--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 402 of 769 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/402/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation, section 402. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/402/" --- # Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation *Adam Clarke* Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 2 of 2. ## 402. Acts · 28 of 76 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/402/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/402/#p-N [¶0] Mourn'd day and night, by Trojan captives fair [¶1] And Dardan, compassing thy bier around." [¶2] Cowper. [¶3] A similar description is given by Virgil of the funeral obsequies of Misenus, Aeneid vi. ver. 212. [¶4] Nec minus interea Misenum in littore Teucri [¶5] Flebant, et cineri ingrato suprema ferebant. [¶6] Pars calidos latices et aena undantia flammis [¶7] Expediunt, corpusque lavant frigentis et ungunt [¶8] Fit gemitus: tum membra toro defleta reponunt, [¶9] Purpureasque super vestes, velamina nota, [¶10] Conjiciunt, etc. "Meanwhile, the Trojan troops, with weeping eyes, [¶11] To dead Misenus pay his obsequies. [¶12] First from the ground a lofty pile they rear [¶13] Of pitch-trees, oaks, and pines, and unctuous fir: [¶14] The fabric's front with cypress twigs they strew; [¶15] And stick the sides with boughs of baleful yew; [¶16] The topmost part his glitt'ring arms adorn: [¶17] Warm waters then, in brazen cauldrons borne, [¶18] Are pour'd to wash his body, joint by joint; [¶19] And fragrant oils the stiffen'd limbs anoint. [¶20] With groans and cries Misenus they deplore. [¶21] Then on a bier with purple cover'd o'er [¶22] The breathless body, thus bewail'd, they lay." [¶23] Dryden. [¶24] These rites, in many respects, resemble those still used among the native Irish. See the account of the funeral ceremonies of the Egyptians, in the notes on [Gen 50:2] (note). The primitive Christians washed the bodies of their dead not only out of decency and affectionate respect to them, but as a token of their firm belief in the resurrection of the dead. ### Verse 38 [¶26] Sent unto him - desiring - that he would not delay to come - Tabitha died at Joppa, and Peter was at Lydda, about four leagues distant. But why did they send for Peter? We cannot tell. It is not likely that they had any expectation that he should raise her from the dead; for none of the apostles had as yet raised any; and if God did not choose to restore Stephen to life, this favor could not be reasonably expected in behalf of inferior persons. However, they might hope that he who cured Eneas at Lydda might cure Dorcas; for it is probable that they had sent for Peter before she died; and in this sense we might understand the απεϚειλαν of the text. ### Verse 39 [¶28] Showing the coats and garments - Χιτωνας και ἱματια, the outer and inner garments. These, it appears, she had made for the poor, and more particularly for poor widows, in whose behalf she had incessantly labored. ### Verse 40 [¶30] Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down and prayed - It was not even known to Peter that God would work this miracle: therefore he put all the people out, that he might seek the will of God by fervent prayer, and during his supplications be liable neither to distraction nor interruption, which he must have experienced had he permitted this company of weeping widows to remain in the chamber. [¶31] And turning - to the body - Σωμα, The lifeless body, for the spirit had already departed. [¶32] Said, Tabitha, arise - During his wrestling with God, he had, undoubtedly, received confidence that she would be raised at his word. [¶33] And when she saw Peter, she sat up - As Dorcas was a woman so eminently holy, her happy soul had doubtless gone to the paradise of God. Must she not therefore be filled with regret to find herself thus called back to earth again? And must not the remembrance of the glories she had now lost fill her with dislike to all the goods of earth? No: for, [¶34] 1. As a saint of God, her Maker's will must be hers; because she knew that this will must be ever best. [¶35] 2. It is very likely that, in the case of the revivescence of saint or sinner, God mercifully draws a veil over all they have seen or known, so that they have no recollection of what they have either seen or heard. Even St. Paul found it impossible to tell what he had heard in the third heaven, though he was probably not in the state of the dead. Of the economy of the invisible world God will reveal nothing. We walk here by faith, and not by sight. ### Verse 41 [¶37] Saints and widows - In primitive times the widows formed a distinct part of the Christian Church. ### Verse 42 [¶39] Many believed in the Lord - That is, in Christ Jesus, in whose name and through whose power they understood this miracle to be wrought. This miracle, as well as that at Lydda, was not only the means of strengthening the faith of the disciples, and gaining credit to the cause of Christianity, but also of bringing many sincere converts to the Lord, so that the Church was thereby both builded up and multiplied. ### Verse 43 [¶41] He tarried many days in Joppa - Taking advantage of the good impression made on the people's minds by the miracle, he preached to them the great truths of Christianity, and thus established them in the faith. [¶42] Simon a tanner - Whether the original word βυρσευς signifies a tanner or a currier, is of little consequence. The person who dealt in the hides, whether of clean or unclean animals, could not be in high repute among the Jews. Even in Joppa, the trade appears to have been reputed unclean; and therefore this Simon had his house by the sea side. See [Act 10:6]. Of the trade itself the Talmudists speak with great contempt; they reckon it among blemishes. See proofs in Schoettgen. [¶43] 1. Thus terminates what has not been improperly called the first period of the Christian Church, which began at the day of pentecost, [Act 2:1], and continued to the resurrection of Dorcas; a period of about eight years. During the whole of this time the Gospel was preached to the Jews only, no Gentile being called before Cornelius, the account of whose conversion, and the Divine vision that led to it, are detailed in the following chapter. Salvation was of the Jews: theirs were the fathers, the covenants, and the promises, and from them came Christ Jesus; and it was right that they should have the first offer of a salvation which, while it was a light to lighten the Gentiles, was to be the glory of the Israelitish people. When they utterly rejected it, then the apostles turned unto the Gentiles. Among them the Christian Church was founded, and thus the reprobates became the elect, and the elect became reprobates. Reader! behold the goodness and severity of God! Towards them that fell, severity; but towards thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off, [Rom 11:22]. Thou canst only stand by faith; and be not high-minded, but fear. Nothing less than Christ dwelling in thy heart by faith can save thy soul unto eternal life. [¶44] 2. The conversion of Saul of Tarsus is one of the most remarkable facts recorded in the history of the Christian Church. When we consider the man; the manner in which he was brought to the knowledge of the truth; the impression made on his own mind and heart by the vision he had on his way to Damascus, and the effect produced in all his subsequent life, we have a series of the most convincing evidences of the truth of the Christian religion. In this light he ever viewed the subject himself; the manner of his conversion he ever appealed to, as the most proper apology for his conduct; and, on several most important occasions, he not only refers to it, but enters into a detail of its circumstances, that his hearers might see that the excellency of the power was of God and not of man.