Hebrews 11:38
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The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and hid in caves and holes in the ground.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Of whom the world was not worthy--So far from their being unworthy of living in the world, as their exile in deserts, &c., might seem to imply, "the world was not worthy of them." The world, in shutting them out, shut out from itself a source of blessing; such as Joseph proved to Potiphar (Gen 39:5), and Jacob to Laban (Gen 30:27). In condemning them, the world condemned itself. caves--literally, "chinks." Palestine, from its hilly character, abounds in fissures and caves, affording shelter to the persecuted, as the fifty hid by Obadiah (Kg1 18:4, Kg1 18:13) and Elijah (Kg1 19:8, Kg1 19:13); and Mattathias and his sons (1 Maccabees 2:28, 29); and Judas Maccabeus (2 Maccabees 5:27).
Open source ↗The apostle having, in the close of the foregoing chapter, recommended the grace of faith and a life of faith as the best preservative against apostasy, he how enlarges upon the nature and fruits of this excellent grace. I. The nature of it, and the honour it reflects upon all who live in the exercise of it (Heb 11:1-3). II. The great examples we have in the Old Testament of those who lived by faith, and died and suffered extraordinary things by the strength of his grace (v. 4-38). And, III. The advantages that we have in the gospel for the exercise of this grace above what those had who lived in the times of the Old Testament (Heb 11:39, Heb 11:40).
Open source ↗11:38 too good for this world: Their hope was in God more than in the pleasures and comforts of this world.
Open source ↗Cross-references
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for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)
There Elijah entered a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
So David left Gath and took refuge in the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there.
The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; devout men are swept away, while no one considers that the righteous are guided from the presence of evil.
“Leave here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan.
Was it not reported to my lord what I did when Jezebel slaughtered the prophets of the LORD? I hid a hundred prophets of the LORD, fifty men per cave, and I provided them with food and water.
Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding on the hill of Hachilah, opposite Jeshimon?”
Then the Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah south of Jeshimon?
Observe and find out all the places where he hides. Then come back to me with certainty, and I will go with you. If he is in the land, I will search him out among all the clans of Judah.”
While David was in Horesh in the Wilderness of Ziph, he saw that Saul had come out to take his life.