Voices and influences
Adam Clarke
The self-taught Irish Methodist orientalist who rode preaching circuits for fifty years and spent forty of them writing a commentary on the whole Bible.
Summary
This site quotes Adam Clarke 9,015 times across 66 books, and lists 0 works.
- Lived 1762 to 1832.
- Quoted here most in Genesis: 673 of 9,015.
Adam Clarke
- Lived
- 1762 to 1832
- Tradition
- Methodist
5 of 9,015 quotations
Own words
Quoted in full, because Adam Clarke died in 1832 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.
The earth was without form and void - The original term תהו tohu and בהו bohu, which we translate without form and void, are of uncertain etymology; but in this place, and wherever else they are used, they convey the idea of confusion and disorder.
The rest of the quotation
From these terms it is probable that the ancient Syrians and Egyptians borrowed their gods, Theuth and Bau, and the Greeks their Chaos.
Genesis 1:2 Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. BSB
Even a fool - He is counted wise as to that particular. He may know that he cannot speak well, and he has sense enough to keep from speaking. He is, as to that particular, a wise fool.
The rest of the quotation
A man may be golden-mouthed and silver-tongued in eloquence; but to know when and where to speak and to be silent, is better than diamonds. But who that thinks he can speak well can refrain from speaking? His tongue has no rest.
Proverbs 17:28 Even a fool is considered wise if he keeps silent, and discerning when he holds his tongue. BSB
Thoughts of peace - Here God gives them to understand, 1. That his love was moved towards them. 2. That he would perform his good word, his promises often repeated, to them. 3. That for the fulfillment of these they must pray, seek, and search.
The rest of the quotation
4. That he would hearken, and they should find him; provided, 5. They sought him with their whole heart, Jer 29:10-13.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope. BSB
Let your light so shine - Or more literally, Thus let your light shine, Ουτω λαμψατω το φως.
The rest of the quotation
As the sun is lighted up in the firmament of heaven to diffuse its light and heat freely to every inhabitant of the earth; and as the lamp is not set under the bushel, but placed upon the lamp-stand that it may give light to all in the house; Thus let every follower of Christ, and especially every preacher of the Gospel, diffuse the light of heavenly knowledge, and the warmth of Divine love through the whole circle of their acquaintance.
Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. BSB
A bruised reed shall he not break - A reed is, in Scripture, the emblem of weakness, Eze 29:6; and a bruised reed must signify that state of weakness that borders on dissolution and death. And smoking flax shall he not quench - Λινον τυφομενον.
The rest of the quotation
Λινος means the wick of a lamp, and τυφομενον is intended to point out its expiring state, when the oil has been all burnt away from it, and nothing is left but a mere snuff, emitting smoke.
Matthew 12:20 A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish, till He leads justice to victory. BSB
Influence, on the record
This site quotes Adam Clarke 9,015 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
Adam Clarke was born at Moybeg, in County Londonderry, Ireland, about 1760 — his father said 1762, and the exact year has never been settled. His father was a schoolmaster; the family was poor. As a boy Clarke was thought slow. He learned to read late, and then read everything he could reach. He was converted among the Methodists in 1778, and in 1782 John Wesley himself sent him to the Bradford circuit in England. He was about twenty-two, with almost no formal schooling and a horse. He spent the rest of his life as a travelling preacher, moving circuits every few years as Methodist rules required — Bradford, Norwich, the Channel Islands, Dublin, Manchester, Liverpool, London. He was elected president of the British Methodist Conference three times, in 1806, 1814, and 1822, an honor almost never repeated in that era. And all along he studied. Clarke taught himself Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldee, Arabic, Persian, Samaritan, Coptic, and more, and became one of the finest oriental scholars in Britain without ever holding a university chair. The government hired him: for years he worked for the Records Commission on Rymer's Foedera, the great collection of English state papers, and he catalogued manuscripts for private libraries. He was elected to the Royal Irish Academy and the Society of Antiquaries. The work he is known for took forty years. The Holy Bible... with a Commentary and Critical Notes was published in eight volumes between 1810 and 1826. It is enormous, digressive, and packed with material nobody else was supplying to English readers — Hebrew and Arabic parallels, ancient customs, natural history, textual notes, and long excursions on whatever caught his eye. It became the standard theological resource of Methodism for the better part of two centuries, and it is still consulted. He was open about where he broke ranks. Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ: he held the Son to be fully and eternally divine, but taught that the title "Son" describes the incarnation rather than an eternal relation. Methodists argued with him about it in his lifetime and long after, and Methodist doctrine did not follow him there. He also read the tempter of Genesis 3 as a creature more like an ape than a serpent — a reading nearly everyone else rejected. The commentary carries these views plainly, and readers have always had to weigh them. He gave himself away in other directions too. He worked for the early Bible society movement, championed the Sunday school, organized mission work in the Shetland Isles, and gave away most of what he earned. He died of cholera in London on August 26, 1832, during the epidemic that swept Britain that year, still working. Sources: Adam Clarke, The Holy Bible... with a Commentary and Critical Notes; J. B. B. Clarke, ed., An Account of the Infancy, Religious and Literary Life of Adam Clarke, LL.D.; Luke Tyerman, The Life and Times of the Rev. John Wesley; the Dictionary of National Biography (1887), "Clarke, Adam."
9,015 quotations across 66 books
Where this voice is quoted
Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea?
“After a dead dog - A term used among the Hebrews to signify the most sovereign contempt; see 2Sa 16:9. One utterly incapable of making the least resistance against Saul, and the troops of Israel. The same idea is expressed in the term flea.”
When David had finished saying these things, Saul called back, “Is that your voice, David my son?” Then Saul wept aloud
“My son David? - David had called Saul his master, lord, and king. Saul accosts him here as his son, to show that he felt perfectly reconciled to him, and wished to receive him as formerly into his family.”
When a man finds his enemy, does he let him go away unharmed? May the LORD reward you with good for what you have done for me this day.
“If a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? - Or rather, Will he send him in a good way?”
Now I know for sure that you will be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands.
“I know well that thou shalt surely be king - Hebrew, Reigning, thou shalt reign. He knew this before; and yet he continued to pursue him with the most deadly hatred.”
So David gave his oath to Saul. Then Saul returned home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.
“Saul went home - Confounded at a sense of his own baseness, and overwhelmed with a sense of David’s generosity. David and his men gat them up unto the hold - Went up to Mizpeh, according to the Syriac and Arabic.”
His name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was harsh and evil in his dealings.
“The name of the man was Nabal - The word נבל nabal signifies to be foolish, base, or villanous; and hence the Latin word nebulo, knave, is supposed to be derived. The name of his wife Abigail - The joy or exultation of my father.”
and say to him, ‘Long life to you, and peace to you and your house and to all that belongs to you.
“Peace be both to thee - This is the ancient form of sending greetings to a friend: Peace to Thee, peace to thy Household, and peace to all that Thou Hast.”
Now I hear that it is time for shearing. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harass them, and nothing of theirs was missing the whole time they…
“Thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not - It is most evident that David had a claim upon Nabal, for very essential services performed to his herdmen at Carmel.”
Ask your young men, and they will tell you. So let my young men find favor with you, for we have come on the day of a feast.
“Whatsoever cometh to thine hand - As thou art making a great feast for thy servants, and I and my men, as having essentially served thee, would naturally come in for a share were we present; send a portion by my ten young men, for…”
Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five butchered sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred…
“Took two hundred loaves - The Eastern bread is ordinarily both thin and small; and answers to our cakes. Two bottles of wine - That is, two goat-skins full.”
As Abigail came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, she saw David and his men coming down toward her, and she met them.
“She came down - and David - came down - David was coming down Mount Paran; Abigail was coming down from Carmel. - Calmet.”
May God punish David, and ever so severely, if I let one of Nabal’s men survive until morning.”
“So and more also do God - Nothing can justify this part of David’s conduct. Whatever his provocation might have been, he had suffered, properly speaking, no wrongs; and his resolution to cut off a whole innocent family, because Nabal had acted ungenerously towards him…”
On hearing that Nabal was dead, David said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has upheld my cause against the reproach of Nabal and has restrained His servant from evil.
“To take her to him to wife - It is likely that he had heard before this that Saul, to cut off all his pretensions to the throne, had married Michal to Phalti; and this justified David in taking Abigail or any other woman; and…”
But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.
“Phalti - Called also Phaltiel, 2Sa 3:16. Of Gallim - Probably a city or town in the tribe of Benjamin; see Isa 10:30. It is likely therefore that Saul chose this man because he was of his own tribe.”
So Saul, accompanied by three thousand chosen men of Israel, went down to the Wilderness of Ziph to search for David there.
“Three thousand chosen men - Though they knew that David was but six hundred strong, yet Saul thought it was not safe to pursue such an able general with a less force than that mentioned in the text; and, that he might the better depend…”
Then David set out and went to the place where Saul had camped.
“David arose - As David and his men knew the country, they had many advantages over Saul and his men; and no doubt could often watch them without being discovered.”
David added, “As surely as the LORD lives, the LORD Himself will strike him down; either his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle…
“The Lord shall smite him - He shall die by a stroke of the Divine judgment; or his day shall come to die - he shall die a natural death; which in the course of things must be before mine, and thus I shall get…”
So David took the spear and water jug by Saul’s head, and they departed.
“David took the spear and the cruse - The spear, we have already seen, was the emblem of power and regal dignity.”
So do not let my blood fall to the ground far from the presence of the LORD.
“As when one doth hunt a partridge - It is worthy of remark that the Arabs, observing that partridges, being put up several times, soon become so weary as not to be able to fly; they in this manner hunt them upon the mountains, till…”
Then Saul replied, “I have sinned. Come back, David my son. I will never harm you again, because today you considered my life precious.
“I have sinned - Perhaps the word חטאתי chatathi, “I have sinned,” should be read, I have erred, or, have been mistaken. I have taken thee to be a very different man from what I find thee to be. Taken literally it was strictly true.”
Saul said to him, “May you be blessed, David my son. You will accomplish great things and will surely prevail.” So David went on his way, and Saul returned home.
“Thou shalt both do great things, and also shalt still prevail. - The Hebrew is גם עשה תעשה וגם יכל תוכל gam asoh thaaseh, vegam yachol tuchal; “Also in doing thou shalt do, and being able thou shalt be able; which the Targum translates, also…”
David, however, said to himself, “One of these days now I will be swept away by the hand of Saul.
“I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul - This was a very hasty conclusion: God had so often interposed in behalf of his life, that he was authorized to believe the reverse.”
So David set out with his six hundred men and went to Achish son of Maoch, the king of Gath.
“David arose, and he passed over - unto Achish - There is not one circumstance in this transaction that is not blameable.”
David and his men settled in Gath with Achish. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, the…
“Every man with his household - So it appears that the men who consorted with David had wives and families. David and his company resembled a tribe of the wandering Arabs.”
That day Achish gave him Ziklag, and to this day it still belongs to the kings of Judah.
“Achish gave him Ziklag - Ziklag was at first given to the tribe of Judah, but afterwards it was ceded to that of Simeon, Jos 15:31; Jos 19:5.”