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Heb_11:13. Κατὰ πίστιν ] is ordinarily (by Bleek, too, in the larger commentary) conjoined exclusively with ἀπέθανον . According to this, the dying conformably to faith, in distinction from the faith already manifested during life, would become the main idea of the verse, and the participial clauses would be made to contain the proof for the κατὰ πίστιν ἀποθανεῖν . The sense would be: “they died in faith (not in sight), since they had not received the promises, but only saw them from afar,” etc. (Bleek). Against this apprehension of the words, however, decides the subjective negation μή before λαβόντες , instead of which (particularly in the case of the opposition following with ἀλλά , see Kühner, II. 408) the objective negation οὐ must have been placed. We have therefore, with Schulz, Winer (Gramm., 7 Aufl. p. 376), Moll, Bleek, Vorles. p. 434, Kurtz, Ewald, to refer κατὰ πίστιν to ἀπέθανον in close comprehension of the latter with the participles. The sense is: In accordance with faith these all died without having received the promises, but as those who, etc.; i.e., it was conformable to the nature of faith that they, without having attained to the possession of the promised blessings themselves, beheld them only from afar and greeted them, and witnessed the confession that they are strangers and pilgrims upon earth.
οὗτοι πάντες ] is referred by Oecumenius, Theophylact, Primasius, Ribera, Justinian, Drusius, and Bloomfield to all the before-mentioned persons, from Abel onwards, with the single exception of Enoch. Nevertheless, as is evident from the contents of the following verse, only those among them can have been thought of to whom promises were given, thus Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob. Comp. specially Heb_11:15.
μὴ λαβόντες ] see at Heb_6:15.
τὰς ἐπαγγελίας ] in the objective sense, as τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν , Heb_9:15.
πόῤῥωθεν ] belongs equally to ἀσπασάμενοι as to ἰδόντες .
ἀσπάζεσθαι ] joyfully greet or welcome, as the traveller the longed-for journey’s end. Comp. Virg. Aen. iii. 522 sqq.:
Quum procul obscuros colles humilemque videmus
Italiam.… Italiam laeto socii clamore salutant.
καὶ ὁμολογήσαντες , ὅτι ξένοι καὶ παρεπίδημοί εἰσιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ] Reference to the utterances of the patriarchs in the Book of Genesis, particularly Gen_23:4, where Abraham says to the children of Heth: πάροικος καὶ παρεπίδημος ἐγώ εἰμι μεθʼ ὑμῶν , and Gen_47:9, where Jacob, in addressing Pharaoh, describes his own life in general as a pilgrimage: αἱ ἡμέραι τῶν ἐτῶν τῆς ζωῆς μου , ἃς παροικῶ , ἑκατὸν τριάκοντα ἔτη . Comp. LXX. Psa_39:13; Psa_118:19; 1Pe_2:11; Philo, de Agricult. p. 196 E (with Mangey, I. p. 310): παροικεῖν οὐ κατοικεῖν ἤλθομεν · τῷ γὰρ ὄντι πᾶσα μὲν ψυχὴ σοφοῦ πατρίδα μὲν οὐρανόν , ξένην δὲ γῆν ἔλαχεν ; De Confus. Ling. p. 331 C (I. p. 416): Διὰ τοῦτο οἱ κατὰ Μωϋσῆν σοφοὶ πάντες εἰσάγονται παροικοῦντες · αὑ γὰρ τούτων ψυχαὶ στέλλονται μὲν ἀποικίαν δή ποτε τὴν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ .