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
“Why do you ask Me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
“Why callest thou me good? - Or, Why dost thou question me concerning that good thing? τι με ερωτας περι του αγαθου.”
“Which ones?” the man asked. Jesus answered, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness,
“Thou shalt do no murder, etc. - But some say these commandments are not binding on us. Vain, deceived men! Can a murderer, an adulterer, a thief, and a liar enter into eternal life? No. The God of purity and justice has forbidden it.”
honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“Honour thy father and thy mother - σου thy, is omitted by almost every MS. of respectability. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself - Self-love, as it is generally called, has been grievously declaimed against, even by religious people, as a most pernicious and…”
“All these I have kept,” said the young man. “What do I still lack?”
“All these have I kept - I have made these precepts the rule of my life. There is a difference worthy of notice between this and our Lord’s word.”
Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”
“If thou wilt be perfect - Τελειος ειναι, To be complete, to have the business finished, and all hinderances to thy salvation removed, go and sell that thou hast - go and dispose of thy possessions, to which it is evident his heart was too…”
When the young man heard this, he went away in sorrow, because he had great wealth.
“Went away sorrowful - Men undergo great agony of mind while they are in suspense between the love of the world and the love of their souls.”
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
“A rich man shall hardly enter - That is, into the spirit and privileges of the Gospel in this world, and through them into the kingdom of glory.”
Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
“A camel - Instead of καμηλον, camel, six MSS. read καμιλον, cable, a mere gloss inserted by some who did not know that the other was a proverb common enough among the people of the east.”
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
“Who can be saved? - The question of the disciples seemed to intimate that most people were rich, and that therefore scarcely any could be saved.”
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
“With men this is impossible - God alone can take the love of the world out of the human heart. Therefore the salvation of the rich is represented as possible only to him: and indeed the words seem to intimate, that it requires more than…”
“Look,” Peter replied, “we have left everything to follow You. What then will there be for us?”
“We have forsaken all - “A poor all,” says one, “a parcel of rotten nets.” No matter - they were their All, whether rotten or sound; besides, they were the all they got their bread by; and such an all as was quite sufficient for…”
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will…
“Ye which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, etc.”
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for the sake of My name will receive a hundredfold…
“Shall receive a hundredfold - Viz. in this life, in value, though perhaps not in kind; and in the world to come everlasting life. A glorious portion for a persevering believer! The fullness of Grace here, and the fullness of Glory hereafter!”
He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
“A penny - A Roman coin, as noted before, Mat 18:28, worth about seven-pence halfpenny or seven-pence three farthings of our money, and equal to the Greek drachma. This appears to have been the ordinary price of a day’s labor at that time.”
About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ he asked.
“Eleventh - Five o’clock in the evening, when there was only one hour before the end of the Jewish day, which, in matters of labor, closed at six.”
‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. So he told them, ‘You also go into my vineyard.’
“No man hath hired us - This was the reason why they were all the day idle. And whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive - Ye may expect payment in proportion to your labor, and the time ye spend in it; but this clause…”
When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last ones hired and moving on to…
“When the even was come - Six o’clock, the time they ceased from labor, and the workmen came to receive their wages. Steward - Επιτρωπος. A manager of the household concerns under the master.”
and will deliver Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. And on the third day He will be raised to life.”
“Deliver him to the Gentiles to mock - This was done by Herod and his Roman soldiers. See Luk 23:11. To scourge, and to crucify - This was done by Pilate, the Roman governor.”
“What do you want?” He inquired. She answered, “Declare that in Your kingdom one of these two sons of mine may sit at Your right hand, and the other at…
“Grant that these my two sons - James and John. See Mar 15:40. In the preceding chapter, Mat 19:28, our Lord had promised his disciples, that they should sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes.”
“You do not know what you are asking,” Jesus replied. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” the brothers answered.
“Ye know not what ye ask - How strange is the infatuation, in some parents, which leads them to desire worldly or ecclesiastical honors for their children!”
“You will indeed drink My cup,” Jesus said. “But to sit at My right or left is not Mine to grant.
“Is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for wham it is prepared of my Father - The common translation, in which the words, it shall be given to them; are interpolated by our translators, utterly changes and destroys the meaning…”
When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers.
“When the ten heard it, they were moved - The ambition which leads to spiritual lordship is one great cause of murmurings and animosities in religious societies, and has proved the ruin of the most flourishing Churches in the universe.”
But Jesus called them aside and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their superiors exercise authority over them.
“Exercise dominion - and - exercise authority upon them - They tyrannized and exercised arbitrary power over the people. This was certainly true of the governments in our Lord’s time, both in the east and in the west.”
It shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
“It shall not be so among you - Every kind of lordship and spiritual domination over the Church of Christ, like that exercised by the Church of Rome, is destructive and anti-christian. Your minister - Or, deacon, διακονος.”
and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave—
“Your servant - Δουλος the lowest secular office, as deacon was the lowest ecclesiastical office: δουλος is often put for slave. From these directions of our Lord, we may easily discern what sort of a spirit his ministers should be of. 1.”