Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment.
Parallel Translations
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Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment.
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Other tasted of mockynges and scourginginges morover of bondes and presonment:
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And others haue bene tryed by mockings and scourgings, yea, moreouer by bondes and prisonment.
Cross-references (42)
Passages linked to Hebrews 11:36 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 20:2 Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in Yahweh’s house.
- Genesis 39:20 Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were bound, and he was there in custody.
- Jeremiah 37:15-21 The princes were angry with Jeremiah, and struck him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison. When Jeremiah had come into the dungeon house, and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days, then Zedekiah the king sent, and had him brought out. The king asked him secretly in his house, “Is there any word from Yahweh?” Jeremiah said, “There is.” He also said, “You will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.” Moreover Jeremiah said to king Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you, against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison? Now where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you, nor against this land?’ Now please hear, my lord the king: please let my supplication be presented before you, that you not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.” Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard. They gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was gone. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
- 2 Chronicles 30:10 So the couriers passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even to Zebulun, but people ridiculed them and mocked them.
- 2 Chronicles 16:10 Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in the prison; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.
- Jeremiah 20:7 Yahweh, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded. You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day. Everyone mocks me.
- Jeremiah 32:2-3 Now at that time the king of Babylon’s army was besieging Jerusalem. Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Judah’s house. For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you prophesy, and say, ‘Yahweh says, “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will take it;
- Lamentations 3:52-55 They have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause. They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone on me. Waters flowed over my head. I said, “I am cut off.” I called on your name, Yahweh, out of the lowest dungeon.
- Matthew 23:34 Therefore behold, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city;
- Hebrews 10:34 For you both had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an enduring one in the heavens.
- Judges 16:25 When their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson, that he may entertain us.” They called for Samson out of the prison; and he performed before them. They set him between the pillars;
- 1 Kings 22:24 Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, “Which way did Yahweh’s Spirit go from me to speak to you?”
- 1 Kings 22:27 Say, ‘The king says, “Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.” ’ ”
- 2 Kings 2:23 He went up from there to Bethel. As he was going up by the way, some youths came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him, “Go up, you baldy! Go up, you baldy!”
- 2 Chronicles 36:16 but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until Yahweh’s wrath arose against his people, until there was no remedy.
- Psalms 105:17-18 He sent a man before them. Joseph was sold for a slave. They bruised his feet with shackles. His neck was locked in irons,
- Jeremiah 29:26 “Yahweh has made you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in Yahweh’s house, for every man who is crazy, and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles.
- Jeremiah 36:6 Therefore you go, and read from the scroll which you have written from my mouth, Yahweh’s words, in the ears of the people in Yahweh’s house on the fast day. Also you shall read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities.
- Jeremiah 38:6-13 Then they took Jeremiah and threw him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king’s son, that was in the court of the guard. They let down Jeremiah with cords. In the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire. Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king was then sitting in Benjamin’s gate), Ebedmelech went out of the king’s house, and spoke to the king, saying, “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon. He is likely to die in the place where he is, because of the famine; for there is no more bread in the city.” Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take from here thirty men with you, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he dies.” So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there rags and worn-out garments, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Now put these rags and worn-out garments under your armpits under the cords.” Jeremiah did so. So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon; and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
- Jeremiah 38:28 So Jeremiah stayed in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.
- Matthew 20:19 and will hand him over to the Gentiles to mock, to scourge, and to crucify; and the third day he will be raised up.”
- Matthew 21:35 The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
- Matthew 27:26 Then he released to them Barabbas, but Jesus he flogged and delivered to be crucified.
- Mark 10:34 They will mock him, spit on him, scourge him, and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”
- Luke 18:32 For he will be delivered up to the Gentiles, will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit on.
- Luke 23:11 Herod with his soldiers humiliated him and mocked him. Dressing him in luxurious clothing, they sent him back to Pilate.
- Luke 23:36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar,
- Acts 4:3 They laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was now evening.
- Acts 5:18 and laid hands on the apostles, then put them in public custody.
- Acts 5:40 They agreed with him. Summoning the apostles, they beat them and commanded them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
- Acts 8:3 But Saul ravaged the assembly, entering into every house and dragged both men and women off to prison.
- Acts 12:4-19 When he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover. Peter therefore was kept in the prison, but constant prayer was made by the assembly to God for him. The same night when Herod was about to bring him out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. Guards in front of the door kept the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side, and woke him up, saying, “Stand up quickly!” His chains fell off his hands. The angel said to him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” He did so. He said to him, “Put on your cloak and follow me.” And he went out and followed him. He didn’t know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he saw a vision. When they were past the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went out, and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. When Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I truly know that the Lord has sent out his angel and delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from everything the Jewish people were expecting.” Thinking about that, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. When Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she didn’t open the gate for joy, but ran in, and reported that Peter was standing in front of the gate. They said to her, “You are crazy!” But she insisted that it was so. They said, “It is his angel.” But Peter continued knocking. When they had opened, they saw him, and were amazed. But he, beckoning to them with his hand to be silent, declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. He said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place. Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter. When Herod had sought for him, and didn’t find him, he examined the guards, then commanded that they should be put to death. He went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there.
- Acts 16:22-40 The multitude rose up together against them and the magistrates tore their clothes from them, then commanded them to be beaten with rods. When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison, and secured their feet in the stocks. But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were loosened. The jailer, being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, “Don’t harm yourself, for we are all here!” He called for lights, sprang in, fell down trembling before Paul and Silas, brought them out, and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” They spoke the word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his house. He took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes, and was immediately baptized, he and all his household. He brought them up into his house, and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, with all his household, having believed in God. But when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, “Let those men go.” The jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go; now therefore come out and go in peace.” But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly without a trial, men who are Romans, and have cast us into prison! Do they now release us secretly? No, most certainly, but let them come themselves and bring us out!” The sergeants reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, and they came and begged them. When they had brought them out, they asked them to depart from the city. They went out of the prison, and entered into Lydia’s house. When they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them, then departed.
- Acts 21:33 Then the commanding officer came near, arrested him, commanded him to be bound with two chains, and inquired who he was and what he had done.
- Acts 24:27 But when two years were fulfilled, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, and desiring to gain favor with the Jews, Felix left Paul in bonds.
- 2 Corinthians 11:23-25 Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself.) I am more so: in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, and in deaths often. Five times I received forty stripes minus one from the Jews. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. I have been a night and a day in the deep.
- Ephesians 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called,
- 2 Timothy 1:16 May the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain,
- 2 Timothy 2:9 in which I suffer hardship to the point of chains as a criminal. But God’s word isn’t chained.
- Revelation 2:10 Don’t be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested; and you will have oppression for ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life.
- Jeremiah 32:8 “So Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the guard according to Yahweh’s word, and said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption is yours. Buy it for yourself.’ “Then I knew that this was Yahweh’s word.
- Ephesians 3:1 For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and…
36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
Ver. 36. Of cruel mockings] As Jeremiah, Amos, Elisha, "Go up, bald head, go up," so. "To heaven, as they say" (but who will believe it?) "that your master Elijah did." So they mewed at David, mocked at Isaiah, Isa 28:10; (the sound of the words, as they are in the original, carries a taunt), jeered our Saviour, Luk 16:14. See these Hebrews upon the stage, as mocking stocks, Heb 10:33.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain And others had trial of cruel mockings; the same…
And others had trial of cruel mockings; the same gospel faith enabled others than those mentioned before, prophets and saints, as Micaiah, 1Ki 22:24, Elisha, 2Ki 2:23; Isa 8:18; Amo 7:10, readily, cheerfully, and patiently to accept and receive the experience and trials of mocking, from the insulting, cruel enemies of God and his church, both national and aliens; being exposed and made a laughing-stock by reproaches, sarcasms, and nick-names, to aggravate their afflictions; and these inflicted on them by words and external signs, trials which, to an ingenuous spirit, bears harder than external torments, and which they more deeply sense and resent; yet faith makes them to receive all humbly, and carrieth them above them, as Psa 31:20; 52:1-5; 120:3,4; 140:3.
And scourgings; they felt the scourges and whips of their enemies smart on them, such as were excessively shameful and painful, being inflicted on the vilest persons, as slaves; such as was the matter of these scourges, such their smartings, whether of thongs, cords, or wires, Jer 20:2; 37:15. This torment was commonly inflicted on them, not in Antiochus’s time only, and those before, but commonly in Christ’s and the apostles’ days, 2Co 6:5; 11:23.
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Yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they cheerfully and patiently submitted to the cruel treating of their persecutors, who put them in the stocks, places of little ease, dungeons, loading them with iron shackles and fetters, which the wickedness of man had invented to torment them with; stern and cruel usage by their gaolers, restraining society from them, and of comfortable relief, feeding them with the bread and water of affliction, 2Ch 18:26; Act 16:24.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain Our apostle having in the foregoing verses acquainted the…
Our apostle having in the foregoing verses acquainted the Hebrews with the great things which faith enabled the Old Testament saints to do, he now lays before them an account of the hard and difficult things which faith enabled them to suffer, and here reckons up the sharpest and bitterest sufferings that human nature perhaps can be exposed to; but to do the greatest things, and to suffer the hardest, is all one to faith. Faith stands ready for both, as God shall call.
Observe here in general, that the evils enumerated are of such various sorts and kinds, as to comprise ever thing that may befal believers on the account of their Christian profession: Do we meet with temptations, scorns, mockings, scourgings, bonds, imprisonments, yea, death itself, by all sorts of tortures and extremities? THis is our encouragement, that others in the cause of God, have undergone them, and been carried victoriously through them: but the particulars in this little book of martyrs follow.
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Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance. In this passage, and several others here following, the apostle is concluded to refer too the story in the Maccabees, whic though written after the closing of the canon of the scripture, when there was no extraordinary prophet in the church, yet the matters of fact were then fresh in memory, and are here alluded to, particularly Eleazar, , who was beaten to death, when he had been persuaded and allured to accept deliverance by transgressing the law; and also the mother and her seven sons, they expected a better resurrection, better than what their persecutors offered them, even a glorious resurreciton of their bodies at the last day.
Others had trials of cruel mockings, as Micaiah, 1Ki 22:24, and others’ and scourgings, as Jer 20:2; Jer 20:15.
Also bonds and imprisonments, as Joseph in Egypt, and Jeremy in the dungeon; some were stoned, as Zachharias the son of Johoiada, 2Ch 24:21.
Others sawn asunder, as Isaiah under the tyranny of Manesseh; others were tempted with fair promises and great rewards, but refusing, were slain with the sword.
Learn hence, That torments in the case of religion have been a very old invention of the devil and the world, and they have placed great hopes of prevailing by them; but no instruments of cruelty, no endeavours of hell, shall ever prevail against the faith of God’s elect. They wandered about in sheep-skins, and goat-skins; destitute, afflicted, tormented. This some refer to Elijah, who was destitute and fed by ravens, 1Ki 17:4, but it has been the portion of many of God’s faithful servants to be driven from their habitations, sometimes by the cruelty of the laws, sometimes by force and violence.
Of whom the world was not worthy; that is, the men of the world think the saints of God not worthy of to live amongst them, whereas the world is not worthy of such excellent company; and therefore, as soon as their work is done, God removes them.
Learn hence, 1. That God’s esteem of his people is never the less because of their outward sufferings and calamities, whatever the world judgeth of them; they esteem them the filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all things; but God is of another mind.
Learn, 2. Let the world think as highly and as proudly of itself as it pleases, God thinks it at all times, but especially when it persecute his people, base, and unworthy of their society. They wandered in deserts and mountains: Behold here the state and condition of some of the servants of the Living God, who, when driven from all inhabited places, took up their lodgings in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
Learn hence, That oft-times it is much better, and more safe for the saints of God to be in a wilderness, among the beasts of the fields, than in a savage world inflamed by the devil into rage and persecution.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Of whom the world was not worthy,.... These words…
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 the men of it, is by way of punishment to it:
they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth; as Elijah did; Kg1 18:4, and many in the times of the Maccabees;
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"And they kept the eight days with gladness, as in the feast of the tabernacles, remembering that not long afore they had held the feast of the tabernacles, when as they wandered in the mountains and dens like beasts'' (2 Maccabees 10:6).
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain And others - The apostle seems here to pass…
And others - The apostle seems here to pass on to recent examples.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 36. Had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings]…
Verse 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 who were to be punished capitally were first scourged. See the case of our Lord.
Bond's and imprisonment] Joseph was cast into prison; Jeremiah was cast into a dungeon full of mire, Jer 37:16, and Jer 38:6; and the Prophet Micaiah was imprisoned by Ahab, 1Kg 22:27.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain And others had trial of cruel mockings - Referring…
And others had trial of cruel mockings - Referring to the scorn and derision which the ancient victims of persecution experienced. This has been often experienced by martyrs, and doubtless it was the case with those who suffered on account of their religion, before the advent of the Saviour as well as afterward. Some instances of this kind are mentioned in the Old Testament 2Ki 2:23; 1Ki 22:24; and it was frequent in the time of the Maccabees.
And scourging - Whipping. This was a common mode of punishment, and was usually inflicted before a martyr was put to death; see the notes on Mat 10:17; Mat 27:26. For instances of this, see Jer 20:2; 2 Macc. 7:1; 5:17. “Of bonds.” Chains. Gen 39:20.
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And imprisonment - see 1Ki 22:27; Jer 20:2.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain others--of a different class of confessors for the truth…
others--of a different class of confessors for the truth (the Greek is different from that for "others," Heb 11:35, alloi, heteroi).
trial--testing their faith.
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imprisonment--as Hanani (Ch2 16:10), imprisoned by Asa. Micaiah, the son of Imlah, by Ahab (Kg1 22:26-27).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 36. mockings and scourgings] “Seven brethren and their mother…
36. mockings and scourgings] “Seven brethren and their mother … being tormented with scourges and whips … and they brought the second for a mocking-stock … And after him was the third made a mocking-stock … And … they tortured and tormented the fourth in like manner” (2Ma_7:1; 2Ma_7:7; 2Ma_7:10; 2Ma_7:13, &c.). “And they sought out … Judas’ friends … and he took vengeance on them and mocked them” (1Ma_9:26).
of bonds and imprisonment] Joseph (Gen_39:20), Micaiah (1Ki_22:26-27), Jeremiah (Jer_20:2; Jer_37:15), Hanani (2Ch_16:10).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (36) The language becomes more general, but still chiefly…
(36) The language becomes more general, but still chiefly refers to the same troublous times.
Yea, moreover of bonds.—Lasting and cruel captivity, a worse fate even than “mockings and scourgings.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 36-38. And others had trial of mockings and…
Vers. 36-38. 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. (2Ch_24:20; cf. Mat_23:35 Luk_11:51 Mat_23:37 Luk_13:34) "They wandered in sheepskins (mhlwtaiv) and in deserts" peculiarly suggests Elijah. (his mantle being called mhlwthv in the LXX, 2Ki_2:13, 2Ki_2:14) though the Maccabean heroes also took refuge in "deserts and mountains". (RAPC 1Ma 2) "Sawn asunder" (denoting a mode of executing martyrs of which there is no instance in the Old Testament or Apocrypha) 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," 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, Isa_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 epeirasyhsan ("were tempted") in ver. 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
(1) that it is an interpolation, arising from the repetition by some copyist of eprisyhsan , which was afterwards altered to epwirasyhsan : or
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(2) that it is a substitution for some other word through error in transcription, the most likely conjecture as to the word originally written being eprhsyhsan or epurasyhsan , equivalent to "were burnt." Either form, especially the latter, might easily be changed to epeirasyhsan : and thus death by fire would have been originally included in the enumeration, which was likely to have been the ease, especially since it is mentioned prominently in the account of the martyrdom of the seven sons. But, as there is no authority of any manuscript for a different word, this is mere conjecture; though the omission of the word altogether in some few manuscripts and versions, and variations of reading in others, suggest some uncertainty as to the original text. The word epeirasyhsan if genuine, may possibly have been suggested by alliteration, and by thought of the temptations to apostatize prominent in the account both of Eleazar and of the seven sons.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Cruel mockings and scourgings
Heb_11:36
Cruel mockings and scourgings
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Cruelty
I.
THE EVILS WERE
1. Mockings. The parties mocked were Gods saints and prophets; the parties mocking were their enemies and persecutors, which proved to be sometimes their own brethren, of the same nation, language, kindred, religion--and amongst these sometimes the basest of the people, sometimes the priests and princes. These mockings issue out of contempt, and tend unto the disgrace of the party mocked, and makes it a sport to abuse them, so as to rejoice in their misery. These mockings are sometimes in words, sometimes in signs, sometimes in both. And because to a grave, serious person, of eminent worth, some of these mockings are very bitter, cutting, cruel, not only in respect of the matter, but also of the circumstances, this made the sufferings more glorious.
2. Scourgings. This is a punishment also of great disgrace and sometimes of cruel pain, when by whips, either of cords or wires, not only the skin is broken, but the very flesh torn. And this was the more grievous because it was an usual punishment of slaves, of vilest persons, and of such as were of worst behaviour; and by it they were not only put to pain, but to open shame.
3. Bonds and imprisonment. Both these were restraints of liberty, which is so precious and desirable. The end of them was the reservation of malefactors or suspected persons till the time of trial and judgment; and close imprisonment was so much the more grievous when they were deprived of all comfortable society, and no friends suffered to relieve them.
II. THESE THEY SUFFERED. Some endured one of them, some more, some all; for they had trial or experience of these things, so some understand it, as though the sense were that they did not fear them threatened but feel them inflicted. Though their enemies did afflict and vex them unjustly and wickedly, yet they suffered them patiently, and resolved that though God should kill them, yet they would trust in Him.
III. THEY THUS SUFFERED THESE THINGS BY FAITH. For they knew the way to heaven was rough and troublesome, and that these sufferings could not separate them from the love of God nor deprive them of the great reward, but prepare them for eternal glory. For they verily believed that there was eternal life, that God had promised it, and that constancy in the covenant and perseverance in the way of righteousness was the only means to obtain possession; and they knew that though their sufferings were grievous, yet the reward would infinitely recompense all. (G. Lawson.)
Man as a persecutor:
Some creatures are unquestionably used as scourges; but perhaps the less we mortals say about such animated pests the better. They act up to their own organisation, but never beyond; whilst it is far otherwise with mankind. The serpent employs its poisoned fangs to procure food or avert peril, real or fancied; the jaguar uses its terrible incisors in the destruction of its prey; and the shark avails itself of its dental apparatus to assuage its appetite. But man, says Hugh Miller, must surely have become an immensely worse animal than his teeth show him to have been designed for; his teeth give no evidence regarding his real character. Of our racks and thumbscrews, our inquisitions and oubliettes, our noyades at Nantes and our mitraillades at Lyons and Toulons, there is no prophetic intimation in our dentology. (Scientific Illustrations and Symbols.)
Cruelty of persecutors:
As a specimen of the fierce cruelty of Queen Marys officers, Mr. Froude writes: The persecution degenerated into wholesale atrocity. On the 23rd of April six men were burnt at Smithfield; on the 28th, six more were burnt at Colchester; on the 15th of May an old lame man and a blind man were burnt at Stratford-le-Bow. In the same month three women suffered at Smithfield, and a blind boy was burnt at Gloucester. In Guernsey, a mother and two daughters were brought to the stake. One of the latter, a married woman with child, was delivered in the midst of her torments, and the infant just rescued was tossed back into the flames. Reason, humanity, even common prudence, were cast to the winds. Along the river bank stood rows of gibbets, with bodies of pirates swinging from them in the wind. Ferocity in the Government and lawlessness in the people went hand in hand. (Tinlings Illustrations.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 36. Others had trial of, etc. This was true…
36. Others had trial of, etc. This was true of many persecutions recorded in Jewish history.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain “Better” is not antithetical to bad, but to good.…
ARGUMENT 15
THE BETTER RESURRECTION.
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“Better” is not antithetical to bad, but to good. Hence the logical sequence follows that while there is a bad resurrection for the wicked, there are also two resurrections for the righteous — the good and the better, the first and the last. It is stated positively
“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: over these the second death hath no power, they shall be priests of God and Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” (Rev 20:6)
This Scripture, as well as others, settles the question of the two resurrections without the possibility of cavil. I am sorry this important revelation has been obscured by the spiritualization of the first resurrection. This is a gross and flagrant error, utterly untenable, as it breaks up and destroys the antithesis, doing away with the corporeal resurrection altogether, and plunging headlong into the Swedenborgian heresy. The Greek is ezeean in both cases, which simply means, “they lived.” If it is spiritual in one sense it is in the other, and physical resurrection is forever gone. Hence we see the utter untenability of this construction and receive unequivocally the doctrine of the two resurrections. In the rapture described by Paul (1Th 4:13-18), we have another graphic account of the first resurrection, when the Lord shall come after His bride, preparatory to His millennial kingdom. Php 3:11,
“If perchance I may attain unto the resurrection which is out from among the dead.”
The Old Testament saints were not ignorant of the glorious reality of the Lord’s bridehood. Therefore they suffered the most terrible tortures of martyrdom that they might have a place in the first resurrection; which will take place before the millennium, the last resurrection being postponed till the final judgment. It is certainly a glorious privilege to rise and shout o my grave a thousand years before the general resurrection, especially when we consider the glorious privileges of the bridehood to reign with Christ during the millennial ages.
36-38. Here the Holy Ghost describes the terrible tortures inflicted by a wicked world and a fallen Church on the Old Testament martyrs. They shouted in the fires anticipating the glories awaiting them in the Lord’s bridehood and the first resurrection.
39. “All these having received the witness of the Spirit through faith, obtained not the promise.”... While the Bible is flooded with thousands of promises, especially considering the synonymy of promise and commandment in the Greek and Hebrew, by which the number is doubled, the great Messianic promise of the Lord’s incarnation and the world’s literal and actual redemption by the bleeding Christ on the cross, his triumphant resurrection, glorious ascension and mediatorial coronation and intercession throughout the Bible is magnified as “the promise” by way of pre-eminence and exaltation. While the saints of all ages lived in glowing anticipation of this wonderful prophetical fulfillment, and the realization of the Messianic promise, yet they all died without the sight. Contrastively with the verification of this promise, theirs was a dispensation of Christian imperfection. Yet their stalwart and sanguine hope swept onward through the lights of type and prophecy into the personal experience of Christian perfection. This grand faith brigade lived, testified and shouted, in the realization of Gospel experiences many centuries in advance of their age and generation, while the rank and file of the Church barely reached perfection in the article of death, passing into eternity in a state of spiritual infancy, like the great bulk of the Gospel Church of the present day. Their case was apologizable, as they were in harmony with their dispensation, while the unsanctified millions of the Church of the present day, both clerical and laic, are blundering along amid the fogs of carnality, three thousand years behind the age.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.