Hebrews 11:36-38 - Exposition

And others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented (rather, evil-entreated ); (of whom the world was not worthy:) wandering in deserts, and mountains, and dens, and the eaves of the earth. In this general review particular cases may again have suggested some of the expressions used. The mention of "mockings" is prominent in the Maccabean history; "bonds and imprisonments" recall Hanani, Micaiah, and Jeremiah; "they were stoned" recalls Zachariah son of Jehoiada ( 2 Chronicles 24:20 ; cf. Matthew 23:1-39 . 35; Luke 11:51 ; also Matthew 23:37 ; Luke 13:34 ). "They wandered in sheepskins ( μηλωταῖς ) and in deserts" peculiarly suggests Elijah (his mantle being called μηλωτής in the LXX ., 2 Kings 2:13 , 2 Kings 2:14 ), though the Maccabean heroes also took refuge in "deserts and mountains" (1 Macc. 2). "Sawn asunder" most probably refers to a well-known tradition about Isaiah, who is said to have so suffered under Manasseh. Alford thus gives the notices found elsewhere of this tradition: "Justin Martyr 'Trypho,' § 120; Tertullian, 'Cont. Guest. Scorpiac.,' 8, and 'De Patient.,' 14; Origen, 'Ep. ad African;' Lactantius, 'Inst.,' 4.11; Psalm-Epiphanius, 'Vit. Proph; 'Augustine, 'De Cir. Dei,' 18.24; Jerome, on Isaiah 57:1 ." Jerome calls it a " certissima traditio apud Judaeos ," and says that this passage in the Epistle was by most referred to the passion of Isaiah. The tameness and apparent inappropriateness of the verb ἐπειράσθησαν ("were tempted") in verse 36, in the midst of an enumeration of cruel modes of death, has led to a prevalent view that it is a corruption of the original text. Various conjectures have been made, the most tenable being