Hebrews 11:38

38. Of whom the world was not worthy—So far from their being unworthy of living in the world, as their exile in deserts, c., might seem to imply, "the world was not worthy of them." The world, in shutting them out, shut out from itself a source of blessing such as Joseph proved to Potiphar (Genesis 39:5), and Jacob to Laban (Genesis 30:27). In condemning them, the world condemned itself.

caves—literally, "chinks." Palestine, from its hilly character, abounds in fissures and caves, affording shelter to the persecuted, as the fifty hid by Obadiah (1 Kings 18:4; 1 Kings 18:13) and Elijah (1 Kings 19:8; 1 Kings 19:13); and Mattathias and his sons (1 Maccabees 2:28, 29); and Judas Maccabeus (2 Maccabees 5:27).