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
You must not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.
“Thou shalt not revile the gods - Most commentators believe that the word gods here means magistrates. The original is אלהים Elohim, and should be understood of the true God only: Thou shalt not blaspheme or make light of [תקלל tekallel] God, the fountain of…”
You shall do likewise with your cattle and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days, but on the eighth day you are to give them to…
“Seven days it shall be with his dam - For the mother’s health it was necessary that the young one should suck so long; and prior to this time the process of nutrition in a young animal can scarcely be considered as completely formed.”
You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.
“Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil - Be singular. Singularity, if in the right, can never be criminal.”
And do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit.
“Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause - The word דל dal, which we translate poor man, is probably put here in opposition to רבים rabbim, the great, or noble men, in the preceding verse: if so, the meaning is, Thou shalt…”
If you encounter your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him.
“If thou meet thine enemy’s ox - going astray - From the humane and heavenly maxim in this and the following verse, our blessed Lord has formed the following precept: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you…”
For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the son of…
“Six days thou shalt do thy work - Though they were thus bound to keep the sabbatical year, yet they must not neglect the seventh day’s rest or weekly Sabbath; for that was of perpetual obligation, and was paramount to all others.”
You must not offer the blood of My sacrifices with anything leavened, nor may the fat of My feast remain until morning.
“The blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread - The sacrifice here mentioned is undoubtedly the Passover; (see Exo 34:25); this is called by way of eminence My sacrifice, because God had instituted it for that especial purpose, the redemption of Israel from the Egyptian…”
Behold, I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.
“Behold, I send an Angel before thee - Some have thought that this was Moses, others Joshua, because the word מלאך malach signifies an angel or messenger; but as it is said, Exo 23:21, My name is in him, (בקרבו bekirbo, intimately, essentially in him)…”
Pay attention to him and listen to his voice; do not defy him, for he will not forgive rebellion, since My Name is in him.
“He will not pardon your transgressions - He is not like a man, with whom ye may think that ye may trifle; were he either man or angel, in the common acceptation of the term, it need not be said, He will not pardon your…”
You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces.
“Break down their images - מצבתיהם matstsebotheyhem, from נצב natsab, to stand up; pillars, anointed stones, etc., such as the baitulia. See Clarke on Gen 28:18 (note).”
No woman in your land will miscarry or be barren; I will fulfill the number of your days.
“There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren - Hence there must be a very great increase both of men and cattle.”
I will send the hornet before you to drive the Hivites and Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.
“I will send hornets before thee - הצרעה hatstsirah. The root is not found in Hebrew, but it may be the same with the Arabic saraa, to lay prostrate, to strike down; the hornet, probably so called from the destruction occasioned by the violence of…”
Moses alone shall approach the LORD, but the others must not come near. And the people may not go up with him.”
“Moses alone shall come near - The people stood at the foot of the mountain. Aaron and his two sons and the seventy elders went up, probably about half way, and Moses alone went to the summit.”
When Moses came and told the people all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they all responded with one voice: “All the words that the LORD has spoken, we…
“Moses - told the people all the words of the Lord - That is, the ten commandments, and the various laws and ordinances mentioned from the beginning of the 20th to the end of the 23d chapter.”
And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. Aaron and Hur are here with you. Whoever has a dispute can go to them.”
“Tarry ye here for us - Probably Moses did not know that he was to continue so long on the mount, nor is it likely that the elders tarried the whole forty days where they were: they doubtless, after waiting some considerable time, returned to…”
and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered it, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the…
“And the seventh day he called - It is very likely that Moses went up into the mount on the first day of the week; and having with Joshua remained in the region of the cloud during six days, on the seventh, which was the…”
And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop in the eyes of the Israelites.
“The glory of the Lord was like devouring fire - This appearance was well calculated to inspire the people with the deepest reverence and godly rear; and this is the use the apostle makes or it, Heb 12:28, Heb 12:29, where he evidently refers to…”
Moses entered the cloud as he went up on the mountain, and he remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
“Forty days and forty nights - During the whole of this time he neither ate bread nor drank water; see Exo 34:28; Deu 9:9.”
“Tell the Israelites to bring Me an offering. You are to receive My offering from every man whose heart compels him.
“That they bring me an offering - The offering here mentioned is the תרומה terumah, a kind of free-will offering, consisting of any thing that was necessary for the occasion.”
This is the offering you are to accept from them: gold, silver, and bronze;
“This is the offering - There were three kinds of metals: 1. Gold, זהב zahab, which may properly signify wrought gold; what was bright and resplendent, as the word implies.”
blue, purple, and scarlet yarn; fine linen and goat hair;
“Blue - תכלת techeleth, generally supposed to mean an azure or sky color; rendered by the Septuagint ὑακινθον, and by the Vulgate hyacinthum, a sky-blue or deep violet.”
ram skins dyed red and fine leather; acacia wood;
“Rams’ skins dyed red - ערת אילם מאדמים oroth eylim meoddamim, literally, the skins of red rams. It is a fact attested by many respectable travelers, that in the Levant sheep are often to be met with that have red or violet-coloured fleeces.”
olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense;
“Oil for the light - This they must have brought with them from Egypt, for they could not get any in the wilderness where there were no olives; but it is likely that this and some other directions refer more to what was to be…”
and onyx stones and gemstones to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.
“Onyx stones - We have already met with the stone called שהם shoham, Gen 2:12, and acknowledged the difficulty of ascertaining what is meant by it. Some think the onyx, some the sardine, and some the emerald, is meant.”
You must make the tabernacle and design all its furnishings according to the pattern I show you.
“After the pattern of the tabernacle - It has been supposed that there had been a tabernacle before that erected by Moses, though it probably did not now exist; but the tabernacle which Moses is ordered to make was to be formed exactly on the…”