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The seer of Patmos reveals a startling truth: every human heart has constituted itself a throne of judgment over others.
The scene required protection from popular commotion that would have hindered the gradual development of the Redeemer's ministry and its attendant evidences.
"It is not good to eat much honey," Solomon warns.
While diligent hunters prepare their catch the same evening, this sluggard lacks the will to strip the hide or kindle the fire.
Every passion of the soul serves beneficial purposes when rightly ordered, yet fear—perverted from its proper use—becomes a trap that destroys both wisdom and virtue.
The three instruments of capture—fear, pit, and snare—represent distinct methods of trapping wild beasts that Isaiah applies to human judgment.
This is the exact location where King Ahaz had rejected Jehovah's help centuries before, preferring Assyrian alliance instead (Isaiah 7:3).
Consider Nature itself: the earth was complete before Adonai created man in His own image.
Yet inevitably the accumulating pressure breaches the barrier, and the stream resumes its accustomed course with redoubled force.
She is the chief of the four cardinal virtues and may rightly be termed the hinge that turns them all about: wisdom to direct, justice to correct, temperance to abstain, fortitude to sustain.
Solomon commands: "Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them." The wise are least likely to covet such company, yet this counsel applies universally.
Judgment operates on three levels: discerning right from wrong, understanding the law and its manner, and executing consequences with authority.
Exell's exposition from *The Biblical Illustrator* (1887) distinguishes two interpretations: first, discharge all existing debts faithfully; second, avoid contracting debt altogether.
We entrust our fellows with sums large and small, yet human confidence repeatedly fails.
The Wisdom writer distinguishes between antagonism as an inherent principle—designed by Elohim to position us against evil and the enemies of God—and antagonism as mere destructive habit.
Yet the relation of the righteous and the wicked to trouble differs strikingly.
The first fault—measuring oneself by oneself—springs from three sources.
Joseph Exell, resident in Jerusalem during the 1880s, discovered the answer through direct observation of Palestine's seasonal rhythms.
The companion of Yahweh rejects the fruits of oppression.
Contention—reasoned argument between parties willing to hear—remains legitimate and often dutiful.
This Hebrew rebuke strikes at a weakness of human nature: we minimize the commonplace and exalt the distant.
This vision announces the ultimate cessation of warfare through a coming Prince of Peace.
Removing thirty years for Joshua, thirty for Samuel, and forty for Saul's reign (Acts 13:21)—totaling 100 years—leaves 140–160 years for the events recorded in Judges.
Exell's Victorian commentary unpacks the deceptive nature of rebellion: "Treason and rebellion are such horrid and loathsome crimes that if they should appear in their native visage and genuine deformity they could never form a party." Instead, they insinuate themselves...