Hebrews 11:12

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. AS GOOD AS DEAD, [ nenekroomenou (G3499)] - 'deadened:' no longer having, as in youth, energetic powers. STARS ... SAND (Genesis 22:17)....

12._Therefore sprang there even of one, etc. _He now also reminds the Jews, that it was by faith that they were the descendants of Abraham; for he was as it were half dead, (220) and Sarah his wife, who had been barren in the flower of her age, was now sterile, being far advanced in years. Sooner then might oil be expected to flow from a stone, than a nation to proceed from them: and yet there sprang from them an innumerable multitude. If now the Jews are proud of their origin, let them consider what it was. Whatever they are, everything is doubtless to be ascribed to the faith of Abraham and Sarah. It hence follows, that they cannot retain and defend the position they have acquired in any other way than by faith....

8-19 We are often called to leave worldly connexions, interests, and comforts. If heirs of Abraham's faith, we shall obey and go forth, though not knowing what may befall us; and we shall be found in the way of duty, looking for the performance of God's promises. The trial of Abraham's faith was, that he simply and fully obeyed the call of God. Sarah received the promise as the promise of God; being convinced of that, she truly judged that he both could and would perform it. Many, who have a part in the promises, do not soon receive the things promised. Faith can lay hold of blessings at a great distance; can make them present; can love them and rejoice in them, though strangers; as saints, whose home is heaven; as pilgrims, travelling toward their home. By faith, they overcome the terrors of death, and bid a cheerful farewell to this world, and to all the comforts and crosses of it. An...

Verse Hebrews 11:12. _HIM AS GOOD AS DEAD_] According to nature, long past the time of the procreation of children. The birth of Isaac, the circumstances of the father and mother considered, was entirely supernatural; and the people who proceeded from this birth were a supernatural people; and were and are most strikingly singular through every period of their history to the present day....

THEREFORE SPRANG THERE EVEN OF ONE - From a single individual. What is observed here by the apostle as worthy of remark, is, that the whole Jewish people sprang from one man, and that, as the reward of his strong faith he was made the father and founder of a nation. AND HIM AS GOOD AS DEAD - So far as the subject under discussion is concerned, To human appearance there was no more probability, that he would have a son at that period of life, than that the dead would have. SO MANY AS THE STARS IN THE SKY ... - An innumerable multitude. This was agreeable to the promise; Genesis 15:5; Genesis 22:17. The phrases used here are often employed to denote a vast multitude, as nothing appears more num

EXPOSITION HEBREWS 11:1 NOW FAITH IS THE SUBSTANCE _ _OF THINGS HOPED FOR, THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN. On the senses in which the word ὑπόστασις (translated "substance") may be used, see under Hebrews 1:2. As to the sense intended here, views differ. There are three possible ones, expressed in the text and margin of the A.V., _substance, ground, _and _confidence. _The first is understood by the Fathers generally, the idea being supposed to be that, inasmuch as things not yet experienced, but only hoped for, become real to us by faith, faith is metaphysically their substance, as substantiating them to us. So Theophilus: Οὐσίωσις τῶν μήπω ὄντων ὑπόστασις τῶν μὴ ὑφεστηκότων:_ _and Chrysostom, who

Ver. 12 THEREFORE SPRANG THERE EVEN OF ONE,.... That is, Abraham: the Arabic version has here a strange interpolation; "this faith Isaac and Rebecca conceived in mind, and so there were born of one, Esau and Jacob.'' AND HIM AS GOOD AS DEAD; being an hundred years of age; Romans 4:19. The Ethiopic version reads, "the bodies of both were like a dead carcass"; both of Abraham and Sarah: SO MANY AS THE STARS OF THE SKY IN MULTITUDE, AND AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEA SHORE INNUMERABLE; as was promised to Abraham, Genesis 15:5 which has been fulfilled, Isaiah 10:22 and will still have a further fulfilment,...

Hebrews 11:1. _Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elder obtained a good report._ So it was written, in the olden time, that believers «obtained a good report;» and this second verse shows that they obtained it by their faith. The best part of the report about them is, that they believed their God, and believed all that was revealed to them by his Word and his Spirit. Hebrews 11:3. _Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear._ The facts about creation must be the subject of faith. It is true that they can be substantiated, by the argument from design, and in other ways; still, for a wise purpose as I believ

IV. PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS AND EXHORTATIONS CHAPTER 11 _ 1. Faith in regard to creation and salvation (Hebrews 11:1)_ 2. The patience of faith (Hebrews 11:8) 3. The energy of faith (Hebrews 11:23) Hebrews 11:1 The disastrous effect of unbelief has been pointed out in the earlier part of this epistle (Hebrews 3:12; Hebrews 3:19; Hebrews 4:2) a

Passing now from the men of the primeval world, the writer comes to the patriarchs, and especially to Abraham, who stands out in the OT as the chief example of faith. Abraham showed his faith by his obedience to God's call, and by his refusal to make a permanent settlement in the land of Canaan, even though it had been promised to him. His heart was set on God's ultimate promise of an eternal rest in the heavenly city (Hebrews 11:10). His wife Sarah shared his faith and became a mother in her old age, so that Abraham, when his life seemed as good as ended, became the progenitor of a great people. And as the patriarchs lived in faith, so they died (Hebrews 11:13). They only saw the promises from afar, as the traveller sees the distant city which is his goal; and in their dying words they confessed that they wer