Hebrews Chapter 11 verse 36 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerses 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 (2 Chronicles 24:20; cf. Matthew 23:35; 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, 14), though the Maccabean heroes also took refuge in "deserts and mountains" (1 Macc. 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,' § 120; Tertullian, 'Cont. Guest. Scorpiac.,' 8, and 'De Patient.,' 14; Origen, Ep. ad African.;' Lactantius, 'Inst.,' 4:11; Ps-Epiphanius, 'Vit. Proph.; Augustine, 'De Civ. 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 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 kern the repetition by some copyist of ἐπρίσθησαν, which was afterwards altered to ἐπωιράσθησαν: or (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 ἐπρήσθησαν or ἐπυράσθησαν, equivalent to "were burnt." Either form, especially the latter, might easily be changed to ἐπειράσθησαν: and thus death by fire would have been originally included in the enumeration, which was likely to have been the case, 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 ἐπειράσ θησαν 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.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(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."