Voices and influences
Albert Barnes
The Philadelphia pastor who rose at four every morning to write Bible notes for his own Sunday school, and sold a million volumes of them.
Summary
This site quotes Albert Barnes 8,265 times across 66 books, and lists 0 works.
- Lived 1798 to 1870.
- Quoted here most in Isaiah: 746 of 8,265.
.jpg?width=640)
Albert Barnes
- Lived
- 1798 to 1870
- Tradition
- Presbyterian
5 of 8,265 quotations
Own words
Quoted in full, because Albert Barnes died in 1870 and these works are out of copyright. Each citation below names its edition and its year. A citation naming a modernised text means that edition makes its own editorial changes, and that edition's terms are not in this site's record.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts - Interpreters have differed in regard to the connection of this verse with the preceding.
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Undated in the archive this site cites.
The rest of the quotation
It is evident, I think, that it is properly connected with the subject of pardon; and the sense must be, that the plans and purposes of God in regard to forgiveness are as far above those of people as the heavens are higher than the earth, Isa 55:
Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. BSB
He hath shewed thee - Micah does not tell them now, as for the first time; which would have excused them. He says, “He hath shewed thee;” He, about whose mind and will and pleasure they were pretending to enquire, the Lord their God.
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Undated in the archive this site cites.
The rest of the quotation
He had shewn it to them. The law was full of it. He shewed it to them, when He said, “And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him and to serve the Lord, thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command thee this day for thy good?” Deu 10:12-13. They had asked, “with what outward thing shall I come before the Lord;” the prophet tells them, “what thing is good,” the inward man of the heart, righteousness, love, humility. And what doth the Lord require (search, seek) of thee? - The very word implies an earnest search within. He would say (Rup.), “Trouble not thyself as to any of these things, burnt-offerings, rams, calves, without thee. For God seeketh not thine, but thee; not thy substance, but thy spirit; not ram or goat, but thy heart.” : “Thou askest, what thou shouldest offer for thee? Other thyself. For what else doth the Lord seek of thee, but thee? Because, of all earthly creatures, He hath made nothing better than thee, He seeketh thyself from thyself, because thou hadst lost thyself.” To do judgment - are chiefly all acts of equity; “to love mercy,” all deeds of love. Judgment, is what right requires; mercy, what love. Yet, secondarily, “to do judgment” is to pass righteous judgments in all cases; and so, as to others, “judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” Joh 7:24; and as to one’s self also. Judge equitably and kindly of others, humbly of thyself. […]
Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? BSB
(Compare Exo. 39:1-31.) Moses is now commanded to commit all that pertains to the offerings made to the Lord in the sanctuary to the exclusive charge of the members of a single family, who were to hold their office from generation to generation.
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Undated in the archive this site cites.
The rest of the quotation
In the patriarchal times, the external rites of worship had generally been conducted by the head of the tribe or family, in accordance with the principle involved in the dedication of the firstborn Exo 13:2; Num 3:12-
Exodus 28:1 “Next, have your brother Aaron brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, to serve Me as priests. BSB
The leper was to carry about with him the usual signs of mourning for the dead. Compare Lev 10:6 and margin reference.
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Undated in the archive this site cites.
The rest of the quotation
The leper was a living parable in the world of the sin of which death was the wages; not the less so because his suffering might have been in no degree due to his own personal deserts: he bore about with him at once the deadly fruit and the symbol of the sin of his race. Exo 20:
Leviticus 13:45 A diseased person must wear torn clothes and let his hair hang loose, and he must cover his mouth and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’ BSB
Chambers - (Margin, floors). Rather, a lean-to, which completely surrounded three sides of the building, the north, the west, and the south.
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Undated in the archive this site cites.
1 Kings 6:5 Against the walls of the temple and the inner sanctuary, Solomon built a chambered structure around the temple, in which he constructed the side rooms. BSB
Influence, on the record
This site quotes Albert Barnes 8,265 times across 66 books.
This site’s own count of what it does with the voice
The life, in order
The life told as one accountfrom this site's record
Albert Barnes was born at Rome, New York, on December 1, 1798. He was headed for the law. At Hamilton College he was converted, changed direction, and went to Princeton Theological Seminary instead, graduating in 1824. His first pastorate was Morristown, New Jersey, from 1825 to 1830. In 1830 he was called to the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, where he preached until 1867 — thirty-seven years in one pulpit. The habit that made him famous was the alarm clock. Barnes rose at four every morning and wrote until nine, before the day's pastoral work began. What he wrote were notes on the Bible for his own Sunday school teachers and Bible class — plain explanations, verse by verse, aimed at people with no Greek and no library. He published them, beginning with the Gospels in 1832. They did not stop. Notes, Explanatory and Practical eventually covered the whole New Testament and much of the Old — Job, the Psalms, Isaiah, Daniel — and sold more than a million volumes in his lifetime, an astonishing number for the period. Generations of American laymen learned their Bible out of Barnes. He was also tried for heresy. His 1829 sermon The Way of Salvation, and then his notes on Romans in 1835, were charged with departing from the Westminster Confession on original sin and the atonement; Barnes taught that Christ's death was a provision made for all rather than a payment restricted in advance to the elect. The Presbytery of Philadelphia suspended him from the ministry in 1835, and the General Assembly reversed the suspension in 1836. He was acquitted, but the fight was one of the fuses of the Old School–New School division that split the American Presbyterian church in 1837. Barnes stood on the New School side. He fought slavery hard and early. An Inquiry into the Scriptural Views of Slavery (1846) took up the biblical arguments the Southern churches used and dismantled them one at a time; The Church and Slavery followed in 1857. The books were read widely in the North during the years the country came apart. His eyesight failed badly in later life, and he kept working with help. He resigned the pulpit in 1867 and died in Philadelphia on December 24, 1870, at seventy-two. What he left is unusual for a scholar. Not a monument — a tool. A working pastor's commentary, written before breakfast for people who had no one else to explain the text, still in print and still free more than a century and a half later. Sources: Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the New Testament and An Inquiry into the Scriptural Views of Slavery; the published minutes of the Presbyterian General Assembly, 1835–1837; Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church; George Marsden, The Evangelical Mind and the New School Presbyterian Experience.
8,265 quotations across 66 books
Where this voice is quoted
For I have assigned to you 390 days, according to the number of years of their iniquity. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
“According to the number of the days - Or, “to be to thee as a number of days (even as)” etc. Compare the margin reference.”
Now behold, I will tie you up with ropes so you cannot turn from side to side until you have finished the days of your siege.
“I will lay bands upon thee - Contrast margin reference. The Lord will put constraint upon him, to cause him to exercise his office.”
But take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them in a single container and make them into bread for yourself.
“Two things are prefigured in the remainder of this chapter, (1) the hardships of exile, (2) the straitness of a siege.”
You are also to measure out a sixth of a hin of water to drink, and you are to drink it at set times.
“Water by measure - This probably corresponds to the water of affliction 1Ki 22:27; Isa 30:20. The measure of the hin is variously estimated by Jewish writers.”
Then the LORD said, “This is how the Israelites will eat their defiled bread among the nations to which I will banish them.”
“The ceremonial ordinances in relation to food were intended to keep the nation free from idolatrous usages; everywhere among the pagan idol feasts formed a leading part in their religious services, and idol meats were partaken of in common life.”
“As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword, use it as a barber’s razor, and shave your head and beard.
“Translate it: take thee a sharp sword, for a barber’s razor thou shalt take it thee. Even if the action were literal, the use of an actual sword would best enforce the symbolic meaning.”
When the days of the siege have ended, you are to burn up a third of the hair inside the city; you are also to take a third and slash…
““The third part burnt in the midst of the city” represents those who perished within the city during the siege; “the third part smitten about it” (the city) “with” the sword, those who were killed about the city during the same period: “the third part…”
But you are to take a few strands of hair and secure them in the folds of your garment.
“Of the third part a few are yet to be taken and kept in the fold of the garment (representing those still to remain in their native land), and yet even of those few some are to be cast into the fire.”
This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her.
“I have set it in the midst of the nations - It was not unusual for nations to regard the sanctuary, which they most revered, as the center of the earth. In the case of the holy land this was both natural and appropriate.”
Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You have been more insubordinate than the nations around you; you have not walked in My statutes or kept My ordinances, nor…
“Because ye multiplied - Some prefer: Because ye have raged tumultuously.” Neither have done according to the judgments - (or, ordinances) of the nations The reproach is that the Israelites have not even been as faithful to their one true God as the nations have…”
Because of all your abominations, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again.
“Compare Mat 24:21. The calamities of the Babylonian were surpassed by the Roman siege, and these again were but a foreshadowing of still more terrible destruction at the last day.”
A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I…
“The judgments Eze 5:12-17 of “famine, pestilence,” and the “sword,” were precisely those which attended the coming siege of Jerusalem (Jer 15:2 ff).”
And when My anger is spent and I have vented My wrath against them, I will be appeased.
“Comforted - In the sense of “consoling oneself” and “feeling satisfaction in punishing;” hence, to “avenge oneself.” The fury is to “rest” upon them, abide, so as not to pass away.”
And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
“The former prophecies concerned the city of Jerusalem and the inhabitants of Judaea. The present is addressed to the whole land and people of Israel, which is to be included in a like judgment, The ground of the judgment is “idolatry,” and the whole rests…”
The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am the LORD.
“The force of the words is, “When the slain shall fall in the midst of you, then at last ye shall know that I am the Lord.””
Then in the nations to which they have been carried captive, your survivors will remember Me—how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts that turned away from Me, and…
“I am broken ... - Translate: “because” I have broken “their whorish heart, which hath departed from me,” and their eyes etc.”
This is what the Lord GOD says: Clap your hands, stomp your feet, and cry out “Alas!”
“The gleam of hope is but transitory. Darkness again gathers round, for as yet the prophet is predicting judgment. Eze 6:11 Smite ... stamp - Well-known modes of expressing grief. Eze 6:13 Sweet savor - Compare Gen 8:21.”
And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
“A dirge. Supposing the date of the prophecy to be the same as that of the preceding, there were now but four, or perhaps three, years to the final overthrow of the kingdom of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar.”
Doom has come to you, O inhabitants of the land. The time has come; the day is near; there is panic on the mountains instead of shouts of joy.
“The morning - Rather, “The conclusion:” a whole series (literally circle) of events is being brought to a close. Others render it: Fate. The day of trouble ...”
They will put on sackcloth, and terror will overwhelm them. Shame will cover all their faces, and all their heads will be shaved.
“Various signs of mourning common in eastern countries. Baldness was forbidden to the Israelites Deu 14:1. They seem, however, in later times to have adopted the custom of foreign nations in this matter, not without permission. Compare Isa 22:12.”
They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will seem unclean. Their silver and gold cannot save them in the day of the wrath of the LORD.
“Shall be removed - literally, “shall be an unclean thing” Lev 20:21; their gold shall be unclean and abominable in their eyes. The stumblingblock of their iniquity - See Eze 3:20. Their gold and silver used in making images was the occasion of their sin.”
So I will bring the most wicked of nations to take possession of their houses. I will end the pride of the mighty, and their holy places will be profaned.
“The worst of the pagan - The most cruel and terrible of nations - the Chaldaeans. The pomp of the strong - Compare Lev 26:19 “The strong” are those who pride themselves in imaginary strength.”
In the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before me; and there the…
“The elders of Judah - The prophet’s fellow-exiles are no longer unwilling to hear him Eze 2:1-10. They sat as mourners. The message here is not as in Eze 6:2, but distinctly to Judah, that portion of the people whose exile Ezekiel shared.”
Then I looked and saw a figure like that of a man. From His waist down His appearance was like fire, and from His waist up He was as bright…
“The appearance of fire - In margin reference, seen as the appearance of a man enthroned upon the cherubim. Here He stands apart from the throne revealing Himself to His servant. Compare Dan 3:25 note. Amber - See the margin reference note.”
He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head.
“In the visions of God - Ezekiel was not transported “in the body,” but rapt “in spirit,” while he still sat amidst the elders of Judah. The inner gate - Or, the gate of the inner court.”