 . , Luk 12:23 ; Rev 2:19 . Does the writer mean that faith prompted Abel to make a richer sacrifice, or that it was richer because offered in faith? Many interpreters prefer the former alternative; [“Der grssere Wert seines Opfers ruhte auf dem Glauben, der Herzenshingabe, die ihn das Beste der Herde whlen liess” (Kbel).] and the choice of the word is certainly in favour of this interpretation. “through which he was certified [or attested] as righteous”. It is questioned whether is the relative of or of . The succeeding clause which states the ground of the attestation, . , determines that it refers to . God bore witness , which is explained in Gen 4:4 where it says . God looked favourably on Abel and on his gifts. How this favourable reception of his offering was intimated to Abel we are not told; but by this testimony Abel was pronounced , not “justified” in the Pauline sense but in the general sense “a righteous man”; as in Mat 23:35 . But this is not all that faith did for Abel, for , “and through the same he, though dead, yet speaks,” i.e. , speaks notwithstanding death. His death was not the end of him as Cain expected it to be. Abel’s blood cried for justice. The words of Heb 12:24 are at once suggested, f1 , where the blood of sprinkling is said to speak to better purpose than the blood of Abel. This again takes us back to Gen 4:10 . “The voice of thy brother’s blood cries to me from the ground.” The speaking referred to, therefore, is not the continual voice of Abel’s example but the voice of his blood crying to God immediately after his death. Cf. Psa 9:12 ; Psa 116:15 . “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” In the case of Abel, then, the excellence of faith was illustrated in two particulars, it prompted him to offer a richer, more acceptable offering, and it found for him a place in God’s regard even after his death.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Abel. Abel illustrates faith’s worship.

unto = to.

than. Greek. para. App-104.

obtained witness. Greek. marlureo, as in Heb 11:2.

righteous. Greek. dikaios. App-191.

testifying. Greek. martureo, as above.

of = upon. Greek. epi. App-104.

speaketh. Greek. laleo. App-121.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

4.] By faith (see above) Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain (not elliptic, for : but as in reff., than Cain did. But how ? First, there can be no doubt that the adj. must be taken not of quantity, but of quality. So Chrys., , , : and Thdrt. and Thl., . But how was it so? Our text answers us, . The more excellence must be looked for then rather in the disposition with which the sacrifice was offered than in the nature of the sacrifice itself. Gregory the Great (cited by Del.) says well, Omne quod datur Deo, ex dantis mente pensatur; unde scriptum est, Respexit Deus ad Abel et ad munera ejus, ad Cain autem et ad munera ejus non respexit. Neque enim sacrum eloquium dicit, respexit ad munera Abel et ad Cain munera non respexit, sed prius ait quia respexit ad Abel, ac deinde subjunxit, et ad munera ejus. Idcirco non Abel ex muneribus, sed ex Abel munera oblata placuerunt. This beyond doubt is the principal ground of the . With regard to the sacrifices themselves; with our present knowledge of type and sacrifice, many reasons might be alleged why that of Abel should be more according to Gods will than that of Cain; but none of those reasons can be safely or decisively applied here. That Abels consisted of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof-the first and the best, whereas Cains was merely an offering of the fruit of the ground, perfunctory and common-place,-may be a circumstance not without weight in appreciating the term . That Abels was an offering of slain animals, Gods own appointed way, so soon after, of the sinners approach to Him, whereas Cains was only a gift, as if he could approach God without shedding of blood,-this may also be an important element in the term . But it would not be safe here to insist on either of these. The difference alleged by Hofmann, Schriftb. ii. 1. 141, that Abel brought the flesh of those beasts whose skin had covered his bodily nakedness,-in faith, as an offering imputing the covering of his souls nakedness by Gods grace,-is too far-fetched, and too alien from any subsequent typology of sacrifice, to be entertained for a moment), by means of which (viz. which faith, not, which sacrifice, as Cramer: must apply to the same as below, and that surely can refer to nothing but the which is the great leading idea of the chapter) he was testified (see above, Heb 11:2) to be righteous (when? by whom? not, by our Saviour, nor by St. John (reff.), though in both places such testimony is borne to him: but as explained in the next clause, at the time of his sacrifice, and by God Himself), God bearing testimony upon (in regard to: the same prep. and case, as in Gen 4:4, ) his gifts (of what kind this testimony was, there can be little doubt. Theodotions rendering, , though wrong as a rendering, is probably right in fact. Cf. Exo 14:24; 1Ki 18:24; 1Ki 18:38. Chrys. refers to this rendering, but erroneously attributes it to the Syr.: Thl. says, , . ; , . c. also mentions the report); and by means of it (his faith, again, not, as c., al., his sacrifice: see above) having died (join together, not , as c., , but : see below) he yet speaketh (viz. as interpreted by the parallel place, ch. Heb 12:24, where it is said of the , that it ,-by means of his blood, of which it is said by God in Gen 4:10, . So Th. Aquinas, Galen, Ribera, Jac. Cappell., Grot., Erasm., al., Bleek, De Wette, Lnem., Ebrard, Delitzsch. The interpretation of (and of , so that no safe inference can be gathered as to the reading from the fact of this interpretation) has usually been as in Chrys., ; (see also below): Thdrt., , , : c., , , : Thl., , , . Probably the change to the passive has been due to this interpretation, that voice seeming more naturally to express it. Some of those who read , have taken it in the sense of speaks to us to follow his example. So Chrys. in the next words to those quoted above: , : Thl., , …: Corn. a-Lapide,-joining however the two,-Pietas, martyrium et memoria adhuc recens est et celebratur apud omnes fideles eosque ad sui imitationem exhortatur melius quam si Abel mille linguis eos exhortaretur: Valcknaer, Kuinoel, al. And perhaps Stuart may be partly right, who, recognizing the allusion to Gen 4:10, says, The form of expression only in our verse seems to be borrowed from Gen 4:10; for here it is the faith of Abel which makes him speak after his death; viz. to those who should come after him, exhorting and encouraging them to follow his example. I say partly right, for however this may be in the background, the cry of his blood is obviously primary in the Writers thought, from ch. Heb 12:24, where the voice of Abel is contrasted with that of the Christian blood of sprinkling. Calvin and Delitzsch appear to have exactly hit the right point, in saying, Porro singulare divini erga eum amoris hoc testimonium fuit, quod Deus curam habuit mortui: atque inde patet reputari inter Dei sanctos, quorum mors illi pretiosa est).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Heb 11:4. ) a more excellent, preferable, and on that account more highly esteemed. Each of the brothers followed his own mode of life in offering the sacrifice. But Abel conducted himself more righteously in the kind of sacrifice which he offered. The husbandman, Cain, brought an offering of the fruits of the earth: Abel, a pastor of sheep, brought of their firstlings and fat. Here, then, the latter took the best which he had,-a thing which the former is not said to have done. At the same time the offering of Cain merely implied a confession of obligation; the sacrifice (victima) of Abel, a confession of sin and a desire of atonement. This was quite consonant with faith.- , than Cain) who was defective in faith, and therefore without the Divine testimony.- , by which) He obtained by faith both righteousness and the testimony of righteousness, Heb 11:7.-, testifying) For , God looked upon, had respect to, Gen 4:4, by a certain sign, which was also seen by Cain.[69]- , by it) faith; construed with , being dead [having died in it. But Engl. Vers. construes it with speaketh]; comp. Heb 11:13; for has the same meaning as or ; 1Ti 2:15.-, speaks) speaks of himself, and those like himself, against the followers of Cain; ch. Heb 12:24.

[69] This probably refers to the consuming of Abels sacrifice by fire from heaven, which was not extended to Cains.-TR.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Heb 11:4-31

SUNDRY EXAMPLES SELECTED FROM THE

HISTORY OF THE ANCIENTS, ILLUSTRATIVE

OF THE NATURE, POWER, AND INFLUENCE

OF FAITH

Heb 11:4-31

Heb 11:4 —By faith Abel offered, etc.-Cain and Abel both brought offerings, but of different kinds. Cain brought of the fruits of the ground, but Abel brought of the firstlings and fatness of his sheep or goats. (Gen 4:3-5.) Wherein, then, did the superior excellence of Abels offering consist ? Not in its greater intrinsic value, for Cains offering may have been quite as costly as that of Abel. Of this, we cannot judge positively from anything given in the inspired record. Nor can we determine in what the offering of Cain consisted, further than this: that it was purely a vegetable offering. True, indeed, it is called a mine hah, a meat offering, and in Leviticus 2: 1-16, the minchah is described as consisting of fine flour, or unleavened cakes, or parched corn, to which were added a portion of salt, oil, and frankincense. But in Gen 4:3-5, the word minchah seems to be used, not in its legal and specific sense, but in its more general signification, to denote an offering of any kind, for in the fourth verse the offering of Abel is also called a minchah, though it consisted of lambs or goats; neither of which were included in the legal meat offering.

If, then, the superiority of Abels offering did not consist in its greater intrinsic value, in what did it consist? Evidently, as our author says, in its being offered in faith, and in obedience to the command of God: for To obey, says Samuel, is better than sacrifice ; and to hearken, than the fat of rams. (1Sa 15:22.) And Solomon says, The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight. (Pro 15:18.) That is, the most costly offering of the wicked man is hateful in the sight of God, while a mere prayer that costs nothing, if it be offered in faith and in obedience to Gods will, is his delight. Cain, like King Saul, was a proud, haughty, and self-reliant rationalist. Instead of honoring God by bringing as he was required, a bleeding victim from his flock, he presumptuously substituted for it, what was more in accordance with his own blinded and perverted reason. But Abel was a man of faith; a man who trembled at the word of the Lord, and whose only question was, therefore, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? In this, he and Cain had both been sufficiently instructed, for the Apostle says that Abel offered in faith. But this he could not do without a Divine warrant. In all such cases, faith must of necessity rest on the word of God. (Rom 10:17.) Sacrifice is therefore, beyond all doubt, of Divine origin, and the superior excellence of Abels offering consisted simply in this: that in making it, he acted strictly in compliance with the revealed will of God.

It does not follow, as Magee, Bloomfield, and others suppose, that Abel understood the typical import of his sacrifice, and that through it he showed his faith in the sacrifice of Christ, which was afterward to be offered for the sins of the world. That he may have had some faint conception of Gods far-reaching designs in instituting sacrifice, is quite probable. Of this we cannot speak with certainty. All that is plainly and fairly implied in our text, is simply this: that Abel did what he did in consequence of his firm and unwavering faith in God. He knew Gods will, and like Noah, Abraham, and others named in this chapter, he resolved to do it.

Heb 11:4 —by which he obtained witness, etc.-The meaning is, not that he obtained this witness by his sacrifice, but rather by his faith in offering the sacrifice. Faith is the leading thought in the whole sentence, and to faith as the leading word, the pronouns which and it have both reference. But how and from whom did he obtain this witness? The answer to this question is given in the following clause.

Heb 11:4 —God testifying of his gifts:-(epi tois dorois) with respect to his gifts. This God did, no doubt, in the usual way, by causing fire to come down and consume the victims which Abel offered. See references. So say the Jews as well as most Christian expositors. Abels offering, like that of Elijah (1Ki 18:38) was accepted by its being consumed on the altar, but Cains offering, like the offerings of the false prophets, remained unconsumed, and of course unaccepted. This at once greatly excited and provoked the envy of Cain, and so he was moved to kill Abel, because, says John, his own works were evil, and his brothers righteous. (1Jn 3:12.)

Heb 11:4 —and by it he being dead yet speaketh.-The Textus Receptus, with the manuscripts, D, E, J, K, and the old Italic version, has the passive form of the verb (laleitai) is spoken of. But some of the best manuscripts, most of the ancient versions, and several of the Greek Fathers, have the active voice (lalei), as in our English Version. This reading is also best supported by the internal evidence, and it is therefore now justly preferred by most expositors. The idea is not that Abel is now spoken of as a faithful man, and so commended for his piety, but rather that he, though dead, still speaks to us by his faith and example.

What, then, does he say? Most commentators, as Calvin, Ebrard, Delitzsch, Alford, etc., maintain that there is here direct reference to Gen 4:10, and that in harmony with the record there given, Abels blood still calls to God for vengeance. But it is not by his blood, but by his faith that he still speaks. And I therefore agree with Chrysostom, Stuart, and a few others, that what the Apostle means is simply this: that Abel by his faith and example still speaks to us, warning, admonishing, and encouraging us to obey Gods will by doing just what he has commanded us to do, and giving us assurance, at the same time, that all things will certainly work together for the good of those who do this. His is the first example on record of just such an exercise of faith as God commends and approves, and hence it is, perhaps, that the Holy Spirit has given to it so great prominence.

Heb 11:5 —By faith Enoch was translated-There is but little said in the Bible respecting this eminently pious man. In Gen 5:24, Moses says: And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, because God took him. And from Jude (5: 14), we learn that he was a prophet, and that he warned his contemporaries that the Lord would finally come with his holy myriads to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the impious concerning all the hard sayings which impious sinners spoke against him. Having thus, like Noah, been for a time a preacher of righteousness, the Lord rewarded him for his fidelity by translating him no doubt to Heaven, as he afterward translated Elijah. (1Ki 2:1 1Ki 2:11.) So the Psalmist expresses his confidence that, after death, the Lord would receive him to glory. (Psa 73:24.)

Heb 11:6 —that he should not see death;-That is, that he should not experience death like other men. So the word see is often used in the Holy Scriptures. See, for example, Psa 89:48; Luk 2:26 ; Joh 8:51. Enoch did not experience death as men ordinarily do, but was miraculously delivered from it, perhaps in the same way that the living saints will be at the second coming of Christ. Behold I show you a mystery, says Paul; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we [the living saints] shall be changed. (1 Cor. 15: 51, 52.) All attempts at explanation in such cases, however, are wholly unwarranted by the word of God. See Deut. 29:29.

Heb 11:6 —and was not found, because God had translated him:-The meaning is, that he was not found on earth, because God had translated him from earth to heaven, as he afterward translated Elijah. After Elijahs removal, the sons of the prophets sent out fifty men, who sought for him three days diligently, but they did not find him, because God had taken him. (2 Kings 2: 17.) And so, also, it seems to have been in the case of Enoch. His friends no doubt made diligent search for him, but it was all in vain. He was not found, because God had removed him from earth to higher and better climes.

Heb 11:6 —for before his translation, etc.-The idea is that he pleased God before his translation, as is proved by the testimony. But this he could not have done without faith, as our author now proceeds to show.

Heb 11:6 —But without faith it is impossible to please him:-Why so? The fact is clearly stated in our text, and it is even further emphasized in what follows: He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. The same fundamental truth is also abundantly set forth in other passages. In Rom 8:8, for example, Paul says, They that are in the flesh can not please God. And again in Rom 14:23, he says, Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. There can be no doubt, therefore, that faith in God is essential to all acceptable worship and service of any kind.

But why is it so? Is it owing simply to an arbitrary arrangement on the part of God ? or does it arise from a moral necessity ? That the latter, and not the former, is true, will I think appear manifest from a little reflection. Be it observed, then, (1) that there was a time when God was and nothing else beside him. By his own power he gave birth and being to all things. See Gen 1:1; Joh 1:3; Col 1:16, etc. (2) He created all things according to the counsel of his own will, and in harmony with his own nature. See Eph 1:11; Rom 11:34, etc. (3) Hence it follows that whatever is in harmony with Gods will is right, and that whatever is not in harmony with it is wrong-necessarily, immutably, and eternally wrong. (4) Every man, therefore, who acts from any other ruling motive than the known will of God, is so far a rebel against God and his government. What he does may of course serve to promote in many respects the interests of society. He may, for instance, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, instruct the ignorant, and if need be he may even die for his friends or his country. But unless, in all this, he acts from a supreme regard to the will of God, his conduct is wanting in one of the essential elements of virtue, and cannot, therefore, be otherwise than displeasing to God. (5) But no man can act in harmony with the will of God unless he has faith in God and in the revelation which he has made to us of himself, for his own glory and for the good of his creatures. This is self-evident. And hence it follows, as our author says, that he who would come to God and serve him acceptably, must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Enoch did this. He walked with God. And the Apostle therefore justly argues that he had faith in God, and that his marvelous deliverance from death was both an attestation and a reward of his faith.

Heb 11:7 —By faith Noah, being warned of God, etc.-From the brief record that is here given of Noahs faith, we learn (1) that he was divinely admonished (chrematistheis) with regard to the coming deluge. One hundred and twenty years before it occurred, God warned him of its coming, and directed him to go to work and prepare an ark for the saving of himself and his house. (Gen 6:3-18.) (2) That he believed God and did just as he was commanded. Moved by a reverential fear (eulabetheis) through his belief in Gods testimony, he prepared an ark for the saving of his house. This, under the circumstances, was a very remarkable instance of strong and unwavering faith in God. For (a) the time appointed was still far off in the future, (b) There were as yet no natural indications that such an event as the destruction of the world by a deluge would ever occur, (c) The experience of mankind was against it. For sixteen hundred years, the natural order of events had been uninterrupted, and no doubt many of the so-called philosophers of that age would be forward in proving to the people that such a catastrophe was physically impossible, (d) The profane and wicked scoffers of the age would also, as a matter of course, do all that they could by their wit, ridicule, and sarcasm, to destroy Noahs faith in the promise of God, and to dissuade him from his great undertaking. But nothing could move him from his purpose. Throughout the long period of one hundred and twenty years, he continued strong in faith giving glory to God. (3) By his faith and obedience he condemned the world, as Christ says the men of Nineveh and the queen of the south will, on the day of judgment condemn the unbelieving and disobedient men and women of his own generation. (Mat 12:41-42.) Every man, in fact, who gives heed to Gods warnings and admonitions, condemns by his faith and practice all who neglect to do so. Thus, Noah condemned his own disobedient contemporaries, and thus also he will, on the day of final reckoning, condemn millions of our own more highly favored generation. (4) By his faith, he also became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. Several eminent expositors, as Cramer, Michaelis, Bisping, and Hofmann, make the phrase by which (dia hes) depend on the word ark (kibotos) ; that is, they say Noah condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness of faith by building the ark. But it is better with Bengel, Menken, Bohme, Bleek, De Wette, McLean, Ebrard, Lii- nemann, Delitzsch, Alford, and others, to make faith the antecedent of the relative which. Faith is the leading thought of the whole sentence, and the word faith is therefore properly made the governing word in construction. It should be observed, however, that the building of the Ark is included in the word faith, for it is not of faith in the abstract, but of faith in all its practical bearings that the Apostle is speaking. This is obvious from all the examples of faith that are given in this section. Indeed, the faith which God commends and requires is, in no case, a mere cold, lifeless, abstraction; it is a living, active, fruit-bearing principle, which is constantly manifesting and developing itself in the life as well as in the heart of the individual. Such was the faith of Abel; such was the faith of Enoch; and such also was the faith of Noah, through which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to the law of faith. (Rom 3:21-31.)

Heb 11:8 —By faith Abraham, when he was called-In this verse we have given (1) the fact that Abraham received a call from God; (2) that by this call he was required to leave his home and kindred in Ur of Chaldea, and go out into a strange land; (3) that this land, though promised to his posterity, was wholly unknown to him at the time; and (4) that he nevertheless obeyed God, and went out of his own country, not knowing whither he went.

The original call is not recorded in the Scriptures; but in Gen 12:1-3 it is repeated in substance as follows: Now the Lord had said to Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy fathers house, unto a land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. This call must have been a very severe test of Abrahams faith. To leave a comfortable home and friends and follow the call of another, at any time and under any circumstances, shows a very strong degree of trust and confidence in the one who calls us. But this Abraham did, and did promptly. Taking with him his father Terah, and Lot his nephew, he immediately left Ur of Chaldea and came to Haran, where he remained five years. But when his father was dead he left Haran and passed over into Canaan, where he sojourned for one hundred years.

These numbers may be easily verified as follows. We learn from Gal 3:17 and Exo 12:40-41, that from the call of Abraham to the Exodus or giving of the Law was four hundred and thirty years; and from Gen 15:14 we also learn that from the birth of Isaac to the Exodus was four hundred years. Consequently thirty years intervened between the call of Abraham and the birth of Isaac. But when Isaac was born Abraham was a hundred years old (Gen 21:5) ; and hence he was seventy years old when he was first called and received the promise. But he was seventy-five years old when he came to Canaan (Gen 12:4); and he was a hundred and seventy-five years old when he died. (Gen 25:7.) And hence he sojourned five years in Haran and a hundred years in Canaan.

Heb 11:9 —By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, etc.-It appears from this that Abraham never regarded Canaan as his home. He knew, of course, that when the Amorites should have filled up the cup of their iniquity in the fourth generation, the land would be given to his posterity for an everlasting possession (Gen 15:16). But until that time neither he nor his seed had any rights and privileges in Canaan beyond what might have been enjoyed by other strangers under like circumstances. God, says Stephen, gave him no inheritance in it; no, not so much as to set his foot on; yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. (Act 7:5.) And hence Abraham had to purchase the cave of Machpelah as a burying-place from Ephron the Hittite (Gen 23:3-20) ; and hence, also, neither he, nor Isaac, nor Jacob, ever built a permanent residence in the country. They were satisfied to live in movable tents and fragile booths, feeling assured that, according to the promise, they were all heirs of a better inheritance than any that was then to be found on this sin-stained earth.

Heb 11:10 —For he looked for a city, etc.-This is given by the Apostle as the reason why Abraham was satisfied to live as a stranger and sojourner in Canaan. He did so because he was looking for the city (ten polin) which hath the foundations (tous themelious), whose Architect and Builder is God. From this and other like passages we are constrained to think that God had given to the patriarchs information with regard to the heavenly country far beyond what is now recorded in Genesis or any other part of the Old Testament. What we find there at present was written for our instruction, as well as for the benefit of the ancients (Rom 15:4). But much may have been said to them which would in no way benefit us; and which was, therefore, excluded from the Canon by Moses, Ezra and other inspired writers. The origin of sacrifice, for instance, is nowhere expressly mentioned in the Old Testament ; nor is there anything said in it respecting the origin of the Patriarchal priesthood. Information, clear, full, and explicit, on all such matters, was of course needed by the ancients; but for us the more general instructions of the Bible are quite sufficient. And so, also, we think it was with respect to the heavenly country. The Patriarchs seem to have received revelations concerning it which have never been transmitted to us; for it is obvious that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, lived in constant expectation of entering it at the close of their earthly pilgrimage. They were satisfied to live here as strangers and pilgrims, knowing that they had in heaven a city having permanent foundations whose Architect and Framer is God. This city is manifestly the heavenly Jerusalem (Gal 4:28; Heb 12:22 Heb 13:14), which for the present is located in heaven, but which will hereafter descend to the earth after that it shall have been renovated by fire (Revelation 21). Then will be fulfilled in its full and proper sense the promise made to Abraham that he and his seed should be the heirs of the world. (Rom 4:13.) The meaning of the whole verse, says Prof. Stuart, most evidently is that Abraham looked for a permanent abode in the heavenly country; that is, his hopes and expectations were placed upon the world to come. It was faith in this which was the demonstration of things not seen, and which moved him to obey the commands of God, and to do and suffer whatever he required. The fact then that the saints under the Old Testament were moved in their conduct by considerations which had respect to the invisible world, or an immortal state of existence, is plainly implied here by the reasoning of the Apostle. God is here called the architect (technites) of the heavenly city, because he is the author of the plan; and he is also called the builder (demiourgos), because it is he himself who executes the plan. He is the master-builder as well as the projector of the heavenly Jerusalem.

Heb 11:11 —Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed,-Or more exactly, By faith even Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed. The emphatic manner in which this is expressed seems to indicate that there was something very extraordinary ‘in the case of Sarah. But what was it ? On this point the commentators differ. Some think that our author has reference merely to what he more fully and distinctly states in what follows, viz.: that Sarah, though now past the time of bearing, through faith received strength for the conception of seed (Schlichting, Schultz, Stuart, etc.). But the majority maintain that there is in these words an allusion also to the fact that, at the outset, Sarah herself was unbelieving. (Gen 18:9-15.) Thus Macknight: By faith in Gods promise, even Sarah herself, though at first she thought the matter impossible, received strength for the conception of seed, and brought forth a son when past the age of child-bearing; because she at length attained to the strongest persuasion of the faithfulness and power of Him who had promised her a son. So also Bleek, DeWette, Winer, Liinemann, and others. In this instance, the minority are probably right. It seems most likely that the Apostle makes no reference here whatever to the former incredulity of Sarah; but only to her past barrenness and advanced age. For at that time she was about ninety years old (Gen 17:17) ; far beyond the natural period of childbearing. But nevertheless, through her strong faith in God, she obtained the promise.

Heb 11:12 —Therefore sprang there even of one, etc.-The word therefore shows that what follows is to be taken as a result and consequence of the faith of Abraham and Sarah. They had both waited long and patiently for the fulfillment of the promise: and now when Abraham is about a hundred years old, and Sarah ninety, their faith brought to them the promised reward. Though it tarry, wait for it; for it will surely come; it will not be behind the appointed time.” (Hab 2:4.) They did wait; and finally, as a reward for their faith in God and in the word of his promise, there sprang from one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of Heaven in multitude; and as the sands of the sea shore innumerable. For Abraham, says Paul, against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarahs womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform. (Rom 4:18-21.) And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness; and not only so, but in consequence of this, Isaac was born, and his descendants were multiplied as the dust of the earth. See references.

The bearing of this illustration of the main argument of the Apostle is very obvious. Nothing could better serve to strengthen the hands and encourage the hearts of the desponding and persecuted Hebrews, than this reference to the faith of their illustrious ancestor. God himself makes a like reference to it, by the Prophet Isaiah, for the purpose of encouraging the Israelites under the Babylonish captivity. Hearken unto me, he says, yfc that pursue righteousness, ye that seek Jehovah: look unto the rock whence ye were hewn; and to the hollow of the cave whence ye were digged: look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah who bore you; for I called him, being a single person, and I blessed him, and I multiplied him. (Isa 51:1-2.)

Heb 11:13 —These all died in faith,-(kata pistin) according to faith: that is, in the exercise of faith and in the enjoyment of its many blessings. They died as they had lived, in jaith. But of whom does the Apostle here speak? Who are the all who died in faith? Some, as Oecumenius, Theophylact, and Primasius, think that our author refers here to the aforesaid faithful antediluvian Patriarchs, as well as to the postdiluvian. But in this they are manifestly in error. The context makes it quite obvious, that only Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob, are included in this remark. They are the persons who received the promises (Gal 3:16), and who might have returned to their father-land had they been inclined to do so. But they all preferred remaining as strangers and pilgrims in Canaan, because their hearts were set on the heavenly country into which they hoped to enter soon.

Heb 11:13 —Not having received the promises,-What promises? Manifestly not the verbal promises; for these they did receive (Gal 3:16): but the word promises (epangliai) is used here to denote the things promised. These they did not receive during their earthly pilgrimage; they only saw them afar off, and greeted them as the wanderer greets his longed-for home, even when he comes in sight of it at a distance; drawing to himself, as it were, magnetically and embracing, with inward love, that which is yet afar off (Del. in loc.) But the important question still arises, What were the things promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which they did not receive during their earthly pilgrimage, but which they only saw by faith in the far distant future?

In order to answer this question properly it is necessary to refer again to the inspired record and see what pledges were given by God to these illustrious patriarchs. These, as we learn from Genesis, were (1) that Abraham should have a numerous offspring (Gen 13:16 Gen 15:3-5 Gen 17:2 Gen 17:4 Gen 22:16) ; (2) that God would be a God to him and to his seed after him (Gen 17:1-8); (3) that he would give to him and to his seed an everlasting inheritance (Gen 12:7 Gen 13:15 Gen 15:18-21 Gen 17:8); and (4) that through him and his seed, all the nations of the earth should be blessed (Gen 12:3 Gen 22:18). To each of these God attached a double significance. See notes on 8: 8. They each consisted, so to speak, of two elements, one of which had reference to the carnal side of the covenant, and the other to the spiritual side: one to the type, and the other to the antitype. Thus Abraham was made the honored father of two families; to each of which an inheritance was promised, and through each of which the world was to be blessed.

Now it is true that while Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob sojourned on Earth, their offspring was not very numerous; nor did they then receive the earthly inheritance; nor was the world as yet blessed by them. And hence it is quite possible that there may be some allusion in our text to the temporal and typical blessings which were promised. But certain it is, that our author refers here chiefly to the spiritual and antitypical blessings which God had promised to Abraham; and especially, as in the thirty-ninth verse, to the coming of Christ and the blessings of his mediatorial reign. Abraham/’ says Christ, rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad.” (Joh 8:56.) To Christ, then, as the promised Seed, and to the inheritance redeemed by his blood (Eph 1:14), our author refers chiefly, if not exclusively, in the use of the word promises. These, the Patriarchs did not receive while here on earth; but through the telescope of faith they saw them afar off, and embraced them with joy and singleness of heart, confessing at the same time that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth.

Heb 11:14 —For they that say such things, etc.-All men naturally desire a home. To this they are prompted by one of the strongest and deepest natural instincts of the human heart. And hence though many may, like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, wander about as pilgrims and sojourners for awhile, it is always with a view of securing a permanent home somewhere. The case of these Patriarchs, as our author insists, was not an exception to this law of our nature. They declared very plainly, both in word and in deed that they were seeking after a home, a father-land (patrida), a fixed and permanent residence.

Heb 11:15 —And truly, if they had been mindful, etc.-If they had desired to return to Ur of Chaldea, or to Haran, there was nothing to prevent their doing so. They had not been banished from their father-land, nor have we any reason to think that God would have so interfered as to prevent their return. He always prefers a willing service. And hence the Apostle argues that these Patriarchs might all have returned to Chaldea had they been so minded. But none of them ever showed any desire to do so. Abraham in particular, says Macknight, considered the very thought of returning into Chaldea as a renunciation of his interests in the promises of God. And therefore he made his steward Eliezer swear to him that on no pretense whatever would he carry Isaac into Chaldea. (Gen 24:5-8.)

Heb 11:15 —But now they desire a better country-Better than either Canaan or Chaldea. The course of the argument is well expressed by Kuinoel as follows: If these Patriarchs had sought a country in those parts, or had regarded their native or ancestral land as their true country, they might have found means to return thither. But they did not consider Canaan as their country, nor did they return to Chaldea, and therefore they desired not an earthly but a heavenly country.

Heb 11:16 —wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God:- Since it is true that these patriarchs sought no earthly home, but set their hearts steadfastly on heaven as their permanent abode, God is therefore not ashamed to be called their God, for he himself says repeatedly, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (Exo 3:6 Exo 3:15 Exo 4:5, etc.), thus verifying the promise which he had previously made to Abraham that he would be a God to him and to his seed after him. (Gen 17:7.)

Heb 11:16 —for he hath prepared for them a city.-This is given as evidence of the fact that God approved and rewarded the fidelity of these his devoted servants. He did not allow them to dwell always in tents and booths, but according to the promise made to Abraham, he prepared for them a home in the city which hath the foundations, the heavenly Jerusalem. See notes on Heb 6:15 Heb 9:15 Heb 11:10.

Nothing could more clearly indicate the strong and abiding faith of these patriarchs in a future state of rewards and punishments, than does this passage (Heb 11:13-16). So fully convinced were they of such a state, that like Paul (Php 3:8), they were willing to suffer the loss of all things earthly, provided only that they might attain to the rest which remains for the people of God. The ground of their justification was to them of course still a mystery. See note on Heb 9:8. They did not yet understand that the very foundations of the heavenly city were laid prospectively in the blood of the Lord Jesus, and that in the end of the ages, he would appear to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, so that God might be just in justifying all true believers. This was to them still a mystery, as it was also to even the angels in glory. (1Pe 1:12.) Nevertheless, they seem to have had no doubt whatever of the fact that when their earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, they would then have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Heb 11:17 —By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Issac: -The account of this severest and last recorded trial of Abrahams faith, is found in Gen 22:1-14. Previous to this, God had tried him in various ways and on various occasions. He had called on him to leave his home and his kindred, and to become a wanderer in a foreign land during the rest of his life. He had long delayed the fulfillment of the promise which he had made with regard to the birth of Isaac. And he had furthermore put Abraham severely to the proof when he required him to send away Ishmael and his mother with a scanty supply of bread and water. (Gen 21:9-14.) But all these trials were light and insignificant in comparison with that to which reference is made in our text. Hitherto God had sustained him with the assurance that he would give him a son by Sarah, and that in and through that son should in due time be fulfilled all other promises. But now when Isaac, according to Josephus (Ant. I. 13, 2), was about twenty-five years of age, God says to Abraham, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. (Gen 22:2.)

How very strange and startling is this oracle! How many plausible reasons might have been alleged for neglecting it! Had Abraham possessed the spirit of Cain or of some of our modern rationalists, how easily he might have persuaded himself that there was some mistake or delusion in the case; that the command could not be from God; that it was inconsistent with both his character and his promises. But no; nothing of this occurred in the case of Abraham. He knew that the voice of command was the voice of God, and that was enough. He rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for a burnt offering, and rose up and went unto the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto the young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said, My father; and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son and laid him upon the altar on the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son. (Gen 22:3-10.) How very calm and deliberate is the good old patriarch in this most trying and affecting scene. Nothing is done rashly or under an impulse of momentary excitement. He had ample time and opportunity to reflect seriously and prayerfully on the whole matter, and he did so. The distance traveled from Beersheba to Jerusalem, the land of Moriah, was about forty-two miles, and more than two days were occupied in making the journey. In the meantime, the presence and conversation of Isaac, as well as the quiet solitude of the way, all served to bring the matter home to the heart of the anxious father, and to make him feel most deeply the solemn and awful import of what he was about to do. But nothing could move him from his purpose to obey God. He builded an altar, laid the wood in order, bound Isaac, and drew the fatal knife. The deed was mentally done. In Abrahams purpose, Isaac was a slain victim. But while his arm was executing the volition, it was suddenly and unexpectedly arrested by a voice from heaven. The evidence of Abrahams loyalty and fidelity was sufficient, and God then honored him by re-assuring him with an oath that in blessing he would bless him, and in multiplying he would multiply him.

Heb 11:18 —Of whom it was said, etc.-(pros on) to whom it was said [that is, to Abraham] that In Isaac shall thy seed be called. This clause is variously interpreted by expositors. But the meaning obviously is that Abrahams posterity with respect to the promised Seed was to be reckoned in and from Isaac. In this sense he was not only his son, but he was his only son. True, indeed, he had other children beside Isaac, but by Gods decree they were all eliminated from the regular line of descent, and the covenant was established with Isaac and his descendants through Jacob and with them only. (Gen 17:17-21 Gen 21:12 Gen 25:4-5.) The object of the Apostle in adding this clause was, therefore, simply to illustrate still further the great strength of Abrahams faith by showing that even against hope he still hoped and believed that God would fulfill his promise in yet giving him a son through Isaac, by raising him from the.-dead.

Heb 11:19 —Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from Hie dead;-This was to Abraham the only possible solution of this very mysterious and intricate problem. God had said to him, My covenant will I establish with Isaac (Gen 17:21); and again, In Isaac shall thy seed be called (Gen 21:12). But now he is required to offer him up as a burnt offering! How are the facts to be reconciled? Abraham knew that the promise of God could not and would not fail, and as he could not anticipate that God would interfere, as he did, so as to prevent the actual immolation of his son, there was really left for him no other alternative than simply to conclude that God would restore Isaac to life. This conviction seems to be implied in the remark which he made to his servants: Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again. The word rendered come again (we will return) is in the plural number, and seems to indicate a belief on the part of Abraham that God would immediately raise Isaac up again from the dead.

Heb 11:19 —from whence also he received him in a figure.-On the meaning of this clause the commentators are much divided. Some of them as Hammond, Whitby, Newcome, Schultz, and Stuart, suppose that the Apostle refers here to the supernatural birth of Isaac. The sentiment. says Stuart, seems to be this: Abraham believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead, because he had as it were obtained him from the dead; that is, he was born of those who were as good as dead. But if this had been the idea of the Apostle, he would most likely have used the pluperfect tense instead of the aorist. And besides, it would, as Alford suggests, be harsh and unnatural to make the phrase ufrom the dead refer in this case to Abraham and Sarah. I therefore think with Beza, Delitzsch, Alford, and others, that the reference is not to the birth of Isaac, but to his rescue from the altar. Abraham received him back from the altar, as one raised from the dead. He had been figuratively (en parabole) sacrificed; and he was therefore now figuratively raised from the dead and restored to his father, as a reward for his fidelity. For as Bloomfield says, Isaac was in a manner dead in his fathers opinion and in his own, and he was restored to his father from the gates of the grave.

Heb 11:20 —By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau-The idea is, that the blessing of Isaac was bestowed in faith. Indeed, it could not be bestowed on any other ground, for at that time there were no natural indications that could in any way serve to define the fortunes of Jacob and Esau and their descendants. See Gen 27:26-40. But relying on the promises of God, and guided by the spirit of inspiration, Isaac blessed his sons concerning things to come. This blessing of Isaac,” says Delitzsch, had the wondrous power of shaping and controlling the future of his posterity, because in virtue of his faith his mind and will had become one with the mind and will of God himself.” (Compare Gen 27:37 with Jer 1:10 and other parallel passages.) And hence we find in the words of Isaac a prophetic outline of the fortunes of the two races. At first, the elder seemed to prosper more than his brother Jacob. There were dukes in Edom before there reigned any kings over the children of Israel (Gen 36:31) ; and whilst Israel was in bondage in Egypt, Edom was an independent people. But Saul defeated, and David conquered the Edomites (1Sa 14:47; 2Sa 8:14); and they were, notwithstanding some revolts, constantly subject to Judah (1Ki 11:14; 2Ki 14:7 2Ki 14:22; 2Ch 28:7). Judas Maccabaeus defeated them frequently. (1 Maccabees 5; 2 Maccabees 10.) At length his nephew, Hyracanus, completely conquered them, and compelled them to be circumcised, and incorporated them into the Jewish nation (Joseph. Ant. 13, 9, 1) ; though finally under Antipater and Herod, they established an Idumean dynasty, which continued till the destruction of the Jewish polity.” (Browne on Gen 27:40.)

Heb 11:21 —By faith Jacob, when he was dying, etc.-From the blessing of Jacob and Esau by their father, our author next passes to the blessing of the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, by their grandfather. (Gen 48:1-22.) When Joseph heard that his father was sick and near unto death, he took with him his two sons, and went to see him. And when he arrived, Jacob said to him, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, and said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people ; and I will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born unto thee in the land of Egypt, before I came into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they are mine. Thus they were adopted as the sons of Jacob, and each of them was made the honored head of a separate and distinct tribe. After this, the old man in the exercise of a true and living faith, and guided by the spirit of inspiration, wittingly put his right hand on Ephraim, and his left hand on Manasseh, and said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who fed me like a shepherd all my life long unto this day, the Angel who redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

Heb 11:21 —And worshiped, leaning upon the top of his staff.-This act of devotion did not occur at the same time that Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manasseh, but previous to it, when Joseph had sworn to his father that he would not bury him in Egypt. (Gen 47:31.) The chronological order of the two events is reversed, probably for the purpose of bringing together the blessings of the two patriarchs, Isaac and Jacob.

The reading in Genesis differs slightly from that which is here given by our author. According to the Masoretic text, followed by the Chaldee Targums, the Greek versions of Aquila and Symmachus, and the Latin Vulgate, the rendering is as follows: And Israel bowed himself upon the beds head; but the Septuagint and the Syriac versions agree with our text in this Epistle. How, then, is this apparent discrepancy to be removed, and the Greek and Hebrew readings reconciled? Two ways have been proposed. (1) It is alleged that both readings are correct: that Jacob worshiped, leaning on the head of his bed and also on the top of his staff. And this is plausible, as well as possible; for it was customary among the ancients to set the staff of the chief and the spear of the warrior at the head of the bed. But (2) the alleged discrepancy may be owing wholly to a mistake of the Masorites. The Hebrew word may mean either a bed or a staff, depending simply on points which did not belong to the original text, but which were attached to it by the Masorites after the commencement of the Christian era. Thus matteh means a rod or staff, and mittah means a bed or couch. Now as these points were added by uninspired men, there is really no ground whatever for the allegation that there is a discrepancy between the readings of the original Hebrew and the Greek. For if the first explanation is not correct, then beyond all doubt the error lies with the Masorites and not with Paul; for on no condition can we concede, as some have done, that the Apostle has here followed an incorrect version of the original. He never does this; but always expresses the thoughts of the Holy Spirit in words which the Holy Spirit teacheth. (1Co 2:13.)

Heb 11:22 —By faith Joseph, when he died,-(teleuton) when drawing near to his end, made mention concerning the exodus of the children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones. I die, he said, but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. (Gen 50:24.) His prosperity in Egypt had in no way impaired his faith in the promises of God; but feeling perfectly confident that his brethren would at the time appointed leave Egypt and return to Canaan, he made them swear that they would carry his bones up with them. And hence after his death, he was embalmed and put in a wooden chest, so that at the proper time his remains might be ready for removal.

Heb 11:23 —By faith Moses, when he was bom, etc.-The command of Pharaoh was, Every son that is born shall be cast into the river. (Exo 1:22.) The penalty for neglecting this ordinance was no doubt very severe, depending perhaps on the arbitrary will of the wicked and despotic sovereign. But the parents of Moses, Amram and Jochebed, trusting in the promises of God, refused to obey the king’s mandate. Deeming it proper, however, to use all lawful means for the preservation of the childs life, they first concealed him, most likely in their own house, for the space of three months; and then finding themselves unable to protect him longer, they cast him wholly on the care of Jehovah. This they did by constructing an ark of papyrus; and having made it water-tight with asphaltum and bitumen, they put the child in it, and placed it among the flags on the brink of the river. (Exo 2:3.) Thus when Moses was in a measure forsaken by his father and mother, then the Lord took him up (Psa 27:10) ; and under his care he was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was highly honored as the son of Thermuthis, the daughter of Pharaoh (Exo 2:5-10). The word rendered proper (asteios) means properly urbane, polite; fair, beautiful, comely. Stephen says that Moses was fair of God (asteios to theo) ; that is, very fair: and Philo says, As soon as he was born he displayed a more beautiful and noble form than usual. (Vita Mos. i. 3.)

Heb 11:24 —By faith Moses, when he was come to years,-(megas genomenos) when he became great: that is, when he had grown up; when he had attained to the years of manhood and responsibility. (Act 7:23.)

Heb 11:24 —refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter;-It is not necessary to suppose that he did this in any direct and formal way; but only that he felt and manifested a preference for his Hebrew brethren. (Exo 2:11-12; Act 7:24.)

Heb 11:25 —Choosing rather to suffer affliction, etc.-The Israelites are here called the people of God in contrast with the idolatrous Egyptians. The alternative offered to Moses was to remain, as he was, associated with the latter, where, as the adopted son of Pharaohs daughter, he would be allowed to enjoy the honors and luxuries of a corrupt and licentious court; or to share in the future blessings of the Abrahamic covenant, by casting in his lot with the enslaved and despised Israelites. The contrasts were assuredly very great. The Egyptians were at that time among the most learned, powerful, and influential nations on Earth; and the Hebrews were among the most oppressed and degraded. But to the eye of faith, their future prospects were quite reversed. Moses knew perfectly well, that the pleasures of sin in the family and court of Pharaoh were to be enjoyed only for a season, and that in the end they would be as gall and wormwood to the soul: and he knew just as well, on the other hand, that the blessings of God guaranteed to his people through the Abrahamic covenant would be sure and everlasting. On these points he was fully convinced. And hence he did not hesitate as to which he should choose; knowing that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and that the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment (Job 20:5), but that the good man shall not be moved forever; and that the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. (Psa 112:6.)

Heb 11:26 —Esteeming the reproach of Christ, etc.-This is given by the Apostle, in explanation of the conduct and preference of Moses, in leaving the court of Pharaoh. He chose to suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming, as he did, the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. But what does Paul mean here by the reproach of Christ ? In reply to this query, it is alleged (1) that the reproach of Christ is such reproach as Christ himself endured (Liinemann, Stuart) ; (2) that it is reproach suffered on account of Christ (Chrysostom, Ebrard) ; (3) that it is the reproach which fell on Moses as a type of Christ (Hofmann) ; and (4) that it is the reproach which Christ had to bear in his own person and also in the person of every true believer (Bleek, Delitzsch, Alford). The last of these explanations is preferable, because it is the most general and comprehensive. It is certainly true, that the reproach of Moses was similar to the reproach of Christ; and it is also true, that he suffered as a type of Christ and on account of his belief in Christ. But more than all this is manifestly intended by the Apostle. As Christ is the righteousness of all the redeemed (2Co 5:21), so also it may be truly said that all reproach suffered for righteousness sake, since the world began, has been suffered for Christs sake. And this is certainly the view which Paul takes of the matter, when he speaks of filling up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ. (Col 1:24.) See also 2Co 1:6-8 2Co 4:8-12 2Co 11:23-27; Php 3:10; 2Ti 1:8 2Ti 2:9-10. There is, then, as Paul says to the Philippians, a fellowship in the sufferings and reproaches of Christ, as well as in the enjoyment and privileges of the Gospel. This fellowship extended back even to the ancients, and was preferred by Moses to all the honors which he might have enjoyed in the court and family of Pharaoh.

Heb 11:26 —for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.-By faith he looked forward to the great and final recompense: the real and abiding pleasures of the heavenly country, and the rest which remains for the people of God. And with his eye fixed on these, he esteemed the reproach of Christ as of more value than all the treasures of Egypt; knowing that our present light afflictions which are but for a moment, serve to work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

Heb 11:27 —By faith he forsook Egypt,-When did he do this? Was it when he renounced his allegiance to Pharaoh, turned his back on all the honors and pleasures of Egypt, and fled for safety into Midian? Or was it when he led the children of Israel out of Egypt into the wilderness of Arabia ? The latter view is supported by Calvin, Grotius, Bohme, Kuinoel, Bleek, Ebrard, Bisping, Scott, Clarke, Stuart, and others; because say they, when Moses fled into Midian, he certainly did fear the wrath of Pharaoh, as we learn from Exo 2:14-15. But surely he did not fear him any more than did his parents, Amram and Jochebed, when they concealed their child three months, and then committed him to the care and providence of God by exposing him on the brink of the river, in an ark of bulrushes. And yet our author says of them, that they were not afraid of the kings commandment (Heb 11:23). Manifestly, then, the Apostle uses the word fear in both these instances in a relative sense. Moses and his parents both feared the tyrant, so far that they thought it necessary to use all lawful means for their personal safety, but they did not fear him so far as to disobey God on his account, nor had they any fear that he would ever be able to nullify or set aside the decrees and purposes of God concerning Israel. In this sense, it may be truly said of both Moses and his parents that they did not fear the wrath of the king. And this being so, it is certainly more natural to understand the Apostle as having reference to the flight of Moses into Midian. This seems obvious for several reasons. (1) Because this is the only explanation which accords with the chronological order of the events recorded in our text. The Passover was instituted by Moses after his return from Midian, but not after the Exodus. (2) It seems to be implied in our text that this departure from Egypt was in opposition to the will of Pharaoh, and in defiance of his wrath; but the Exodus was made with his earnest and urgent request. (Exo 12:31-33.) (3) Had our author referred here to the Exodus, he would most likely not have spoken of Moses alone but of him in connection with those who forsook Egypt with him, as in verse 29. I therefore agree with Bengel, Michaelis, Schlutz, DeWette, Delitzsch, Alford, and most of the ancient expositors, that our author has reference, not to the Exodus, but to the previous flight of Moses into the land of Midian. (Exo 2:13-15.) Then it was that he renounced all connection with Egypt, and publicly avowed his purpose to suffer afflictions with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

Heb 11:27 —for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.-By the eye of faith he saw the King eternal, immortal, and invisible, standing by him, ready to fulfill at the proper time all the promises that he had made to his chosen people. And hence he had no fears that Pharaoh would succeed in his diabolical attempts to hold Israel in perpetual bondage. He knew full well that by God’s irrevocable decree, Canaan would in due time be given to the seed of Abraham for a possession, and that heaven itself was also prepared for as many of them as would walk in the footsteps of their illustrious ancestor.

Heb 11:28 —Through faith he kept the passover,-The Passover was a positive ordinance instituted by God through Moses for the following purposes: (1) to commemorate the fact that the angel of death passed over, and so spared the first-born of the Israelites, on the night on which he destroyed all the first-born of the Egyptians; (2) to educate the people in the knowledge and worship of the living and true God; and (3) to typify the sacrifice of Christ, who, as our passover, has been sacrificed for us. (1Co 5:7.) Like the Lords Supper, this ordinance was instituted in anticipation of the event which it was designed to commemorate; and the faith of Moses was shown in this instance in his doing and causing to be done just what the Lord himself had commanded. Under his directions, every Hebrew family (or two families in case they were small) was required (1) to select a lamb or a kid of the first year without blemish, on the tenth day of the month Nisan; (2) to kill it on the evening of the fourteenth; (3) to sprinkle its blood on the lintel and doorposts; and (4) to eat its flesh on the night following, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and this they were required to do with their loins girded, their shoes on their feet, and their staves in their hands, so that they might be ready at the appointed moment to begin their march of freedom. All this they did simply on the authority of Gods word, as delivered to Moses, clearly showing that their faith was to them as a conviction or demonstration of things not seen. And in this, as in other instances, they were not disappointed. For while the Israelites were thus preparing for their exodus, even at the hour of midnight, the Lord smote the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the first-born of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. But when the destroying angel saw the blood on the lintel and doorposts of the houses of the children of Israel, he passed over and did not touch them.

Heb 11:29 —By faith they passed through the Red Sea-When the Israelites left their headquarters at Rameses, they came first to Suc- coth, thence to Etham; thence to Pihahiroth; and thence to the shore of the Red Sea. (Exo 14:2.) Here they were overtaken by Pharaoh with all his hosts; and to the eye of sense and reason, their ruin seemed inevitable. But God said to Moses, Lift up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea and divide it. He did so; and the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon dry ground; and the waters were a wall unto them on the right hand and on the left. (Exo 14:16.)

Heb 11:29 —which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.-The Egyptians pursued the Israelites and went in after them into the midst of the sea, even all Pharaohs horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked upon the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, and took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians. And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall unto them on the right hand, and on the left. (Exo 14:23-29.) Here we have a very striking and impressive illustration of the power and saving efficacy of faith, on the one hand; and also of the ruinous effects of infidelity on the other. It was their belief in God and in his word that saved the Israelites, and it was the unbelief and persistent disobedience of the Egyptians that brought on their ruin.

Heb 11:30 —By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, etc.-Here, again, it is the faith of the Israelites that secures for them the victory. When they came before Jericho, the Lord said to them, Ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the Ark seven trumpets of rams horns. And the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that when they shall make a long blast with the rams horns, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up, every man straight before him. (Jos 6:3-5.) All this they did, as they were commanded. And it came to pass, on the seventh day, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet and shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat; so that the people went up into the city every man straight before him, and they took the city. (Jos 6:20.) Thus, without the use of the usual implements of war, but simply by their faith in God and obedience to his will, they achieved a most important victory. How true it is that in Jehovah is our strength, and in him also is our salvation. For if we would gain the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, we must still say with Paul, The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. (2Co 11:4.)

Heb 11:31 —By faith the harlot Rahab perished not, etc.-See Jos 2:1-22 Jos 6:22-25. This is a remarkable instance of faith on the part of a Gentile: a Gentile once dead in trespasses and sins, but who by her strong practical faith in God was not only saved from the common ruin which befell her unbelieving countrymen, but was also raised to a position of honor and distinction in Israel. For though many of the Jews erroneously interpret the word rendered harlot (pome) so as to make it signify a seller of food or an innkeeper, they all concede that she became the wife of Salmon and the mother of Boaz (Mat 1:5); both of whom stand in the direct line of our Lords ancestry. The name should be written Rachab as in Mat 1:5; but in the Septuagint as well as in our text it is Raab. It means large, wide, spacious; but the name Rahab means violence, pride, insolence.

Commentary on Heb 11:4-31 by Donald E. Boatman

Heb 11:4 –By faith Abel offered unto God

How did he get his faith? He received it like all do, by hearing, Rom 10:17. God spoke to men directly in that day and Abel knew, just as we know-by hearing.

Heb 11:4 –a more excellent sacrifice than Cain

How was it more excellent? It was offered by faith-that made the difference.

a. The conditions of offering, some blemish, the wrong kind of offering-whatever was wrong, it indicated a failure in faith on the part of Cain.

b. Most people feel Cains offering was vegetable, in place of a blood offering.

Newell, p. 377: Cain forgot that the ground was cursed.

a. However, animals live off the ground just as much as plants do.

b. Besides, animals were also cursed; they became wild and uncontrollable.

Of course, only a blood sacrifice could be a type of the coming sacrifice of Christ. More carries the idea of number, quality, or excellency.

Heb 11:4 –through which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous

How it was done, no one knows, but God showed pleasure. Perhaps the sacrifice was consumed by fire, as seen in other instances.

a. Lev 9:24 : And there came forth fire.

b. 1Ki 18:38.

c. 2Ch 7:1.

Faithlessness, then, must be equivalent to unrighteousness.

Heb 11:4 –God bearing witness in respect of his gifts

Gifts generally refer to free will.

a. Perhaps Cain was not sincere, and offered a substitute.

b. It may have been a small offering as the word more allows.

How did God bear witness?

a. Perhaps He consumed it, like He did Elijahs. 1Ki 18:38.

b. God has no respect for sacrifices that are not made in faith.

John discusses it.

a. 1Jn 3:12 : Wherefore slew he him? because his works were evil, and his brothers righteous.

Heb 11:4 –and through it he being dead, yet speaketh

What speaks, the offering or Abel? Note that the pronoun shows that Abel speaks, although dead these many centuries. He speaks: Work, serve, offer, by faith.

Heb 11:5 –by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death

Little is known of him.

a. Gen 5:24 : And Enoch walked with God and he was not because God took him.

b. Jud 1:14 says that he was a prophet, and warned the people.

c. Gen 5:18 : He was the son of Jared.

This great character named after Cains first son surely doesnt help the theory of original sin. Gen 4:17.

a. Cains child must have been good, or else Enoch would not have been named after him.

b. No one names their child Cain or Judas.

c. If Cain had such an awful nature, we might expect this to be passed on directly.

Heb 11:5 –for he had witness borne of him that before his translation

What a joy it must have been to have had the smile of God upon him. Unless we have witness we shall not be translated or received of God.

a. Rom 8:16 has a special meaning in the light of Enochs translation.

b. If we do not measure up to the word, we have no witness.

Heb 11:5 –he had been well pleasing unto God.

Heb 11:6 : This is done by faith, and without faith it cant be done. These characters represent phases of faith:

a. Abel represents the path of salvation by faith.

b. Enoch represents one walking with God, who declared him righteous.

c. Noah represents the next result of faith-testimony of coming judgment.

d. Abraham, a tent-dwelling pilgrim, living on divine promises.

Heb 11:6 –and without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing unto him

An earthly parent wants the confidence of his children, as does God.

Look what unbelief does:

a. It breaks Gods word.

Adam and Eve, Gen 3:11.

Korah, Jud 1:11.

b. It makes men fearful, fear then becomes the ruling motive of life.

Adam: I was afraid, Gen 3:10.

Cain: They will kill me, Gen 4:14.

Israel: We are grasshoppers. Num 13:33.

Peter was afraid and began to sink, Mat 14:30.

c. It breaks Gods fellowship.

Adam and Eve hid in the garden.

Gen 4:16 : Cain went out from the Presence of God. 1Jn 3:12 : Not as Cain was of the evil one and slew his brother . . . because his works were evil, and his brothers righteous.

d. It leads to sin.

How impossible then it is for the faithless one to please God.

Heb 11:6 –for he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is

There is a way to God. We must come that way.

a. Joh 14:6 : The Way.

b. Joh 10:1 : One is a thief and robber if he enters not by the door.

c. Pro 28:26 : A fool trusts in his own heart.

Things to believe about God are suggested here.

a. That He is-He exists.

1. Psa 14:1 calls the atheist a fool.

2. If there is no God, then let us quit saying, Everything has a cause.

3. If God does not exist who made the world, then I can believe that there was no builder of this building.

Heb 11:6 –a rewarder of them that seek after Him

a. He is a rewarder to seekers.

1. God is benevolent, and will balance the accounts.

2. Right may seem to be on the scaffold, and wrong on the throne, but above is God who keepeth watch over His own.

Heb 11:7 –by faith Noah being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear

Noah alone paid regard to Gods words, though deferred for 120 years. Look what his faith caused him to do:

a. Prepared the ark.

b. Condemned the world.

c. Became an heir of righteousness.

Disbelief makes one fearful, but faith builds a godly fear.

a. Disbelief makes one inactive.

b. Faith makes one active.

Heb 11:7 –prepared the ark to the saving of his house

Look how often faith saves the house:

a. Noah, Heb 11:7.

b. Joshua, Jos 24:15.

c. Cornelius, Acts 10.

d. Lydia, Act 16:14-15.

e. Philippian Jailor, Act 16:34; Act 18:8.

Pitiful are the stories of lost families where the father did not have faith.

Heb 11:7 –through which he condemned the world

What condemned the world, Noahs deliverance, his faith or the ark?

a. Calvin says: By the ark he condemned the world, for by being so long occupied in building it, he took away every excuse from the wicked.

b. Newell: This faith had the double effect of condemning the world. (1) Noahs warning as a preacher of righteousness; (2) the effect of making Noah heir of righteousness.

Milligan feels that his faith condemned the world.

Heb 11:7 –and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith

Moses records that he was a righteous man.

a. Noah had sin, yes, but the long, laborious work of Noah in the building of the ark must not be shoved aside.

b. Man has a tendency to condemn a man for one sin and categorize him unjustly.

Study Questions

2121. How did Abel get his faith?

2122. If he acted by faith, was he acting upon a command?

2123. If he had not been given directions, could it have been by faith?

2124. How was his sacrifice more excellent?

2125. What made the difference?

2126. Was Cains less excellent or just plain unsatisfactory?

2127. What must have been the nature of Cains offering?

2128. Could a vegetable sacrifice be unsatisfactory because the ground had been cursed after Eden?

2129. Could Abel have offered animals, but less worthy ones?

2130. How did Abel know that his sacrifice was acceptable?

2131. How did God manifest it?

2132. What did God show Cain to be?

2133. If obedience makes one righteous, what does failure to obey do?

2134. Define the word gifts.

2135. Could this mean that the sacrifices were not done by command, but were free gifts?

2136. What does Abel speak? What words or message?

2137. Could we say that Cain also speaks? What?

2138. What is meant, Enoch was translated?

2139. Did he have faith that he would be translated?

2140. What did his faith do for him?

2141. What do we know about Enoch from other texts?

2142. Who had the same name?

2143. What witness had he received of Gods pleasure?

2144. Does Rom 8:16 throw any light on the subject?

2145. Enoch was well pleasing, Can we be too? How?

2146. Can we be pleasing otherwise?

2147. What would characterize a person without faith?

2148. Does an earthly parent want his child to have faith in him?

2149. What does unbelief do?

2150. What does it do in relationship to Gods Word?

2151. What does it do in relationship to courage?

2152. Give illustrations of fearful people in the scriptures.

2153. What does it do in relationship to fellowship with God?

2154. What is essential in order to come to God?

2155. What approach must be the Christian method?

2156. What two things must be believed about God?

2157. If a man does not believe in Gods existence, what is he called?

2158. Is expectation of reward evil in the light of this verse?

2159. Are Gods rewards here and now?

2160. Why did God give a message to Noah?

2161. What three things did his faith do?

2162. Can we say that belief makes one active?

2163. Then what does disbelief do?

2164. Give the example of Christs warning of Jerusalems destruction.

2165. A house was saved by the ark. What is meant?

2166. Name some other houses that were saved.

2167. What condemned the world-deliverance, faith, the ark or preaching?

2168. Could it mean that his faith caused him to preach, thus condemning the world?

2169. What was he an heir to?

2170. Is the life of a righteous one a very long one?

2171. How can we be an heir of righteousness?

Heb 11:8 –By faith Abraham when he was called

This man is so great as to be recognized by the three theistic religions in the world.

a. His grave at Hebron is the common shrine for Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

b. His name occurs more than three hundred times in twenty-seven books of the Bible.

He was called of God in the midst of idolatry, for Ur was the center of moon worship.

a. Abraham worshipped God, for otherwise he would not have obeyed God.

b. The faithful receive the call of God, for they hear His voice.

Heb 11:8 –obeyed to go out unto a place which he was to receive as an inheritance and he went out, not knowing whither he went

Gen 12:1-3 gives us his call in substance. This land to be given to his posterity was unknown to him at the time. To leave home and loved ones shows a strong faith. He went out to Haran where he remained five years. Where his father died, and then he went on to Canaan at the age of seventy-five. (Gen 12:4). Compare Gal 3:17; Exo 12:40-41. He died at age one hundred seventy-five. See Gen 25:7.

Heb 11:9 –by faith he became a sojourner in the land of promise, as in a land not his own

Milligan makes much of the word sojourner, saying that he never really possessed the land.

Round about were the walled cities, over which he was not King, but he made an impression. The Hittites said, Thou art a prince. See Gen 23:6.

Heb 11:9 –dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob

They lived in fragile homes, moving here and there, From the birth of Isaac to the Exodus was four hundred years. Gen 15:13, There were walled cities, property everywhere, but still Abraham had to purchase a burying place, Gen 23:3-20.

Heb 11:9 –the heirs with him of the same promise

The promise of Abraham was theirs likewise, They sojourned in the same promise by faith as did Abraham.

Heb 11:10 –for he looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God

This accounts for their stedfastness.

a. They did not worry about living in tents when cities abounded, for their eyes penetrated heaven.

b. Foundations suggests perpetuity rather than something transitory and fading.

Milligan thinks that they had revelations which have never been transmitted to us.

a. He feels this city is the heavenly Jerusalem, Gal 4:26; Heb 12:22; Heb 13:14, which is for the present located in heaven.

b. He says, It will descend to the earth after it shall be renovated by fire. Revelation 21.

c. Then will be fulfilled in its proper and full sense that Abraham and his seed be the heirs of the world. Romans 4.

Regardless of the location, God is the Architect and Builder.

a. He will locate it where it ought to be.

b. It will be a permanent place for the people of God.

Heb 11:11 –by faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive seed when she was past age

The introduction of Sarah shows that this truth belongs to women also.

a. She is mentioned since she is the mother of the faithful.

b. She was openly charged with unbelief, so it may seem strange for her to be included. Gen 18:12-13.

c. Remember Abraham also laughed at first. Gen 17:17.

Heb 11:11 –since she counted Him faithful who had promised

God promised: that made the difference.

a. Rom 10:17 : Faith comes by hearing.

b. True faith then is that which hears God speaking and rests on His promise.

She was about ninety years of age, Gen 17:17, past the natural period of child-bearing, but faith brought to her power to do it.

Heb 11:12 –wherefore also there sprang of one, and him as good as dead

This refers to dead Abraham-dead as to the power of begetting children. This accounts for his attitude in Gen 17:17, where he named his age and laughed.

Heb 11:12 –so many as the stars of heaven in multitude and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable

Whatever pride the Jews may have, everything must be ascribed to the faith of Abraham and Isaac. This reference to the faith of this great man ought to serve to encourage the hearts of the despondent.

Heb 11:13 –these all died in faith, not having received the promises

What promises are meant?

a. He never saw his posterity in such numbers.

b. He never saw his seed receive an everlasting inheritance. Gen 12:7; Gen 13:15; Gen 15:18-21; Gen 17:8.

c. He never saw the earth blessed through his seed. Gen 12:3; Gen 22:18.

Heb 11:13 –but having seen them and greeted them from afar

Jesus may throw light on this expression.

Joh 8:56 : Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.

Them must refer to promises and not to people. A distant view was had, but that was all.

Heb 11:13 –having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth

Abraham could say, I see a new city, but I am a stranger here.

This confession Jacob made to Pharaoh. Gen 47:9.

Heb 11:14 –for they that say such things make it manifest that they are seeking after a country of their own

The confession made in Heb 11:13 is referred to.

a. This shows that they had faith in a better country.

b. If they in spirit, amid dark clouds, took a flight into the celestial country, how much more ought we, as Christ beckons. Where I am, there you may be also.

The promise of Christ should be more real to us than the promise to them.

Heb 11:15 –if indeed they have been mindful of that country from which they went out

These could have returned to their native land if they had desired to do so.

a. Abraham could have returned to Ur of the Chaldees, for he was not banished.

b. Eliezer, Abrahams steward, was sworn to never carry Isaac into Chaldea, Gen 24:5-8.

They would have had opportunity suggests that nothing stood in their way.

Heb 11:15 –but now they desire a better country, that is a heavenly

The fact that Abraham didnt return to Chaldea showed his disinterest in earthly land. He looked for a country better than Canaan or Chaldea.

Heb 11:16 –wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God

God showed this in Exo 3:6 when God said He was God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

a. It is a singular honor for God to attach His name to men.

b. When they renounced the world, considered themselves pilgrims, then God claimed them.

We must do the same if God would claim us.

a. Gal 3:26 indicates that we are sons of God through faith.

b. Gen 17:7 shows that God promised this relationship to Abrahams seed.

Heb 11:16 –for He hath prepared for them a city

God is able to give life to their bodies and to make it possible for them to live in their city. Why would God allow man to be outlived by trees, turtles, and elephants, if it were not for the fact that man will live again?

Heb 11:17 –Abraham, being tried, offered up Isaac

This was a proving of Abraham.

a. Archeologists show that child sacrifices were common among the people of that day.

b. The heathens loved their gods enough to sacrifice a child. Here was a greater God asking Abraham to do it.

c. Would Abraham do it? He would by faith.

His resolution to obey was then the same as though he had actually sacrificed his son.

Heb 11:17 –offering up his only begotten son

This shows how severe the trial was.

a. Abraham had gladly received promises, and Isaac was the only hope of their being fulfilled. See Gen 17:2; Gen 21:12.

b. Now in taking away Isaac, it was the same as taking away the promises.

Isaac is called the only begotten, for Ishmael had been driven from the family and was not considered a part of the promise.

Heb 11:18 –accounting that God is able to raise up, even from the dead

According to this verse, Abraham surely concluded that God would restore Isaac to life. This was further strengthened by Abrahams words to his servants, We will worship.

a. Come again. Gen 22:5.

b. In the Hebrew it is in the plural, We will return.

Heb 11:19 –from whence he did also in a figure receive him back

Some think this refers to Isaacs supernatural birth, but this is poor exegesis. Abraham received him back from the altar as one raised from the dead.

a. Abrahams obedience until God stayed his hand caused Isaac to be the same as dead.

b. He was figuratively raised from the dead.

God said Isaac had not been withheld, so he was sacrificed as far as God was concerned. Gen 22:12-18.

Heb 11:20 –by faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even concerning things to come

The ability to bless was, in a sense, a prophecy.

a. Isaac had nothing in the land, except the right of burial, yet he could say, Let peoples serve thee and nations bow down to thee. Gen 27:29.

b. Isaac had nothing to bestow but the Word of God.

The unusual thing about this blessing is that he distinguished between the twins.

a. He gave first place to the younger, which meant taking away the rights of the firstborn.

b. Isaac by faith spoke the thing that God desired.

c. Isaac refused to change the blessing, saying, Gen 27:33; I have blessed him, yea, and he shall be blessed.

A comparison of the history of Esaus people, the Edomites, with the blessing of Isaac shows that Isaac made a prophetic outline of the fortunes of the two races.

a. Edom was quite a nation before Israel had kings, Gen 36:31.

b. Edom was independent while Israel was in bondage in Egypt.

c. Saul and David finally conquered the Edomites. Compare 1Sa 14:47; 2Sa 8:14.

Heb 11:21 –by faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph

Josephs sons were Ephraim and Manasseh, and were blessed by their grandfather. Gen 48:1-22.

a. This occurred when Joseph took the sons to see their sick grandfather.

b. They were adopted as sons and made the honored heads of separate and distinct tribes.

c. He put his right hand on Ephraim and his left hand on Manasseh as he made the blessing.

Ephraim became so superior as a tribe that often the ten tribes were included under his name, so that in a manner they did lie down under its shade.

a. Ephraim was the younger, yet Jacob in his dimness of eyes crossed his hands so that Ephraim received the greater blessing.

b. Jacob sounded as though he were lord of the land from which he was driven by famine.

Faith is the only explanation for such a prophecy.

Heb 11:21 –and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff

Here is a dramatic picture, an old man dying, blessing, worshipping, leaning. The act of worshipping that we know from Genesis occurred prior to this blessing when Joseph promised not to bury his father in Egypt. Gen 47:31. Some make a great deal out of the fact that in some versions it reads, Israel bowed himself upon the beds head.

a. Several suggestions are made to clarify the issue, one of which suggests the Hebrew word may mean either a bed or a staff, depending upon the vowel pointing in the Hebrew language.

b. Some suggest Paul quoted from an incorrect text, but this view destroys inspiration. An inspired writer would select an inspired text, or would know the truth.

Both can be right in my judgment. Here is an old man dying, and he would need support, and so his staff and bed were both used.

Heb 11:22 –Joseph, when his end was nigh, made mention of the departure of Israel and gave command concerning his bones

Here is one of the finest characters in the Old Testament.

a. His conception of sin stands out. How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Gen 39:9.

b. He is one of the few of which no evil is recorded of him.

His prophecy is found in Gen 50:24.

a. His faith is seen in that he requested that they carry his bones in a box with them into the promised land. Gen 50:25.

b. Genesis ends with him in a coffin in Egypt, but his bones were carried into the promised land, for Moses remembered. Exo 13:19.

Heb 11:23 –By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months

Pharaoh commanded every son to be cast into the river. Exo 1:22.

a. Moses was cast into the river, but an ark was under him. Exo 2:3.

b. Amram and Jochebed had faith, and it was wonderfully rewarded by Pharaohs daughters care and devotion.

The description a goodly child is no doubt the same as Act 7:20 : Fair unto God. (alternate reading).

a. The parents were not just charmed by his beauty, but saw in him a person destined to serve God.

b. Putting him in the river was not a wavering of their faith as some suggest, but another attempt to preserve him.

Heb 11:24 –by faith, Moses, when he was grown up refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter

How did he go about it formally?

a. Very likely he just showed a preference for his own people, Exo 2:11-12; Act 7:24.

b. His mother no doubt had taught him very early about his true identity.

Being about forty years old, Act 7:24 shows that this was not a hasty, headstrong decision of a youth.

Heb 11:25 –choosing rather to share ill treatment with the people of God

The Egyptians were learned, powerful, and influential in the world; the Hebrews were oppressed and degraded.

a. The world would say, What a poor choice!

b. It was a choice between temporary vanity and eternal glory, and Moses chose rightly.

Man begins to live when he connects his life with a great cause, and Moses became the great lawgiver of Israel.

Heb 11:25 –than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season

Faith in God causes one to see the folly, pleasures of sin, and glitter of wickedness that soon fades. A season or an eternity must be our choice, and faith makes the difference.

a. It was not pleasures in Canaan, for ill treatment would be too much of a price for earthly pleasures in that land.

b. It was the joys of a heavenly Canaan which Moses could see by the eyes of faith.

Heb 11:26 –accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt

Did Moses know that he was to suffer the reproach of Christ? Did he know Christ?

a. Some answer, It was such reproach as Christ Himself endured.

b. Some say, Reproach suffered on account of Christ.

c. Others, It was reproach on Moses as a type of Christ.

d. It is the reproach which Christ had to bear and also the reproach that all true believers have to bear.

e. It is the reproach of Christs people.

I believe that it is a reproach like Christs. As He, though rich, became poor to redeem mankind, so Moses despised the treasurers of Egypt to deliver Israel.

Heb 11:26 –for he looked unto the recompense of reward

a. Calvin says, It corresponds to what he did; his retribution was his success.

b. Milligan says the great and final recompense.

c. McKnight says it was nothing earthly, for he could have had more and in greater perfection by staying in the palace.

A man like Moses doesnt have to hear specific offers of remuneration before he works for God. To please God would be enough.

Heb 11:27 –by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible

This does not refer to his departure into Midian, for he left them in great fear. Exo 2:14-15.

When did he forsake Egypt?

a. Perhaps when he made his choice to be among the Israelites.

b. Many suggest when he led Israel out.

c. Milligan holds to the flight to Midian.

1. Because it fits the chronology, the Passover was instituted after his return from Midian but not after the Exodus.

2. The departure was in opposition to the will of Pharaoh.

3. If the Exodus were meant, all Israel would have been named.

There are some glaring weaknesses to Milligans view:

a. The author is not interested in chronology in this chapter, for the men are named out of order.

b. He doesnt necessarily say, instituted the Passover although the Greek allows it and the context suggests it.

c. He is not talking about Israel, but Moses.

d. Leaving Pharaoh, quitting, would no doubt provoke wrath.

Him who is invisible suggests the true God.

a. Perhaps Christ could be included, for Christ was on the journey. 1Co 10:4.

b. The main point to gain is his faith in One unseen that made him endure.

Study Questions

2172. Abraham is the chief character for discussion. What three religions honor him?

2173. Does his name appear frequently in the scriptures?

2174. Name the New Testament books that refer to him.

2175. How did God call him in Ur?

2176. What did the call include?

2177. Where was he living? What do we know about the place?

2178. Show how faith and obedience are connected in his life.

2179. Do you think his call was challenging to faith?

2180. Does the word inheritance mean that he was to own a great land?

2181. Did he ever seem to possess it?

2182. What is meant, he became a sojourner? Heb 11:9.

2183. Did he ever make much of an impact on their civilization?

2184. In his battle with the kings, what may we judge about him?

2185. How did the Hittites feel about him?

2186. What kind of home did he live in?

2187. Does this show that he had a permanent home?

2188. Does the size of the herds indicate that, in a sense, he owned a great amount of land?

2189. How do Isaac and Jacob figure in the promise?

2190. Was Abraham hoping for one of the cities which he saw?

2191. What is the significance of the word foundations? Heb 11:10.

2192. Who would make this city?

2193. Is it possible that we do not have recorded the complete revelation to Abraham?

2194. Will it be a city limited to the descendants of Abraham?

2195. Could it be the same city referred to in Revelation?

2196. Is the heavenly Jerusalem to be moved?

2197. Who is the first woman of faith mentioned in the text?

2198. How could she be considered of faith when she laughed at the promise of God?

2199. Did Abraham laugh as she did? Cf. Gen 17:17.

2200. What attribute of God did Sarah rest upon?

2201. Who is referred to in Heb 11:12?

2202. What is meant by, as good as dead?

2203. How many sprang from Abraham?

2204. Are the Jews a numerous people today?

2205. Who is referred to by the expression, These all died? Heb 11:13.

2206. What promises are meant?

2207. What all did Abraham fail to see?

2208. Did he ever see his descendants possessing the earth?

2209. Did he ever see his seed blessing the earth?

2210. What is referred to by the expression, having seen them?

2211. Does it refer to people, or days, or promises? Cf. Joh 8:56.

2212. When was a confession made that the Hebrews were strangers and pilgrims? Cf. Gen 47:9.

2213. What are the such things of Heb 11:14?

2214. Are we looking for a country?

2215. Should our promise be more real to us?

2216. What did Jesus say about our abiding place?

2217. Did they concern themselves over the land they had left?

2218. Could Abraham have returned to Chaldea? Cf. Gen 24:5-8.

2219. Was Abrahams desire for an earthly home?

2220. What was the better country? Heb 11:16.

2221. Did God ever exhibit pride in these patriarchs?

2222. When did He confess their name? Cf. Exo 3:6.

2223. What was required of them in order to be claimed by God?

2224. Compare Gal 3:26 and Gen 17:7 to see if this can be our experience.

2225. If they did not inherit the promise, when will they receive it?

2226. Why does he speak of it as a city sometimes, and a country in other places?

2227. What was Abrahams greatest trial?

2228. Was the offering of a son a common thing?

2229. Was the resolution to sacrifice Isaac the same as obedience?

2230. How could Isaac be considered only begotten?

2231. Where else does this phrase appear?

2232. If Isaac had been taken, what else would have been taken away?

2233. What may we judge that Abraham believed God would do if he killed Isaac?

2234. Compare the statement in Gen 22:5.

2235. What is the figure described here?

2236. Was it a figurative resurrection?

2237. Was it a figurative sacrifice?

2238. What was the nature of a blessing in the Old Testament?

2239. Were these Old Testament characters so influential with God that they could promise, and God had to fulfill?

2240. What was the blessing in Gen 27:29?

2241. Was this unusual?

2242. Can we say that Isaac by faith spoke what God desired?

2243. Who were Esaus descendants?

2244. How great were the Edomites?

2245. Who finally conquered them? Cf. 1Sa 14:47; 2Sa 8:14.

2246. Tell of the blessing of Jacob on his death bed. Cf. Gen 48:1-22.

2247. Upon whom was it pronounced?

2248. What did he pronounce?

2249. What did he do when he pronounced the blessing?

2250. Was this blessing unusual?

2251. Did the younger or the elder receive the greater blessing?

2252. Did Ephraim become great?

2253. How may we explain that Jacob seemed to be lord of a land from which he had been driven by famine?

2254. What four words describe Jacob in this experience?

2255. How did Joseph reveal his faith in the fact of a new country being promised? Cf. Gen 50:24-25.

2256. Did Moses obey this request which Joseph made? Cf. Exo 13:19.

2257. How does Genesis end? Is the coffin mentioned at the end?

2258. How did faith involve Moses early in his life?

2259. Was he cast into the river as Pharaoh commanded?

2260. What was under him?

2261. How was his parents faith rewarded?

2262. What is meant, a goodly child?

2263. Compare Act 7:20 for a description of him.

2264. Was it good appearance that saved him?

2265. If not, what does the description, a goodly child mean?

2266. How did Moses refuse to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter? Compare Exo 2:11-12 and Act 7:24.

2267. How old was he when he took his stand?

2268. How did he learn of his true identity?

2269. What was the object of his faith that would cause him to reject Pharaohs house?

2270. Show the contrast of what he rejected and what he accepted as a Jew.

2271. Did he make a wise choice in the eyes of the world?

2272. Does the world choose temporary vanity in place of eternal glory?

2273. Would he have been an historical character if he had stayed with the Egyptians?

2274. Is it a great cause that makes the man, or the man who makes a cause great?

2275. Does faith still cause men to see the folly of sin?

2276. What is meant by the word season? Heb 11:25.

2277. Is a seasons pleasure worth the loss of eternity with God?

2278. Did Moses know Christ?

2279. Was it a reproach like Christs?

2280. Could Moses be considered a type of Christ in suffering?

2281. Did Jesus empty Himself of treasure to be poor? Cf. Php 2:5-11.

2282. What was Moses expected reward-earthly or heavenly?

2283. Could pleasing God be enough to challenge a man like Moses?

2284. What is meant by, he forsook Egypt?

2285. Could it be referring to the time he left for Midian? Why not?

2286. Does Exo 2:14-15 answer the above question?

2287. When did he forsake Egypt? Is it the same time as referred to in Heb 11:25?

2288. Why does Milligan feel that the flight to Midian is meant?

2289. Is the chronology a good reason for believing it?

2290. If the Exodus is meant, would he have necessarily have included all Israel?

2291. Would leaving Pharaoh make Pharaoh wrathful?

2292. Do people become angry when you refuse their so-called social graces?

2293. Are people offended when you refuse to drink with them?

2294. What is meant by, Him Who is invisible?

2295. Could Moses have seen Christ?

2296. Compare 1Co 10:4.

2297. Is spiritual sight more foresighted than that of the physical eye?

Heb 11:28 –By faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of the blood

The Greek language allows also instituted or hath made for kept. The passover, rather than the feast later instituted, is no doubt meant by the sprinkling and the reference to the destroyer.

Heb 11:28 –that the destroyer of the firstborn should not touch them

The passover was instituted by God through Moses in that Moses gave direction for the sprinkling. Faith caused Moses to deliver the message, and faith caused Israel to be obedient.

Heb 11:29 –by faith they passed through the Red sea

The Egyptians also tried to pass through, but faith was lacking there. Reliance upon God was the measure of faith here, for the pursuing Egyptians could easily have swallowed them up.

Heb 11:30 –by faith the walls of Jericho fell down

The city of Jericho stood in the way of a conquest of the land. The command to march around once a day, and seven times on the seventh day may have seemed unnecessary to the unbelieving, but it marked victory for the faithful.

Heb 11:31 –by faith Rahab the harlot perished not with them that were disobedient, having received the spies with peace

Seven things about Rahab by Newell, p. 387: (Compare Jos 2:1-22; Jos 6:22-25; Jas 2:25. See Jos 2:1-22; Jos 6:22-25; Jas 2:25.)

a. She was a sinner, even a harlot. Rom 3:23 : All have sinned.

b. Rahabs faith was confessed; and so must ours be. Mat 10:32.

Jos 2:8-11 : I know that Jehovah hath given you the land and that the fear of you is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.

c. Faith meant turning against her people; the believer must also be willing if necessary.

d. Faith included the belief that Jericho would be destroyed, and it brought concern for her people. Jos 2:13.

e. It brought the typical scarlet cord tied in her window, by which the spies escaped. Jos 2:15-18. We have the blood of Christ.

f. By her faith all her kindred were saved. Jos 2:19; Jos 6:22-25.

g. She became the mother of Boaz (Mat 1:5); great grandfather of David, the king. Rth 4:21-22.

Was she a harlot?

a. Milligan: Many Jews erroneously interpret the word so as to make it mean a seller of food or an innkeeper.

b. Calvin: The word is zune. Some render it hostess as though she kept a public house, but as the word is rendered harlot for everyone else, so it must be here. The Jews think it disgraceful to their nation, so they render it otherwise.

c. Calvin: She is mentioned as a harlot to amplify the grace of God.

Faith in God made her hazard her life in receiving and concealing the spies, so she is named among the faithful.

Study Questions

2298. What is meant by Passover? Was it the passing over of the death angel, or the feast?

2299. Does the reference to sprinkling of blood settle the question?

2300. What did Moses have to do with the passover?

2301. What all was involved in the Red Sea experience?

2302. Does the Modernist have enough faith to believe in Israels faith, or the Biblical record of the account?

2303. Tell of the faith involved in the destruction of Jericho.

2304. Was the command that took a week to complete, a test of faith?

2305. In what was Rahabs faith?

2306. If it was in God, how did she get it?

2307. How were Jerichos people disobedient?

2308. Was she a believer in God, thus accounting for her receiving the spies in peace?

2309. What did faith cost her?

2310. What did faith gain for her?

2311. Name the things which she did.

2312. Does she fit into Gods scheme of future events? Cf. Mat 1:5; Rth 4:21-22.

2313. Was she a harlot in the modern meaning of the word?

2314. Could she have been a woman of faith, and also an evil woman?

2315. Is it likely that the spies would have sought the help of such a person?

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

From the proposition of the nature of faith in general, and a declaration of its efficacy with respect unto things believed, the apostle proceeds to give instances of its power and efficacy in particular persons, whose example in believing he proposeth unto the Hebrews for their encouragement. And he begins with Abel, suitably on all accounts unto his design. For,

1. He was the first whose faith is expressly recorded and commended in the Scripture, and so meet to be mentioned in the first place. He was the first in the distribution of the ages of the church that he makes.

2. He was the first that expressed his faith in duties of worship, or made public, solemn profession thereof, the duty which he calls the Hebrews unto.

3. He was the first that suffered in the cause of Christ, or for a testimony given unto faith in him.

4. He suffered the utmost of what any among them could fear, even death itself, by the shedding of his blood; which they had not yet undergone, they had not yet resisted unto blood. Wherefore on all accounts this was the meetest instance to begin withal, wherein his whole cause and argument, in all the parts of it, is confirmed.

Heb 11:4. , , [4] .

[4] VARIOUS READING. There is a great preponderance of critical authority in favor of , Griesbach, Scholz, Lachmann, and Tischendorf. Ebrard in confirmation of this reading refers to Heb 12:24, as somewhat parallel, and remarks that Cain is spoken of as well as Abel, so that to read would express no distinction. ED.

. Vulg. Lat., plurimam hostiam; using a word in the superlative degree, because plurem in the comparative is not usual. A greater host, say the Rhemists, attending to the first signification of the word, but forsaking its sense. The Syriac, , a sacrifice more (far more) excellent, or precious. Hostiam majoris pretii, Beza; a sacrifice of more worth or value, referring it to the matter of the sacrifice. Gratiorem, more acceptable.

. Vulg. Lat., testimonium consecutus est; he obtained testimony. Syr., , there is extant (recorded) concerning him a testimony. Testimonium obtinuit, testimonio est ornatus; he obtained witness, he was adorned with this testimony. See of the word, verse 2.

, muneribus ejus, de donis ejus. Syr., , concerning his offering, the sacrifice that he offered.

Heb 11:4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent [acceptable] sacrifice than Cain; by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of [unto or concerning] his gifts; and by it he being dead yet speaketh, [or is spoken of].

1. The person instanced in is Abel, the second son of Adam, and first son of the promise, and that under the considerations mentioned before.

2. It is affirmed of him, that he offered sacrifice unto God.

3. The manner of it is declared in comparison with that of Cain; he offered a more excellent sacrifice.

4. Hereon there was with respect unto him a double consequent:

(1) When he was alive, that he obtained witness that he was righteous;

(2.) When he was dead, that he yet speaketh.

1. The person instanced in is Abel; he who was without example, without outward encouragement, without any visible theater, without any witness of his sufferings to transmit them unto others, but God alone; the first in the world who suffered death in the cause of Christ and his worship. And this he did from his own brother, from one that joined with him in the outward acts of divine worship; to give an example of the two churches, the suffering and the persecuting, to the end of the world. This hath made him famous in all generations; which, as Chrysostom thinks, is intended in the last clause of the words, , he is yet spoken of; that is, with fame and renown.

Obs. 1. Every circumstance in suffering shall add to the glory of the sufferer; and those who suffer here for Christ without witness, as many have done to death in prisons and dungeons, have yet an all- seeing Witness to give them testimony in due season. The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance; and nothing that is done or suffered for God shall be lost for ever. sacrifice to God, and that he did it by faith:An account hereof is given us, Gen 4:3-5, which the apostle hath respect unto. And it is there declared,

(1.) What time he offered this sacrifice; it was after the expiration of some time or days, namely, after he and Cain were settled in their distinct callings, verse 3. Until then they had been under the instruction of their parents; but being now fixed in their own peculiar stations and callings, they made their distinct solemn profession of the worship of God; which is the sense of the place, though not observed by any expositors.

(2.) The matter of his offering was the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof.

[1.] It was of living creatures, and therefore was made by mactation, or the shedding of blood; whence the apostle calls it , a sacrifice by mactation; , though in the text it comes under the name of , which he renders by , a gift.

[2.] It was of the best.

1st. Whilst they were alive, the firstlings of the flock; which God afterwards took as his portion, Exo 13:12.

2dly. When it was dead, it was of the fat of them; which God also claimed as his own, Lev 3:16; Lev 7:25; that is, the fat of those firstlings.

For his sacrifice was a holocaust, wherein, after the blood was shed at the altar, and offered unto God, the fat was burned on the altar, and the whole body at a distance from it it appears, therefore, that the sacrifice of Abel was, as unto the matter of it, both in itself and in Gods esteem, of the most precious and valuable things in the whole creation, subject unto man and his use. And even hence it may be called , a more excellent sacrifice than that of Cain, which was only of the fruit of the ground, and that, it may be, gathered raptim, without choice or judgment of what was most meet to be offered unto God. And it is for ever dedicated as a rule for the church in all ages, that, that is in our power, with the best of our spiritual abilities; which God afterwards fully confirmed.

(3.) And he offered this sacrifice to God, , , Gen 4:3. This was, from the first institution of it, the highest and most peculiar way of owning and paying homage unto the Divine Being. Unto whomsoever sacrifice is offered, he is owned as God. And therefore when the Gentiles sacrificed to the devil, as they did, 1Co 10:20, they owned him thereby as the god of this world, 2Co 4:4. And there are many superstitious observances in the Papacy that intrench on this idolatry.

(4.) He offered it by faith. Now faith herein respects,

[1.] The institution of the worship; and,

[2.] The heart or mind of the worshippers.

[1.] He did it by faith, because he had respect in what he did unto Gods institution, which consists of a command and a promise, which faith hath regard unto. It was not a service that he himself invented; for if it were, he could not have performed it in faith, unto whose formal nature it belongs to respect a divine command and promise.

[2.] He did it in faith, in that he did it in the exercise of saving faith in God therein. He did it not hypocritically, he did it not in a mere attendance unto the outward duty; but it was kindled in his own heart by the Holy Spirit, before it was fired on the altar from heaven. For,

Obs. 3. God gives no consequential approbation of any duties of believers, but where the principle of a living faith goes previously in their performance.

3. It is observed by the apostle, that he thus offered a better, a choicer, a more excellent sacrifice than Cain; for the plurimam of the Vulgar Latin is not capable of any good interpretation. And the reason whence it was so must be inquired into. And,

(1.) We observed before, that as to the matter of it, it was better, more valuable and precious, than that of Cain. But this is not a sufficient cause of ascribing such an excellency and preference unto it, as that on the account thereof Abel should obtain such acceptance with God, and a testimony from him. Firstlings of the flock, and their fat, were better than ordinary fruits of the ground; but yet not so as to constitute such a difference. Besides, the design of the apostle is to declare the efficacy and prevalency of faith, and not of any especial kind of sacrifices. Wherefore , for which, or whereby, in the next words, is to be referred unto , faith, and not unto , or sacrifice, though that be the next antecedent. Wherefore,

(2.) This difference was from his faith. And two things did depend thereon:

[1.] That his person was justified in the sight of God antecedently unto his sacrifice, as we shall see immediately.

[2.] On the account thereof his sacrifice was grateful and acceptable unto God, as is commonly observed from the order of the words, The LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering.

But yet it is not evident where the great difference lay. For Cain also no doubt brought his offering in faith: for he believed the being of God, that God is, with his omnipotent power in the creation of the world, as also his government of it with rewards and punishments; for all this he professed in the sacred offering that he brought unto the Lord. And it is a vain fancy of the Targumist, who introduceth Cain and Abel disputing about these things, and Cain denying them all: for he made profession of them all in his offering or sacrifice. Wherefore it is certain that the faith of Abel and Cain differed, as in their especial nature, so in their acts and objects. For,

(1.) Cain considered God only as a creator and preserver, whereon he offered the fruits of the earth, as an acknowledgment that all these things were made, preserved, and bestowed on man, by him; but he had no respect unto sin, or the way of deliverance from it revealed in the first promise. The faith of Abel was fixed on God, not only as a creator, but as redeemer also; as him who, in infinite wisdom and grace, had appointed the way of redemption by sacrifice and atonement intimated in the first promise. Wherefore his faith was accompanied with a sense of sin and guilt, with his lost condition by the fall, and a trust in the way of redemption and recovery which God had provided. And this he testified in the kind of his sacrifice, which was by death and blood; in the one owning the death which himself by reason of sin was obnoxious unto; in the other the way of atonement, which was to be by blood, the blood of the promised Seed. (2.) They differed in their especial nature and acts. For the faith of Abel was saving, justifying, a principle of holy obedience, an effect of the Holy Spirit in his mind and heart: that of Cain was a naked, barren assent unto the truths before mentioned, which is usually described under the name of a common and temporary faith; which is evident from the event, in that God never accepted his person nor his offerings.

And these are the things which still make the hidden difference between the professors of the same faith and worship in general, whereof God alone is the judge, approving some, and rejecting others. So from the foundation of the world there was provision laid in to warn the church in all ages, that the performance of the outward duties of divine worship is not the rule of the acceptance of mens persons with God. A distinction is made from the inward principle whence those duties do proceed. Yet will not the world receive the warning unto this day. Nothing is of a higher provocation, than that the same duty should be accepted in some, and rejected in others, and that because the persons of the one are accepted, and not of the other. Many have no greater quarrel at religion, than that God had respect unto Abel and his offering, and not to Cain and his.

4. As to the consequences of Abels faith,

The first consequent of this efficacy of faith in Abel is, that he obtained witness that he was righteous.

By which; that is, by which faith, as we showed before.

He was testified unto; he obtained witness; that is, from God himself. And this was so famous in the church, that he seems commonly to be called by that name, the righteous Abel; as he is by our Savior, speaking of him, Mat 23:35. But we do not find any such testimony in express words given unto him in the Scripture. Wherefore the apostle proves his assertion by that wherein such a testimony is virtually contained. For God, saith he, testified unto his gifts; wherein he allegeth those words in Moses, The LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering. He testified, in the approbation of his offering, that he had respect unto his person: that is, that he judged, esteemed, and accounted him righteous; for otherwise God is no respecter of persons. Whomsoever God accepts or respects, he testifieth him to be righteous; that is, to be justified, and freely accepted with him. This Abel was by faith antecedently unto his offering. He was not made righteous, he was not justified by his sacrifice; but therein he showed his faith by his works: and God by acceptance of his works of obedience justified him, as Abraham was justified by works; namely, declaratively; he declared him so to be.

Obs. 4. Our persons must be first justified, before our works of obedience can be accepted with God; for by that acceptance he testifies that we are righteous.

By what way God gave this testimony unto the gifts or sacrifice of Abel, is not expressed. Most do judge that it was by causing fire to fall from heaven to kindle and consume his sacrifice on the altar. Certain it is that it was by some such assured token and pledge, as whereby his own faith was strengthened, and Cain provoked. For God did that with respect unto him and his offering which he did not towards Cain and his; whereby both of them knew how things stood between God and them. As Esau knew that Jacob had gotten the blessing, which made him resolve to kill him; so Cain knew that Abel and his offering were accepted with God, whereon he slew him.

And here we have the prototype of the believing and malignant churches in all ages; of them who, under the profession of religion, are born after the Spirit, or after the promise; and those that are born after the flesh only. Then that began which the apostle affirms still to continue: He that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit; even so it is now, Gal 4:29. This was the first public, visible acting of the enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent; for Cain was of the wicked one (the seed of the serpent), and slew his brother, 1Jn 3:12. And a pledge or representation it was of the death of Christ himself from the same principle. And it being the first instance, and consequently the pattern and example of the two seeds in all ages, we may give a brief account of it.

(1.) The foundation of the difference lay in their inward different principles. The one was a true believer, born of the Spirit, and heir of the promise; the other was of the evil one, under the power of the principles of sin and malice. Yet notwithstanding these different internal principles, they lived together for a season in outward peace, as believers and unbelievers may do, and as yet do.

(2.) The occasion of acting this enmity in Cain, was the visible worship of God. Until that was undertaken and engaged in, he carried things quietly with his brother; as others walking in his way and spirit continue to do. But from hence, on many accounts, they take occasion to act their enmity.

(3.) In this public worship Abel attended diligently unto the mind of God and conduct of faith, as we have showed; Cain trusted unto the formality of the outward work, without much regard to either of them. And there is nothing wherein true believers do more carefully act faith according to the mind of God than in his solemn worship, according to the example of Abel, others adhering for the most part unto their own inventions.

(4.) Hereon God manifested his approbation of the one and his disapprobation of the other; which provoked Cain to exercise his rage and malice unto the death of his brother. Their worship was different in the matter and manner of it. This provoked not Cain; he liked his own way better than his brothers. But when there was testimony given of Gods acceptance of his brother and his worship, with a disapprobation of him and his, this he would revenge with the blood of his brother. God did not afterwards continue to give, nor doth he now give, any outward testimony of the approbation of one, and the disapprobation of another. Howbeit, a secret sense and fear hereof ariseth in the hearts of evil men, whence Satan fills them with envy and malice, and stirs them up unto persecution. For in themselves they find nothing of that spiritual advantage and refreshment which ariseth in the true worship of God unto sincere believers. And they on the other side do openly avow such a satisfaction in an apprehension of Gods acceptance of them, as that they can undergo any persecutions on the account thereof. This provokes the world; this was the rise, this is the progress of persecution. And we may learn,

Obs. 5. That those whom God approves must expect that the world will disapprove them, and ruin them if it can.

Obs. 6. Where there is a difference within, in the hearts of men, on the account of faith and the want of it, there will for the most part be unavoidable differences about outward worship. So there hath been always between the true church and false worshippers.

Obs. 7. Gods approbation is an abundant recompence for the loss of our lives. All which are plain in this instance of Abel.

The second consequent of the efficacy of the faith of Abel, was after his death: And by it he being dead yet speaketh. By it; that is, by the same faith; by the means of that faith that was the ground of his acceptance with God, whereon that which is ascribed unto his faith doth depend. And this is, that he, being dead, yet speaketh. , being of a middle form, may be rendered either he speaketh, or he is spoken of. And accordingly this expression is variously interpreted. Some take it for the good fame and report that Abel had in all generations; he was celebrated, well spoken of, and yet continueth so to be. And this way the word is applied by most of the ancients. But it is not according to the mind of the apostle. For,

(1.) It is evident that he ascribes something peculiar unto Abel, wherein others were not to be joined with him; but this of a good report is not so, but common to him with Noah, Abraham, and all the patriarchs, they were spoken of, and their praise celebrated in the church no less than Abels.

(2.) The apostle plainly proceeds in representing the story concerning him, and what fell out after his death, as expressed in the words of God himself, Gen 4:10, The voice of thy brothers blood crieth unto me from the ground. This is the speaking of Abel after his death which is here intended; and this was peculiar unto him, it is not affirmed of any one besides in the Scripture.

(3.) The apostle interprets himself, Heb 12:24, where he directly ascribes this speaking unto the blood of Abel, as we shall see on that place, if God permit.

Obs. 8. There is a voice in all innocent blood shed by violence. There is an appeal in it from the injustice and cruelty of men unto God as the righteous judge of all. And of all cries, God gives the most open evidence that he hears it, and admits of the appeal. Hence most murders committed secretly are discovered; and most of those that are openly perpetrated, are openly avenged sooner or later by God himself. For his honor and glory are concerned to appear, upon the appeal to his justice which is made by innocent blood. Especially he is so, when men, in taking away the lives of others, would entitle him unto it, by doing it under a pretense of judgment (which is his), by wicked judges and false witnesses, as it was in the case of Naboth; which he will not bear withal. Wherefore this voice, this speaking of blood, ariseth from the eternal law which God hath given unto mankind for the preservation of life from violence, whereof he hath taken on himself the supreme conservation and guarantee, Gen 9:5-6.

But there is somewhat more in this speaking of the blood of Abel. For by the record of the Scripture God hath designed it unto other ends, in the way of an ordinance; as,

(1.) That it should be a type of the future persecutions and sufferings of the church.

(2.) That it might be a pledge of the certain vengeance that God will take in due time on all murderous persecutors. Abel, being dead, speaketh these words of our Savior, Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily, Luk 18:7-8.

(3.) That it might be instructive unto faith and patience in suffering, as an example approved of God, and giving evidence unto future rewards and punishments.

And from this first instance the apostle hath given a mighty confirmation of his intention concerning the power and efficacy of faith, enabling men with blessed success to do and suffer according to the mind of God. For Abel did, by faith alone,

1. Obtain the blessing of the promise from his elder brother, as did Jacob afterwards.

2. By it, as apprehending the promise, his person was justified and accepted with God.

3. He was directed thereby to worship God, both as to matter and manner, according unto his own will.

4. He had a divine testimony given both as unto his person as righteous, and his duties as accepted, to his unspeakable consolation.

5. He had this honor, that God testified his respect unto him when he was dead, and made his blood as shed an ordinance unto the instruction of the church in all ages.

From these considerations this example was of great force to convince the Hebrews, that if indeed they were true believers, as he supposed of them, Heb 10:39, that faith would safely carry them through all the difficulties they had to conflict withal in their profession, unto the glory of God and their own eternal salvation. And we may learn, that,

Obs. 9. Whatever troubles faith may engage us into in the profession of it, with obedience according to the mind of God, it will bring us safely off from them all at last (yea, though we should die in the cause), unto our eternal salvation and honor.

Fuente: An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews

Abels Faith and A More Excellent Sacrifice

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. Heb 11:4

Because he believed God Abel brought the sacrifice God required of him, trusting the Lord Jesus Christ alone for righteousness, redemption and acceptance with the holy Lord God. Pauls declaration of Abels faith in Christ arises from that which is recorded in Gen 4:1-10. Here the Holy Spirit tells us three things about Abel and his faith. (1.) Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. (2.) He obtained witness that he was righteous. And (3.) Though he is dead, he yet speaks.

A More Excellent Sacrifice

First, we are told, By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. — We must not presume, as many have, that since Adam and Eve are not mentioned in this chapter as examples of faith they must have been unbelievers. There are many men and women of true, saving faith who are not mentioned in this chapter. It appears to me that this inspired list of the great examples of faith begins with Abel because Abel was the first man mentioned after the fall who exemplified true faith in the worship of God and because he was the first person martyred because he believed God.

An Act of Faith

Abels sacrifice was superior to Cains because Abels sacrifice was a sacrifice of faith looking to Christ. He offered the kind of sacrifice God required and because he offered his blood sacrifice upon the altar of God as an act of faith. Abel looked through his sacrifice to the sacrifice of Christ. — Cain, in his sacrifice, looked only to himself and his works. Abels sacrifice was a lamb, a type of Christ, the Lamb of God. Abel offered the Lord a firstling of the flock, a picture of Christ who is the firstborn of every creature. He also offered the fat of the lamb, or one of the fattest of his flock, which speaks of the excellence of Christ. His sacrifice was offered up, in the process of time (at the end of days), as Christ came in due time, when the fulness of time was come, in the end of the world, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. The Lord God accepted Abels sacrifice, had respect to it, and rejected Cains sacrifice.

Abels sacrifice of faith was the response of his heart to the Word of God. Faith in Christ presupposes divine revelation. I said, we must not infer, because Adam is not mentioned in this chapter, that he was an unbeliever. There are many reasons for believing otherwise. One reason is this: Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Rom 10:17). Abel learned the gospel from someone. He did not come up with the idea of blood atonement by a whim of his mind. Abel learned how to worship God from his father. The Word of God is always operative in the conversion of sinners, in the worship of God, and in faith. Faith is the response of the heart to the Word of God (Rom 1:15-17; 1Co 1:21-23; Heb 4:12; Jas 1:18; 1Pe 1:23-25).

The Lord God revealed four specific things to Adam and Eve in the garden that are clearly manifest in Abels worship (Gen 3:15-21). (1.) In order for a sinner to stand accepted before the thrice holy God he must have a covering. The Righteousness of Christ! (2.) That which is of human manufacture (fig leaves) is worthless before the Lord. (3.) God himself must provide the covering (righteousness) for us. The sinners only righteousness before God is the righteousness God gives by imputation. (4.) The covering God requires can only be obtained by death. — By Blood-Shedding. The Blood Of An Innocent Victim!

In Gen 3:15; Gen 3:21 we have the first Gospel sermon which was ever preached on this earth, and that, by the Lord Himself. Life must come out of death. Cain and Abel, and the whole human race, sinned in Adam (Rom 5:12; Rom 5:18-19), and the wages of sin is death, penal death. Either I must pay those wages and suffer that death, or another an innocent one, on whom death has no claim must pay those wages in my stead. And in order to my receiving the benefit of that Substitutes compassion, there must be a link of contact between me and him. Faith it is which unites to Christ. Saving faith, then, in its simplest form, is the placing of a Substitute between my guilty self and a sin-hating God. (A. W. Pink)

Cains Offering

What was wrong with Cains offering? In Gen 4:3 we read, Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. Cain was not an open infidel. He acknowledged the existence of God He was not irreligious. He came before God as a worshipper; but he refused to conform to the Word of God. Clearly, four things were amiss in his sacrifice. (1.) It was a bloodless sacrifice; and without shedding of blood is no remission (Heb 9:22). (2.) It was but the fruit of his hands, the product of his work. (3.) Cain deliberately ignored the curse of God upon the ground (Gen 3:17). (4.) He despised the grace and trampled under his feet the blood of Christ made known in Gen 3:15-21.

Cain was a hypocrite. He refused to comply with the revealed will of God. Yet, he attempted to cover his rebellion by coming before God as a worshipper. He would not obey Gods revelation. Yet, he brought an offering to the Lord. He did not believe God. Yet, sought to patronize him. This is the way of Cain spoken of by Jude (Jud 1:11). It is the way of self-will, self-righteousness, unbelief, disobedience, and religious hypocrisy.

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

righteous

Heb 11:4; Heb 11:7; Rom 10:10 (See Scofield “Rom 10:10”).

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

faith: Gen 4:3-5, Gen 4:15, Gen 4:25, 1Jo 3:11, 1Jo 3:12

a more: Heb 9:22, Pro 15:8, Pro 21:27, Tit 1:16, Jud 1:11

he obtained: Lev 9:24, 1Ki 18:38, Mat 23:35, Luk 11:51

and by: Heb 12:1, Heb 12:24, Gen 4:10, Mat 23:35

yet speaketh: or, is yet spoken of

Reciprocal: Gen 4:4 – had Gen 4:5 – But Gen 4:7 – be accepted Jdg 7:20 – brake Job 8:10 – Shall not Psa 19:14 – Let Son 1:8 – go Joh 15:16 – that your Act 10:35 – is Act 13:22 – to whom Rom 3:21 – righteousness 1Co 12:31 – show Heb 5:1 – both Heb 8:4 – gifts Heb 11:2 – the elders Heb 11:5 – this testimony Heb 11:33 – wrought Heb 12:23 – the spirits Jam 5:16 – a righteous 2Pe 1:15 – I will

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Heb 11:4. By faith Abel. Rom 10:17 says faith comes by hearing the word of God. Hence Abel had been told by the Lord what to do or he could not have done it by faith. When he offered an animal by faith, therefore, it was because God had told him to do so. That made it a more excellent (superior) sacrifice than the one Cain offered, for God had not told him to offer the fruit of the ground. Obtained witness means that testimony was borne him that he was a righteous man. Dead yet speaketh. Although Abel is dead physically, yet the record of his righteous performance is preserved down to the present time, and it speaks or testifies to the good deed that was done through his faith in the word of God.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Heb 11:4. A more excellent sacrificepartaking more of the quality of a true sacrifice with reference to what constitutes its excellence. Cain offered of his fruits what came first to hand; Abel offered of the firstlings of his flock, the choicest and best. Cain expressed at most his thankfulness, and that not hearty or profound; Abels faith showed itself in acknowledging his sin and in laying hold of the Divine mercy in the midst of what he felt to be deserved wrath; and thus his offering was a true sacrifice.

By which (faith) it was witnessed of him (the same word is in Heb 11:2) that he was righteous. Witnessed by our Lord (Mat 23:35), and later by John (1Jn 3:12), but chiefly by God Himself, as the following clause shows:

God himself testifying of his gifts (the very expression in Gen 4:4)probably as God testified in other cases (Exo 14:24; 1Ki 18:24; 1Ki 18:38), by consuming and accepting the sacrifice.

And by it (still his faith) he being dead (having died, yet speaketh (the active voice is the true reading). But how? Partly perhaps to us by way of encouragement and example; but as a similar phrase is used in chap. Heb 12:24 of the blood of Abel as speaking unto God, it seems at least to be part of the meaning here that through the faith and the offerings of Abel, Abel, the first martyr, lives on after death: through his faith he still speaks to God; even as Enoch still lives, who never died at all.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

From a general declaration of the nature of faith in the foregoing verses, our apostle proceeds to give instances of the efficacy and power of faith in particular persons, in this and the following verses. And he begins here with Abel.

But why not with Adam?

Because Adam was the first sinner, and the greatest of sinners; and although received to grace and mercy, yet after his fall Moses speaks little of him, nothing very notable; neither did Almighty God put that honour upon Adam which he put upon his son Abel; he had the honour to shed his blood for Christ, and for testifying his faith in him; and accordingly Abel is here represented as the first evangelical believer, By faith Abel, &c.

Observe farther, 1. The action which Abel performed, he offered sacrifice to God; he offered a sacrifice most excellent and he offered it by faith.

But did not Cain bring his offering of faith too?

Yes, no doubt, he believed the being of God, and considered him as a Creator and Preserver, and accordingly offered the fruits of the earth, as an acknowledgment that all these things were made, preserved, and bestowed on man by God. But Abel’s faith was fixed on God, not only as a Creator, but as a Redeemer also, accompanied with a sense of sin and guilt, trusting in the ways of redemption and recovery which God hath provided.

Here note, That the performance of the outward duties of divine worship, is not the rule of the acceptance of men’s persons with God, but a difference and distinction is made from the inward principle, whence those duties do proceed. Cain and Abel both offered sacrifice, but not from a like principle, nor yet for a like end.

Observe, 2. The effect and fruit of Abel’s faith, it procured a testimony and witness from God himself that he was righteous; he testified that he had respect to his person by the approbation of his suffering. Our persons must be justified before our performances can be accepted. God has first respect to the offerer, then to the offering; for the person must recommend the gift, not the gift recommend the person.

Observe, lastly, the privilige of Abel’s faith; by it, being dead, he yet speaketh. Some understand the words in a passive sense, he is spoken of; he being dead, there is an honourable mention of him. Religion is the truest honour, and the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance.

Others in an active sense, and so the words import, that the dead saints do yet speak, and that somewhat worthy to be heard and observed; they speak by the precious graces with which they by the good works they wrought, by the eminent services they did for God and man, by their sharp trials, by their bitter sufferings; by these they speak, to the honour of religion, and to the furtherance of the gospel. God’s Abels, his dead saints, do thus speak when laid in the dust.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Faith From Creation to the Flood

The faith of Abel is seen through his actions ( Gen 4:3-5 ; 1Jn 3:11-12 ). Since Paul says faith comes by hearing God’s word ( Rom 10:17 ), it is clear that Abel was obedient to God’s command. Milligan believes it was this obedient attitude which made Abel’s sacrifice a better one ( 1Sa 15:22 ), causing him, in the words of Milligan, to act “strictly in compliance with the will of God.” It was through that faith that Abel obtained his witness and God acknowledged that faith. Abel still speaks today through his example of faith ( Heb 11:4 ).

Enoch is spoken of in Gen 5:21-24 and Jud 1:14-16 . Genesis says that “God took him.” Coupled with Heb 11:5 , it would appear that he was translated to heaven much as Elijah was ( 2Ki 2:1-12 ). Enoch did not have to experience death as other men do, but was taken up from the earth, not to be found on it any longer. God could testify to the fact that Enoch had pleased him. One must believe, or have faith, in God before he can set out to please Him. I would not obey someone who was not my superior or someone that I did not think deserved my obedience. One would simply not obey God if he did not believe in Him. Also, our coming to God is based on our belief in his promises of a reward ( Heb 11:6 ; Joh 14:1-6 ).

The story of Noah is found in Gen 5:32 ; Gen 6:1-22 ; Gen 7:1-24 ; Gen 8:1-22 . It is pointed out that Noah’s faith caused him to act as God told him to and build an ark. There was no sign at that time that there would be a flood. By his actions of trust, or faith, in God, Noah saved his household. By those same actions, he condemned a world that did not believe God’s word. Noah also became the “heir of the righteousness” through his actions of faith ( Heb 11:7 ; Gen 9:8-17 ).

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

Heb 11:4. By faith In the divine command or appointment, signified unto him by some supernatural revelation, and 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; than Cain Whose offering testified no such faith, but was merely a bare acknowledgment of God as the Creator. Macknight, after Kennicott, translates , more sacrifice, observing, In this translation I have followed the critics, who tell us that , in the comparative degree, signifies more in number rather than more in value. Accordingly it is said, (Gen 4:4,) Abel ALSO brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof; that is, beside the fruit of the ground, which was one of his gifts, he also brought the fattest of the firstlings of his flock; so that he offered a sin-offering as well as a meat or bread-offering, and thereby showed both his sense of the divine goodness, and of his own sinfulness. Whereas Cain, having no sense of sin, thought himself obliged to offer nothing but a meat-offering; and made it, perhaps, not of the first-fruits, or of the best of the fruits. By which faith Abel obtained both righteousness, and a testimony of it, God testifying visibly that his gifts were accepted. Moses does not say in what manner God testified his respect to Abel and his offering, but from Cains being very wroth, as we learn Gen 4:5, we may believe it was by some outward visible sign. And as in after-times God testified his acceptance of particular sacrifices by sending down fire upon them to consume them, it is probable that he bore witness to Abels in that way, thus giving a token that justice seized on the sacrifice instead of the sinner. It is of importance to observe, that Gods acceptance of Abels sin-offering is a proof that propitiatory sacrifices were of divine appointment, otherwise his offering, being will-worship, must have been offensive to God, and rejected. Besides, as Hallet justly observes, flesh not being permitted to be eaten by men till after the flood, Abel must have thought it unlawful to kill any animal, unless God had ordered it to be killed as a sacrifice. And by it By his faith; he, being dead, yet speaketh That a sinner is accepted only through faith in the great Sacrifice. See notes on Gen 4:3-5.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Heb 11:4-7. Examples of faith from the primitive history, as given in the early chapters of Genesis.Abel, on account of his faith, was not only accepted by God in his lifetime (Gen 4:4-8), but even after his death his blood made its appeal to God for vengeance on his murderer (Gen 4:10*). Enoch passed into the other world without suffering death, and is commemorated in Scripture as the man who walked with God (Heb 11:5). Indeed there can be no religion apart from faith, for religion must begin with a twofold act of faiththat God is a living reality, and that He is a righteous God, who acknowledges those who serve Him (Heb 11:6). Noah, when warned of a calamity still in the future, took heed to the warning. By this faith of his he threw the unbelief of the world into darker shadow, and so condemned it, and won for himself the name of righteous. As the first man in Scripture to whom this name is applied (Gen 6:9), he founded the long succession of Gods servants.

Heb 11:7. moved with godly fear: rather, being apprehensive, while the others paid no attention to the warning.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

Verse 4

Of his gifts; of the nature and acceptableness of his offerings. (Genesis 4:4.)

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

11:4 {4} By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

(4) Abel.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The readers could identify with Abel because he, too, had a better sacrifice. Those who based their hope of God’s acceptance on an inferior sacrifice, as in Judaism, would experience disappointment, as Cain did.

By the way, what made Abel’s offering superior to Cain’s was evidently its being an offering of the "firstlings" (first-born) and its including the "fat" (Gen 4:4). Ancient Near Easterners commonly held that a deity deserved the first of whatever man, beast, or crop brought forth. The fat likewise represented the best part of an animal offering. Abel’s offering shows the respect he gave God as worthy of the best whereas Cain’s offering, as Moses described it in Genesis 4, indicates that he did not so reverence God. [Note: See Bruce K. Waltke, "Cain and His Offering," Westminster Theological Journal 48:2 (Fall 1986):363-72.]

"The general tenor of Scripture indicates that the superior quality of Abel’s offering derived from the integrity of his heart rather than from the nature of the offering itself. This is the clear implication of Gen 4:7, where the Lord says to Cain, ’If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?’" [Note: Lane, Hebrews 9-13, p. 334.]

". . . what gave Abel’s offering greater value was his faith, not the fact that it was an animal sacrifice." [Note: Ellingworth, p. 571.]

Faith must inspire any worship that God will accept. Even though Abel died long ago, he still speaks to us, through the scriptural record, and so challenges us to continue to worship (show reverence for) God by believing His promises.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)