8. Paul exhibits faith as the element of personal right- eousness in Abraham. In these verses (8-22) faith, accord- ing to the opening definition in this chapter, is that assurance and conviction of unseen things which caused Abraham and the patriarchs to rely confidently upon the future fulfilment of the divine promises.
When he was called to go out—obeyed (xandovpevos e€eXOeiv imnxovoev). A. V. is wrong. "E&€edOeiv to go out should be construed with tajxovcev obeyed, and Kadovpevos being called is to be taken absolutely. Kanovyevos, the pres- ent participle, indicates Abraham’s immediate obedience to the call: while he was yet being called. Rend. “when he was called obeyed to go out.” The infinitive explains the more general obeyed, by specifying that in which his obedience was shown. For the construction, see Acts xv. 10; 1 Th.i. 9; Heb. v. 5. For the narrative, see Gen. xii. 1-6, and comp. Acts vii. 2-5.
Whither he went (cod éepyerar). Note the picturesque continued present tense, “whither he is going,” as of Abra- ham on his journey.
Cr. Xd] THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 519
9. He sojourned in (aapéxnoev eis). The verb lit. to dwell beside or among. Ildpovxos, a foreigner dwelling in a state without rights of citizenship. In Class. only in the sense of neighbour. See on L. xxiv. 18. The verb of rest with the preposition of motion (only here) signifies that he went tnto the land and dwelt there. Usually with év in, but sometimes with the simple accusative, as L. xxiv. 18; Gen. xvil. 8; Ex. vi. 4.
Land of promise (ynv tis érayyerlas). Note the article, omitted in A. V., the promise: the land which was desig- nated in the promise of God. See Gen. xii. 7; xiii.15. The phrase N. T.°. There is no corresponding phrase in O. T.
Strange (adXotpiav). Another (adn) land than his own. So LXX, Gen. xv. 18. Comp. Acts vii. 6.
In tabernacles (év cxnvais). Or tents, as a migratory people, without a permanent home.
The heirs with him (trav cuvernpovepwor). Joint-heirs or fellow-heirs. °LXX,°Class. See Rom. viii. 17; Eph. iii. 6; 1 Pet. iii. 7. The three, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are mentioned because they cover the entire period of the sojourn in Canaan. Faith inspired these to endure patiently their unsettled life, since it assured them of a permanent home in the future.
10. For he looked for a city which hath foundations (é&eddyeTo yap Tv Tods Oepedious Exyovcav wédwv). The sense is impaired in A. V. by the omission of the articles, the city, the foundations. Passing over the immediate subject of God’s promise to Abraham —his inheritance of the land in which he sojourns —the writer fastens the patriarch’s faith upon the heavenly fulfilment of the promise—the perfected community of God, which, he assumes, was contained in the original promise. By the city he means the heavenly Jeru- salem, and his statement is that Abraham’s faith looked for-
520 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. ([Cu. XI.
ward to that. The idea of the new or heavenly Jerusalem was familiar to the Jews. See ch. xii. 22; xiii. 14; Gal. iv. 26; Apoce. iii. 12; xxi. 2. The Rabbins regarded it as an actual city. For the foundations comp. Apoc. xxi. 14. In ascribing to the patriarchs an assured faith in heaven as the end and reward of their wanderings, the writer oversteps the limits of history; but evidently imports into the patri- archal faith the contents of a later and more developed faith —that of himself and his readers.
Builder and maker (teyvirns kal Snusoupyds). Teyvirns artificer, architect. Comp. Acts xix. 24 (note), 38; Apoc. xviii. 22, and LXX, 1 Chron. xxix. 5; Cant. vii. 1; Wisd. vill. 6; xiv. 2; Sir. ix. 17. Anpsoupyds N. T.°, originally a workman for the publie (Ojmos); generally, framer, builder. It is used by Xenophon and Plato of the maker of the world (Xen. Mem. i. 4,9; Plato, Tim. 40C; Repub. 580A). It was appropriated by the Neo-Platonists as the designation of God. To the Gnostics, the Demiurge was a limited, second- ary God, who created the world; since there was no possi- bility of direct contact between the supreme, incommunicable God and the visible world.