CHAP. XI.] n STONED, SAWN ASUNDER. 221 n 1 Kings xvii. 22. 2 Kings iv. 35. • Acts xxii. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance ; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprison ment: r 25. q Gen. xxxix. 20. Jer. xx. 2. & xxxvii. 15. r1 Kings xxi. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, 13. 2 Chron. Acts xxiv. 21. 19. 37. "They were sawn asunder, were tempted." So A., E., K., most Cursives, d, e, f, Vulg., Cop,, Arm.; but N, D., L., P., reverse the order, they were tempted, were sawn asunder." 35. "Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured," &c. Thus the woman of Zarephath (or Sarepta) in 1 Kings xvii. (2 Kings iv.). 22; and the woman in Shunem In apparent contrast to this is the next clause, where allusion is without all doubt made to the heroic mother and her seven sons mentioned in 2 Maccabees, chap. vii., each one of whom in succession was cruelly tortured, but refused to disobey the law of God by eating swines' flesh. "That they might obtain a better resurrection." Thus the fourth son confessed the Resurrection to life in the words, "It is good being put to death by man, to look for hope from God, to be raised up again by him" (vii. 14). 36. "And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment." The allusion probably is to the insults which the seven sons endured, all of whom were cruelly mocked before they were put to death. 'Eμraryμoí are not mere mockings, but cruel, sportive forms of ill-treatment of all kinds." Thus the second son had the skin of his head and hair pulled off before he was tortured to death. Bonds and imprisonment were the common lot of the persecuted in all ages. The writer may have in his mind the imprisonment of Jeremiah. 37. "They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted." "They were stoned," so Naboth (1 Kings xxi. 13); so Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada (2 Chron. xxiv. 21): Our Lord denounced Jerusalem as "Thou that stonest them that are sent unto thee" (Matt. xxiii. 37). 222 THEY WANDERED ABOUT. [HEBREWS. were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered $ 2 Kings i. 8. about in sheepskins and goatskins; being desti Matt. iii. 4. t Zech. xiii. 4. u 1 Kings xviii. 4. & xix. 9. 66 tute, afflicted, tormented; 38 (Of whom the world was not worthy :) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and "in dens and caves of the earth. 'They were sawn asunder." It is related in Jewish tradition that Isaiah suffered this horrible form of death under Manasseh. "Were tempted." There is considerable difficulty respecting the interpretation of this "tempted." It comes in amongst bodily tortures, and is altogether out of place if it refers to spiritual trials. It has been supposed that the word is a repetition by mistake of 66 were sawn asunder" (πpio@noav) the word for ". were tempted" (εpáσ0ŋoav) having a similar sound. May it not allude to some horrible form of temptation in which the martyrs were tied to women, or exposed to a death of hunger unless they eat swines' flesh ? "Were slain with the sword." This also seems a mild punishment compared to some enumerated. There seems a reference to the complaint of Elijah, "The children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword" (1 Kings xix. 10). "They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins." Commentators usually refer to the rough garments worn by the prophets. Thus Zechariah xiii. 4, "Neither shall they (the prophets) wear a rough garment to deceive;" but may it not refer to some plan of concealing themselves in the skins of these animals to deceive their pursuers ? "Being destitute," i.e., of the barest necessaries of life, as Elijah was when he was fed by the ravens. 38. "Of whom the world was not worthy." How different the judgment of God from that of the world! In the sight of men they were, like the Apostles, "The filth of the earth, the off-scouring of all things" (1 Cor. iv. 13). In the sight of God they were the salt of the earth, the ten righteous on whose intercession He suspended His judgment, and gave a little respite to the condemned kingdoms. So it has ever been with the saints of God. The world is not CHAP. XI.] A GOOD REPORT THROUGH FAITH. 223 39 And these all, * having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: I ver. 2, 13. 39. "The promise." So N, D., E., K., L., P., most Cursives, d, e, f, Vulg.; but A. reads the promises." worthy of such, and God takes them away, perhaps before their time, cutting them off in the midst of their witness, as He did John the Baptist, and James the brother of John, and they pass away and take their place under the altar, and cry, "How long, O Lord?" This clause may be taken parenthetically, but some connect it with the next words, " of them the world was not worthy," and so God withdrew them from its society and made them "wanderers in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens, and in caves of the earth," but the former interpretation, that which makes the sentence parenthetical, or interjected, as it were, seems the best. 39. "And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not," &c. Here the Apostolic writer resumes what he had said in verse 2. By it (faith) the elders, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and the rest whose deeds of faith he has just finished recording-these all obtained a good report through faith, but received not the promise. Thus Abraham, during all the time of his sojourn, looked for and received not the city which hath the foundations. What, then, is this promise? There can be no doubt but that it is the final consummation at the Second Coming of the Lord. We must make the needful distinction between receiving the promise in its being given to us in the words of God, and receiving the promise in its fulfilment in the final consummation. All these elders accomplished these glorious deeds of faith because they believed in the words of God that He would fulfil His promise. And yet "they received not the promise." And why? Because it is the will of God that the whole congregation of his saints, from righteous Abel to the very last received into Paradise, should be perfected in their glorified bodies at the same time. 40. "God having provided some better things for us, that they SOME BETTER THING. У [HEBREWS. 40 God having || provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. without us." What is this better thing? It cannot be the consummation, because that is yet future. St. Paul says that he shall receive the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give him at that day; and yet it must be something better than that which the elders, who died in faith, received. What is it? It can only be the dispensation of Christ, the revelation in the flesh of the Eternal Son, the words and deeds by which He instructed us in the perfect will of God (Matth. xiii. 17), His atoning Death, His life-giving Resurrection, our being gathered into His Church, our being made members of His mystical Body, our eating His Flesh and drinking His Blood that we may have eternal life, and that we may dwell in Him and He in us. It can be only this, for this is the better thing which the elders had not and which we have. "That they without us." They await not only the Consummation of the last day, but the better thing which God has foreseen or provided for us. The dispensation of Christ is the preparation for being made perfect at the last. It is because we have the full knowledge of Christ as Incarnate, Crucified, Risen and Ascended, and are members of His mystical Body, and continue so to the end, that we attain the promise. They await this revelation of Christ and have it revealed to them in their present state. Thus the Lord Himself preached it to those in the unseen state. How God makes up to them the want of union with His mystical Body we know not, but we are sure that He does. The souls of the departed "elders," having received the knowledge of the Person and work of Christ, are in the same condition as the Christian souls now in Paradise. CHAP. XII.] A CLOUD OF WITNESSES. CHAP. XII. 225 HEREFORE seeing we also are compassed about with WH a а aside every weight, and the sin which doth so a 1 Pet. ii. 1. 1. "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great," &c. The Hebrew Christians under severe persecution and trial are contending in the arena for the prize. The spectators in the vast amphitheatre, rising rank upon rank above one another are the elders whose names have been mentioned with honour as having obtained a good report, and these are but representatives of a vastly greater number, so as to be compared to an overhanging or encircling cloud, and the judge or distributor of the crowns is the Lord Himself. "Let us lay aside every weight." Let us do what those have to do who contend for the prize of running. Let us lay aside every weight, every hindrance, every impediment which prevents us using our limbs to the uttermost. Chrysostom says "all what " that is all slumber, indifference, mean reasonings, all human things. There can be little doubt that the image is taken from the immediate preparations for the decisive effort, and it is hardly possible that ȧroléσ0αı öyкov could be used of the effects of training. The writer seems to have had in mind the manifold encumbrances of society and business which would be likely to hinder a Christian convert (compare the Lord's parable of the great supper, Luke xiv. 16, &c.). "And the sin which doth so easily beset us." The meaning assigned to εvжEρíoтarov as readily besetting sin seems the most in accordance with the derivation of the word, and what is most surely required by the circumstances. Everyone has his peculiarly besetting sin, which must be got under and conquered if the Christian's conflict is to issue in victory. So it was with such a saint as St. Paul (1 Cor. ix. 27), “I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that, by any means, having preached to others I myself should be unapproved." It is to this besetting sin that |