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.
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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
After the death of Joshua, the Israelites inquired of the LORD, “Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?”
“After the death of Joshua - But from Jdg 1:1 to Jdg 2:9 is a consecutive narrative, ending with the death of Joshua. Hence, the events in this chapter and in Jdg 2:1-6 are to be taken as belonging to the lifetime of Joshua.”
When Judah attacked, the LORD delivered the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands, and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek.
“The Canaanites and the Perizzites - See Gen 12:6, note; Gen 13:7, note. Bezek may be the name of a district. It has not yet been identified.”
Then Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have gathered the scraps under my table.
“Threescore and ten kings - We may infer from this number of conquered kings, that the intestine wars of the Canaanites were among the causes which, under God’s Providence, weakened their resistance to the Israelites.”
Then the men of Judah went with their brothers the Simeonites, attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and devoted the city to destruction. So it was called Hormah.
“Hormah - See Num 21:1 note. The destruction then vowed was now accomplished. This is another decisive indication that the events here related belong to Joshua’s lifetime. This would be about six years after the vow.”
The Benjamites, however, failed to drive out the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. So to this day the Jebusites live there among the Benjamites.
“This verse is nearly identical with Jos 15:63, except in the substitution of Benjamin for Judah. Probably the original reading Judah was altered in later times to Benjamin, because Jebus was within the border of Benjamin, and neither had the Benjamites expelled the Jebusites.”
Asher failed to drive out the inhabitants of Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, and Rehob.
“Compare the marginal reference. Accho, afterward called Ptolemais, now Akka or St. Jean d’Acre, is named here for the first time.”
So the Asherites lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, because they did not drive them out.
“It is an evidence of the power of the Canaanite in this portion of the land that it is not said (compare Jdg 1:30) that the Canaanites dwelt among the Asherites, but that the Asherites (and Jdg 1:33, Naphtali) “dwelt among the Canaanites;” nor are…”
Now the angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I had…
“The angel of the Lord (not an angel). - The phrase is used nearly 60 times to designate the Angel of God’s presence. See Gen 12:7 note.”
and you are not to make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall tear down their altars.’ Yet you have not obeyed My voice.
“The two articles of the covenant here specified (compare margin references) are those which the Israelites had at this time broken.”
So now I tell you that I will not drive out these people before you; they will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to…
““Wherefore I also said” - Rather because ye have done the things mentioned in Jdg 2:2, “I have now said (i. e. I now protest and declare) that I will not drive them out from before you” (compare Jdg 19:29).”
So they called that place Bochim and offered sacrifices there to the LORD.
“Bochim - i. e. weepers. It was near Shechem, but the site is unknown. Compare the names given to places for similar reasons in Gen 35:8; Gen 50:11.”
And the people served the LORD throughout the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him, who had seen all the great works that the LORD had done…
“If Joshua was about 80 at the entrance into Canaan, 30 years would bring us to the close of his life.”
And Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110.
“The servant of the Lord - This is a title especially given to Moses Deu 34:5; Jos 1:1. In later books, the phrase “the servant of God” is used 1Ch 6:49; Neh 10:29; Dan 9:11; Rev 15:3.”
And the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals.
“And the children of Israel - Here begins the narrative of what really did happen “after the death of Joshua,” but of which Judg. 1 conveys no hint. Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua Jdg 2:7. But when Joshua was dead ...”
These are the nations that the LORD left to test all the Israelites who had not known any of the wars in Canaan,
“Even as many of Israel ... - These words show that the writer has especially in view the generation which came to man’s estate immediately after the close of the wars with the Canaanites Jos 23:1. Compare Jdg 2:10.”
the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath.
“Lords - Seranim, a title used exclusively of the princes of the five Philistine cities. The title is probably of Phoenician origin.”
So the land had rest for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.
“The land - means here, as in Jdg 1:2, not the whole land of Canaan, but the part concerned, probably the land of the tribe of Judah.”
After enlisting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join forces with him, Eglon attacked and defeated Israel, taking possession of the City of Palms.
“The children of Ammon (Bent-Ammon), almost always so spoken of from their ancestor Ben-ammi Gen 19:38, seem to be under the leadership of the king of Moab, as do also the Amlekites: this is perhaps the strengthening spoken of in Jdg 3:12. In Judg.”
And again they cried out to the LORD, and He raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, as their deliverer.
“But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer - The very same words as are used at Jdg 3:9. See, too, Jdg 2:16, Jdg 2:18, and Neh 9:27.”
But upon reaching the idols near Gilgal, he himself turned back and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.”
“Gilgal was in the immediate neighborhood of Jericho Jdg 2:1, where doubtless Eglon held his court at this time Jdg 3:13. Quarries - Some take the original of this word in its common meaning of carved images or idols (see the margin).”
So they waited until they became worried and saw that he had still not opened the doors of the upper room.
“A key - literally, “an opener.” Probably a wooden instrument with which they either lifted up the latch within, or drew back the wooden bar or bolt. The chief officer of Eglon’s household probably had a second key (compare Isa 22:15, Isa 22:20-22; Isa 37:2).”
After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath. And he too saved Israel, striking down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad.
“From this verse and Jdg 5:6 we may gather that Shamgar was contemporary with Jael, and that he only procured a temporary and partial deliverance for Israel by his exploit. He may have been of the tribe of Judah.”
Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, because Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had harshly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.
“Oppressed - The same word is used Exo 3:9 of the oppression of Israel by the Egyptians. If they were put to task-work in hewing timber, their condition was very like that of their ancestors making bricks.”
And she would sit under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, where the Israelites would go up to her for judgment.
“She dwelt - Rather, “she sat,” namely, to judge the people Jdg 4:10, but not in the usual place, “the gate” Rth 4:1-2; Pro 22:22.”
And I will draw out Sisera the commander of Jabin’s army, his chariots, and his troops to the River Kishon, and I will deliver him into your hand.’”
“The brook or stream Kishon (Nahr Mukutta), so called from its winding course, caused by the dead level of the plain of Esdraelon through which it flows, rises, in respect to one of its sources or feeders, in Mount Tabor, and flows nearly due west…”