Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• Aaron's excuse 32:15-24
  Moses broke the tablets of the law (v. 19) symbolizing the fact that Israel had broken its covenant with Yahweh. He then proceeded to destroy the golden calf, the symbol of the illicit covenant into which they had entered (cf...
• 2. Holiness of the marriage relationship ch. 18
  Emphasis shifts in this chapter from ceremonial defilement (ch. 17) to moral impurity. The Lord wanted His people to be holy in their behavior and character as well as in less important ritual observances (cf. Matt. 23:28; Ro...
• The activities of the other tribes 1:22-36
  1:22-26 The writer described Ephraim and Manasseh together as "the house of Joseph"(vv. 22-29). First, he narrated Ephraim's activity (vv. 22-26). The Ephraimites' treatment of the man of Bethel who gave them information viol...
• Scope
  The Book of Samuel covers the period of Israel's history bracketed by Samuel's conception and the end of David's reign. David turned the kingdom over to Solomon in 971 B.C.3David reigned for 40 and one-half years (2 Sam. 2:11...
• Outline
  I. The reign of Solomon chs. 1-11A. Solomon's succession to David's throne 1:1-2:121. David's declining health 1:1-42. Adonijah's attempt to seize the throne 1:5-533. David's charge to Solomon 2:1-94. David's death 2:10-12B. ...
• The prophecy of judgment on Jeroboam's religious system 13:1-32
  God sent a young Judahite prophet to Bethel to announce a prophecy that God would judge Jeroboam for his apostasy. When he arrived, the king was exercising his priestly function at the Bethel altar (v. 1). The prophet predict...
• Outline
  (Continued from notes on 1 Kings)3. Ahaziah's evil reign in Israel -1 Kings 22:51-2 Kings 1:184. Jehoram's evil reign in Israel 2:1-8:155. Jehoram's evil reign in Judah 8:16-246. Ahaziah's evil reign in Judah 8:25-9:29C. The ...
• God's judgment of the usurper 11:13-20
  Though Athaliah claimed Jehoash's coronation was treasonous, she was the one guilty of treason. Jehoash was a legitimate heir to the throne of Judah, but she was not since she was not a descendant of David but had married int...
• 2. Josiah's reforms 22:3-23:27
  Josiah began to seek Yahweh when he was 16 years old and began initiating religious reforms when he was 20 (2 Chron. 34:3-7). His reforms were more extensive than those of any of his predecessors. One of them was the repair o...
• E. Jehoahaz's Evil Reign 23:31-35
  Jehoahaz, whose other name was Shallum, was the middle of Josiah's three sons all of whom ruled Judah after Josiah. Jehoahaz was the people's choice (v. 31), but he reigned for only three months in 609 B.C.When Pharaoh Neco d...
• H. Zedekiah's Evil Reign 24:18-25:7
  Zedekiah (Mattaniah) was Josiah's third son to rule over Judah. He rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar (v. 20) by making a treaty with Pharaoh Hophra (589-570 B.C.) under pressure from nationalists in Judah (cf. Jer. 37-38)."Clea...
• Bibliography
  Ackroyd, Peter R. "An Interpretation of the Babylonian Exile: A Study of 2 Kings 20, Isaiah 38-39."Scottish Journal of Theology27:3:(August 1974):329-52.Albright, William F. The Archaeology of Palestine. 1949. Revised ed. Pel...
• N. Manasseh 33:1-20
  Manasseh was one of the few examples of an evil Judean king who turned out good. Nevertheless his wickedness made captivity inevitable for Judah (2 Kings 23:26; Jer. 15:4)."Manasseh's acts are . . . a calculated attempt to th...
• Bibliography
  Ackroyd, Peter R. I and II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah. London: SCM Press, 1973.Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Revised ed., New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1977.Albright, William F. The...
• A. The Renewal of the Mosaic Covenant chs. 8-10
  "The reading of Scripture (Neh 8) and the act of prayer (Neh 9) followed by community commitment (Neh 10) is a model for worshiping communities."62This was another instance in Israel's history of a covenant renewal accompanyi...
• Date and Writers
  The texts of the individual psalms do not usually indicate who wrote them.1However some of the titles of the individual psalms do contain information about the writers.2This is the only really reliable information we have as ...
• The woe against rebellion by God's children ch. 30
  There are several thematic connections between this chapter and chapter 28.298The general structure of the chapter is chiastic."AContemporary events: Egypt no help (1-7)BComing human events: the refusal of the word, the way o...
• Hezekiah's illness 38:1-8
  38:1 The phrase "In those days"identifies the reign of Hezekiah, the Judean king mentioned in the preceding chapters. Since the Lord added 15 years to Hezekiah's life (v. 5), and since Hezekiah died about 686 B.C.,373the time...
• Historical Background
  The biblical records of the times in which Jeremiah ministered are 2 Kings 21-25 and 2 Chronicles 33-36. His contemporary prophets were Zephaniah and Habakkuk before the Exile, and Ezekiel and Daniel after it began.King Manas...
• Israel's perverse conduct 2:14-19
  Perverse conduct was the consequence of Israel's apostasy and infidelity, and it led to slavery.2:14-15 Israel was Yahweh's firstborn son, not a slave or even a home-born servant.77As such he enjoyed the special care and prov...
• Evidences of Israel's ingratitude 2:20-25
  Baal worship fascinated the Israelites, but it was futile.2:20 The Lord had broken the yoke of Egypt off His people at the Exodus and had set them free, but being ungrateful they refused to yield themselves to Him in covenant...
• The Queen of Heaven cult 7:16-20
  This pericope continues Yahweh's instructions to Jeremiah preparing him to deliver the Temple Sermon (cf. vv. 1-2). Jeremiah may have received this message from the Lord at the same time or at some other time.7:16 The Lord to...
• Sin in the Valley of Hinnom 7:29-34
  7:29 The people were to cut off their hair as a sign of grief."The command to cut off the hair' (lit., crown' . . .) is in the feminine in Hebrew, showing that the city (cf. 6:23--'O Daughter of Zion') is meant. The charge st...
• Astral worship 8:1-3
  "The sermon ends (if these verses, still in prose, should be taken with ch. 7) on a note which takes away the last shreds of comfort for those whose hopes or memories are bound up with Jerusalem."1838:1 When the invasion from...
• The linen waistband 13:1-11
  This is the first of several symbolic acts that Jeremiah performed to communicate divine messages (cf. 16:1-4; 18:1-12; 19:1-2, 10-11; 27:1-28:17; 32:1-15; 43:8-13; 51:59-64). Other prophets did the same thing (cf. Isa. 20:2-...
• A lament during a national defeat 14:17-15:4
  The national defeat pictured in this lament was a serious one. It may have been the first Babylonian invasion of Judah in 597 B.C., which resulted in severe destruction and exile for some Judeans.14:17 Jeremiah was to tell th...
• The prophet's inner struggles and Yahweh's responses 15:10-21
  This pericope contains two instances in which Jeremiah faced crushing discouragement in his ministry (vv. 10-14, 15-21). He confessed his frustration to the Lord, and the Lord responded with encouragement.15:10 Jeremiah addre...
• A prophecy about King Jehoahaz (Shallum) 22:10-12
  This section probably contains two originally separate parts (vv. 10 and 11-12).22:10 Jeremiah instructed the people not to mourn over Josiah, who had died in battle with the Egyptians, as much as they should mourn over those...
• Prophecies about false prophets 23:9-40
  Having given a true prophecy about the future, Jeremiah proceeded to announce God's judgment on the false prophets who were misleading His people with false prophecies (cf. v. 1). This section consists of six different messag...
• The two baskets of figs ch. 24
  24:1 This prophetic message came to Jeremiah after Nebuchadnezzar had taken King Jehoiachin (Coniah, Jeconiah, cf. 22:24) and many of the other royal counselors, craftsmen, and smiths (or artisans) captive to Babylon in 597 B...
• 1. Conflict with the people ch. 26
  This section consists of four parts: a summary of Jeremiah's Temple Sermon (vv. 2-6), the prophet's arrest and trial (vv. 7-16), the elders' plea for his life (vv. 17-19, 24), and the incident involving Uriah and his executio...
• Its reading 36:9-20
  36:9 During the winter of 604-603 B.C., the people, not the king, declared a fast. The occasion for the fast may have been the arrival of Babylonian armies on the Philistine plain or the Babylonians' defeat of Ashkelon then.4...
• Its rewriting 36:27-32
  36:27-28 The Lord commanded Jeremiah to make another copy of the scroll that the king had burned (cf. 2 Kings 22:15-20).36:29 He was also to send a message from the Lord to the king. Jehoiakim had burned the first scroll beca...
• The fall of Jerusalem 39:1-10
  What Jeremiah had predicted for so long finally became a reality for Judah. There are four chapters in the Bible that record the fall of Jerusalem reflecting the importance of this event (39; 52; 2 Kings 25; 2 Chron. 36).39:1...
• Ishmael's further atrocities and Johanan's intervention 41:4-18
  41:4-5 Two days after Gedaliah's murder, before the news of it had spread, 80 religious pilgrims came down from the old towns of Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria in northern Israel on their way to Jerusalem. Their dress and other...
• A. The oracle against Egypt ch. 46
  This chapter on Egypt contains three separate prophecies that Jeremiah delivered about the fate of that nation. Their purpose seems to have been to discourage King Jehoiakim (609-598 B.C.) and the pro-Egyptian party in Judah ...
• Bibliography
  Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Revised ed. London: Collier Macmillan Publishers; and New York: Macmillan Publishers Co., 1977.Albright, William Foxwell. The Archaeology of Palestine. Revis...
• The destruction of pagan shrines ch. 6
  ". . . the focus of chap. 6 is on the individual responsibility of the people and prepares the way for the subsequent spoken messages."1216:1-2 The Lord directed Ezekiel to pronounce an oracle of judgment against "the mountai...
• The image of jealousy 8:1-6
  8:1 The following prophecy came to Ezekiel during September of 592 B.C. as he was sitting in his house with the elders of Israel.141This would have been during the time when he was lying on his right side for part of the day ...
• 2. The coming slaughter of the wicked Jerusalemites ch. 9
  9:1 In his vision Ezekiel heard the Lord (cf. v. 4) cry out loudly for the executioners (guards), who would punish the people of Jerusalem, to draw near to Him with their weapons in hand. The Lord had predicted that the peopl...
• The prostitution of Jerusalem 16:15-34
  16:15 However, Jerusalem became self-centered and unfaithful to the Lord; she forgot Him when she became preoccupied with His blessings (cf. Deut. 6:10-12; 8). She went after every people that passed by rather than remaining ...
• Jerusalem's prostitution 23:11-21
  23:11-13 Oholibah observed her sister's behavior and fate, but she did not learn from them. As many historians have observed, the one thing we learn from history is that most people do not learn from history. Oholibah became ...
• The guilt of Israel's idolatrous citizens 4:11-14
  The following section is a general indictment of the people of Israel for their idolatry.4:11 The practice of idolatry (spiritual harlotry), with its emphasis on drinking wine, had turned the heart of the Israelites from Yahw...
• Judgment on Israel's political symbol 10:3-8
  10:3 When the Lord brought destruction, the people would realize that their self-appointed king had failed them and that they did not respect the Lord. They would acknowledge that no human king could help them. Hoshea would b...
• A. An initial appeal 1:2-4
  1:2-3 Joel called on everyone, from the most respected ruling elders of the land (cf. 1 Sam. 30:26-31; 2 Sam. 19:11-15; 2 Kings 23:1; Ezra 10:8; Prov. 31:23; Jer. 26:17; Lam. 5:12, 14) to the ordinary inhabitants, to pay atte...
• 6. The purification of Zion 5:10-15
  5:10-11 In that future eschatological day the Lord also promised to remove the vain sources of security that had always tempted the Israelites represented by horses, chariots, cities, and fortifications (cf. Deut. 17:16).5:12...
• 1. The cause for Judah's judgment 1:4-6
  1:4 Yahweh announced that He would stretch out His hand in judgment against Judah and the people of Jerusalem. Stretching out the hand is a figure of speech that implies a special work of punishment (cf. Exod. 6:6; Deut. 4:34...
• The security of Israel 14:9-11
  14:9 In that day Yahweh would rule over the whole earth. He would be the only king; there would be no others. His name would be number one in the earth; there will be no other so-called gods (cf. Deut. 6:4-5). This verse refe...
• Failure in self-discipline 9:43-50 (cf. Matt. 18:8-14)
  Jesus' proceeded to elaborate on the importance of disciples dealing radically with sin in their lives. He had just warned about leading other disciples astray. Now He cautioned against being led astray oneself."Seducing simp...
• The setting of these parables 14:25-27
  14:25 Luke described a setting different from the preceding meal. Jesus was on the road again heading toward Jerusalem. It was evidently the great size of the multitude that accompanied Him that led Him to say what He did.14:...
• A. The leader's personal life and public ministry 4:6-16
  Paul wrote these positive directions to enable Timothy to overcome the influences of the ascetic apostates that threatened the church at Ephesus. He also wrote to remind him of the importance of his personal life and public m...
• 3. The destruction of the wicked on earth 19:17-21
  19:17 John saw next an angel standing in the sun, a conspicuous position in which all the birds could see him. He cried loudly for all the birds flying in midheaven to assemble (cf. Ezek. 39:4, 17). Jesus referred to the same...