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Exell's 1887 commentary frames this as a mirror for self-examination in two categories.
The guilt of forsaking God rests upon a fundamental truth: man is bound by the law of his nature to obey the Almighty Being who made him an intelligent and immortal creature.
The psalmist's boasting is altogether different in character.
Isaiah 58:16 declares: "Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles." This remarkable promise describes the Church's sustenance through the wealth, power, and resources that nations and kings willingly contribute to her growth. The imagery is maternal, not predatory....
First, they robbed widows materially—devouring their houses under the facade of lengthy prayers, enriching themselves through religious pretense.
This text diagnoses humanity's universal condition: all are liable to sin and under its dominion.
David declares his uprightness before God—"I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity." Yet this same psalm, when read messianically through the lens of Scripture, applies to Christ Himself.
Rather than dismiss these prayers as expressions of unholy personal malice, Exell proposes a principle: examine what Yahweh Himself declares about such utterances.
A son honors his father; a servant fears his master—yet Israel, the son of Yahweh, offers Him what it would not dare present to an earthly ruler.
The kiss signifies multiple progressive meanings in Scripture.
We are led not as brute beasts driven against our nature, but as reasonable creatures whose wills remain intact yet transformed by grace.
The double plea—goodness as God's nature and goodness as God's action—becomes the believer's anchor when knowledge fails.
First, observe the model of prayer: "I cried with my whole heart." The psalmist does not offer God a fractured devotion or divided attention.
The last king of David's line was captured on the very ground where Israel first entered its inheritance—at Jericho, where unarmed men trusting in Elohim watched the walls collapse.
The scorner dismisses all religious forms as hollow "cant," corrupting the young and weak-minded through cynical manipulation.
Joseph Exell's 1887 *Biblical Illustrator* frames this eschatological promise through three movements.
Isaiah quotes an ancient prediction (also preserved in Micah iv.
I am thy part and thine inheritance' (Numbers 18:20).
By "plants," we understand three categories: every false doctrine, every corrupt practice, and every unregenerate person who claims membership in the visible Church without transformation by Elohim.
The hand lifts itself to violence, as Cain's did against Abel, or grasps what belongs to others, as Achan seized forbidden spoils.
The first, *El* (אל), designates Elohim as the Mighty One—the Supreme Power who sustains all creation.
The distinction between "lively" and "living" reveals Scripture's nature: where *lively* denotes mere animation, *living* (*zōē*) signifies life as an operative principle—comprehensive, generative, self-perpetuating.
The apostle deliberately substitutes "is known of Him" for "knows Him"—a rhetorical choice that elevates God's initiative above human capability.
For He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet.—The reign of Christ establishes this world as His battlefield now; when this conflict ends, His reign concludes also. "He shall reign till," and no longer. Who are...