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By Joseph S. Exell · 1887 · 1,353 illustrations
The Biblical Illustrator is a 56-volume reference work compiled by Joseph S. Exell in the late 19th century. Each passage of Scripture is illuminated with historical anecdotes, biographical sketches, analogies from nature, and homiletical observations drawn from ancient and contemporary sources. These illustrations have been carefully restored from the original public-domain text and rewritten for clarity and accessibility — preserving the historical depth while removing Victorian OCR artifacts.
Yet the people of God have always encountered persecution and sacrifice.
In Old Testament thought, moral and physical evil are not reduced to a single principle.
This love proves reasonable, soul-satisfying, and soul-ennobling in degree beyond all earthly affection.
"Four young men have I slain with the sword . . . yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord." God's dealings with nations and individuals during trial proceed not from vindictiveness but from love and compassion, designed...
The benefit of trials is entirely lost when we despise the Lord's chastening or faint under His rebuke.
Mercy (*eleos*) differs fundamentally from goodness—it presupposes guilt.
The Hebrew verb denotes not merely glancing but *epistrophē*—a complete turning around, reorienting one's entire direction toward God.
Exell identifies how the term "conversion" suffers constant misapplication—a Chinaman becoming American, a philosopher abandoning materialism, or someone transferring denominational membership.
Concrete sorrows—starvation, displacement, loss—paradoxically sharpen our vision of the Lord's presence.
Exell illuminates this through Alexander the Great's court philosopher.
Yet the Elohim who governs temporal harvests governs spiritual ones identically.
This posture teaches a fundamental principle: those called to the Lord's service must wait for His vocation rather than rushing ahead unbidden.
The prophet's vision does not end in ruin.
First, faith means taking God at His word about things unknown, unlikely, and untried—trusting your soul to His care, your sins to His cleansing, your life to His keeping.
What is implied in being a branch in Christ?
Christ unveils a graduated progression of spiritual maturity.
The arch enemy—called by Scripture the old serpent, Satan, the roaring lion—commands tremendous power and malignity, marshaling principalities and powers under his dominion.
During the Italian campaigns, five Austrian soldiers—cut off from retreat—rode into a French reserve encampment intending surrender.
This transition reveals the foundation upon which every meaningful life must stand.
His custom reveals a pattern that all who would serve Adonai must learn: the rhythmic alternation between public labor and private prayer.
Luke records with precision: "he leaping up stood." The healed man did not merely walk—he leaped, testing the strength of muscles that had never carried him.
Efforts to do good are misunderstood and ill-requited; benevolent plans are ridiculed, motives misrepresented, kindness abused, and hopes of success treated as visionary.
Christ's kingdom exists to bring rebels to obedience within God's government.
The Church Fathers offered profound interpretations of this triple declaration.