Albert Barnes Commentary Hebrews 11:35

"Women received their dead by a resurrection: and others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:" — Hebrews 11:35 (ASV)

Women received their dead raised to life again. This happened, for example, in the case of the woman of Zarephath, whose child was restored to life by Elijah (1 Kings 17:19–22), and of the son of the Shunammite woman, whose child was restored to life by Elisha (2 Kings 4:18–37).

And others were tortured. The word used here, tumpanizō (to tympanize), refers to a form of severe torture that was sometimes practiced.

It is derived from tumpanon—tympanum—a drum, tabret, or timbrel; the instrument was likely named for its resemblance to a drum or timbrel.

In the East, this instrument consisted of a thin wooden rim covered with skin, much like a tambourine. (For a description, see the notes on Isaiah 5:12).

The instrument of torture referred to here probably resembled a drum in form. The criminal's body was bent over it so that the wounds inflicted by scourging would be more severe.

The lash would cut deeper when the body was stretched in this way, and the open gashes exposed to the air would increase the torture .

The punishment referred to here seems to have consisted of two things: stretching the body on the instrument, and scourging. (See Robinson's Lexicon, and Stuart, in loc.).

Bloomfield, however, supposes that the method of torture can be best understood from the original meaning of the word tumpanon—tympanum—as meaning either:

1. a beating-stick, or
2. a beating-post, shaped like a T, which would suggest the sufferer's posture. He says this beating was sometimes administered with sticks or rods, and sometimes with leather thongs enclosing pieces of lead.

The first explanation of the torture (stretching on a drum-like frame and scourging) better agrees, however, with the usual meaning of the word tumpanon.

Not accepting deliverance. This means when deliverance was offered to them, on the condition that they would renounce their opinions or do what was required of them. This is the very nature of the spirit of martyrdom.

That they might obtain a better resurrection. This means that when they were subjected to this kind of torture, they were considered as good as dead.

To have accepted deliverance then would have been a kind of restoration to life, or a type of resurrection. But they refused this, looking forward instead to a more honorable and glorious restoration to life—a resurrection, therefore, that would be better than this temporary one.

Such a resurrection would be intrinsically more noble and honorable, and it would be permanent, and therefore better. No specific instance of this is mentioned in the Old Testament; but among the many cases of persecution to which good people were subjected, it is not improbable that this occurred.

The case of Eleazar, recorded in 2 Maccabees 6, so strongly resembles what the apostle says here that it is very possible he had it in mind. This passage proves that the doctrine of the resurrection was understood and believed before the coming of the Savior, and that it was one of the doctrines that sustained and encouraged those who were called to suffer for their religion.

When facing death under torture for one's religion, or from the pain of disease, nothing will better enable us to endure the suffering than the expectation that the body will be restored to immortal vigor and raised to a way of life where it will no longer be susceptible to pain. To be raised to that life is a "better resurrection" than to be saved from death when persecuted, or to be raised up from a bed of pain.