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 some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” “Do not take money by force or false accusation,” he said. “Be content with your wages.”
“The soldiers likewise demanded of him - He, thirdly, instructs those among the military. They were either Roman soldiers, or the soldiers of Herod or Philip. Use no violence to any, μηδενα διασεισητε, do not extort money or goods by force or violence from any.”
the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,
“Of Cainan - This Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, and father of Sala, is not found in any other Scripture genealogy.”
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and the news about Him spread throughout the surrounding region.
“Returned in the power of the Spirit - Εν τῃ δυναμει του πνευματος, In the mighty power of the Spirit.”
Then Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. As was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath. And when He stood up to read,
“To Nazareth, where he had been brought up - It is likely that our Lord lived principally in this city till the 30th year of his age; but, after he entered on his public ministry, his usual place of residence was at the house of…”
“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor.
“The Spirit of the Lord - This is found in Isa 61:1; but our Lord immediately adds to it Isa 42:7.”
All spoke well of Him and marveled at the gracious words that came from His lips. “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” they asked.
“At the gracious words - To the words of grace, επι τοις λογοις της χαριτος, or the doctrines of grace, which he then preached. It is very strange that none of the evangelists give us any account of this sermon!”
Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to the widow of Zarephath in Sidon.
“Unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta - The sentence is elliptical, and means this: To none of them was Elias sent; he was not sent except to Sarepta; for the widow at Sarepta was a Sidonian, not a widow of Israel.”
They were astonished at His teaching, because His message had authority.
“His word was with power - Εν εξουσιᾳ, With authority. He assumed the tone and manner of a new Lawgiver; and uttered all his doctrines, not in the way of exhortation or advice, but in the form of precepts and commands, the unction of the…”
In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon. He cried out in a loud voice,
“A spirit of an unclean devil - As demon was used both in a good and bad sense before and after the time of the evangelists the word unclean may have been added here by St. Luke, merely to express the quality of this spirit.”
But Jesus rebuked the demon. “Be silent!” He said. “Come out of him!” At this, the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without harming him.
“And hurt him not - Though he convulsed him, Mar 2:26, and threw him down in the midst of them, probably with the design to take away his life, yet our Lord permitted it not; and this appears to be the meaning of the place.”
And the news about Jesus spread throughout the surrounding region.
“The fame - Ηχος, the sound. This is a very elegant metaphor. The people are represented as struck with astonishment, and the sound goes out through all the coasts; in allusion to the propagation of sound, by a smart stroke upon any substance, by which…”
At sunset, all who were ill with various diseases were brought to Jesus, and laying His hands on each one, He healed them.
“When the sun was setting - And consequently the Sabbath ended, for before this it would have been unlawful to have brought their sick to be healed.”
At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place, and the crowds were looking for Him. They came to Him and tried to keep Him from leaving.
“And the people sought him - Rather, Sought him earnestly. Instead of εζητουν, sought, I read, επεζητουν, earnestly sought. This reading is supported by ABCDFLMS - V, and more than seventy others. Wetstein and Griesbach have both received it into the text.”
But Jesus told them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well, because that is why I was sent.”
“I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities - To proclaim the kingdom of God was the Messiah’s great work; healing the diseases of the people was only an emblematical and secondary work, a work that was to be the proof of his…”
He saw two boats at the edge of the lake. The fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.
“Two ships - Δυο πλοια, Two vessels, It is highly improper to term these ships.”
When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to tear.
“Their net brake - Or, began to break, διερῥηγνυτο, or, was likely to be broken. Had it broke, as our version states, they could have caught no fish. Grammarians give the following rule concerning words of this kind. Verba completiva inchoative intelligenda.”
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees. “Go away from me, Lord,” he said, “for I am a sinful man.”
“Depart from me; for I am a sinful man - Εξελθε απ’ εμου, Go out from me, i.e. from my boat. Peter was fully convinced that this draught of fish was a miraculous one; and that God himself had particularly interfered in this matter, whose…”
and so were his partners James and John, the sons of Zebedee. “Do not be afraid,” Jesus said to Simon. “From now on you will catch men.”
“Thou shalt catch men - Ανθρωπους εσῃ ζωγρων, Thou shalt catch men alive; this is the proper signification of the word.”
“Do not tell anyone,” Jesus instructed him. “But go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering Moses prescribed for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”
“And offer for thy cleansing - A Hindoo, after recovering from sickness, presents the offerings he had vowed when in distress, as a goat, sweetmeats, milk, or any thing directed by the Shaster.”
Yet He frequently withdrew to the wilderness to pray.
“And he withdrew himself into the wilderness - Or rather, He frequently withdrew into the desert. This I believe to be the import of the original words, ην ὑποχωρων.”
But the scribes and Pharisees began thinking to themselves, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
“Who can forgive sins, but God alone? - If Jesus were not God, he could not forgive sins; and his arrogating this authority would have been blasphemy against God, in the most proper sense of the word.”
Everyone was taken with amazement and glorified God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”
“Strange things - Παραδοξα, paradoxes. A paradox is something that appears false and absurd, but is not really so: or, something contrary to the commonly received opinion.”
and Levi got up, left everything, and followed Him.
“And he left all - Καταλιπων - completely abandoning his office, and every thing connected with it. He who wishes to preach the Gospel, like the disciples of Christ, must have no earthly entanglement. If he have, his whole labor will be marred by it.”
Then Levi hosted a great banquet for Jesus at his house. A large crowd of tax collectors was there, along with others who were eating with them.
“A great feast - Δοχην μεγαλην, A splendid entertainment. The word refers more properly to the number of the guests, and the manner in which they were received, than to the quality or quantity of the fare.”
And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will spill, and the wineskins will be ruined.
“The new wine will burst the bottles - These old bottles would not be able to stand the fermentation of the new wine, as the old sewing would be apt to give way.”