V. 8.— By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. We have already observed that immediately after the fall God had revealed himself in Christ the seed of the woman; in other words, the Son of man. To Him, or to God, as revealed in Him, men were taught to look for victory over their adversary the devil; and those who ceased to view God as there revealed very soon lost the knowledge of God altogether, and bowed down to stocks and stones. Noah alone in that generation had retained the knowledge of God. Genesis 7:1. He viewed God not merely as a subject of contemplation, but as his God and Savior; and experienced, as all believers do, His power to save. Before the days of Abraham, God, as we have seen, had revealed Himself in the seed of the woman. Cain, in consequence of the murder of his brother, had been driven out from the presence of the Lord, and another seed had been given to Eve, named Seth. Among his posterity the knowledge of the true God seems to have been maintained; and they appear to have lived in a state of separation from the posterity of Cain, who, it is probable, soon fell into idolatry. At length the separation was broken by the sons or worshippers of God contracting marriages with Cain's posterity, called the daughters of men, which seems to have produced general ungodliness, and was the immediate cause of the Flood. The same controversy has been carried on in every age. God afterwards separated the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; but they learned the way of the heathen, and corrupted themselves. After the ascension of Christ, God said to His people, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing,” &c.; but they disregarded the admonition, and mingled with the nations, satisfied with the name of Christians, while few possessed the spirit of Christ. Thus we see that in every age the great controversy between God and His people has been their proneness to mingle themselves with those who know not God. Abraham is the father of believers, and his life is their pattern and example. Hence the Apostle dwells more upon his history than he had done upon the preceding examples which he had adduced. He for a time served other gods. This does not imply that he was an idolater, bowing down to stocks and stones. When Jacob and Laban entered into a friendly league, Laban swore by the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father; and Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac. Both seem to have sworn by the living and true God; but Jacob sware by Him who had revealed Himself to his grandfather and his father as their God, and who had appeared to him at Bethel, and assured him of his protection, and into whose hands he had committed himself. Abraham was called to go out into a place which he was afterwards to receive for an inheritance, and by faith he obeyed, although he knew not whither he went.