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10,045 illustrations — Lessons from history, biography, and world events
Once deflected from righteousness, nothing becomes easier than sinking into deepening abysses of iniquity.
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(Matthew 12:34) To speak the language of Canaan is to discourse on sacred subjects in the manner peculiar to those who enjoy Divine revelation and are taught of Elohim.
Even within Christendom, this darkness persists among those without gospel transformation.
In the first, one offense brought condemnation upon all mankind by a just and inevitable law.
It radiates fire, love, light, and warmth from its very essence.
Sin operates as a *phoros* (burden)—an insupportable load that detains sinners from Elohim, the only source of relief.
In these proverbs of purity, the wise man personifies wisdom's rival standing in earth's great thoroughfares, bidding simple youth to shameful pleasures along the broad and crowded way.
Yet Yahweh has opened a way of reconciliation for sinners who have grossly offended Him.
Even the righteous tend toward this instinct, often fixing their praise upon unworthy objects.
An ancient philosopher observed, "There is nothing great on earth but man, and nothing great in man but his soul." How shall we measure a soul's worth?
The first clause appears personal—"Thou hast maintained my right"—as if Yahweh had chosen one man's cause over many.
Herod's character bore five destructive marks: blindness to spiritual truth, luxurious indulgence, vengeful anger, susceptibility to flattery, and habitual sin.
Exell observes that in the Church, Elohim is present as a great reservoir of fervid love, a storehouse of blazing affection heated seventy times seven hotter than any creatural love, pouring out its ardours for the quickening of all who...
Consider the excellence of the Holy Scriptures against earthly treasure.
The distinction between these two gifts proves essential: instruction consists in the communication of right principles; counsel in the advice by which you may apply those principles practically.
You cannot awake one morning in glad surprise to find it finished to the turret stone.
Earnestness marks epochs of spiritual elevation and reveals individual character more than mere ability.
Exell's *Biblical Illustrator* (1887) offers a striking agricultural parable: farmers along Scotland's Sutherland coast discovered that arable land covered with shore stones—from turkey-egg to eight-pound weights—consistently produced better crops of oats and pease.
But this creates logical circularity: how can one receive what one must already possess to qualify?
John Trapp's commentary drives this home—one portion of wood serves its *proper* purpose, the other becomes an object of futile worship.
Where human rulers depend upon military strength, natural talent, and force of will, the Messiah judges *the poor* (*dal*, the economically vulnerable) through *righteousness* (*tsedaqah*, covenantal justice).
To ransom (*lutroo*) means to redeem or free from captivity by paying an equivalent—to rescue from danger and death, to deliver from an enemy's possession through warfare or purchase by gold.
True religion teaches us to refer all questions to the highest tribunal, asking not merely what is agreeable and expedient, but what is the will of God.
This principle, drawn from Proverbs 26:27, establishes a sobering truth: every child of Adam, until renewed by Divine grace, presents to Omnipotence and Omniscience the same moral aspect.