They were sawn asunder] There is a tradition that the Prophet Isaiah was thus martyred. In Yevamoth, fol. 49, 2, it is thus written: "Manasseh slew Isaiah; for he commanded that he should be slain with a wooden saw. They then brought the saw, and cut him in two; and when the saw reached his mouth, his soul fled forth." St. Jerome and others mention the same thing; and among the Jews the tradition is indubitable.

Were tempted] epeirasqhsan. I believe this word has vexed the critics more than any other in the New Testament. How being tempted can be ranked among the heavy sufferings of the primitive martyrs and confessors is not easy to discern, because to be tempted is the common lot of every godly man. This difficulty has induced learned men to mend the text by conjecture: Beza proposes epurwqhsan, they were branded. Junius, Piscator, and others, propose epurasqhsan, they were burnt alive.

Gataker thinks eprhsqhsan, a word of the same import, should be preferred. Tanaquil Faber gives the preference to ephrwqhsan, they were mutilated - had different parts of their bodies lopped off. Sir Norton Knatchbull contends for eparthsan, they were transfixed, or pierced through. Alberti thinks the original reading was espeirasqhsan, they were strangled. About as many more differences have been proposed by learned men, all hearing a very clear resemblance to the words now found in the Greek text. By three MSS. the word is entirely omitted; as also by the Syriac, Arabic of Erpen, the AEthiopic, and by Eusebius and Theophylact. Of all the conjectures, that of Knatchbull appears to me to be the most probable: they were transfixed or impaled; and even the present reading might be construed in this sense.

Were slain with the sword] As in the case of the eighty-five priests slain by Doeg, see 1 Sam. xxii. 18; and the prophets, of whose slaughter by the sword Elijah complains, 1 Kings xix. 10. Probably the word means being beheaded, which was formerly done with a sword, and not with an axe; and in the east is done by the sword to the present day.

They wandered about in sheepskins] mhlwtaiv Sheepskins dressed with the wool on. This was probably the sort of mantle that Elijah wore, and which was afterwards used by Elisha; for the Septuagint, in 2 Kings ii. 8-13, expressly say: kai elaben �hliav thn mhlwthn autou? and Elijah took his SHEEPSKIN (mantle.) kai uywse thn mhlwthn �hliou, h epesen epanwqen autou? And he (Elisha) took the SHEEPSKIN of Elijah which had fallen from off him. It was most probably on this account, as Dr. Macknight conjectures, that Elijah was called a hairy man, 2 Kings i. 8; and not on account of having a preposterously long beard, as those marrers of all the unities of time, place, circumstances, and common sense, the painters, represent him. And it is likely that the prophets themselves wore such garments, and that the false prophets imitated them in this, in order that they might gain the greater credit. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision-neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive, Zech. xiii. 4; derrin tricinhn, a hairy skin, SEPT., probably the goatskins mentioned above. In general, this was an upper garment; but, in the cases to which the apostle alludes, the sheepskin and goatskin seem to have been the only covering.

Being destitute] �usteroumenoi? In want of all the comforts and conveniences of life, and often of its necessaries.

Afflicted] In consequence of enduring such privations.

Tormented] kakoucoumenoi? Maltreated, harassed, variously persecuted by those to whom they brought the message of salvation.

John Gill's Bible Commentary

The tradition is in both Talmuds: in the one, the account is this: that �Manasseh sought to kill Isaiah, and he fled from him, and fled to a cedar, and the cedar swallowed him up, all but the fringe of his garment; they came and told him (Manasseh), he said unto them, go and saw the cedar, wrsnw , �and they sawed the cedar�, and blood was seen to come out.�

And in the other thus, �says R. Simeon ben Azzai, I found a book of genealogies in Jerusalem, and in it was written that Manasseh slew Isaiah.�

And after relating the occasion of it, being some passages in Isaiah Manasseh was displeased with and objected to; and the prophet not thinking it worth his while to return an answer, or attempt to reconcile them with other passages, objected, knowing that the king would use him contemptuously; he is made to say, �I will swallow (or put myself into) a cedar, they brought the cedar, wrsnw , �and sawed it asunder�, and when it (the saw) came to his mouth, he expired.�

Another Jewish writer out of the Midrash, reports it thus; �Manasseh sought to slay him, and Isaiah fled, and the Lord remembered him, and he was swallowed up in the middle of a tree; but there remained without the tree the fringe of his garment; and then Manasseh ordered the tree to be cut down, and Isaiah died.�

And it is become a generally received opinion of the ancient Christian writers, that Isaiah was sawn asunder; as of Justin Martyr f268 , Origen f269 , Tertullian f270 , Lactantius f271 , Athanasius f272 , Hilary f273 , Cyril of Jerusalem f274 , Gregory Nyssene f275 , Jerom f276 , Isidorus Pelusiota f277 , Gregentius f278 , Procopius Gazaeus f279 , and others; but more persons seem to be designed: were tempted ; either by God, as Abraham, and Job; or by the devil, as all the saints are; or rather by cruel tyrants, to deny the faith, and renounce the worship of God, as Eleazar, and the seven brethren with their mother; at least some of them were, 2 Maccabees 6,7. Some think the true reading is eprhyhsan , �were burned�; as one of the seven brethren were in the Apocrytha, �Now when he was thus maimed in all his members, he commanded him being yet alive to be brought to the fire, and to be fried in the pan: and as the vapour of the pan was for a good space dispersed, they exhorted one another with the mother to die manfully, saying thus,� (2 Maccabees 7:5) and as Zedekiah and Ahab were roasted in the fire, by the king of Babylon, ( Jeremiah 29:22) though they were lying prophets, and cannot be referred to here; (see Daniel 11:33). This clause is wanting in the Syriac version: were slain with the sword ; as the priests at Nob, by the order of Saul; ( Samuel 22:18,19). The prophets of the Lord by Jezebel, ( 1 Kings 18:22 19:10) and many in the times of the Maccabees; ( Daniel 11:33) and in the Apocrypha: �And there were destroyed within the space of three whole days fourscore thousand, whereof forty thousand were slain in the conflict; and no fewer sold than slain.� (2 Maccabees 5:14) they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins ; with the wool or hair upon them; and with such Elijah and Elisha might be arrayed; since the former is said to be a hairy man, or covered with a hairy garment, as John the Baptist was, who came in his spirit and power, and also in his form; and the latter, wore the mantle of the other; ( 2 Kings 1:8 2:8,14) and to these reference may be had, who were obliged to wander about, because of those who sought their lives; and was the case of others who were forced, by reason of persecution, to quit their habitations, and wander abroad; and some clothed themselves in this manner, to show their contempt of the world, and their contentment with mean apparel; and others, because they could get no other raiment: [being] destitute ; of bodily food, as Elijah, who was fed by ravens, and by the widow of Zarephath; ( 1 Kings 17:6-15), afflicted ; pressed, drove to the greatest straits, despairing of, life, and weary of it, as the same prophet, ( 1 Kings 19:4-10), tormented ; or evilly treated, reproached, vilified, persecuted, and made the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things.

Matthew Henry Commentary

Greek Textus Receptus