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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJohn Bengel Commentary - Hebrews 11:35 - 11:35
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Heb 11:35. Ἔλαβον, women received) They as it were snatched them (rescued them).-γυναῖκες, women) that were believers, naturally weak.-ἐξ ἀναστάσεως, out of or from the resurrection) He says, from, not by. They anticipated a future resurrection.-νεκροὺς) dead sons, 1Ki 17:22; 2Ki 4:35.-ἄλλοι δὲ, and others) He comes from them that act to them that suffer (although Abel, Heb 11:4, was already long ago an example of one both acting and suffering); and the particle δὲ, but, makes an emphatic addition (Epitasis). The ἄλλοι, others, distinguishes these genera; the word ἓτεροι, others, Heb 11:36, distinguishes the species of sufferers. Paul observes the same distinction, 1Co 12:8-9.-ἐτυμπανίσθησαν) τύμπανον, a drum-stick, then a cudgel with which men were beaten to death; French, bastonnade; ἐτυμπανίσθησαν, they were beaten with clubs. Hesychius: ἐτυμπανίσθησαν, ἐκρεμάσθησαν, ἐσφαιρίσθησαν. The Vulgate, they were distended (distenti sunt): for as in a drum the parchment or skin is distended, so in this kind of punishment the bodies were distended, that they
1. Γεδεὼν παρεμβολὰς ἔκλιναν ἀλλοτρίων.
2. Βαρὰκ ἐγενήθησαν ἰσχυροὶ ἐν πολέμῳ.
3. Σαμψὼν ἐνεδυναμώθησαν ἀπὸ ἀσθενείας.
4. Ἰεφθάε ἔφυγον στόμα μαχαίρας.
5. Δαυὶδ κατηγωνίσαντο βασιλείας.
6. Σαμουὴλ εἰργάσαντο δικαιοσύνην.
7. Προφητῶν ἐπέτυχον ἐπαγγελιῶν,
ἔφραξαν στόματα λεόντων,
ἔσβεσαν δύναμιν πυρός.
might more readily receive the blow. The apostle refers to Eleazar in the persecution of Antiochus, 2 Maccabees 6, of whom at Heb 11:20 we have the following account: he came of his own accord to the torture (ἐπὶ τὸ τύμπανον); again at Heb 11:28 : and at Heb 11:30, but when he was at the point of death by the blows, he groaned, and said, It is manifest to the Lord, who has the holy knowledge, that though I might have been delivered (ἀπολυθῆναι) from death, I endure these severe pains in my body, being beaten, etc. Furthermore, as τυμπανίζειν is to beat with clubs, so ἀποτυμπανίζειν, is to Kill with clubs; and the apostle uses the simple verb, because after τυμπάνων πεῖραν (comp. Heb 11:36), after they had made trial of this species of torture, they might, if they were disposed to break their faith, have even still accepted of deliverance (ἀπολύτρωσιν). See Suicer’s Thesaurus, which also proves the fact from Gataker, that this word is frequently used to express any violent death. I fancy the reason is, because clubs are a kind of arms most generally met with in all tumults and in a concourse of people: at least in this very passage the apostle seems to point to all kinds of death caused by tumults and inflicted by clubs (in which is included the mode adopted by Antiochus [the tympanum], and mentioned as surpassing the other instruments of torture), and in the following verse he comes to more exquisite punishments [punishments more refined in cruelty]. But the passive form has the middle signification: They suffered themselves to be beaten with clubs. So also Heb 11:37, comp. Heb 11:36.-τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν, deliverance) Eleazar, as we have already seen, used the word ἀπολυθῆναι. The writer of the second book of Maccabees took care to make it appear, that he stood in need of some indulgence; he pleads his excuse, 2Ma 2:24-32 : but yet the history of the Jewish people from the building of the second temple to the beginning of the New Testament is exceedingly valuable.-κρείττονος, better) This resurrection is better than that which restores mortal life. There is a reference to the beginning of this verse. The antithesis is plain: Women received their dead and recovered them from the resurrection (resuscitation) to a temporal life; [in antithesis to]: Martyrs, who were subjected to death, set before their minds a better resurrection, not to temporal but to eternal life. Comp. 2Ma 7:9; 2Ma 7:11; 2Ma 7:14; 2Ma 7:29; 2Ma 7:36.