for he looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Through faith also Sarah herself,.... Some copies add "being barren"; and so read the Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions; which is a circumstance which makes her faith appear the greater: but it is a question whether the apostle speaks of the faith of Sarah, or of Abraham; some think he speaks of Abraham's faith; and that it was through his faith that Sarah...
looked for--Greek, "he was expecting"; waiting for with eager expectation (Rom 8:19). a city--Greek, "the city," already alluded to. Worldly Enoch, son of the murderer Cain, was the first to build his city here: the godly patriarchs waited for their city hereafter (Heb 11:16; Heb 12:22; Heb 13:14). foundations--Greek, "the foundations" which the tents had not, nor even men's present cities have.
Verse 10. 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 contradistinction from the unsettled mode of life which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob led.