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
When his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and recounted all of this to their master.
“So when his fellow-servants ... - This is a mere circumstance thrown into the story for the sake of keeping, or making a consistent narrative.”
That is how My heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”
“So likewise ... - This verse contains the sum or moral of the parable. When Christ has explained one of his own parables, we are to receive it just as he has explained it, and not attempt to draw spiritual instruction from any parts or…”
When Jesus had finished saying these things, He left Galilee and went into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.
“Coasts of Judea beyond Jordan - The narrative here refers to the last journey of the Saviour from Galilee to Jerusalem, to attend the last Passover which he celebrated.”
Then some Pharisees came and tested Him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”
“The Pharisees came - See the notes at Mat 3:7. Tempting him - This means, to get him, if possible, to express an opinion that should involve him in difficulty. Is it lawful ...”
“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses order a man to give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
“Why did Moses ... - To this they objected that Moses had allowed such divorces Deu 24:1; and if he had allowed them, they inferred that they could not be unlawful. See the notes at Mat 5:31.”
Now I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman, commits adultery.”
“And I say unto you - Emphasis should be laid here on the word “I.” This was the opinion of Jesus - this he proclaimed to be the law of his kingdom this the command of God ever afterward.”
“Not everyone can accept this word,” He replied, “but only those to whom it has been given.
“All men cannot receive this saying - The minds of people are not prepared for this. This saying evidently means what the disciples had just said that it was good for a man not to marry.”
Then the little children were brought to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them and pray for them. And the disciples rebuked those who brought them.
“Then were brought little children - See also Mar 10:13-16; Luk 18:15-17. Probably these were brought by some of his followers, who desired not only to devote themselves to Jesus, but all that they had - their children as well as themselves.”
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.
“For the kingdom of heaven ... - The word “for” shows that this chapter should have been connected with the preceding.”
About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing.
“About the third hour - The Jews divided their days into twelve equal parts, or hours, beginning at sunrise and ending at sunset. This was, therefore about nine o’clock in the morning.”
‘You also go into my vineyard,’ he said, ‘and I will pay you whatever is right.’
“Whatsoever is right - Whatsoever it shall appear you can earn. The contract with the first was definite; with this one it depended on the judgment of the employer.”
The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius.
“They received every man a penny - There was no agreement how much they should receive, but merely that justice should be done, Mat 20:4-5, Mat 20:7.”
So when the original workers came, they assumed they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarius.
“They supposed that they should have received more - They had worked longer - they had been in the heat; they supposed that it was his intention to pay them, not according to contract, but according to the time of the labor.”
On receiving their pay, they began to grumble against the landowner.
“Murmured - Complained; found fault with. The goodman of the house - The original here is the same word which in Mat 20:1 is translated householder, and should have been so translated here.”
But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Did you not agree with me on one denarius?
“Friend, I do thee no wrong - I have fully complied with the contract. We had an agreement: I have paid all that I promised.”
Do I not have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
“Is thine we evil because I am good? - The Hebrews used the word evil, when applied to the eye, to denote one envious and malicious, Deu 15:9; Pro 23:6.”
As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside and said,
“See also Mar 10:32-34; Luk 18:31-34. And Jesus, going up to Jerusalem - That is, doubtless, to the Passover. This journey was from the east side of Jordan. See the notes at Mat 19:1.”
Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and knelt down to make a request of Him.
“See also Mar 10:35-45. Mat 20:20 Then came to him give mother of Zebedee’s children ... - This was probably Salome, Mar 15:40; Mar 16:1.”
As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him.
“See Mar 10:46-52, and Luk 18:35-43; Luk 19:1, where this account of his restoring to sight two blind men is also recorded. “And as they departed from Jericho.””
As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent out two disciples,
“And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem - They were going up now from Jericho. Mat 20:29. The distance was about 19 miles. The most of the way was a desert, or filled with caves, and rocks, and woods - a suitable place for robbers.”
If anyone questions you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”
“The Lord hath need of them - This means no more than the “master” has need of them. The word “Lord” often means no more than “master” as opposed to servant, Mat 10:24; Eph 6:5; 1Pe 3:5-6.”
The crowds that went ahead of Him and those that followed were shouting: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna to the son of David ... - The word “hosanna” means “save now,” or “save, I beseech thee.” It is a Syriac word, and was a form of acclamation used among the Jews. It was probably used in the celebration of their great festivals.”
When Jesus returned to the temple courts and began to teach, the chief priests and elders of the people came up to Him.
“See also Mar 11:27-33; Luk 20:1-9. Mat 21:23 When he was come into the temple - That is, probably, into the inner court - the court of the Israelites.”
Once again, Jesus spoke to them in parables:
“And Jesus answered and spake unto them again in parables - See the notes at Mat 13:3. That is, he answered or made reply to the Pharisees, who had been enraged at him for what he had already spoken to them, Mat 21:45-46.”
He sent his servants to call those he had invited to the banquet, but they refused to come.
“And sent forth his servants - These represent the messengers that God has sent to invite people to his kingdom. To call them that were bidden - That is, to give notice to those who had before been invited that the feast was ready.”