Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• Hannah's lament and Eli's response 1:9-18
  These verses provide some insight into the godly character of Samuel's mother and her personal relationship with Yahweh. That she would offer her son to God's service for life was similar to asking that God would lead your ch...
• Solomon's prayer of dedication 8:22-53
  This great prayer centers on the Mosaic Covenant. That is its heart. Solomon introduced seven petitions with a backward look emphasizing God's faithfulness (vv. 23-26). He concluded with a forward look stressing God's mercy (...
• Darius' decree 6:6-12
  Evidently Darius also saw the Jerusalem temple as a monument to his own success. He instructed Tattenai to allow the Jewish governor, Zerubbabel, and his people to proceed unobstructed. Darius seems to have viewed Zerubbabel ...
• 2. The queen's dismissal 1:10-22
  The Persian kings castrated many of the men who served the king and his family (v. 10) so they could not have sexual relations with the female members of the royal court and start dynasties of their own."Vashti"("best,""the b...
• 2. Haman's promotion 3:1-6
  The events we read in chapter 3 took place four years after Esther became queen (cf. 2:16; 3:7).Agag was the name of an area in Media that had become part of the Persian Empire.54However, Agag was also the name of the Amaleki...
• 1. The rewarding of Esther and Mordecai 8:1-2
  Haman's "house"(v. 1) was his estate. Esther received this probably to compensate her for her suffering. The king gave Mordecai Haman's place as second in authority (cf. Joseph, Gen. 41:42; Daniel, Dan. 5:7, 29; 6:3; and Nehe...
• 2. Esther's request for her people 8:3-8
  Esther again had to argue her case, this time for clemency for the Jews. Her request involved expense to the king. Esther would not have been sure he would grant it. Ahasuerus could have spared the life of the queen and Morde...
• 1. The psalmist's need for God's help 57:1-5
  57:1 David began by comparing himself to a little bird that takes refuge from a passing enemy by hiding under the wing of its parent (cf. 17:8; 36:7; 61:4; 63:7; 91:4). The side to the cave in which David hid may have reminde...
• 2. The deliverance God provides 91:3-13
  91:3-8 God saves us from those who insidiously try to trap us and from deadly diseases. He does this as a mother bird does when it covers its young with its wings, namely tenderly and carefully. He provides as sure a defense ...
• I. The oracle against Babylon chs. 50-51
  Jeremiah wrote almost as much about Babylon's future as he did about the futures of all the other nations in his other oracles combined. The length of this oracle reflects the great importance of Babylon in his ministry as we...
• 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...
• 5. The need of personal righteousness for deliverance 14:12-23
  This prophecy continues the emphasis on judgment from the previous one and stresses the irrevocability of Jerusalem's destruction (cf. Jer. 7:16; 15:1-4).14:12-14 The Lord spoke to Ezekiel again. He revealed that Jerusalem's ...
• Theology
  Theologically the book stresses the sovereignty of God."The absolute sovereignty and transcendence of God above all angels and men literally permeates the book."11"The theme running through the whole book is that the fortunes...
• Message22
  The Book of Daniel contains many unique and significant emphases. I would like to point out some of these first before we organize them into an explanation of what God has given us this book to reveal.Theologically Daniel str...
• Outline
  I. The character of Daniel ch. 1A. Historical background 1:1-2B. Nebuchadnezzar's training program for promising youths 1:3-7C. Daniel's resolve to please Yahweh 1:8-13D. The success of the test 1:14-16E. God's blessing of Da...
• II. The Times of the Gentiles: God's program for the world chs. 2--7
  Daniel wrote 2:4b-7:28 in the Aramaic language. This literary change gives the reader a clue that this part is a distinct section of the book. The content of this section also identifies it as special. It concerns the future ...
• 2. The failure of the king's wise men 2:4-13
  2:4 The Chaldeans took the lead in replying to the king. They responded in the Aramaic language that was widely used in business and in government throughout the empire. This reference to Aramaic introduces the section of the...
• 7. The interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream 2:36-45
  2:36 Daniel carefully distinguished the dream (vv. 31-35) from its interpretation (vv. 36-45) for the sake of clarity. His reference to "we"telling the interpretation is probably an editorial plural. This form of speech allow...
• 2. The charge against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego 3:8-12
  3:8-11 The Chaldeans who brought charges against Daniel's three friends were nobles, not just astrologers. The Aramaic term gubrin kasd'inmakes this clear.113They were in a position to profit personally from the execution of ...
• 1. Nebuchadnezzar's introductory doxology 4:1-3
  4:1 The fact that Nebuchadnezzar addressed what follows to everyone living on the earth, even though he did not rule over the entire earth, should not be a problem. This was the universal language that he customarily used (cf...
• 7. Daniel's rise and Belshazzar's fall 5:29-31
  5:29 Belshazzar kept his promise (v. 16) though Daniel's honors only lasted a few hours at most, typical of the honors of this world. The king's response is surprising. We might have expected him to execute Daniel for confron...
• E. Darius' pride and Daniel's preservation ch. 6
  Even though this chapter is one of the most popular in all the Bible, it has also been the target of strong critical attacks because of the problem of the identity of Darius. The chapter shares motifs with Psalm 2 and recalls...
• 1. Daniel's promotion in the Persian government 6:1-3
  6:1-2 When the Medo-Persian alliance overthrew the Neo-Babylonian Empire, it acquired much geographic territory that it proceeded to incorporate into its kingdom. The Persian Empire became the largest that the world had yet s...
• 2. The conspiracy against Daniel 6:4-9
  6:4 The text does not say why the other officials wanted to get rid of Daniel. Perhaps his integrity made it difficult for them to get away with graft and political corruption. Maybe since he was quite old they wanted to elim...
• 3. Daniel's faithfulness and Darius' predicament 6:10-15
  6:10 The new decree did not deter Daniel from continuing to pray for the welfare of the city where God had sent them into exile and for the Jews' return from exile. That this was the subject of his praying, among other things...
• 4. Daniel in the lions' den 6:16-18
  6:16 Darius' parting words to Daniel are significant. We could render them, "Your God whom you serve continually, he will deliver you."225The idea is that Darius had tried to save Daniel and had failed. Now Yahweh must save h...
• 5. Daniel's deliverance and his enemies' destruction 6:19-24
  6:19-20 Evidently spending a night in the lions' den was the minimum that the law required because early the next morning Darius set out to free Daniel if he might have survived. Uncertain about the prophet's fate the king ca...
• 6. Darius' decree and praise of Yahweh 6:25-28
  6:25-27 This story ends as previous ones in the book did with the king praising and promoting Yahweh. This expression of praise, however, surpasses the others (cf. 3:28-29; 4:3, 34-35, 37). Not only did Darius personally prai...
• F. Daniel's vision of future world history ch. 7
  "As interpreted by conservative expositors, the vision of Daniel [in chapter 7] provides the most comprehensive and detailed prophecy of future events to be found anywhere in the Old Testament."235"The vision's setting in the...
• 1. Jeremiah's prophecy of Jerusalem's restoration and Daniel's response 9:1-3
  9:1 What Daniel did and saw in this chapter dates from 538 B.C., the first year of Darius the Mede's (Cyrus') rule as king over the former Neo-Babylonian Empire (cf. Ezra 1:1).347This means that Belshazzar's feast (ch. 5) occ...
• 4. God's response to Daniel's prayer 9:20-23
  God began responding to Daniel's prayer as soon as he began praying (cf. v. 19; Luke 11:10-13). Clearly the prayer recorded in the preceding verses was only a summary of what the prophet prayed since he prayed long and hard (...
• The angel's explanation of his activity 10:20-11:1
  10:20 The angel asked if Daniel knew why he had come to him. He apparently did this to focus the prophet's attention on the vision to follow anew since Daniel was quite weak.The angel informed Daniel that he needed to return ...
• Historical Background
  The Babylonians, led by King Nebuchadnezzar, destroyed the city of Jerusalem, including Solomon's temple, in 586 B.C. and took most of the Jews captive to Babylon. There the Israelites could not practice their formal worship ...
• IV. A prophecy concerning Zerubbabel 2:20-23
  2:20 The Lord gave Haggai a second message on the same day as the previous message (v. 10), the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month (Kislev 24, December 18).2:21 Haggai was to tell Zerubbabel that Yahweh was going to shake t...
• Date
  "Haggai and Zechariah . . . are noteworthy for the chronological precision with which they related their lives and ministries to their historical milieu. This is not the case at all with Malachi. In fact, one of the major pro...
• 7. The parable of the minas 19:11-27
  This parable serves in Luke's narrative as a conclusion to the section on salvation's recipients (18:9-19:27). It provides something of a denouement(i.e., a final unravelling of the plot) following the excellent example of Za...
• The healing of a lame man 3:1-10
  Luke had just referred to the apostles' teaching, to the awe that many of the Jews felt, to the apostles doing signs and wonders, and to the Christians meeting in the temple (2:43-44, 46). Now he narrated a specific incident ...
• Peter's vision 10:9-16
  "Though Peter was not by training or inclination an overly scrupulous Jew, and though as a Christian his inherited prejudices were gradually wearing thin, he was not prepared to go so far as to minister directly to Gentiles. ...
• B. Thanksgiving 1:3-8
  Paul gave thanks to God for his readers frequently. He told them so to enable them to appreciate the fact that he knew of their situation and rejoiced in their good testimony.1:3-4 Whenever Paul and Timothy prayed for the Col...
• B. Paul's preliminary hearing in court 4:16-18
  4:16 It was customary under Roman law for accused prisoners to have a preliminary hearing before their trial. At this hearing, witnesses could speak on behalf of the accused. In Paul's case no one had come to his defense. Thi...
• 4. Faith in subsequent eras 11:32-40
  11:32 The Old Testament is full of good examples of persevering, living faith. The writer selected these few for brief mention along with what such faith accomplished.372Each individual that the writer mentioned was less than...
• G. The seventh trumpet judgment 11:15-19
  John's revelation continued to unfold future events as God revealed these to him in his vision. The scene John saw next was in heaven. The seventh trumpet judgment did not begin immediately (cf. 8:1-5), but John received info...
• 1. The binding of Satan 20:1-3
  20:1 The first word, "And,"supports the idea of chronological sequence. It implies a continuation from what John just revealed (cf. 19:11, 17, 19; 20:4, 11, 12; 21:1, 2, 22). Amillennial interpreters disagree."John says nothi...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

• A Tribute From Enemies
  Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.'--Daniel 6:5.DANIEL was somewhere about ninety years old when he was cast to the lions. He ...
• Faith Stopping The Mouths Of Lions
  Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee. 17. And a stone was brought, and laid...
• II. We Next Note The Great Deliverance.
  The king does not see Daniel, and waits in sickening doubt whether any sound but the brutes' snarl at the disturber of their feast will be heard. There must have been a sigh of relief when the calm accents were audible from t...