Hebrew 11:38

Syriac Peshitta (NT Only)

ܐ݈ܢܳܫܳܐ ܕ݁ܠܳܐ ܫܳܘܶܐ ܗ݈ܘܳܐ ܠܗܽܘܢ ܥܳܠܡܳܐ ܘܰܗܘܰܘ ܐܰܝܟ݂ ܛܳܥܰܝܳܐ ܒ݁ܚܽܘܪܒ݁ܳܐ ܘܰܒ݂ܛܽܘܪܶܐ ܘܒ݂ܰܡܥܰܪܶܐ ܘܰܒ݂ܦ݂ܶܥܪܶܝܗ ܕ݁ܰܐܪܥܳܐ ܀

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

whom: 1 Kings 14:12, 1 Kings 14:13, 2 Kings 23:25-29, Isaiah 57:1

wandered: 1 Samuel 22:1, 1 Samuel 23:15, 1 Samuel 23:19, 1 Samuel 23:23, 1 Samuel 24:1-3, 1 Samuel 26:1, 1 Kings 17:3, 1 Kings 18:4, 1 Kings 18:13, 1 Kings 19:9, Psalms 142:1, *title Psalms 142:2-7

Reciprocal: Judges 6:2 - dens 1 Samuel 13:6 - in caves 2 Samuel 15:20 - go up and down Job 15:23 - wandereth Job 24:8 - embrace Job 30:3 - fleeing into Psalms 56:8 - tellest Psalms 107:4 - wandered Proverbs 28:12 - but Isaiah 2:19 - And they Jeremiah 41:9 - because of Gedaliah Ezekiel 34:6 - wandered Revelation 6:15 - hid

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Of whom the world was not worthy,.... These words are inserted in a parenthesis, to remove or prevent such objections as these; that they were restless and unquiet persons, that made disturbance in the world, and so unfit to live in it; and that they were deservedly punished for crimes they were guilty of; and to show the great worth and inestimable value of the people of God, which exceeds that of the whole world; and to intimate the removal of them out of the world, or from dwelling among the men of it, is by way of punishment to it:

they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth; as Elijah did; 1 Kings 18:4, and many in the times of the Maccabees;

"And they kept the eight days with gladness, as in the feast of the tabernacles, remembering that not long afore they had held the feast of the tabernacles, when as they wandered in the mountains and dens like beasts.'' (2 Maccabees 10:6)

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Of whom the world was not worthy - The world was so wicked that it had no claim that such holy men should live in it. These poor, despised, and persecuted people, living as outcasts and wanderers, were of a character far elevated above the world. This is a most beautiful expression. It is at once a statement of their eminent holiness, and of the wickedness of the rest of mankind.

They wandered in deserts ... - On the Scripture meaning of the word “desert” or wilderness, see the notes on Matthew 3:1. This is a description of persons driven away from their homes, and wandering about from place to place to procure a scanty subsistence; compare 1 Macc. 1:53; 2 Macc. 5:27; 6:7. The instances mentioned in the Books of Maccabees are so much in point, that there is no impropriety in supposing that Paul referred to some such cases, if not these very cases. As there is no doubt about their historic truth, there was no impropriety in referring to them, though they are not mentioned in the canonical books of Scripture. One of those cases may be referred to as strikingly illustrating what is here said. “But Judas Maccabeus with nine others or thereabout, withdrew himself into the wilderness, and lived in the mountains after the manner of beasts, with his company, who fed on herbs continually lest they should be partakers of the pollution;” 2 Macc. 5:27.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 38. Of whom the world was not worthy — Yet they were obliged to wander by day in deserts and mountains, driven from the society of men, and often obliged to hide by night in dens and caves of the earth, to conceal themselves from the brutal rage of men. Perhaps he refers here principally to the case of Elijah, and the hundred prophets hidden in caves by Obadiah, and fed with bread and water. See 1 Kings 18:4. David was often obliged thus to hide himself from Saul; 1 Samuel 24:3, &c.