I Samuel to Esther (Barnes' Notes on the Old and New Testament)
Overview
Albert Barnes and James Murphy wrote this verse-by-verse commentary on I Samuel to Esther. Published in the 1800s, it is still well-loved and well-read by evangelicals who appreciate Barnes' pastoral insights into the Scripture. It is not a technical work, but provides informative observations on the text, intended to be helpful to those teaching Sunday School. Today, it is ideally suited to anyone teaching or preaching the Word of God, whether a professional minister or layperson.
Top Highlights
“Visions of the invisible world can only be a sort of parables; revelations, not of the truth as it actually is, but of so much of the truth as can be shown through such a medium. The details of a vision, therefore, cannot safely be pressed, any more than the details of a parable. Portions of each must be accommodations to human modes of thought, and may very inadequately express the realities which they are employed to shadow forth to us.” (Page 222)
“The practice of carrying images of the gods to battle was common among the nations of antiquity, and arose from the belief that there was virtue in the images themselves, and that military success would be obtained by means of them.” (Page 343)
“The sins of Manasseh’s reign appear to have been those which filled up the measure of Judah’s iniquity, and brought down the final sentence of doom on the last remnant of the chosen people (23:26; cp. Jer. 15:4).” (Page 293)
“that mild and gentle temper, which ‘beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.’” (Page 209)
“23. five cubits high] About 7 ft. 6 in. high. The height is not so great as that recorded of other giants.” (Page 339)
- Title: Barnes' Notes: I Samuel to Esther
- Authors: Albert Barnes and James Murphy
- Publisher: John Murray
- Publication Date: 1879
- Pages: 510
Albert Barnes graduated from Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, in 1820, and from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1823. Barnes was ordained as a Presbyterian minister by the presbytery of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, in 1825, and was the pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Morristown, New Jersey (1825–1830), and of the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia (1830–1867).
He held a prominent place in the New School branch of the Presbyterians during the Old School-New School Controversy, to which he adhered on the division of the denomination in 1837. In 1836, he had been tried (but not convicted) for heresy, mostly due to the views he expressed in Notes on Romans of the imputation of the sin of Adam, original sin and the atonement; the bitterness stirred up by this trial contributed towards widening the breach between the conservative and the progressive elements in the church. He was an eloquent preacher, but his reputation rests chiefly on his expository works, which are said to have had a larger circulation both in Europe and America than any others of their class. Of the well-known Notes on the New Testament, it is said that more than a million volumes had been issued by 1870. The Notes on Job, the Psalms, Isaiah and Daniel were also popularly distributed. The popularity of these works rested on how Barnes simplified Biblical criticism so that new developments in the field were made accessible to the general public.
