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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 impulse to adorn ourselves belongs distinctly to human nature, yet moral qualities constitute the truest adornments of any person.
Temporal possessions obtained in harmony with God's will and employed in benevolence produce genuine happiness.
Ecclesiastes 1:26 declares that God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who find favour in His sight. But what constitutes genuine goodness before Elohim? A man may esteem himself righteous, yet remain spiritually hollow. Society may celebrate him as...
The term *mysterion* (mystery), used twice in this passage and repeatedly throughout the epistle, does not describe what is essentially incomprehensible, but rather what was once hidden and is now revealed.
Exell observed that all genuine religion involves mystery in relation to the infinite and Divine; false mystery belongs only to superstition.
Yet names changing need not signal spiritual death; they may herald transformation.
Against this apostasy, the prophet confronted those who declared, "It is vain to serve God." The nature of God's demanded service comprises five essential marks.
Yet Yahweh employs affliction not as abandonment but as severe reclamation.
As the burning bush appeared ordinary yet blazed with divine presence, so the Church contains the extraordinary glory of Elohim.
The passage presents three critical pieces of this celestial armour, each representing a facet of God's redemptive nature.
First, he worketh righteousness—not confined to manual, commercial, or professional spheres alone, but in all his labors rectitude governs him, not expediency.
Nor does the Holy Spirit's operation supersede human effort; rather, it excites it.
The Biblical Illustrator (1887) unpacks four essential truths from this revelation: First, Christ is true God, equal in essence, power, and glory with the Father.
Christ teaches that "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof"—Matthew 6:34—grounding our freedom from anxiety in three essential truths.
Exell, the Victorian homiletic scholar, identified two essential truths within this summons.
This text diagnoses humanity's universal condition: all are liable to sin and under its dominion.
This original uprightness required five distinct faculties working in harmony: an understanding perfectly acquainted with God's law; a memory retaining all its precepts faithfully; a conscience applying it without compromise; a heart loving that law completely; and a will obedient...
Those who serve Elohim must continue their gleaning from morning through evening, not merely offering a morning of service before turning to pleasure.
Though biblical records highlight only the most striking features, Joshua's campaign likely spanned six years—not the instantaneous victory Jehovah could have granted.
The prophet presents three essential truths about obedience to Yahweh.
Yet if we saw truly, we should find many streams of refreshment, many sunny spots, and on all sides evidences of the Divine tenderness.
why tarry the wheels of his chariots?" This language of Sisera's mother—hopeful yet half-despairing—echoes through multitudes in the stern fight of existence and the moral campaign of consecrated life.
She had rhapsodized, calling for her beloved's return—yet when he came at an inconvenient hour, she could not rise from her bed to meet him.
Jesus becomes the Sun Himself, shining immediately upon all inhabitants.