they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword: they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated
Verse 37. They were stoned. A common method of punishment among the Jews. . Thus Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, was stoned. See ; comp. . It is not improbable that this was often resorted to in times of popular tumult, as in the case of Stephen, ; comp. . In the time of the terrible persecutions under Antiochus Epiphanes, and under Manasseh, such instances also probably occurred.
stoned--as Zechariah, son of Jehoiada (Ch2 24:20-22; Mat 23:35). sawn asunder--as Isaiah was said to have been by Manasseh; but see my Introduction to Isaiah. tempted--by their foes, in the midst of their tortures, to renounce their faith; the most bitter aggravation of them.
The apostle having given us a classis of many eminent believers, whose names are mentioned and the particular trials and actings of their faith recorded, now concludes his narrative with a more summary account of another set of believers, where the particular acts are not ascribed to particular persons by name, but left to be applied by those who are well acquainted with the sacred...
Commenting on Hebrews 11:32-40