And about the time of forty years - They were this time going from Egypt to the land of Canaan. Exodus 16:35; Numbers 33:38.

Suffered he their manners - This passage has been very variously rendered. See the margin. Syriac, "He nourished them," etc. Arabic, "He blessed them, and nourished them," etc. The Greek word is not elsewhere used in the New Testament. It properly means to tolerate, or endure the conduct of anyone, implying that that conduct is evil, and tends to provoke to punishment. This is doubtless its meaning here. Probably Paul referred to the passage in Deuteronomy 1:31, "The Lord thy God bare thee." But instead of this word, ἐτροποφόρησεν etropophorēsen to bear with, many mss. read ἐτροφοφόρησεν etrofoforēsen), "he sustained or nourished." This reading was followed by the Syriac, Arabic, and has been admitted by Griesbach into the text. This is also found in the Septuagint, in Deuteronomy 1:31, which place Paul doubtless referred to. This would well suit the connection of the passage; and a change of a single letter might easily have occurred in a ms. It adds to the probability that this is the true reading, that it accords with Deuteronomy 1:31; Numbers 11:12; Deuteronomy 32:10. It is furthermore not probable that Paul would have commenced a discourse by reminding them of the obstinacy and wickedness of the nation. Such a course would rather tend to exasperate than to conciliate; but by reminding them of the mercies of God to them, and showing them that He had been their protector, he was better fitting them for his main purpose - that of showing them the kindness of the God of their fathers in sending to them a Saviour.

In the wilderness - The desert through which they passed in going from Egypt to Canaan.

About the time of forty years - The space of time between their coming out of Egypt, and going into the promised land.

Suffered he their manners - Ετροποφορησεν αυτους; He dealt indulgently with them: howsoever they behaved towards him, he mercifully bore with, and kindly treated them. But instead of ετροποφορησεν, ACE, some others, with the Syriac, Arabic, Coptic, Ethiopic, and some of the fathers, read ετροφοφορησεν, which signifies, he nourished and fed them, or bore them about in his arms as a tender nurse does her child. This reading confirms the marginal conjecture, and agrees excellently with the scope of the place, and is a reading at least of equal value with that in the commonly received text. Griesbach has admitted it, and excluded the other. Both, when rightly understood, speak nearly the same sense; but the latter is the most expressive, and agrees best with Paul's discourse, and the history to which he alludes. See the same form of expression, Numbers 11:12; Exodus 19:4; Isaiah 46:3, Isaiah 46:4; Isaiah 63:9.

And about the time of forty years,.... From their coming out of Egypt, to their entrance into the land of Canaan:

suffered he their manners in the wilderness; which were very perverse and provoking; as their murmuring for water, their rebellion against Moses and Aaron, their idolatry and the ill report brought on the good land by their spies; and yet the Lord fed them, and led them, and kept them as the apple of his eye: some think the true reading is "he bore", or "fed them", as a nurse bears and feeds her children; and so the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions render it, "he nourished them"; rained manna, and gave them quails from heaven, and furnished a table for them in the wilderness: and indeed, though there were instances of God's patience and forbearance with them, yet certain it is, that as he was tempted and proved by them, so he was grieved with them during the forty years in the wilderness; and often let fall his vengeance upon them, by cutting off great numbers of them; and even the carcasses of all that generation that came out of Egypt fell in the wilderness; nor did any of them enter into the land of Cannan, but Joshua and Caleb.

Suffered he their manners (ἐτροποφόρησεν)

From τρόπος fashion or manner, and φορέω, to bear or suffer. The preferable reading, however, is ἐτροφοφόρησεν; from τροφός, a nurse; and the figure is explained by, and probably was drawn from, Deuteronomy 1:31. The American revisers properly insist on the rendering, as a nursing-father bare he them.

And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.

13:18 Deut 1:31.

suffered...: or bore, or fed them as a nurse beareth, or feedeth, her child

18-22. forty years suffered he their manners-rather, according to what appears the true reading, "cherished he them" (as a nurse the infant in her bosom).

13:14-31 When we come together to worship God, we must do it, not only by prayer and praise, but by the reading and hearing of the word of God. The bare reading of the Scriptures in public assemblies is not enough; they should be expounded, and the people exhorted out of them. This is helping people in doing that which is necessary to make the word profitable, to apply it to themselves. Every thing is touched upon in this sermon, which might best prevail with Jews to receive and embrace Christ as the promised Messiah. And every view, however short or faint, of the Lord's dealings with his church, reminds us of his mercy and long-suffering, and of man's ingratitude and perverseness. Paul passes from David to the Son of David, and shows that this Jesus is his promised Seed; a Saviour to do that for them, which the judges of old could not do, to save them from their sins, their worst enemies. When the apostles preached Christ as the Saviour, they were so far from concealing his death, that they always preached Christ crucified. Our complete separation from sin, is represented by our being buried with Christ. But he rose again from the dead, and saw no corruption: this was the great truth to be preached.