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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.
The prophet addresses Israel's subtle compromise—they may have claimed fidelity to Yahweh while crafting images to aid worship, reasoning that visible objects focused devotion like those of neighboring nations.
When we pray this petition, we acknowledge five truths.
The cedar of Mount Lebanon towers with extended branches offering shade.
King Hezekiah had already stripped three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold from the royal treasury and Temple doors—a desperate ransom that bought only temporary relief.
The wicked man often works with great diligence and shrewdness—he is no idle profligate, but a calculating schemer.
Their repentance was fundamentally defective—a *nostos* (return) of behavior without a *epistrophe* (turning toward) Adonai.
Exell, the Victorian biblical expositor, unpacks with precision: the greatest gifts carry corresponding sorrows.
The Church exists for the world's sake more than for its own comfort.
Some approached without special interest, moved merely by custom.
We are not merely *beholding* (*theaomai*) Christ's glory as observers; we are ourselves becoming mirrors that *reflect* His image.
When you restrain prayer before God, you act in opposition to your own conscience and confession of what is right.
Note three truths: First, Elohim hath already given the very greatest thing to set before salvation: what every parent who had but one beloved son would surely feel as the greatest of his treasures.
The Greek word *ergastērion* (workshop) reveals where this transaction occurs—in the very matrix of falsehood itself.
Yet the passage reveals profound truth about Elohim's character toward those who trust Him genuinely.
The Biblical Illustrator (1887) expounds two crucial truths: First, God's greatness manifests in His constant governance of the world He made.
— Christianity does not shield disciples from misfortune and calamity; rather, it requires trouble for spiritual maturation.
Mark records their astonishment at His doctrine, for it bore the unmistakable stamp of divine power.
Repentance (*metanoia*—a turning around of the mind) in Scripture holds three distinct meanings.
The fear of God operates as a restraining influence upon the heart.
David's prayer—"Remember not the sins of my youth"—reflects a universal human experience: youthful transgressions, once dismissed thoughtlessly, return as haunting spectres in maturity.
Higher counsels than ours govern the issues of human conduct.
First, some regard themselves as mere products of natural causes—biology determining destiny.
Our Lord justifies His parabolic teaching method on the principle that immediate revelation is not always desirable.
The Hebrew Christians, like wilderness Israelites, were offered the gospel and eternal rest, yet required active faith to obtain it.