Loading...
Loading...
292 illustrations
These appear contradictory, yet they are essential antagonistic forces—like hydrogen and oxygen combining to form water, or attraction and repulsion functioning as complementary principles in nature.
Though his wars were justifiable, even righteous in their cause, the blood upon his hands disqualified him from constructing the sanctuary of Elohim.
This is no temporary statute, no passing ordinance that grows obsolete with the turning of years.
This image captures Amos's declaration: "Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves." God does not speak in literal terms—the Almighty cannot be physically oppressed—but rather as a great father addresses his...
Rather, he spoke with prophetical vehemence *praedictorium*—a prediction that if his enemies refused to acknowledge God's protection of His servants, if they would not recognize that Yahweh had heard and rescued His children, then judgment would surely fall upon them.
In one sense, they have already been there and returned.
Joseph Parker, D.D., observes that instruction often begins with negatives—teaching children what they must not do.
(Proverbs 3:4) What constitutes a truly religious life?
This is not labored knowledge but native breath—religion so integrated into His nature that He prays and speaks as naturally as breathing.
The Biblical Illustrator identifies this legion as anger, malice, intemperance, murder, impurity, unfaithfulness, dishonesty, hypocrisy, ingratitude, disobedience, envy, covetousness, blasphemy, and atheism.
No kingdom—evil or good—consciously engineers its own destruction.
The exiles returning from Babylon carry both weapons and sacred implements—they are simultaneously soldiers and priests.
One such truth concerns a child's early accountability.
The pedigree of true believers consists of two movements: first, they were once *in* the world, characterized by practical atheism (living without God in spirit and conduct), imperial materialism (recognizing no spiritual universe), and dominant selfishness (each governed by selfish...
Yet Maclaren finds in this incompleteness not defeat but a divine principle.
Proverbs 4:7 declares wisdom the principal thing—not merely intellectual attainment, but the *summum bonum* (*chief good*) that elevates the human soul. Joseph S. Exell's 1887 exposition reveals wisdom's four-fold excellence. First, wisdom addresses man's spiritual state before Elohim. True happiness...
Why may we multiply requests before the throne?
Scripture's value lies not merely in possession but in keeping its statutes.
This paradox reveals divine authority: while all existence belongs absolutely to Yahweh, He preserves the righteous according to His pleasure, removing them only when fit.
Eleazar carried four sacred charges: oil for light, sweet incense, the daily meat-offering, and anointing oil.
The body is a bad master, though it may be a good servant.
The previous verse (Proverbs 16:14) describes a king's anger as *messengers of death* — swift, certain, and irreversible.
God announces Himself the witness and judge of all mankind.
The Christian idea of life is founded on conscious dedication: "To the Lord we live; to the Lord we die." What all other men must do unconsciously, the Christian does with full awareness.