Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Hebrews 11:37

"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" — Hebrews 11:37 (ASV)

Stoning was a characteristic Jewish form of execution. Some people of faith suffered at the hands of their fellow-countrymen. To be “sawed in two” was a most unusual form of killing. According to tradition this was the way the prophet Isaiah was killed. The statement that some were put to death “by the sword” is important, lest it be deduced from v.34 that people of faith were inevitably safe from this fate. While God delivered some from it, his purpose for other believers was to be slain in this way. They trusted God and knew that, whether in life or death, all would ultimately be well.

From the various ways people of faith died, the writer turns to consider the hardships they had to endure in their lives. Their clothing had been the simplest. Apparently the prophets sometimes wore sheepskins (cf. Elijah’s “garment of hair,” 2 Kings 1:8). The reference here is not, however, so much to a definite class (like the prophets) as it is to people of faith in general who were roughly clad. That they were “destitute” is in accord with this, for the author is speaking of those without earthly resources. Misery pressed on them as they were “persecuted and mistreated.”