Hebrews 11:38

38 (They were men of whom the world was not worthy.) They wandered across deserts and mountains, or hid themselves in caves and in holes in the ground.

Hebrews 11:38 Meaning and Commentary

Hebrews 11:38

Of whom the world was not worthy
These words are inserted in a parenthesis, to remove or prevent such objections as these; that they were restless and unquiet persons, that made disturbance in the world, and so unfit to live in it; and that they were deservedly punished for crimes they were guilty of; and to show the great worth and inestimable value of the people of God, which exceeds that of the whole world; and to intimate the removal of them out of the world, or from dwelling among the men of it, is by way of punishment to it:

they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of
the earth;
as Elijah did; ( 1 Kings 18:4 ) ( 1 Kings 19:9 1 Kings 19:10 ) , and many in the times of the Maccabees;

``And they kept the eight days with gladness, as in the feast of the tabernacles, remembering that not long afore they had held the feast of the tabernacles, when as they wandered in the mountains and dens like beasts.'' (2 Maccabees 10:6)

Hebrews 11:38 In-Context

36 Others again were tested by cruel mockery and by scourging; yes, and by chains and imprisonment.

37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tried by temptation, they were killed with the sword. They went from place to place in sheepskins or goatskins, enduring want, oppression and cruelty.

38 (They were men of whom the world was not worthy.) They wandered across deserts and mountains, or hid themselves in caves and in holes in the ground.

39 And although by their faith all these people won God's approval, none of them received the fulfilment of His great promise;

40 for God had provided for them and us something better, so that apart from us they were not to attain to full blessedness.