The account of Abraham in Hebrews 11 is divided into four paragraphs, each marked by “by faith” (vv. 8, 9, 11, 17). The account is organized by two overlapping structures. First, there is a parallel cycle:
A. Country: Abraham called from Ur, v 8
B. City: Abraham looks for city, vv 9-10
C. Seed: Sarah trusts God for child, vv 11-12
[Center: These died in faith, v 13]
A’. Country: They seek a country of the future, vv 14-16a
B’. City: God prepares a city for them, v 16b
C’. Seed: Abraham receives Isaac back from the dead, vv 17-19
Interwoven with this double cycle is a chiastic structure:
A. Abraham called to a new land, v 8
B. Abraham seeks city, vv 9-10
C. Sarah seeks a seed, vv 11-12
D. All died in faith
C’. They seek their own country, vv 14-15
B’. Abraham seeks a city, v 16
A’. Abraham receives Isaac back, vv 17-19
The chiasm depends on connections being made between land and people. In the A section, Abraham is tested by being called from Ur and responding with obedience; in A’, he is tested with regard to Isaac and obeys. The connections of B and B’ are obvious, repeating the connections in the parallel structure above. In C, Sarah trusts God to give her a seed like stars and sand, a sky-and-land cosmos made up of children; in C’, “they” seek a land, which is glossed in v 16 as a “heavenly one.” Like Sarah, they seek a “new heaven and new earth” in which righteousness dwells. As in the parallel structure, the central theme is persistent faith until death, a faith that welcomes the promise from a distance.
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