The sketch of suffering in faith is pursued still further in these verses; for the Spirit of God delights to set out the endurance of the saints for the truth's sake in the worst of times, to encourage souls thus persecuted, after Christ came, which Jewish disciples least of all expected. The solution of the enigma lay in His coming again, we who now follow filling up the gap chiefly, though not exclusively, as the prophetic part of the Revelation clearly shows. Hence verses Heb:11:39-40, point out the connection and withal distinction of the Christian calling, that no intelligent saint might confound things which differ not a little, whatever their partial agreement.
“They were stoned, were tempted, were sawn asunder; they died by sword with slaughter; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, evil-entreated (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and dens and the caves of the earth. And these all, having been testified of through their faith, received not the promise, God having foreseen some better thing for (or concerning) us, that apart from us they should not be perfected” (Heb. 11:37-40).
Stoning was a punishment enjoined by the law for Jews guilty of idolatry, blasphemy, or other forms of profane rebellion against Jehovah. Hence the peculiar enormity of the death of Naboth and of Zechariah, the wickedness being wholly in those high in authority who perverted it to hurt saints. Nor can we conceive ordinarily a grosser and more daring wrong than that the pious should suffer the death of impiety at the hands of impious rulers, whether by crafty falsehood or in ungovernable rage.
“Tempted” has perplexed the commentators. Some, in the face of overwhelming evidence for the text, have dared to invent readings out of their own heads; as the Syriac (Pesch.) has wholly dropt it. No believer ought to question the wisdom of God in giving so striking a place to a sort of trial peculiarly dangerous to certain souls, as the history of even Christian martyrs recalls to mind some inflexibly resisting at all cost; alas! that had run well yielding to their shame; others again, who did yield, strengthened to suffer triumphantly at last.
“Sawn asunder” was indeed a brutality unknown to the Levitical institutions. David was in a wretched state when he dealt thus savagely with the Ammonite prisoners; as the Syrians retorted at a later day with the inhabitants of Gilead. That the heathen should be cruel was no wonder; but it ill became the generous king, himself long schooled in adversity. Power and prosperity proved greater dangers.
Massacre by the sword was a common death for the prophets in Israel, if we only hear of Urijah thus slain in Judah.
Next, follows the more prolonged suffering in life of those who for one reason or another were not slain. “They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, evil-entreated": to some a still more trying test of their faith than if suddenly dispatched, whether law or violence compelled them. The apostle himself had experience of both beyond most—perhaps all. But so it was when the faithful had not the same privileges.
Still before or after Christ the substantial fact remains: God has ever had a line of sufferers that believed. And it was their faith which made them objects of dislike and persecution. Nor was it so much their denunciation of the world, its pursuits, pleasures, iniquities, or impieties, but that most quiet and most telling of all testimonies—separation from it to God and His word. Now we can add distinct and positive witness of Christ crucified, yet glorified. This is above all things offensive, especially when backed by the solemn assurance of His coming to judge the world, yet surely (as being true) due in love and compassion to it, as to His glory. Hence the deepest hatred underneath the placid pretensions of today's liberalism. But it will break out afresh, as the Revelation proves. They are those whom the world cannot overcome, say or do what it may. “Of whom the world was not worthy,” though they were counted unworthy of a place in it or even of life. But, as it has been said, in condemning them, it condemned itself; and God forgets neither.
Hence they were outcasts often, roaming in deserts and mountains, and dens, and the caves or chinks of the earth. How this was repeated in pagan and papal persecutions since the Epistle was written needs no evidence here. In the world's eyes they were implacable and impracticable. Nothing won them, wealth, ease, or honor; nothing subdued them, detraction, hatred, prison, or death. They refuse present glory. They remember Who was crucified; they await His day and see it approaching.
“And these all, having been testified of through others their faith, received not the promise, God having foreseen some better thing for (or about) us, that they apart from us should not be perfected.”
Whatever the differing circumstances, enemies, or sufferings of these saints, this is true of them all.
However attested through their faith, and receiving promises to sustain them, they did not receive the promise fulfilled, for which all wait. For God had meanwhile to bring in a new and better thing on our behalf, while Christ, having been rejected, is at the right hand of God on high. Hence, though the ground was laid for all blessing when Christ came the first time, the fulfillment of all awaits His coming again; and when God's provision for us is complete, they will be perfected, not before.