Hebrews 11:9 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

By faith he sojourned, &c.— Abraham went from Mesopotamia, at the command of God, and came to Haran, where he dwelt: thence he removed to the land of Canaan, and travelled to the south-west parts of it, where he lived in tents. The phrase, Παροικειν εις την γην, is not the same as the phrase εν τη γη; but implies his sojourning all along, before he got to Canaan, even till he came to it, as well as in it: so that this expression shews a continued act of trust in God, from his first setting out from Mesopotamia to Haran, and from thence to Canaan; as a strange land αλλοτριαν, signifies a land in which he had no property or claim of right, and in which consequently he dwelt in tents, the proprietors of any settlements generally erecting houses and other buildings, which indicate the land to be their property, and their possession to be permanent. It is plain from the account of the lives of Isaac and Jacob, that Jacob was born fifteen years before Abraham died.