Albert Barnes Commentary Hebrews 11:10

"for he looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is God." — Hebrews 11:10 (ASV)

For he looked for a city which hath foundations. It has been doubted to what the apostle here refers. Grotius and some others suppose that he refers to Jerusalem, as a permanent dwelling for his posterity in contrast to the unsettled mode of life which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob led. But there is no evidence that Abraham looked forward to the building of such a city, for no promise was made to him of this kind; and this interpretation evidently falls short of the overall thrust of the passage. (Hebrews 11:14–16; Hebrews 12:22; Hebrews 13:14).

Phrases like "the city of God," "a city with foundations," "the new Jerusalem," and "the heavenly Jerusalem" in the time of the apostle appear to have acquired a kind of technical signification. They referred to the heavenly state—of which Jerusalem, the seat of the worship of God, seems to have been regarded as the emblem.

Thus in Hebrews 12:22, the apostle speaks of the "heavenly Jerusalem," and in Hebrews 13:14, he says, here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. In Revelation 21:2, John says that he saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, and proceeds in that chapter and the following to give a most beautiful description of it.

Even as early as the time of Abraham, it would seem that the future blessedness of the righteous was foretold under the image of a splendid City built on permanent foundations. It is remarkable that Moses does not mention this as an object of Abraham's faith, and it is impossible to ascertain the degree of distinctness which this had in his view.

It is probable that the apostle, in speaking of Abraham's faith in this particular, did not rely on any distinct record or even any tradition. Instead, he spoke of Abraham's piety in the language he would use to characterize religion of any age or in any individual.

The apostle was accustomed, in common with others of his time, to contemplate the future blessedness of the righteous under the image of a beautiful city. This city was envisioned as a place where the worship of God would be celebrated forever—a city of which Jerusalem was the most striking representation to the mind of a Jew.

It was natural for him to speak of strong piety in this manner wherever it existed, and especially in such a case as that of Abraham, who left his own habitation to wander in a distant land. This fact showed that he regarded himself as a stranger and sojourner; and yet he had a strong expectation of a fixed habitation and a permanent inheritance.

He must, therefore, have looked on to the permanent abodes of the righteous, the heavenly city. And though he had an undoubted confidence that the promised land would be given to his posterity, yet, as he did not possess it himself, he must have looked for his own permanent abode to the fixed residence of the just in heaven.

This passage seems to me to prove that Abraham had an expectation of future happiness after death. There is not the slightest evidence that he supposed there would be a magnificent and glorious capital where the Messiah would personally reign, and where the righteous dead, raised from their graves, would dwell at the second advent of the Redeemer. All that the passage fairly implies is that while Abraham expected the possession of the promised land for his posterity, his faith looked beyond this for a permanent home in a future world.

Whose builder and maker is God. This means a city that would not be built by human effort, but one for which God was the immediate and direct architect.

This shows conclusively, I think, that the reference in this allusion to the "city" is not to Jerusalem, as Grotius supposes. Instead, the language aptly describes heaven, represented as a city built without human hands or art, and founded and fashioned by the skill and power of God (Compare to 2 Corinthians 5:1).

The language here applied to God as the "architect" or framer of the universe is often used in classical writers. (See Kuinoel and Wetstein.) The apostle here commends the faith of Abraham as eminently strong. The following hints will provide topics of reflection for those who are disposed to inquire more fully into its strength.

1. The journey he undertook was then a long and dangerous one. The distance from Haran to Palestine, by a direct route, was not less than four hundred miles, and this journey lay across a vast desert—a part of Arabia Deserta. That journey has always been tedious and perilous. To see its real difficulty, however, we must put ourselves into the position in which the world was four thousand years ago. There was no knowledge of the way, no frequented path, no facility for traveling, no turnpike or railway; and such a journey then must have appeared incomparably more perilous than almost any which could now be undertaken.

2. He was going among strangers. Who they were he did not know; but the impression must have been made on his mind that they were strangers to religion, and that a residence among them would be anything but desirable.

3. He was leaving country, and home, and friends; the place of his birth and the graves of his fathers, with the moral certainty that he would see them no more.

4. He had no right to the country he went to receive; he could urge no claim on the ground of discovery, inheritance, or conquest from any former period. Although he went in a peaceful manner, with no power to take it, and could urge no claim to it whatsoever, he still went with the utmost confidence that it would be his. He did not even expect to buy it—for he had no means to do this—and it seems never to have entered his mind to bargain for it in any way, except for the small portion he needed for a burial ground.

5. He had no means of obtaining possession. He had no wealth to purchase it; no armies to conquer it; no title to it which could be enforced before the tribunals of the land. The prospect of obtaining it must have been distant, and probably he saw no means by which it was to be done. In such a case, his only hope could be in God.

6. It is not impossible that the enterprise in that age might have been treated by the friends of the patriarch as perfectly wild and visionary. The prevailing religion evidently was idolatry, and the claim which Abraham set up to a special call from the Most High might have been deemed entirely fanatical.

   To start off on a journey through a pathless desert; to leave his country and home, and all that he held dear, when he himself did not know where he went; to go with no means of conquest, but with the expectation that the distant and unknown land would be given him, must have been regarded as a singular instance of visionary hope.

   The whole transaction, therefore, was in the highest degree an act of simple confidence in God, where there was no human basis for calculation, and where all the principles on which men commonly act would have led him to pursue just the contrary course. It is, therefore, not without reason, that the faith of Abraham is so commended.