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
So there were four tables inside the gateway and four outside—eight tables in all—on which the sacrifices were to be slaughtered.
“Four tables - These were in the porch of the north gate, in the court of the priests: on them they slew, flayed, and cut up the victims. See dddd in the plan.”
Then he brought me to the portico of the temple and measured the side pillars of the portico to be five cubits on each side.
“Breadth of the gate - It is evident that the gate was a bivalve, or had folding doors. The length of the porch was twenty cubits. Josephus says the vestibule was twenty cubits long and ten broad. Antiq. lib. 8:3, 2.”
The width of the entrance was ten cubits, and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on each side.
“The breadth of the door - This was the door, or gate, of the sanctuary, (see gates 3, in the plan), and this doorway was filled up with folding gates. The measurements are exactly the same as those of Solomon’s temple.”
Then he measured the room adjacent to the inner sanctuary to be twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. And he said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”
“The length thereof, twenty cubits - This is the measurement of the sanctuary, or holy of holies. See G in the plan. This also was the exact measurement of Solomon’s temple, see 1Ki 6:20.”
The side rooms were arranged one above another in three levels of thirty rooms each.
“The side chambers were three - We find by Joseph. Antiq. 8:3, 2, that round Solomon’s temple were chambers three stories high, each story consisting of thirty chambers.”
Now the building that faced the temple courtyard on the west was seventy cubits wide, and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, with a length…
“The length thereof ninety cubits - The temple, with the buildings which surrounded it, was eighty-one cubits long; add ten cubits for the vestibule, or five for the breadth of the separate place, and five for its wall; in all, ninety cubits.”
Then he measured the temple to be a hundred cubits long, and the temple courtyard and the building with its walls were also a hundred cubits long.
“So he measured the house - The temple, taken from the wall which encompassed it from the western side to the vestibule, was one hundred and one cubits; five for the separate place, nine for the wall and the chambers attached to the temple, sixty…”
were alternating carved cherubim and palm trees. Each cherub had two faces:
“A palm tree was between a cherub and a cherub - That is, the palm trees and the cherubs were alternated; and each cherub had two faces, one of a lion and the other of a man; one of which was turned to the palm…”
Cherubim and palm trees were carved on the wall of the outer sanctuary from the floor to the space above the entrance.
“From the ground unto above the door - The temple was thirty cubits high, 1Ki 6:2, the gate was fourteen cubits, chap. Eze 40:48. The palm trees and the cherubim were the same height as the gate or door. The windows were above the door.”
Cherubim and palm trees like those on the walls were carved on the doors of the outer sanctuary, and there was a wooden canopy outside, on the front of the…
“There were thick planks - The wood, or planks, were thick and strong; for the cherubim and palm trees were carved in relief out of their substance, and unless they had been of considerable thickness, this could not have been done.”
Once the priests have entered the holy area, they must not go out into the outer court until they have left behind the garments in which they minister, for these…
“They shall lay their garments wherein they minister - The priests were not permitted to wear their roles in the outer court.”
With a measuring rod he measured the east side to be five hundred cubits long.
“He measured the east - north - south - west side - Each of which was five hundred reeds: and, as the building was square, the area must have been nearly thirteen thousand paces. No wonder this was called a city. See Eze 40:2.”
So he measured the area on all four sides. It had a wall all around, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, to separate the holy from the…
“It had a wall round about - to make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place - The holy place was that which was consecrated to the Lord; into which no heathen, nor stranger, nor any in a state of impurity, might enter.”
and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of many waters, and the earth shone with His glory.
“The glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east - This was the chariot of cherubim, wheels, etc., which he saw at the river Chebar.”
When they placed their threshold next to My threshold and their doorposts beside My doorposts, with only a wall between Me and them, they defiled My holy name by the…
“In their setting of their threshold - They had even gone so far as to set up their idol altars by those of Jehovah; so that their abominable idols were found in the very house of God! therefore, “he consumed them in his anger.””
Now let them remove far from Me their prostitution and the funeral offerings for their kings, and I will dwell among them forever.
“Now let them put away their whoredom - Their idolatry. And the carcasses of their kings - It appears that God was displeased with their bringing their kings so near his temple.”
This is the law of the temple: All its surrounding territory on top of the mountain will be most holy. Yes, this is the law of the temple.
“This is the law of the house - From the top of the mountain on which it stands, to the bottom, all round about, all shall be holy; no buildings shall be erected in any part, nor place nor spot be appropriated to a common…”
You are to give a young bull from the herd as a sin offering to the Levitical priests who are of the family of Zadok, who approach Me to minister…
“The priests - that be of the seed of Zadok - It was this Zadok that was put in the place of Abiathar, by Solomon, 1Ki 2:35, in whose family the priesthood had continued ever since.”
And the LORD said to me, “This gate is to remain shut. It shall not be opened, and no man shall enter through it, because the LORD, the God of…
“This gate shall be shut - It was not to be opened on ordinary occasions, nor at all on the week days: but only on the Sabbaths and the new moons. See the account of the gates (4) in the explanation of the plan.”
In addition to all your other abominations, you brought in foreigners uncircumcised in both heart and flesh to occupy My sanctuary; you defiled My temple when you offered My food—the…
“The fat and the blood - These never went into common use; they were wholly offered to God. The blood was poured out; the fat consumed. Because of all your abominations - Several MSS.”
Surely the Levites who wandered away from Me when Israel went astray, and who wandered away from Me after their idols, will bear the consequences of their iniquity.
“And the Levites that are gone away far from me - This refers to the schism of Jeroboam, who, when he set up a new worship, got as many of the priests and Levites to join him in his idolatry as he could.”
They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but must carefully trim their hair.
“Neither shall they shave their heads - The priests of Isis shaved their heads close to the skin; the priests of Budhoo do so still, their ordinances oblige them to shave their heads every tenth day.”
And they shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but must marry a virgin of the descendants of the house of Israel, or a widow of a priest.
“Neither shall they take for their wives a widow - This was prohibited to the high priest only, by Moses, Lev 21:13, Lev 21:14.”
A priest must not defile himself by going near a dead person. However, for a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, a brother, or an unmarried sister, he may…
“And they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves - Touching the dead defiles a Hindoo now, as it formerly did a Jew; and they must bathe to become clean again.”
This land will be his possession in Israel. And My princes will no longer oppress My people, but will give the rest of the land to the house of Israel…
“My princes shall no more oppress my people - By exorbitant taxes to maintain profligate courts, or subsidize other powers to help to keep up a system of tyranny in the earth.”