Hebrews 11:14

From the profession of these patriarchs, that they were “strangers and pilgrims on the earth,” the apostle makes an inference from what is contained therein, which doth more expressly declare their faith than the words themselves which they were said to use.

Hebrews 11:14. Οἱ γὰρ ποιαῦτα λέγοντες ἐμφανίζουσιν ὅτι πατρίδα ἐπιζητοῦσι.

Hebrews 11:14. For they that say such things, declare plainly that they seek a country.

“For they that say such things;” be they who they will that speak such things as. these sincerely. Or, these persons, in their circumstances, saying such things as they are recorded in the Scripture to have spoken and publicly avowed.

“Declare plainly;” they make it manifest and evident unto all: that is, there is this plain, open meaning and sense in their words. This is that which may easily be known to have been their mind, and what they designed in their words or expressions.

And this was, that they did “seek a country,” or “a city for themselves,” as the Syriac expresseth it; that they “diligently inquired after it,” as the word signifies, or sought it with diligence.

There is an entrance in these words on a train of evident consequences, one upon and from another, which he pursues in the next verses. For from their profession he concludes that they “desired a country.” And if they did so, it must be either that from whence they came, or some other. That from whence they came it could not be, for the reason he assigns. And if some other, it must be a better than either that from whence they came or where they were; which could be no other but a “heavenly country,” that is, heaven itself.

And some few things we may observe on this first inference of the apostle; as,

Obs. This is the genuine and proper way of the interpretation of the Scripture, when from the words themselves, considered with relation unto the persons speaking them, and all their circumstances, we declare what is their determinate mind and sense. Hereunto, on the due apprehension of the literal sense of the words themselves, the studious exercise of reason, in all proper ways of arguing, is required.

Some there are who deny all exposition of the Scripture; which is to say, that it ought not to be understood. Some are feigned to suppose that there is nothing needful hereunto but “spiritual illumination.” And some think there is no need of any such thing thereunto, but only the common use of our rational faculties, as in the understanding of other arts and sciences. The vanity of all which imaginations I have at large elsewhere discovered [10] and disproved.

[10] See vol. 4 of miscellaneous works, book 6, part 2 of Pneumatologia. Ed.

The inference of the apostle from these words of the patriarchs is so evident and uncontrollable, that he affirms themselves to “declare plainly” what he declares to be the sense contained in their words. And indeed, take the words precisely, without a consideration of the mind wherewith they were spoken, the circumstances in which, and the end for which they were spoken, and they do not express any peculiar act or fruit of faith; for the very heathen had an apprehension that this life is but a kind of pilgrimage. So speaks Cicero,

“De Senectute,” cap. 23. “Ex vita ita discedo tanquam ex hospitio, non tanquam ex domo. Commorandi enim natura diversorium nobis, non habitandi locum dedit.”

But under their circumstances, there must be another sense in the words For they speak them not as the common condition of mankind, but as their peculiar portion in the world, with respect unto the promises of God. And herein in general they declare a sense of want, of an indigent condition; that it is not with them as with others, who have their portion in this life. And whoever declares a sense of want, at the same time declares a desire of a suitable supply of that want; which is included in the sense of it. And the want which they so declared consisting in this, that in this world they were “strangers and pilgrims,” the only supply whereof is a country of their own for them to inhabit and enjoy, with all its rights and privileges, they declared plainly therein that they sought a country: that alone is wanting to any as they are strangers and pilgrims; that alone will cause them to cease so to be. Most men do meet with and are sensible of sundry wants, yet they are such as may be supplied in the place where they are in this world; and their great desire, with their utmost endeavor, is, that they may be here supplied. Such persons, be they never so poor, so indigent, so harbourless, are not “pilgrims on the earth;” this is their home, although they are but ordinarily provided for. Much less are they so who have an affluence of all things unto their satisfaction, though they sometimes meet with a pinch or loss. They only are so who live always in a sense of such wants as this world cannot supply.