Clement of Alexandria : Why then should I review and adduce any further testimonies of faith from the history in our hands? "For the time would fail me were I to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephtha, David, and Samuel, and the prophets "and what follows. — The Stromata Book 2 Ephrem the Syrian : In order not to repeat all the details in his review of the works of faith, Paul stopped relating the stories of these ancient fathers, deciding not to describe their actions in their different aspects. However, he did not omit other cases, which he included in a short account, … that is, about the faith of Gideon, who defeated ten thousand Midianites with three thousand soldiers, and Barak, who by his faith destroyed the army of Sisera; and Samson, who by his faith killed one thousand men with the jaw of an ass; and Jephthah, who by his faith conquered twenty-two cities of the sons of the Ammonites; and David, who by his faith beat and killed Goliath; and Samuel, who by his faith prevailed among the Philistines; "and about the other prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms" (in prophecy, not in the sword), "enforced justice" (that is, through the revenges and punishments that they inflicted on the impious), "received promises" (like Elisha, who went into ecstasy), "stopped the mouths of lions" (like the house of Daniel), "quenched raging fire" (like the house of Hananiah), "escaped the edge of the sword" (like those whom the Chaldaeans tried to slay together with the wise men of Babylon, and also Uriah and Elijah, and other prophets), "won strength out of weakness" (like King Hezekiah and Elisha), "became mighty in war" (like Abraham, Lot, Moses and Joshua), and "put foreign armies to flight" (like Samson, Barak, David and his companions, who were mentioned above). — COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS John Chrysostom : "And what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell." After this he no longer puts down the names: but having ended with an harlot, and put them to shame by the quality of the person, he no longer enlarges on the histories, lest he should be thought tedious. However he does not set them aside, but runs over them, doing both very judiciously, avoiding satiety, and not spoiling the closeness of arrangement; he was neither altogether silent, nor did he speak so as to annoy; for he effects both points. For when a man is contending vehemently in argument, if he persist in contending, he wearies out the hearer, annoying him when he is already persuaded, and gaining the reputation of vain ambitiousness. For he ought to accommodate himself to what is expedient. "And what do I more say" (he says)? "For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah, of David also and Samuel, and of the prophets." Some find fault with Paul, because he puts Barak, and Samson, and Jephthah in these places. What sayest thou? After having introduced the harlot, shall he not introduce these? For do not tell me of the rest of their life, but only whether they did not believe and shine in Faith. — Homily on Hebrews 27 Oecumenius : When he had finished speaking about the harlot and had urged them based on the quality of the person, for the sake of conciseness he does not enumerate all the names: yet he does not cease the discourse. — The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Hebrews Oecumenius : "For time will fail me." He speaks of time as suitable for the letter and proportionate. — The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Hebrews Oecumenius : "of Gideon." What kind Gideon was. "of David." As for what David was, in that he was established on his throne, according to the literal sense indeed Solomon, but according to the spiritual understanding, Solomon, the spiritual Lord Jesus. — The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Hebrews Peter of Alexandria : For what they set before themselves, first and foremost, was to do the work of an evangelist, and to teach the Word of God, in which, confirming the brethren, that they might continue in the faith, they said this also, "that we must out of much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." For they sought not what was profitable for them, but that which was profitable for the many, that they might be saved, and that they might be enabled to say unto them many things conducing to this, that they might act suitably to the Word of God, "unless," as says the apostle, "the time should fail me in speaking." — The Canonical Epistle Tertullian : What is more manifest than the mystery of this "wood,"-that the obduracy of this world had been sunk in the profundity of error, and is freed in baptism by the "wood" of Christ, that is, of His passion; in order that what had formerly perished through the "tree" in Adam, should be restored through the "tree" in Christ? while we, of course, who have succeeded to, and occupy, the room of the prophets, at the present day sustain in the world that treatment which the prophets always suffered on account of divine religion: for some they stoned, some they banished; more, however, they delivered to mortal slaughter, -a fact which they cannot deny. — An Answer to the Jews