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10,054 illustrations — Lessons from history, biography, and world events
During the weak and wicked reign of Ahaz, when Judah's heart lay bowed like a forest before a devastating blast of foreign invasion, the prophet burst forth with a vision sudden as sunrise.
Thomas Carlyle observed with prescience: "There is a great necessity indeed of getting a little more silent than we are.
Exell's 1887 commentary illuminates this paradox of proximity: practical presence surpasses emotional kinship when assistance is required.
1887, when the printing press has become the mightiest agency for good or evil ever unleashed upon civilization.
It is through blindness and inconsonsideration that any man becomes entangled in the snares of the foolish woman.
Gaze not on beauty overmuch, lest it blast thee; nor too long, lest it blind thee; nor too near, lest it burn thee.
Some possess remarkable skill in dwelling exclusively upon dark things: black aspects, wintry phases, deprivations, bereavements, losses.
He writes, "These things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes." Rather than naming the false teachers at Corinth who had created divisions, Paul applies his corrective principles to himself and Apollos—respected...
Yet Christians must judge timidity differently than the world does.
Skinner's rendering exposes the active betrayal—these are not merely failed guides but active corruptors.
All knowledge deserves respect—no kind of learning should be despised.
Exell notes the critical distinction: it is not the place itself, but the way to it.
Exell's Victorian commentary on Proverbs 25:15 illuminates what seemed paradoxical to ancient minds: that meekness, courteousness, and kindness possess greater persuasive force than harshness, bitterness, or clamour.
The Pharisees came, bound by scrupulous external observance and self-satisfied pride.
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.—The Guest of the heart. I. THE STRANGER-GUEST WANTING TO COME IN. When a stranger comes to your door, it matters greatly whether he be mean or great. Who is this Visitor? He...
Consider the work of mortification—to pluck out our eyes, to chop off our hands, to cut off our feet.
Exell's Victorian scholarship illuminates this reciprocal dynamic across four dimensions.
The *peripateo* (walking) denotes chosen motion—not forced proximity, but intentional association.
First, *Satan* (Hebrew: adversary, opponent) is not mere allegory but a real spiritual being, the prince of darkness and accuser of mankind (Job 1:7; Revelation 12:9).
First, men cannot walk in good ways unless they leave the bad ones.
Maclaren identifies the reconciling principle: what prevents burden-sharing is self-absorption and spiritual conceit.
Exell's Victorian commentary illuminates three fatal substitutes for love-driven charity.
The picture is midnight—the master absent, servants waiting with loins girded, lamps burning, eyes fixed upon the entrance.
Beneath apparent severity lies the spirit of true kindness.
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