06.22. "He Sojourned, Dwelling in Tents"
"He Sojourned, Dwelling in Tents"
It is not our purpose to go through "the life of Abraham," or to give even a summary of all the events connected with it. We are not writing on Genesis, but on Heb 11:1-40. Therefore we confine ourselves to the special events which are there mentioned in connection with his faith.
They are three in number:
1. His Obedience when called:
2. His Sojourning as in a strange land.
3. His Trial in the offering of Isaac.
We have already considered the first of these. Our next subject in connection with Abraham, is His Sojourning.
"By faith he sojourned in the land of the promise, as in a strange [country], taking up his abode in tents together with Isaac, and Jacob, the joint-heirs [with him] of the same [promise.] (Heb 11:9).
There are several things connected with this sojourning. There is the fact (1) that "the land belonged to strangers," (2) that it was "in tents": for the words "in tents" are very emphatic, being placed before the verb:—"in tents dwelling," to call our attention to this fact. And (3) there is the fact that Isaac and Jacob are linked together with Abraham, as being joint heirs-expectant. The first point in this sojourning is the first historical event in connection with Abraham’s obedience mentioned in the history:
"And Abram passed through the land unto the place[61] of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. AND THE CANAANITE WAS THEN IN THE LAND" (Gen 12:6).
Here, then, we have the second exhibition of Abraham’s faith. First, he obeyed and went forth. Next, he sojourned. This sojourning was "by faith." It certainly could not have been "by sight;" for there was nothing for sight but the Canaanite!
What an opportunity for faith!
Faith took his eye off from the Canaanite to "the God of glory" who had appeared unto him in the land of Chaldea; and who appeared again to him as Jehovah in the land of the Canaanite. The sphere of the stranger is the sphere of Divine communications. The statement that
"The Canaanite was then in the land" (Gen 12:6), is intended to connect that fact with the subject of God’s revelation in Gen 12:7.
"Unto thee will I give this land." Here was scope for faith. It came "from hearing the word of God," and our attention is directed to this fact by the close connection of these two statements.
Abraham’s faith rested on the Word of God; and his thoughts were occupied with the presence of Jehovah, instead of with the presence of the Canaanite. The eye of faith could see Him who is invisible; hence, it saw not the Canaanite who was "then in the land."
How opposite was the case of the spies, who, in a later day went up into this very land with the assurance of Jehovah that it was "a good land."
They "believed not." Hence, they saw only the Canaanites; and they said: "the people that WE SAW in it are men of great stature. And there WE SAW the giants and the sons of Anak which come of the giants;[62] and we were in OUR OWN SIGHT as grasshoppers, and so we were in THEIR SIGHT" (Num 13:32-33).
Truly they walked by sight, hence they believed not. And, because they believed not, they could neither enjoy the presence of the Lord, nor enter into His rest.
But, as we have said, it is the second of these three points to which our attention is specially directed. The words "IN TENTS" are the emphatic words.
It is not the act of dwelling that is emphatic here, but the fact that this dwelling was "in tents." The Figure of Speech used calls our attention to this. It is called Hyperbaton, which means Transposition. By this Figure the words "in tents" are transposed or put out of their usual order for the purpose of calling our attention to them, and thus emphasizing them. It is in fact the Holy Spirit’s own marking, to show us what it is He wishes us to notice, as being important.
If expressed in the ordinary way it would mean "DWELLING in tents with Isaac and Jacob." But, by the Figure Hyperbaton, it means "Dwelling IN TENTS with Isaac and Jacob." The reason for this contrast is given in the next verse, for which our minds are prepared by this emphasis: "FOR he looked for a City."
Here again, there is another contrast. The word "Tents" looks backward as well as forward. The "tents" point us back to the "city" which Abram had left, as well as forward to the "city" which Abram "looked for."
Recent excavations have shown that that city was Múgeyer, on the other side of the Euphrates. The modern name, today, is given from the Asphalt or Bitumen used to cement its bricks. The name "Ur" is found stamped on its bricks, showing it to be a "city" indeed; a center of learning and civilization and wealth and luxury.
Abram was no mere nomad or wanderer, as some would have us believe. He knew what city life was, for he had been a citizen of "Ur," the excavations of which show was no mean city. He "went out" from this "city" "dwelling IN TENTS" while he "looked for a City which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."
It is not merely the fact that they were "strangers;" but that they were "pilgrims" also.
Notice the order of these two words in Heb 11:13, and 1Pe 2:11, "Strangers and pilgrims." Not "pilgrims and strangers."
"I’m a pilgrim and a stranger;" but the difference to which we call attention should be noted.
It is possible to be a "pilgrim" without being a "stranger." But once we realize our true strangership we are perforce compelled to be pilgrims.
It is to this point of the sojourning to which the words "in tents" call our attention.
We may be "pilgrims," and yet, in our pilgrimage, may visit all the cities and churches in the world and include them all in our embrace; but if we are true "sojourners" we shall be "strangers" to them all; and shall be compelled, as Abraham was, to erect our own solitary altar to Jehovah in the midst of them all.
How could Abraham be a worshipper with the Canaanite? Impossible! This is why the "Altar" is so closely connected with the "Tent" in Gen 12:8 and in Abraham’s sojourney.
"And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his TENT on the west and Haī on the east: and there he builded an ALTAR unto Jehovah, and called upon the name of Jehovah."
Here again the Tent comes before the Altar; for as we must be real "strangers" before we can be true "pilgrims," so must we be real "sojourners" before we can be true worshippers.
Heb 11:1-40 confines our thoughts to Abraham’s sojourning "in the land of the promise;" therefore we do not follow him down to Egypt (which the rest of Gen 12:1-20 goes on to narrate). Nor do we turn aside to consider the assault of the old serpent there in order to prevent "the seed of the woman" from coming into the world.[64] But rather we take up the "sojourning" "in the Land of the Promise," after he returns from Egypt; and there we find that he resumes it at the very point where it was broken off.
Here is sojourning indeed! and its reality is soon manifested in separation. "Strangers and pilgrims" can have no true fellowship with the world’s citizens.
Dwellers in Tents can have nothing in common with Canaanite earth-dwellers.[65]
Those whose "seat of government exists, now, in heaven" look for the Savior, while earth’s citizens have nothing to look for but destruction (Php 3:19-20).
Hence separation is the necessary outcome of true sojourning. We see it immediately manifested in the case of Lot.
Lot "walked by sight" and not "by faith." Hence, "Lot LIFTED UP HIS EYES and BEHELD all the plain of Jordan that it was well watered everywhere before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD" (Gen 13:10).
It looked like "the garden of the Lord," even as Satan may look like "an angel of light" and his ministers may look like "ministers of righteousness" (2Co 11:14-15). But it is not "righteousness," nor is it "light." Nor was it "the garden of the Lord," but it was the plain and "city" of Sodom, and the end of each will be destruction with fire and brimstone from heaven.
Notice the steps in a walk by sight when Lot "lifted up HIS OWN eyes" (Gen 13:1-18).
1. He beheld (Gen 13:10).
2. He chose the plain of Jordan (Gen 13:11).
3. He took the eastward position and journeyed east (Gen 13:11).
4. He dwelled in the cities of the plain (Gen 13:12).
5. He pitched his tent toward Sodom (Gen 13:12).
6. He dwelt in Sodom (Gen 14:12).
7. He sat in the gate (as a Ruler in, and citizen of Sodom (Gen 19:1).
8. He shared in its calamities (Gen 14:12).
9. He was miraculously delivered from its destruction (Gen 19:16). This is the end of a "Walk by Sight." On the other hand, Abraham who sojourned by faith did not lift up his own eyes; but "Jehovah said unto Abram (after Lot was separated from him) LIFT UP NOW THINE EYES, and look from the place where thou art Northward, and Southward, and Eastward, and Westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I GIVE it, and to thy seed for ever" (Gen 13:14-16).
Lot made his own choice. Jehovah made choice for Abraham; and Abraham enjoyed it as God’s gift.
Lot’s choice was only for a short time. It began in calamity and ended in destruction.
Abraham’s gift was "for ever." It began in faith, and will end in glory.
It is significant that these Revelations from Jehovah stand in immediate connection with the three separations of Abraham. The first was after he had separated from Haran. The second was after he had separated from Egypt. The third was after he had separated from Lot. In each case we have the mention of the "tent" and the "altar." For here again, in connection with his further sojourning, at the end of Gen 13:1-18 we read (Gen 13:18): "Then Abram removed his TENT, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an ALTAR unto Jehovah.
True separation is indissolubly connected with true worship. In Gen 13:3-4 it preceded it, in Gen 13:18 it followed. This fact tells us that there can be separation from the world without true worship; but there cannot be true worship without separation.[66] There can be separation from the world in Monasteries, Convents, and Seclusions and Retreats, but it does not follow that it is separation FROM the world; or that it produces true worship of God; or conduces communion with God.
"Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed (or transfigured) by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Rom 12:2). This is what Abraham proved; and he soon manifested its power in the delivery of Lot from the hands of the four kings who had taken him captive (Gen 14:1-24) We stop not to consider that war, but merely note that the effective intervention of Abraham and his 400 men afforded only an opportunity for the evidence of power which came from his true separation with God. When the King of Sodom wished to reward him with a division of the spoils, his lofty position enabled him to say "I have lift up mine hand unto Jehovah the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoe-latchet that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, ‘I have made Abraham rich’" (Gen 14:22). No wonder that the visit of "the king of Sodom" was followed by the visit of "the king of Salem:" and that the blessing of Melchesidek was bestowed on one who thus walked in lofty separation "before God."
There is one other point in connection with this sojourning. There is not only the fact of the "dwelling IN TENTS" but that it was with Isaac and Jacob "the joint heirs with him of the same promise."
These words are remarkable; for in no other case are sons called "joint-heirs with" their parents. Sons are merely "heirs" of, not "joint-heirs with" their parents. This is designed to remind us that Isaac was not indebted to Abraham for the promise; nor was Jacob indebted to Isaac.
Each received "the same promise" direct from God. "To thee" was said to Abraham (Gen 13:15; Gen 17:8). To Isaac it was said "to thee" (Gen 26:3), and to Jacob, it was also said "to thee" (Gen 28:13; Gen 35:12).
They were all three "joint-heirs of the same promise:" joint heirs "with him," i.e., with Abraham.
They dwelled IN TENTS together because they "looked for a city which hath foundations." "Tents" have no foundations. They did not look back at the city of "UR," from whence Abraham "went out," but they looked forward to that "city" of which they had heard.
Abraham had "heard" all about that "city" from God: for "faith cometh by hearing." If he heard about it, it must have been by the word and report that he had heard from God. No one else could have told him of that coming day of Christ’s glory. But he knew all about it. He saw it from afar, as Christ testifies: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad" (John 8:56), The Lord does not say "he sees it and is glad." That is what He ought to have said according to modern theology. But He did not. God revealed the glories of that day to Abraham’s faith. He believed God, and saw that day from afar. He died according to that faith, and He must rise again from the dead in order to prove the faithfulness of his God, and to enjoy the promises which had been made to him. But this division of our theme: "He looked for a city," belongs to, and will form the subject of our next chapter.