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.
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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
For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but his physical presence is unimpressive, and his speaking is of no account.”
“For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful - He boasts of high powers, and that he can do great things. See on 2Co 10:1-2 (note).”
We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they show their ignorance.
“We dare not make ourselves, etc. - As if he had said: I dare neither associate with, nor compare myself to, those who are full of self-commendation. Some think this to be an ironical speech.”
We are not overstepping our bounds, as if we had not come to you. Indeed, we were the first to reach you with the gospel of Christ.
“For we stretch not ourselves beyond - We have not proceeded straight from Macedonia through Thessaly, and across the Adriatic Gulf into Italy, which would have led us beyond you westward; but knowing the mind of our God we left this direct path, and came…”
so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. Then we will not be boasting in the work already done in another man’s territory.
“To preach the Gospel in the regions beyond you - He probably refers to those parts of the Morea, such as Sparta, etc., that lay southward of them; and to Italy, which lay on the west; for it does not appear that he considered his…”
For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
“Not he that commendeth himself - Not the person who makes a parade of his own attainments; who preaches himself, and not Christ Jesus the Lord; and, far from being your servant for Christ’s sake, affects to be your ruler; not such a one shall…”
I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
“I am jealous over you, etc. - The apostle evidently alludes either to the שושבינים shoshabinim or paranymphs among the Hebrews, whose office is largely explained in the notes on Joh 3:29, and the observations at the end of that chapter (see note at Joh…”
For if someone comes and proclaims a Jesus other than the One we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the One you received, or a different gospel…
“For if he that cometh - The false apostle, who came after St. Paul had left Corinth. Preacheth another Jesus - Who can save more fully and more powerfully than that Jesus whom I have preached.”
Although I am not a polished speaker, I am certainly not lacking in knowledge. We have made this clear to you in every way possible.
“But though I be rude in speech - Ιδιωτης τῳ λογῳ Though I speak like a common unlettered man, in plain unadorned phrase, studying none of the graces of eloquence; yet I am not unskilled in the most profound knowledge of God, of spiritual and…”
I robbed other churches by accepting their support in order to serve you.
“I robbed other Churches - This part of the sentence is explained by the latter, taking wages to do you service. The word οψωνιον signifies the pay of money and provisions given daily to a Roman soldier.”
As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.
“As the truth of Christ is in me - Εστιν αληθεια Χριστου εν εμοι· The truth of Christ is in me. That is: I speak as becomes a Christian man, and as influenced by the Gospel of Christ.”
But I will keep on doing what I am doing, in order to undercut those who want an opportunity to be regarded as our equals in the things of which…
“But what I do, etc. - I act thus that I may cut off occasion of glorying, boasting, or calumniating from them - the false prophets and his partisans, who seek occasion - who would be glad that I should become chargeable to you, that…”
And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
“And no marvel - Και ου θαυμαστον· And no wonder; it need not surprise you what the disciples do, when you consider the character of the master.”
I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.
“Let no man think me a fool - See the note on 2Co 11:1. As the apostle was now going to enter into a particular detail of his qualifications, natural, acquired, and spiritual; and particularly of his labors and sufferings; he thinks it necessary to…”
In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or exalts himself or strikes you in the face.
“For ye suffer - As you are so meek and gentle as to submit to be brought into bondage, to have your property devoured, your goods taken away, yourselves laid in the dust, so that others may exalt themselves over you, yea, and will bear…”
Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.
“Are they Hebrews - Speaking the sacred language, and reading in the congregation from the Hebrew Scriptures? the same is my own language. Are they Israelites - Regularly descended from Jacob, and not from Esau? I am also one.”
Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.
“Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one - That is, he was five times scourged by the Jews, whose law (Deu 25:3) allowed forty stripes; but they, pretending to be lenient, and to act within the letter of the law, inflicted…”
In my frequent journeys, I have been in danger from rivers and from bandits, in danger from my countrymen and from the Gentiles, in danger in the city and in…
“In journeyings often - He means the particular journeys which he took to different places, for the purpose of propagating the Gospel. In perils of waters - Exposed to great dangers in crossing rivers; for of rivers the original, ποταμων, must be understood.”
Apart from these external trials, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.
“Beside those things that are without - Independently of all these outward things, I have innumerable troubles and mental oppressions.”
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
“I will glory - which concern mine infirmities - I will not boast of my natural or acquired powers; neither in what God has done by me; but rather in what I have suffered for him.”
In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas secured the city of the Damascenes in order to arrest me.
“In Damascus the governor under Aretas - For a description of Damascus see the note on Act 9:2. And for the transaction to which the apostle refers see Act 9:23. As to King Aretas, there were three of this name.”
was caught up to Paradise. The things he heard were too sacred for words, things that man is not permitted to tell.
“Caught up into paradise - The Jewish writers have no less than four paradises, as they have seven heavens; but it is needless to wade through their fables. On the word paradise see the note on Gen 2:8.”
Even if I wanted to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth.
“I shall not be a fool - Who that had got such honor from God would have been fourteen years silent on the subject?”
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
“I besought the Lord - That is, Christ, as the next verse absolutely proves, and the Socinians themselves confess.”
The true marks of an apostle—signs, wonders, and miracles—were performed among you with great perseverance.
“The signs of an apostle were wrought among you - Though I have been reputed as nothing, I have given the fullest proof of my Divine mission by various signs, wonders, and miracles, and by that patience which I have manifested towards you: though I…”
See, I am ready to come to you a third time, and I will not be a burden, because I am not seeking your possessions, but you.
“The third time I am ready - That is, this is the third time that I am ready - have formed the resolution, to visit you. He had formed this resolution twice before, but was disappointed. See 1Co 16:5, and 2Co 1:15, 2Co 1:16.”