Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• II. PATRIARCHAL NARRATIVES 11:27--50:26
  One of the significant changes in the emphasis that occurs at this point in Genesis is from cursing in the primeval record to blessing in the patriarchal narratives. The Abrahamic Covenant is most important in this respect. H...
• Scope
  Exodus embraces about 431 years of history, from the arrival of Jacob and his family in Egypt (ca. 1876 B.C.) to the erection of the tabernacle in the wilderness of Sinai (ca. 1445 B.C.). However 1:1-7 is a review of Jacob's ...
• Message7
  The great contribution of this book is the revelation that Yahweh is the sovereign God who provides deliverance for man from the slavery in which he finds himself.The major teaching of Exodus is primarily threefold.1. The sov...
• Outline
  I. The liberation of Israel 1:1-15:21A. God's preparation of Israel and Moses chs. 1-41. The growth of Jacob's family 1:1-72. The Israelites' bondage in Egypt 1:8-223. Moses' birth and education 2:1-104. Moses' flight from Eg...
• 2. The Israelites' bondage in Egypt 1:8-22
  This pericope serves a double purpose. It introduces the rigorous conditions under which the Egyptians forced the Israelites to live, and it sets the stage for the birth of Moses.1:8-14 The new king (v. 8) was perhaps Ahmose ...
• 4. Moses' flight from Egypt to Midian 2:11-15
  Moses was "approaching the age of 40"(Acts 7:23) when he took his stand for his Hebrew brethren (v. 11).The reference to the Hebrew man as "one of his brethren"suggests that Moses' motivation in acting as he did was love that...
• 5. Moses' life in Midian 2:16-25
  This section introduces some of the secondary characters in Exodus and sets the stage for Moses' call. Its purpose is primarily transitional.Moses provided water for Jethro's daughters and their sheep in the wilderness (vv. 1...
• 6. Moses' call 3:1-4:18
  3:1-12 Horeb is another name for Sinai (v. 1). It probably indicates a range of mountains rather than a particular mountain peak. The writer called it "the mountain of God"because it was the place where God later gave the Mos...
• 7. Moses' return to Egypt 4:19-31
  4:19-23 Moses did not return immediately to Egypt when he arrived back in Midian following his encounter with God at Horeb (v. 19). God spoke to him again in Midian and sent him back to Egypt assuring His servant that everyon...
• 4. The first three plagues 7:14-8:19
  Psalm 78:43 places the scene of the plagues in northern Egypt near Zoan.The plagues were penal; God sent them to punish Pharaoh for his refusal to obey God and to move him to obey Yahweh. They involved natural occurrences rat...
• 1. The journey from Succoth to Etham 13:17-22
  "The way of the land of the Philistines"refers to the most northern of three routes travelers took from Egypt to Canaan (v. 17). The others lay farther south. The Egyptians had heavily fortified this caravan route, also calle...
• 1. Preparation for the Covenant ch. 19
  Moses revealed God's purpose for giving the Mosaic Covenant in this chapter.19:1-6 The Israelites arrived at the base of the mountain where God gave them the law about three months after they had left Egypt, in May-June (v. 1...
• The garments of the lesser priests 28:40-43
  The clothing described in these verses appears to be the garments the priests other than the high priest wore. All the priests ministered barefoot out of reverence for the holiness of God (cf. 3:5; Josh. 5:15)."This prescript...
• 3. The erection and consecration of the tabernacle ch. 40
  The Israelites erected the tabernacle on the first day of the first month, almost exactly one year after the Israelites left Egypt (vv. 2, 17). This was about nine months after Israel had arrived at Mt. Sinai (cf. 19:1).First...
• Bibliography
  Adams, Dwayne H. "The Building Program that Works (Exodus 25:4--36:7 [31:1-11])."Exegesis and Exposition1:1 (Fall 1986):82-92.Aharoni, Yohanan. "Kadesh-Barnea and Mount Sinai."In God's Wilderness: Discoveries in Sinai, pp. 11...
• The sixth commandment 5:17
  The meaning of the Hebrew word ratsahtranslated "kill"or "murder"(NASB, NIV) is "murder"or "slay."Of course, humans rather than animals are in view. Both forms of murder, premeditated and non-premeditated (i.e., manslaughter ...
• 2. The song itself 32:1-43
  One writer called the Song of Moses "one of the most impressive religious poems in the entire Old Testament."336It contrasts the faithfulness and loyal love of God with the unfaithfulness and perversity of His people. As othe...
• 1. The conquest of Jericho 5:13-6:27
  5:13-15 "Despite Joshua's long military experience he had never led an attack on a fortified city that was prepared for a long siege. In fact, of all the walled cities in Palestine, Jericho was probably the most invincible. T...
• Gideon's commissioning by Yahweh 6:11-32
  ". . . the heroic women of the song [of Deborah, ch. 5] give way to an unheroic man of Israel' (7:14) who not only does all he can to evade the call of Yahweh but in the end abandons God. . . . In the person of Gideon the nar...
• 2. Oppression under the Ammonites 10:8-18
  The Israelites felt the main influence of the Ammonites on the east side of the Jordan River that bordered Ammon (v. 8). However the Ammonites also attacked the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim west of the Jordan (v. 9)...
• 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...
• 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...
• C. God's First Revelation to Samuel ch. 3
  This chapter records how God's blessing of and through Samuel continued and grew as a result of his faithful commitment to God. This is a revelation of another call to ministry that God extended to His servants the prophets (...
• 1. Samuel's call 3:1-18
  The Hebrew word used to describe Samuel in verse 1 (naar) elsewhere refers to a young teenager (cf. 17:33). Consequently we should probably think of a boy in his early teens as we read this section. At this time in Israel's h...
• The reason for David's presence at the battle 17:12-25
  At this time in his life David was assisting Saul as his armorbearer when he was not tending his father's sheep (v. 15). Moses too had been tending sheep before God called him to shepherd His people Israel (Exod. 3:1). The si...
• 2. Esther's selection 2:5-11
  Evidently it was Kish, Mordecai's great-grandfather, who went into captivity with Jehoiachin (vv. 5-6).38This means Mordecai and Esther were probably descendants of the leading citizens of Jerusalem who went into exile in 597...
• 2. The record of God's faithfulness to Israel 105:7-41
  105:7-11 God remembered His people (v. 7, cf. v. 42) so His people should remember Him (v. 5). God had been faithful to the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 12:1-3, 7; 15:18-21; 22:15-18; 28:13-15). He made this covenant with Abraham...
• 3. The bride's love 4:9-11
  In these verses Solomon evidently praised his bride for giving herself wholly to him as he had asked.4:9 "Sister"was evidently an affectionate term for wife (cf. vv. 10, 12; 5:1-2; Tobit 7:16; 8:4, 7).4:10 Again the word tran...
• A. The prophet's cleansing 6:1-8
  6:1 Why did Isaiah date this passage since he did not date most of his others?70Probably he did so because King Uzziah had been the best king of Judah since Solomon. Nevertheless during the last part of his reign he suffered ...
• The faithful king to come 9:2-7
  In contrast to Ahaz, who refused to listen to and obey God, the Lord would raise up a faithful king who would be born and reign in the future (the Millennium). This pericope climaxes the present section (7:1-9:7) dealing with...
• Free salvation 55:1-5
  The people would need to listen to and rely on God's unconditional promise, but their salvation would cost them nothing.55:1 "The introductory particle (hoi) is mainly an attention-getting device, but it expresses a slight to...
• The vision of the boiling pot 1:13-19
  This vision may have come to Jeremiah immediately after the preceding one or at some other time.1:13 The Lord next directed Jeremiah to view a boiling pot (cauldron used for cooking or washing, Heb. sir) that was tipped so th...
• A. A plea for remembrance 5:1-18
  5:1 Jeremiah called on Yahweh to remember the calamity that had befallen His people and to consider the reproach in which they now lived (cf. 3:34-36). The humbled condition of the Judahites reflected poorly on the Lord becau...
• The living beings 1:4-14
  1:4 Ezekiel saw within the opened heavens a great cloud blown toward him by the north wind with lightning flashing from it almost constantly (cf. 1 Kings 19:11-13; Job 38:1; 40:6; Ps. 29:3-5). Israel's enemies had invaded fro...
• Israel's rebellion in Egypt and God's grace 20:5-9
  The Lord's history lesson for these elders described Israel in four successive periods: in Egypt (vv. 5-9), in the wilderness (vv. 10-26), in the Promised Land (vv. 27-29), and in the present time (vv. 30-38).281What the Lord...
• B. Theme 1:2
  This verse summarizes the message that Amos received from the Lord. Amos reported that Yahweh roared from Zion, as a lion roars before it devours its prey or as thunder precedes a severe storm (cf. 3:4, 8; Jer. 25:30; Hos. 5:...
• The complete devastation of Samaria 6:8-14
  6:8 The prophet announced further that the sovereign Yahweh of hosts, even He, had sworn by Himself (cf. 4:2; 8:7). He loathed the pride of Jacob. "Jacob"refers to the Northern Kingdom (cf. 3:13), and "the pride of Jacob"is p...
• 1. The vision proper 1:7-15
  1:7 Zechariah received another revelation from the Lord three months after his previous one in Darius' second year, 520 B.C.35"On the same day (24 Shebat), five months earlier, the rebuilding of the temple had been resumed (c...
• The destruction of nations and the preservation of Zion 9:1-8
  The first four verses of this poem deal with the north and the last four with the south. The first two verses and the last two speak of salvation, and the middle four speak of judgment. The passage begins and ends with a refe...
• 2. The restoration of the true people ch. 10
  The first part of this oracle focused particularly on the true King who would come and exercise sovereignty over the nations (ch. 9). Now the emphasis changes to the people of the King, the Israelites, who will return to the ...
• B. The King's birth 1:18-25
  The first sentence in this pericope (section) serves as a title for the section, as the sentence in verse 1 did for 1:1-17. Matthew recorded the supernatural birth of Jesus to demonstrate further His qualification as Israel's...
• 4. Rejection by the Sadducees 22:23-33 (cf. Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-40)
  Sometime later that day another group of leaders approached Jesus with another question but with the same purpose, to trap Him in a theological controversy that would destroy His reputation.22:23 The Pharisees believed in res...
• Jesus' teaching about the resurrection 12:18-27 (cf. Matt. 22:23-33; Luke 20:27-40)
  12:18 The Sadducees were mainly urban, wealthy, and educated Jews. Their numbers were comparatively few, but they occupied important positions including many in the priesthood. Their influence was greater than their size as a...
• The parable of the two claims 6:46 (cf. Matt. 7:21-23)
  This is a very brief condensation of a parable that Matthew recorded more fully. Matthew's interest in it connects with the mention of false teachers that occurs in the context of his account of the sermon. Luke simply lifted...
• 4. The problem of the resurrection 20:27-40 (cf. Matt. 22:23-33; Mark 12:18-27)
  This incident was also relevant for Luke's original Greek readers. The question of the resurrection of the body was important in Greek philosophy (cf. 1 Cor. 15). Luke used this incident in his narrative to bring Jesus' confr...
• Message27
  In one sense the Gospel of John is more profound than the Synoptics. It is the most difficult Gospel for most expositors to preach and to teach for reasons that will become evident as we study it. In another sense, however, t...
• B. The witness of John the Baptist 1:6-8
  John the Apostle introduced John the Baptist because John the Baptist bore witness to the light, namely Jesus. John the Baptist was both a model evangelist pointing those in darkness to the light and a model witness providing...
• Jesus' testimony about Himself 8:12-20
  8:12 The context of the events in this paragraph continues to be the temple during the feast of Tabernacles (v. 20, cf. 7:14). Jesus was speaking to the Jews who had assembled there some of whom were residents of Jerusalem an...
• The descent of the Spirit 2:1-4
  Luke introduced the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry with His baptism with the Spirit (Luke 3:21-22). He paralleled this with the beginning of Jesus' heavenly ministry with the Spirit baptism of His disciples (Acts 2:1-4)...
• The career of Moses 7:17-36
  Stephen's understanding of Moses was as orthodox as his view of God, but his presentation of Moses' career made comparison with Jesus' career unmistakable. As in the previous pericope, there is a double emphasis in this one, ...
• Introduction to the seven trumpet judgments 8:2-6
  8:2 John saw someone, perhaps God, give seven trumpets to a group of seven angels standing before the heavenly throne (cf. 1:4; 3:1; 8:6; 15:1). Exactly who these angels were is not clear. Some interpreters have identified th...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

• The Bush That Burned, And Did Not Burn Out
  Exodus 3:2It was a very sharp descent from Pharaoh's palace to the wilderness, and forty years of a shepherd's life were a strange contrast to the brilliant future that once seemed likely for Moses. But God tests His weapons ...
• The Call Of Moses
  Exodus 3:10-20The son of Pharaoh's daughter' had been transformed, by nearly forty years of desert life, into an Arab shepherd. The influences of the Egyptian court had faded from him, like color from cloth exposed to the wea...