Ancient memories.
"Look unto Abraham your father." It is wise to surround the young with the statues of great and brave and wise men, and to have hanging in the halls of a nation the portraits of their true leaders. So in the Hebrews we are in a chamber of inspired images of the heroes and heroines of faith.
I. THE EYE IS ALWAYS ON SOME OBJECT. We are looking always to objects that elevate or that debase us. Israel at this time was looking to military leaders, longing for some Messiah who should gather together a power sufficient to break the iron yoke of oppression. They were looking, not to the faithful Abrahams, but to the warrior Sauls. The eye thus becomes a window to the heart.
II. THEY HAD FORGOTTEN THEIR ANCIENT POWER. Abraham was a man of faith. He believed in God, and he lived a life of faith in God. When the spirit of Abraham filled their hearts, then they acted as men who believed that "righteousness exalteth a nation." The true Hebrew power was righteousness. Their psalms glorified, not the sword, but the moral Law of God. The right hand of the Most High was with them when they were a nation that loved righteousness and hated iniquity. "Therefore God, thy God, hath exalted thee above thy fellows." The call to all godly men in every age is, "Look to Abraham."—W.M.S.