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The term "perfect" (*tam*) means not faultless but whole-hearted, one who consciously withholds nothing from God.
Charles Spurgeon observed that while one sermon explains salvation, ten are required to exhort men toward it.
Exell, in his 1887 *Biblical Illustrator*, identifies why this pursuit matters.
This principle cuts to the heart of Christian discipleship: we cannot expect exemption from sufferings our Master endured.
The rabbis represent Amoz as possibly a brother to King Amaziah, yet his true legacy emerges in his son's very name: *Yeshayahu* (salvation is from Yahweh).
Yet when a boulder interrupts this relentless current, something miraculous occurs: within seasons, a garden flourishes on its leeward side.
Internally: hearts are savingly affected, spirits mightily strengthened.
Human hope derives from only two sources: sense and faith.
All men walk in paths as different as the characters they sustain—saints or sinners—yet sinners remain insensible to the objects leading them toward ruin.
We recoil from the depths of human depravity described here, yet the lesson cuts deeper than scandal.
This dual calling reveals three critical truths about ministerial office.
The prophet invokes the Eastern sky during the dry season—from May to September—when clouds vanish entirely for four months, leaving an atmosphere of pristine clarity.
The prophet had learned to recognize God's messengers in natural phenomena—as he wrote, the winds themselves are messengers of Elohim (Psalm 104:4).
Sin operates as a *phoros* (burden)—an insupportable load that detains sinners from Elohim, the only source of relief.
Herod's character bore five destructive marks: blindness to spiritual truth, luxurious indulgence, vengeful anger, susceptibility to flattery, and habitual sin.
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.
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.
When asked the meaning of *cherubim* (knowledge) and *seraphim* (flame), the boy recognized a hierarchy of grace: the cherubim excel in knowledge, the seraphim in loving God.
Exell (1887) observed that no classic equals the Word of God in influence.
David here stretches out his hand like a little child, crying to his Father: "Hold up my goings." **I.
They are the holy ones who stand before Elohim's throne and behold His face continually.
Exell observed that the present world presents a paradox: philosophers from Ray Lankester to John Stuart Mill cannot agree on nature's character.
Armed hosts from the north sweep through the land like a devastating wind, stripping the people's substance as a harvest-man gathers corn.
Scripture reveals two distinct covenants between God and man: the covenant of works and the covenant of grace.