V. 15— And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. The patriarchs are here represented as having forgotten the country from whence they came out. Thus the Church, the Lamb’ s wife, is exhorted to forget her own people, and her father’ s house, Psalms 45:10; to set her affections on things above, not on things on the earth. Had the patriarchs been mindful of the country whence they came out, they might have had an opportunity of returning. We repeatedly read of famines in the land of Canaan in the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Sometimes they went down to Egypt on such occasions, but they never thought of returning to the land of Chaldea. When Abraham commanded his head servant to go to his kindred, and take a wife for his son Isaac, the servant inquired whether, in case the woman was not willing to leave her country, he should bring Isaac back to the land of his fathers. Abraham prohibited his doing so, at the same time expressing his confidence that God would incline the heart of the woman to accompany him; but, having no particular promise on this subject, he made the servant swear that he would not on any account carry Isaac back. The promise of Abraham being the father of Christ was connected with the patriarch’ s dwelling in the land of Canaan, which was a pledge of the fulfilment of the promise, and was called Immanuel's Land. But, while they lived in the land, they were not to mix with the inhabitants.