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
Then the woman left her water jar, went back into the town, and said to the people,
“Left her waterpot - She was so penetrated with the great truths which Jesus had announced that she forgot her errand to the well, and returned to the city without the water for which she came out!”
So they left the town and made their way toward Jesus.
“They went out of the city - Such effect had the simple testimony of the woman on their minds. And came unto him - Or, Were coming to him; for they did not reach him immediately; all that discourse between him and his disciples, mentioned…”
But He told them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
“I have meat to eat that ye know not of - Our blessed Lord seizes every opportunity to raise the minds of his apostles to heavenly things, through the medium of earthly matters. Nor does he force these things into such service.”
Jesus explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.
“My meat is to do the will of him that sent me - In these words, our blessed Lord teaches a lesson of zeal and earnestness to his apostles, and to all their successors in the Christian ministry.”
Already the reaper draws his wages and gathers a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together.
“And he that reapeth receiveth wages - Or, And already the reaper receiveth wages. By making the word ηδη, already, the beginning of this verse, on the authority of some excellent MSS.”
So when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed two days.
“He abode there two days - We are not told that he wrought any miracles among them; this does not appear to have been necessary: they were a simple-hearted, teachable people, and they credited him on the evidence of his own eternal truth.”
They said to the woman, “We now believe not only because of your words; we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man truly is the Savior of…
“We have heard him ourselves - On seeing and hearing our Lord, the faith of those who had already believed on the woman’s testimony was abundantly confirmed; and, besides those, may others believed who had not heard the woman speak.”
Yet when He arrived, the Galileans welcomed Him. They had seen all the great things He had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they had gone there as well.
“The Galileans received him - They received him as the promised Messiah, because of the miracles which they had seen him perform at Jerusalem, at the Passover. See Joh 2:23.”
So once again He came to Cana in Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. And there was a royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum.
“Where he made the water wine - See the notes on Joh 2:1, etc. Cana was on the road from Nazareth to Capernaum and the Sea of Tiberias.”
Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe.”
“Except ye see signs and wonders, etc. - Our Lord does not tell this man that he had no faith, but that he had not enough.”
“Go,” said Jesus. “Your son will live.” The man took Jesus at His word and departed.
“Go thy way; thy son liveth - Had our Lord gone with him, as he wished, his unbelief could not have been fully removed; as he would have still thought that our Lord’s power could not reach from Cana to Capernaum: in order to destroy…”
So he inquired as to the hour when his son had recovered, and they told him, “The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.”
“Then inquired he of them the hour - The servants, overjoyed to find their master’s son so suddenly restored, set off to meet him, that they might impart to him tidings which they knew would be so very agreeable; and he, intent on having his…”
This was now the second sign that Jesus performed after coming from Judea into Galilee.
“This - second miracle - The first miracle which Christ performed was in this same city of Cana, just after his baptism; and this second took place after his arrival here from Jerusalem, whence, we have seen, he was driven by the persecution raised against…”
Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool with five covered colonnades, which in Hebrew is called Bethesda.
“There Is - This is thought by some to be a proof that John wrote his Gospel before the destruction of Jerusalem; and that the pool and its porticoes were still remaining.”
“Angel - “Of the Lord,” is added by AKL, about 20 others, the Ethiopic, Armenian, Slavonic, Vulgate, Anglo-Saxon, and six copies of the Itala: Cyril and Ambrose have also this reading.”
When Jesus saw him lying there and realized that he had spent a long time in this condition, He asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
“Wilt thou be made whole? - Christ, by asking this question, designed to excite in this person faith, hope, and a greater desire of being healed.”
Then Jesus told him, “Get up, pick up your mat, and walk.”
“Rise, take up thy bed, and walk - Jesus speaks here as God. He speaks in no name but his own, and with an authority which belongs to God alone. And what is the consequence?”
Afterward, Jesus found the man at the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.”
“Jesus findeth him in the temple - The man being conscious that it was through the mercy of God that he was restored, (though he did not as yet know distinctly who Christ was), went to the temple to return thanks to God for his…”
And the man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
“The man departed, and told the Jews - He did not say it was Jesus who had ordered him to carry his bed, but it was Jesus who had cured him; and he left them to draw the inference, viz.”
Now because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews began to persecute Him.
“And sought to slay him - This clause is omitted by BCDL, some others, and several ancient versions. Griesbach has left it out of the text; and Professor White says, certissime delenda: but it does not appear to me that it should be omitted.”
Because of this, the Jews tried all the harder to kill Him. Not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself…
“Making himself equal with God - This the Jews understood from the preceding verse: nor did they take a wrong meaning out of our Lord’s words; for he plainly stated that, whatever was the Father’s work, his was the same; thus showing that He and…”
The Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. And to your amazement, He will show Him even greater works than these.
“Greater works than these - Two of these he immediately mentions: Raising the dead, Joh 5:21. And judging the world, Joh 5:22. That ye may marvel - Or, So as to make you wonder.”
Furthermore, the Father judges no one, but has assigned all judgment to the Son,
“The Father judgeth no man - This confirms what he had said before, Joh 5:17, Joh 5:19, that the Father acts not without the Son, nor the Son without the Father; their acts are common, their power equal.”
Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment.
“He that heareth my word - My doctrine - and believeth on him that sent me - he who credits my Divine mission, that I am come to give light and life to the world by my doctrine and death - hath eternal life -…”
For as the Father has life in Himself, so also He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.
“Hath he given to the Son to have life, etc. - Here our Lord speaks of himself in his character of Messiah, or envoy of God.”