Hebrews 11:14

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."

Key Reflection

This passage highlights the faith of those who lived by anticipation; they trusted in God's promises even though they did not see their fulfillment in this life, viewing themselves as temporary sojourners on Earth, much like travelers passing through on a journey to a greater home. Their faith was rooted in the belief that what they could not yet see was real and worth longing for.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Verse 14. For they that say such things, etc. That speak of themselves as having come into' a land of strangers; and that negotiate for a small piece of land, not to cultivate, but to bury their dead. So we should think of any strange people coming among us now--who lived in tents; who frequently changed their residence; who became the purchasers of no land except to bury their dead, and who never spake of becoming permanent residents. We should think that they were in search of some place as their home, and that they had not yet found it. Such people were the Hebrew patriarchs.

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