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Selected Verse: Hebrews 11:38 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Heb 11:38 |
King James |
(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
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 (Gen 39:5), and Jacob to Laban (Gen 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 (Kg1 18:4, Kg1 18:13) and Elijah (Kg1 19:8, Kg1 19:13); and Mattathias and his sons (1 Maccabees 2:28, 29); and Judas Maccabeus (2 Maccabees 5:27). |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Of whom the world was not worthy - The world was so wicked that it had no claim that such holy men should live in it. These poor, despised, and persecuted people, living as outcasts and wanderers, were of a character far elevated above the world. This is a most beautiful expression. It is at once a statement of their eminent holiness, and of the wickedness of the rest of mankind.
They wandered in deserts ... - On the Scripture meaning of the word "desert" or wilderness, see the notes on Mat 3:1. This is a description of persons driven away from their homes, and wandering about from place to place to procure a scanty subsistence; compare 1 Macc. 1:53; 2 Macc. 5:27; 6:7. The instances mentioned in the Books of Maccabees are so much in point, that there is no impropriety in supposing that Paul referred to some such cases, if not these very cases. As there is no doubt about their historic truth, there was no impropriety in referring to them, though they are not mentioned in the canonical books of Scripture. One of those cases may be referred to as strikingly illustrating what is here said. "But Judas Maccabeus with nine others or thereabout, withdrew himself into the wilderness, and lived in the mountains after the manner of beasts, with his company, who fed on herbs continually lest they should be partakers of the pollution;" 2 Macc. 5:27. |
The Scofield Bible Commentary, by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, [1917] |
world
Greek, "kosmos", means "mankind".
(See Scofield) - (Mat 4:8). |
Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
Of whom the world was not (ὧν οὐκ ἦν ἄξιος ὁ κόσμος)
This clause falls into the series of participles which precedes it; the form of the relative sentence being adopted because of the lack of a proper participial phrase to express the statement. At the same time it prepares the way for the following clause in which the participial construction is resumed. Rend. "they went about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, evil-entreated, men of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts," etc. By the world (κόσμος) is not meant the corrupt world, as in John and Paul (see on Heb 11:7), but the world considered as an economy which was unworthy of these, because ruled by sense and not by faith. Their plane of life was higher.
They wandered (πλανώμενοι)
Lit. wandering or straying, apart from the homes and the intercourse of men.
Caves of the earth (ὀπαῖς τῆς γῆς)
Ὁπή only here and Jam 3:11. It means a hole; primarily a place through which one can see (ὄπωπα). In lxx the cleft of the rock in which God placed Moses, Exo 33:22 : a window, a latticed opening, Ecc 12:3: the eye-socket, Zac 14:12 : a hole in the wall, Eze 8:7 : a hole in a tree, 4 Macc. 14:16. |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
Of whom the world was not worthy - It did not deserve so great a blessing. They wandered - Being driven out from men. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
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 Kg1 18:4. David was often obliged thus to hide himself from Saul; Sa1 24:3, etc. |
13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?
8 And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.
13 Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the LORD, how I hid an hundred men of the LORD'S prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
4 For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)
27 And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake.
5 And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the LORD was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field.
1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,
8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
7 And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall.
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
3 In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,
22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:
11 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
3 And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave.
4 For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)