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
But the synagogue leader was indignant that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. “There are six days for work,” he told the crowd.
“Answered with indignation, because ... - He considered this a violation of the Sabbath, doing work contrary to the fourth commandment.”
“You hypocrites!” the Lord replied. “Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it to water?
“Thou hypocrite! - You condemn “me” for an action, and yet you perform one exactly similar. You condemn “me” for doing to a woman what you do to a beast.”
When Jesus said this, all His adversaries were humiliated. And the whole crowd rejoiced at all the glorious things He was doing.
“Adversaries - The ruler of the synagogue, and those who felt as he did. All the people - The persons who attended the synagogue, and who had witnessed the miracle. It is to be remarked: 1. That those who opposed Christ were chiefly the “rulers.””
“Lord,” someone asked Him, “will only a few people be saved?” Jesus answered,
“Then said one - Who this was does not appear. It is probable that he was not one of the disciples, but one of the Jews, who came either to perplex him, or to involve him in a controversy with the Pharisees.”
After the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’
“When once the master ... - The figure here used is taken from the conduct of a housekeeper, who is willing to see his friends, and who at the proper time keeps his doors open.”
Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’
“We have eaten ... - Compare Mat 7:22-23. To have eaten with one is evidence of acquaintanceship or friendship. So the sinner may allege that he was a professed follower of Jesus, and had some evidence that Jesus was his friend.”
At that very hour, some Pharisees came to Jesus and told Him, “Leave this place and get away, because Herod wants to kill You.”
“Came certain of thee Pharisees - Their coming to him in this manner would have the appearance of friendship, as if they had conjectured or secretly learned that it was Herod’s intention to kill him. Their suggestion had much appearance of probability.”
Nevertheless, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day, for it is not admissible for a prophet to perish outside of Jerusalem.
“I must walk ... - I must remain here this short time. These three days I must do cures here, and then I shall depart, though not for fear of Herod.”
One Sabbath, Jesus went to eat in the home of a leading Pharisee, and those in attendance were watching Him closely.
“It came to pass - It so happened or occurred. As he went ... - It is probable that he was invited to go, being in the neighborhood Luk 14:12; and it is also probable that the Pharisee invited him for the purpose of getting…”
So Jesus asked the experts in the law and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”
“Jesus, answering - To “answer,” in the Scriptures, does not always imply, as among us, that anything had been said before. It means often merely to “begin” or to take up a subject, or, as here, to remark on the case that was present.”
When Jesus noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, He told them a parable:
“A parable - The word parable, here, means rather a “precept, an injunction.” He gave a “rule or precept” about the proper manner of attending a feast, or about the humility which ought to be manifested on such occasions.”
“When you are invited to a wedding banquet, do not sit in the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited.
“Art bidden - Are invited. To a wedding - A wedding was commonly attended with a feast or banquet. The highest room - The seat at the table nearest the head.”
But when you are invited, go and sit in the last place, so that your host will come and tell you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’
“The lowest room - The lowest seat at the table; showing that you are not desirous of distinctions, or greedy of that honor which may properly belong to you. Shalt have worship - The word “worship” here means “honor.””
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
“Whosoever exalteth ... - This is universal among people, and it is also the way in which God will deal with people.”
But when you host a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind,
“The poor - Those who are destitute of comfortable food. The maimed - Those who are deprived of any member of their body, as an arm or a leg or who have not the use of them so that they can labor for their own…”
When one of those reclining with Him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is everyone who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”
“Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God - The kingdom of God here means the kingdom which the Messiah was to set up. See the notes at Mat 3:2.”
When it was time for the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
“Sent his servant - An invitation had been sent before, but this servant was sent at the time that the supper was ready.”
But one after another they all began to make excuses. The first one said, ‘I have bought a field, and I need to go see it. Please excuse me.’
“I have bought a piece of ground - Perhaps he had purchased it on condition that he found it as good as it had been represented to him.”
Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out. Please excuse me.’
“I go to prove them - To try them, to see if he had made a good bargain. It is worthy of remark that this excuse was very trifling.”
Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, so I cannot come.’
“I have married a wife ... - Our Saviour here doubtless intends to teach us that the love of earthly relatives and friends often takes off the affections from God, and prevents our accepting the blessings which he would bestow on us.”
The servant returned and reported all this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and…
“Showed his lord - Told his master of the excuses of those who had been invited. Their conduct was remarkable, and it was his duty to acquaint him with the manner in which his invitation had been received.”
So the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.
“Go out into the highways - Since enough had not been found in the lanes and streets, he commands the servant to go into the roads - the public highways out of the city, as well as to the streets “in” it - and invite…”
For I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will taste my banquet.’”
“For I say unto you - These may be considered as the words of Jesus, making an application of the parable to the Pharisees before him.”
And if he is unable, he will send a delegation while the other king is still far off, to ask for terms of peace.
“Or else - If he is not able. If he is satisfied that he would be defeated. An ambassage - Persons to treat with an enemy and propose terms of peace.”
In the same way, I tell you that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who do not need to…
“Likewise joy ... - It is a principle of human nature that the “recovery” of an object in danger of being lost, affords much more intense joy than the quiet “possession” of many that are safe.”