Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable.
Read Chapter 11
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Wherefore even from one they all sprang, as the stars of the sky, and as the sand which is by the sea-shore. Wherefore (he says) even from one they all sprang. Here he not only says that she bare [a child], but that she also became mother of so many as not even fruitful wombs [are mothers of]. As the stars, He says. How then is it that He often numbers them, although He said, As the stars of the heaven shall not be numbered, so neither shall your seed? Genesis 15:5 He either means the excess, or else [speaks of] those who are continually being born. For is it possible, tell me, to number their forefathers of one family as, such an one son of such an one, and such an one son of such an one? But here such are the promises of God, so skillfully arranged are His undertakings.
But if the things which He promised as additional, are so admirable, so beyond expectation, so magnificent, what will those be, to which these are an addition, to which these are somewhat over and above? What then ...
580. – Having given an example of faith from the fathers who existed before the deluge, i.e., those who were the fathers of both the Gentiles and the Jews; the Apostle now treats specifically of the fathers who existed after the deluge, namely, the fathers of the Jews. First of all, he gives the example of the faith of Abraham, who was the father of believers; hence, he was the first to receive the seal of faith before the Law. First, he shows what Abraham did; secondly, what Isaac did (v. 20); thirdly, what Jacob did (v. 21); fourthly, what Joseph did (v. 22). The first is divided into two parts: in the first he shows what he did in regard to external and human knowledge; secondly, what he did in regard to God (v. 17). In regard to the first he does three things: first, he shows what he did in regard to his dwelling place; secondly, what he did in regard to generation (v. 11); thirdly, what he did in regard to his own conversion (v. 13). In regard to the dwelling place he does two thi...
