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
Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.
“Lightness - Others render as in the margin. Defiled - Rather, profaned. The land especially consecrated to Yahweh’s service was treated by Judah as a common land.”
Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.
“Her treacherous sister Judith - These words are a sort of refrain, thrice Jer 3:7-8, Jer 3:10 repeated before God finally pronounces Judah more culpable than Israel.”
And the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than unfaithful Judah.
“Hath justified herself - Judah had had the benefit of the warning given by Israel’s example. Both abandon Yahweh’s service for idolatry, but Israel is simply “apostate,” Judah is also false.”
Only acknowledge your guilt, that you have rebelled against the LORD your God.
“Acknowledge - literally, “know thy iniquity;” know that thy doings are iniquitous. Scattered thy ways - Wandered in search of those idolatries which foreign nations practice.”
Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.”
“Pastors - “Kings, rulers” (compare Jer 2:8). Not military usurpers Hos 8:4, but true servants of God, as David 1Sa 13:14.”
A voice is heard on the barren heights, the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy, because they have perverted their ways and forgotten the LORD their God.
“Upon the high places - Upon those bare table-lands, which previously had been the scene of Israel’s idolatries Jer 3:2.”
Surely deception comes from the hills, and commotion from the mountains. Surely the salvation of Israel is in the LORD our God.
“Rather, Surely “in vain from the hills” is the revelry of the mountains. The penitents contrast in it the uselessness of idol-worship with the salvation which Yahweh gives to His people.”
“If you will return, O Israel, return to Me,” declares the LORD. “If you will remove your detestable idols from My sight and no longer waver,
“Return - The repentance of Israel described in Jer 3:21-25 was a hope, and not a reality. The return, literally, would be their restoration to their land; spiritually, their abandoning their sins.”
For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground, and do not sow among the thorns.
“To the men - To each man “of Judah.” They are summoned individually to repentance. Break up - literally, Fallow for you a fallow ground, i.”
A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to lay waste your land.
“Rather, A “lion”... a “destroyer” of nations: a metaphor descriptive of the impending calamity. A lion is just rousing himself from his lair, but no common one. It is destroyer, not of men, but of nations.”
At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A searing wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward the daughter of My people…
“At that time - See Jer 4:7. Though the revelation of the certainty of Judah’s ruin wrings from Jeremiah a cry of despair, yet it is but for a moment; he immediately returns to the delivery of God’s message.”
Behold, he advances like the clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!
“His troops move on in large masses like dark threatening clouds Joe 2:2. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled - Jeremiah’s own cry of grief.”
For a voice resounds from Dan, proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.
“Dan - The border-town of Palestine on the north Deu 34:1. Mount Ephraim - The northern boundary of Judaea itself.”
They surround her like men guarding a field, because she has rebelled against Me,” declares the LORD.
“Jeremiah compares the tents of the besiegers on guard round Jerusalem to the booths erected by shepherds or farmers for the protection of their flocks or produce.”
I looked at the earth, and it was formless and void; I looked to the heavens, and they had no light.
“In four verses each beginning with “I beheld,” the prophet sees in vision the desolate condition of Judaea during the Babylonian captivity. Jer 4:23 Without form, and void - Desolate and void (see Gen 1:2 note).”
For this is what the LORD says: “The whole land will be desolate, but I will not finish its destruction.
“Desolate - a waste. One of the most striking points of prophecy is, that however severe. may be the judgment pronounced against Judah, there is always the reservation, that the ruin shall not be complete Jer 3:14.”
Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above will grow dark. I have spoken, I have planned, and I will not relent or turn back.”
“For ... - Because of this doom upon Judah. I have purposed it - The Septuagint arrangement restores the parallelism: For I have spoken, and will not repent, I have purposed, and will not turn back from it.”
Every city flees at the sound of the horseman and archer. They enter the thickets and climb among the rocks. Every city is abandoned; no inhabitant is left.
“The whole city ... - Rather, Every city is fleeing. All the inhabitants of the tokens flee to Jerusalem for protection, or seek refuge in the woods and rocks.”
O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline.
“Upon the truth - God looks to the “faith,” the upright purpose of the heart, and without it the nominal fealty of an oath is an abomination.”
I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.”
“They have known ... - Men of education, who read the Scriptures, and learn from them the nature of God’s judgments. But these - literally, surely they (compare Jer 5:4). The yoke - The Mosaic law. And burst ...”
“Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by gods that are not gods.
“Rather, Why, “for what reason” should “I pardon thee?” When ... - Or, “though I bound them to me by oath, yet they committed adultery.” The harlots’ houses - The harlot’s house, i.”
Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD.
“Israel is not put here for the ten tribes, but for the whole house of Jacob, of which Judah was now the representative. Mighty - “permanent, enduring.” The word is the usual epithet of the rocks Num 24:21, and of ever-flowing streams Deu 21:4, Hebrew).”
They will devour your harvest and food; they will consume your sons and daughters; they will eat up your flocks and herds; they will feed on your vines and fig…
“Or, It shall eat “thine harvest and thy bread:” They shall eat “thy sons and thy daughters.” It shall eat thy sheep and thy cattle: It shall eat “thy vines and thy fig-trees.” They shall impoverish ...”
And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’
“The reason why God so chastises His people. As they in a land especially consecrated to Yahweh had served “strange” (i. e., foreign gods, so shall they in a land belonging to others be the slaves of strangers.”
Declare this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah:
“Against the God (1) of Creation Jer 5:22, and (2) of Providence Jer 5:24, They sin, not merely by apostasy, but by a general immorality extending to all classes Jer 5:25-28. It is in this immorality that their idolatry has its root.”