Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• The case of the defiant Sabbath-breaker 15:32-36
  This incident illustrates the fate of the Israelite or foreigner in Israel who deliberately violated the law of Sabbath observance. It clarifies the meaning of defiant sin as well as what it means to be "cut off from among hi...
• Message9
  Let me share with you a couple of quotations that point out the importance of this book."Deuteronomy is one of the greatest books of the Old Testament. Its significance on the domestic and personal religion of all ages has no...
• Outline
  I. Introduction: the covenant setting 1:1-5II. Moses' first major address: a review of God's faithfulness 1:6-4:40A. God's past dealings with Israel 1:6-3:291. God's guidance from Sinai to Kadesh 1:6-462. The march from Kades...
• I. INTRODUCTION: the Covenant setting 1:1-5
  This brief section places the events that follow in their geographical and chronological setting. It introduces the occasion for the covenant, the parties involved, and other information necessary to identify the document and...
• IV. MOSES' SECOND MAJOR ADDRESS: AN EXPOSITION OF THE LAW chs. 5--26
  ". . . Deuteronomy contains the most comprehensive body of laws in the Pentateuch. It is clearly intended to be consulted for guidance on many aspects of daily life, in sharp contrast with the laws of Leviticus, which are ver...
• 2. Exhortation to love Yahweh ch. 6
  Another writer suggested that chapters 6-26 expand the Decalogue with the intent of addressing the spirit of the law.92He believed the structure of the book supports his contention that the writer chose exemplary cases. Moses...
• 3. Examples of the application of the principles chs. 7-11
  "These clearly are not laws or commandments as such but primarily series of parenetic homilies in which Moses exhorted the people to certain courses of action in light of the upcoming conquest and occupation of Canaan. Within...
• The consequences of obedience and disobedience ch. 11
  The section of Deuteronomy dealing with general stipulations of the covenant ends as it began, with an exhortation to covenant loyalty (5:1-5; cf. 4:32-40)."This chapter is to be understood as a re-emphasis of these principle...
• B. An exposition of selected covenant laws 12-25
  Moses' homiletical exposition of the law of Israel that follows explains reasons for the covenant laws that arose from the Ten Commandments. This address concludes with directions for celebrating and confirming the covenant (...
• Pagan gods 12:29-31
  The Israelites were not to investigate the pagan religious practices of the Canaanites with a view to worshipping their gods or following their example in the worship of Yahweh (v. 30; cf. Rom. 16:19; Eph. 5:12). Moses develo...
• 2. Laws arising from the second commandment 12:32-13:18
  The second commandment is, "You shall not make for yourself an image or any likeness . . . [to] worship them or serve them . . ."(5:8-10). The writer mentioned three different cases in this section."In the ancient suzerainty ...
• The prophet or receiver of a dream 12:32-13:5
  The last verse of chapter 12 in the English Bible is the first verse of chapter 13 in the Hebrew Bible. It introduces what follows.God permitted prophets (people who claimed to have direct revelation from God or to speak for ...
• The relative or friend 13:6-11
  It was not just religious leaders who suffered for this crime. The authorities were to execute any Israelite who sought to lead others into idolatry. Moses set forth the deterrent value of capital punishment as a reason for i...
• The town 13:12-18
  The closest example of this ever happening in Israel that Scripture records occurs in Judges 20 in the case of Gibeah, a city in Benjamin. The circumstances were not exactly the same, but the other Israelites did discipline t...
• 1. Laws of covenant celebration and confirmation 26:1-15
  This section concludes the "purely legal material."284The ordinances with which Moses concluded his second address (chs. 5-26) not only specified the Israelites' actions in further respects but also focused their thinking on ...
• 2. Summary exhortation 26:16-19
  "The presentation of the commandments and the statutes and ordinances that will guide Israel's life in the land is over now. Verse 16 serves as a concluding bracket around chapters 5-26, matching Moses' introduction to the wh...
• 2. The seventh year covenant renewal ceremony 31:9-13
  "Moses assigned the priests and elders the duty of regularly republishing the law of the covenant. The effect of this was to associate the priests and elders with Joshua in the responsibility of rule and in the esteem of Isra...
• 2. Defeat at Ai ch. 7
  At Jericho, Israel learned God's strength. At Ai, she learned her own weakness. She could only conquer her enemies as she remained faithful to God's covenant."We are never in greater danger than right after we have won a grea...
• A. The return of the two and one-half tribes to their inheritances ch. 22
  The main part of the second half of the Book of Joshua dealing with the division of the land ends with the appointment of the Levitical cities (chs. 13-21). The rest of the book deals with settlement in the land (chs. 22-24)....
• Gideon's public confession 6:25-32
  "Under normal circumstances the narrative should have proceeded directly from v. 24 to vv. 33-35, and then on to 7:1. But the normal sequence is interrupted twice to deal with a pair of abnormalities. The first is an objectiv...
• The theft of Micah's images and Levite 18:11-20
  An army of 600 Danites proceeded from Zorah and Eshtaol eastward up the Kesalon Valley to Kiriath-jearim and then northward into the Hill Country of Ephraim. They stopped at Micah's house, noted his images and ephod, and pond...
• Preparations to besiege Gibeah 20:1-11
  The phrase "from Dan to Beersheba"(v. 1) became a common expression during the united monarchy indicating the whole of Israel. Gilead refers to the part of Israel east of the Jordan River. The Mizpah referred to here (v. 1) w...
• The Israelites' final victory 20:29-48
  Verses 29-36a give an overview of the battle, and 36b-48 provide a more detailed explanation.Israel's strategy was similar to what God had specified against Ai (Josh. 8:1-29) and what Abimelech used against Shechem (9:33-44)....
• The vindication of Yahweh 18:17-40
  Ahab had a problem of perception similar to Obadiah's (v. 17; cf. v. 7). The real source of Israel's troubles was Ahab and Omri's disregard of the Mosaic Covenant and their preference for idolatry (Deut. 6:5)."This was a crim...
• 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...
• The judgment of Jerusalem 16:35-43
  16:35-37 Yahweh announced the judgment that He would mete out to Jerusalem because of all her unnatural and rebellious unfaithfulness, idolatry, and bloodshed. He would bring all the nations that Jerusalem had opened her legs...
• The two trees 7:15-20 (cf. Luke 6:43-44)
  7:15 Jesus here sounded a warning that the Old Testament prophets also gave about false prophets (cf. Deut. 13; 18; Jer. 6:13-15; 8:8-12; Ezek. 13; 22:27; Zeph 3:4). He did not explain exactly what they would teach, only that...
• 1. The controversy over authority 20:1-8 (cf. Matt. 21:23-27; Mark 11:27-33)
  Jesus' authority was crucial not only for the Jewish leaders who opposed Him but for Luke's readers. This passage established Jesus' authority beyond reasonable doubt.20:1-2 Luke's reference to Jesus preaching the gospel as w...
• The counter-balancing caution 6:14-7:1
  The Corinthians had a tendency to respond to Paul's teachings by first resisting them and then going overboard in applying them inappropriately. They had done this in dealing with the incestuous man (1 Cor. 5). Consequently P...