Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• VII. MOSES' LAST ACTS chs. 31--34
  Having completed the major addresses to the Israelites recorded to this point in Deuteronomy, Moses needed only to make a few final arrangements before Israel was ready to enter the land. The record of these events concludes ...
• D. Moses' blessing of the tribes ch. 33
  After receiving the reminder of his death and as one of his final official acts as Israel's leader, Moses pronounced a prophetic blessing on the tribes of Israel (cf. Gen. 49)."In the ancient Near East, a dying father's final...
• 5. Survey of the remaining land 18:1-10
  After the process of assigning land to the three tribes mentioned above, Israel's attention turned to relocating the tabernacle in a more central location (v. 1). God undoubtedly made the choice of Shiloh (lit. rest; cf. Deut...
• Date and Writer
  Internal references help us locate the approximate date of composition of this book. The clause, "In those days there was no king in Israel,"(17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25) suggests that someone wrote Judges during the monarchical ...
• Message15
  Joshua reveals that victory, success, and progress result when God's people trust and obey Him consistently. Judges shows that defeat, failure, and retrogression follow when they fail to trust and obey consistently. In this r...
• Outline
  I. The reason for Israel's apostasy 1:1-3:6A. Hostilities between the Israelites and the Canaanites after Joshua's death 1:1-2:51. Initial successes and failures ch. 12. The announcement of God's discipline 2:1-5B. Israel's c...
• I. THE REASONS FOR ISRAEL'S APOSTASY 1:1--3:6
  The first major section in the book (1:1-3:6) explains very clearly why the period of the judges was a dark chapter in Israel's history. God revealed the reasons for Israel's apostasy and consequent national problems in terms...
• The leadership of Judah 1:1-21
  1:1 The Book of Judges begins with a conjunction translated "now"or "and."God intended Judges to continue the narrative of Israel's history where the Book of Joshua ended (cf. Josh. 1:1). This verse provides a heading for the...
• 1. Oppression under the Moabites and deliverance through Ehud 3:12-30
  The Moabites and Ammonites were not only neighbors who both lived to the southeast of Canaan, but they were also descendants of the same ancestor, Lot. The Amalekites lived on Israel's southern border and were descendants of ...
• D. The fourth apostasy 6:1-10:5
  The writer of Judges structured this book so the story of Gideon would be its focal center."Within the main body of the book, seven major narrative blocks can be noted. Moreover, there are certain parallel features between th...
• Gideon's compromise 8:22-28
  The supernatural victory God had given His people elevated Gideon into national recognition. Some of the men of Israel invited Gideon to be their king and to begin a dynasty of rulers (v. 22). Perhaps they were from the north...
• The fate of Jephthah's daughter 11:34-40
  Verses 1-33 record Jephthah's success. The rest of his story (11:34-12:7) relates his failure. The writer likewise recorded Gideon's success first (6:1-8:23) and then his failure (8:24-9:57). We shall find a similar pattern w...
• Samson's losses 14:15-20
  The writer called the Timnite Samson's wife even though the engaged couple had not yet consummated their marriage (v. 15)."The usual length of a [wedding] celebration was seven days and the marriage was not consummated until ...
• III. THE RESULTS OF ISRAEL'S APOSTASY chs. 17--21
  The following two extended incidents (ch. 17-21) differ from the records of the judges just completed (chs. 3-16). They are not accounts of the activities of any of Israel's judges. They are the record of events that took pla...
• A. The idolatry of Micah and the Danites chs. 17-18
  God undoubtedly included the story of Micah and the Danites in the sacred record because it relates the establishment of image worship in Israel. This was a new and catastrophic departure from Yahweh for the Israelites. Image...
• B. The Immorality of Gibeah and the Benjamites chs. 19-21
  Chapter 19 records an event that provoked civil war in Israel. The account of that war follows in chapter 20. Then the consequences of the war unfold in chapter 21. This section of the book is the climactic and supreme demons...
• Attempt at a peaceful settlement 20:12-19
  The 11 tribes wisely tried to settle this problem with the Benjamites peacefully (v. 12; cf. Josh. 22:13-20). Unfortunately the Benjamites decided to support the residents of Gibeah who were their kinsmen. They should have si...
• 3. The preservation of Benjamin ch. 21
  In chapter 20 Israel tried desperately to destroy the tribe of Benjamin.367In chapter 21 she tried just as hard to deliver this tribe from the extinction that her own excessive vengeance threatened to accomplish. The anarchy ...
• The plight of the Benjamites 21:1-4
  The "wife oath"that the Israelites had taken at Mizpah (20:8-11) may have had some connection with God's commands concerning Israel's treatment of the Canaanites (Lev. 7:1-3). Israel was to destroy these enemies utterly and n...
• Israel's first insufficient solution: a previous oath 21:5-15
  Verses 5-7 stress the sorrow and the dilemma the Israelites felt because of the Benjamites' situation. The "great oath"(v. 5) seems to have been that any Israelites who did not participate in the nation's battles against her ...
• Israel's second sufficient solution: a technical loophole 21:16-24
  The writer constructed this section parallel to the previous one (vv. 5-15) to highlight the dilemma Israel continued to face.370About 200 Benjamites still needed wives. Verses 16-18 repeat the dilemma that the Israelites' "w...
• The concluding key 21:25
  Verse 25 concludes the story of the atrocity of the men of Gibeah and the Benjamites (chs. 19-21). This second vignette from the period of the judges began and ends with the same statement (cf. 19:1). It reflects the failure ...
• Conclusion
  The Book of Joshua recorded Israel's victory over her enemies through trust in and obedience to God. The Book of Judges shows the defeat of the nation by its enemies from without and within due to refusal to trust and obey Go...
• Bibliography
  Aharoni, Yohanan. Land of the Bible. Phildelphia: Westminster Press, 1962.Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Revised ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1977.Albright, William Foxwell. The...
• I. NAOMI'S PREDICAMENT ch. 1
  As is often true in literature, the structure of the piece sometimes reveals the purpose of the writer. This is certainly the case in the Book of Ruth. The writer constructed the whole book with a chiastic (crossing) structur...
• A. The deaths of Naomi's husband and sons 1:1-5
  God had promised the Israelites that if they departed from Him He would discipline them by sending famine on the Promised Land (Deut. 28:17, 23, 38-40, 42).16The famine on Israel at this time indicates God's judgment for unfa...
• 1. The battle of Aphek 4:1b-11
  The Philistines, as we have already seen in Judges, were Israel's primary enemy to the west at this time. Samson, too, fought the Philistines (Judg. 13-16).52There are about 150 references to the Philistines in 1 and 2 Samuel...
• Saul's deliverance of Jabesh-gilead 11:6-11
  God's Spirit came on Saul in the sense that He stirred up his spirit (cf. 10:6, 10). His response to the messengers' news was appropriate indignation since non-Israelites were attacking God's covenant people (Gen. 12:3). Saul...
• VII. SUMMARY ILLUSTRATIONS chs. 21--24
  The last major section of the Book of Samuel (2 Sam. 21-24) consists of six separate pericopes that together constitute a conclusion to the whole book (cf. Judg. 17-21). Each pericope emphasizes the theological message of the...
• Ezra's prayer 9:5-15
  The priests presented the evening offering (v. 5) between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. in Jesus' day.130Ezra's prayer contains four primary characteristics: solidarity, confession, readiness to change, and faith in God's mercy.131In hi...
• 1. Israel's rejection not total 11:1-10
  The first pericope gives hope for the future by showing that even now some Jews believe.11:1 The opening question carries on the rhetorical style of 10:18 and 19. God has not rejected the Israelites because they have, on the ...