Albert Barnes Commentary Hebrews 11:13

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." — Hebrews 11:13 (ASV)

These all died in faith. That is, those who had just been mentioned—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Sarah. It was also true of Abel and Noah that they died in faith, but they are not included in this declaration, for the "promises" were not particularly entrusted to them; and if the word "these" were made to include them, it must also include Enoch, who did not die at all. The phrase here used, "these all died in faith," does not mean that they died in the exercise or possession of religion, but more strictly, that they died without having possessed what was the object of their faith. They had been looking for something in the future, which they did not obtain during their lifetime, and they died believing that it would yet be theirs.

Not having received the promises. That is, not having received the fulfilment of the promises, or the promised blessings. The promises themselves they had received. (Acts 1:4, 11, 16; Galatians 3:14).

Hebrews 11:33, 39. In all these places, the word "promise" is used by metonymy for the thing promised.

But having seen them afar off. This means having seen that they would be fulfilled in future times. . It is probable that the apostle here means that they saw the entire fulfilment of all that the promises embraced in the future: that is, the bestowment of the land of Canaan, the certainty of a numerous posterity, and the entrance into the heavenly Canaan—the world of fixed and permanent rest. According to the apostle's reasoning here, the "promises" to which they trusted included all these things.

And were persuaded of them. They had no doubt of their reality.

And embraced them. This word implies more than our word "embrace" frequently does; that is, to receive as true. It means, properly, to draw to oneself, and then to embrace, as one does a friend from whom one has been separated. It then means to greet, salute, and welcome. Here it means a joyful greeting of those promises, or a pressing them to the heart, as we do a friend.

It was not a cold and formal reception of them, but a warm and hearty welcome. Such is the nature of true faith when it embraces the promises of salvation. No act of pressing a friend to the bosom is ever more warm and cordial.

And confessed that they were strangers. Thus Abraham said in Genesis 23:4, "I am a stranger and a sojourner with you." That is, he regarded himself as a foreigner, as having no home and no possessions there. It was on this ground that he proposed to buy a burial place from the sons of Heth.

And pilgrims. This refers to the Greek word parepidhmov, which is used by Abraham, as rendered by the Seventy in Genesis 23:4, and which is translated there as "sojourner" in the common English version. The word pilgrim properly means a wanderer, a traveller, and particularly one who leaves his own country to visit a holy place. This sense does not quite suit the meaning here, or in Genesis 23:4.

The Hebrew word means, properly, one who dwells in a place, and particularly one who is a mere resident without the rights of a citizen. The Greek word (parepidhmov) means a by-resident—one who lives by another or among a people not his own. This is the idea here. It is not that they confessed themselves to be wanderers, or that they had left their home to visit a holy place, but that they resided as mere sojourners in a country that was not theirs. What might be their ultimate destination, or their purpose, is not implied in the meaning of the word. They were such as reside awhile among another people but have no permanent home there.

On the earth. The phrase used here—epi thv ghv—might mean merely on the land of Canaan, but the apostle evidently uses it in a larger sense, denoting the earth in general. There can be no doubt that this accords with the views which the patriarchs had—regarding themselves not only as strangers in the land of Canaan but also feeling that the same thing was true in reference to their whole residence upon the earth: that it was not their permanent home.