Hebrews 11:35-38

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Hebrews 11:32-40

The apostle having given us a classis of many eminent believers, whose names are mentioned and the particular trials and actings of their faith recorded, now concludes his narrative with a more summary account of another set of believers, where the particular acts are not ascribed to particular persons by name, but left to be applied by those who are well acquainted with the sacred story; and, like a divine orator, he prefaces his part of the narrative with an elegant expostulation: What shall... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Hebrews 11:35-40

11:35-40 Women received back their own folk as if they had been raised from the dead. Others were crucified because they refused to accept release, for they were eager to obtain a better resurrection. Others went through scoffing and scourging, yes, and chains and imprisonment. They were stoned; they were sawn asunder; they underwent every kind of trial; they died by the murder of the sword. They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, they were in want, they were oppressed, they were... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hebrews 11:35

Women received their dead raised to life again ,.... As the widow of Zarephath, and the Shunammite, 1 Kings 17:22 . Their sons were really dead, and they received them alive gain, from the hands of the prophets, Elijah and Elisha, in the way of a resurrection, and by faith; by the faith of the prophets: and others were tortured ; racked, or tympanized; referring to the sufferings of seven brethren, and their mother, in the times of Antiochus, recorded in 2 Maccabees 7 as appears from... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hebrews 11:36

And others had trial of cruel mockings ,.... As Samson by the Philistines; Elisha by the children, whom the bears devoured; Jeremiah by Pashur, and others; the Jews by Sanballat and Tobiah, when building the temple; the prophets, whom God sent to the Jews, as his messengers, Judges 16:25 . and scourgings ; or smitings, as Jeremiah and Micaiah, Jeremiah 20:22 . yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment ; as Joseph, Samson, and Jeremiah, Genesis 39:20 . Now of these things they had... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hebrews 11:37

They were stoned ,.... As Naboth, by the order of Ahab, 1 Kings 21:13 , Zachariah in the court of the Lord's house; 2 Chronicles 24:21 and the character of Jerusalem is, that she stoned the prophets that were sent unto her, Matthew 23:37 . They were sawn asunder ; to which there seems to be an allusion in Matthew 24:51 . There is no instance of any good men being so used in Scripture: perhaps reference is had to some that suffered thus in the time of Antiochus. The Jews have a... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hebrews 11:38

Of whom the world was not worthy ,.... These words are inserted in a parenthesis, to remove or prevent such objections as these; that they were restless and unquiet persons, that made disturbance in the world, and so unfit to live in it; and that they were deservedly punished for crimes they were guilty of; and to show the great worth and inestimable value of the people of God, which exceeds that of the whole world; and to intimate the removal of them out of the world, or from dwelling among... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 11:35

Women received their dead - As did the widow of Zarephath, 1 Kings 17:21 , and the Shunammite, 2 Kings 4:34 . What other cases under all the above heads the apostle might have in view, we know not. Others were tortured - Ετυμπανισθησαν . This is a word concerning the meaning of which the critics are not agreed. Τυμπανον signifies a stick, or baton, which was used in bastinadoing criminals. And τυμπανιζω signifies to beat violently, and is thus explained by the best... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 11:36

Had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings - We do not know the cases to which the apostle refers. The mockings here can never mean such as those of Ishmael against Isaac, or the youths of Bethel against Elisha. It is more probable that it refers to public exhibitions of the people of God at idol feasts and the like; and Samson's case before Dagon, when the Philistines had put out his eyes, is quite in point. As to scourgings, this was a common way of punishing minor culprits: and even those... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 11:37

They were stoned - As Zechariah, the son of Barachiah or Jehoida, was, between the altar and the temple; see the account, 2 Chronicles 24:21 ; and See the notes on Matthew 23:35 . And as Naboth the Jezreelite, who, on refusing to give up his father's inheritance to a covetous king, because it had respect to the promise of God, was falsely accused and stoned to death; 1 Kings 21:1-14 . They were sawn asunder - There is a tradition that the Prophet Isaiah was thus martyred. In... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 11:38

Of whom the world was not worthy - Yet they were obliged to wander by day in deserts and mountains, driven from the society of men, and often obliged to hide by night in dens and caves of the earth, to conceal themselves from the brutal rage of men. Perhaps he refers here principally to the case of Elijah, and the hundred prophets hidden in caves by Obadiah, and fed with bread and water. See 1 Kings 18:4 . David was often obliged thus to hide himself from Saul; 1 Samuel 24:3 , etc. read more

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