Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• 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...
• Writer and Date
  Due to the ancient tradition that the same writer composed both parts of the book (chapters 1-6 and 7-10), many scholars believe Ezra produced all of it.5A passage in the Talmud credits Ezra with the authorship of Ezra-Nehemi...
• Scope
  The earliest historical reference in Ezra is to the decree of Cyrus that he issued in his first year on the throne (1:1), 538 B.C.12The latest historical reference was just prior to Nehemiah's first trip to Jerusalem (4:21-23...
• Outline
  I. The first return under Sheshbazzar chs. 1-6A. The return from Babylon chs. 1-21. The edict of Cyrus and its consequences ch. 12. The exiles who returned ch. 2B. The rebuilding of the temple chs. 3-61. The beginning of cons...
• I. THE FIRST RETURN UNDER SHESHBAZZAR chs. 1--6
  "This whole section (Ezra 1-6) emphasizes God's sovereignty and his providence; God works in history to fulfill his will."15
• Cyrus' edict 1:1-4
  "It is not strange according to the Semitic style to start a book with a waw["And"or "Now"], especially when the author intended to write a continuation of the history of his people. He connects the history which he wants to ...
• Opposition during Cyrus' reign 4:1-5
  The Assyrian government encouraged its residents to move to Israel and to settle there after the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C. This was official government policy during the reigns of the Assyrian kings Esarhaddon ...
• Opposition during Ahasuerus' reign 4:6
  "When he [the writer] discussed the problems of the building of the temple in 4:1-5, it reminded him of later similar troubles with the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem, and so 4:6-23 has been inserted, almost parenthetica...
• Opposition during Artaxerxes' reign 4:7-23
  Artaxerxes was the successor of Ahasuerus (Xerxes) who ruled the Persian Empire from 464 to 424 B.C.73Clearly the incident reported in these verses took place long after the temple was complete. It really involved the attempt...
• 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 ...
• The Jews' celebration 6:16-22
  Compared with the dedication of the first temple this one was very modest. Solomon had offered more than 200 times as many animals.96The Jews offered one sin offering, which involved slaying a goat, for each of the 12 tribes ...
• II. THE SECOND RETURN UNDER EZRA chs. 7--10
  A period of 58 years separates Ezra 6 from Ezra 7 (515-458 B.C.). During this time the events in the Book of Esther took place in Persia and, in particular, Susa, one of the Persian capitals.Darius I (Hystaspes; 521-486 B.C.)...
• Ezra's background 7:1-10
  "These things"(v. 1) refers to the events of the first return that the writer described in chapters 1-6.Ezra's genealogy (vv. 1-5) shows that he was a man of importance whom his fellow Jews would have respected. He was a desc...
• Conclusion
  The Book of Ezra records two major Jewish returns to the Promised Land from Babylon.The first of these took place in 537 B.C. under the leadership of Sheshbazzar and then Zerubbabel. About 50,000 Jews returned, rebuilt the te...
• Scope
  The events of the Book of Esther took place during the Persian period of ancient history (539-331 B.C.) and during the reign of King Ahasuerus in particular (486-464 B.C.).Chronology of the Book of Esther483Ahasuerus' militar...
• Message16
  The events of this book took place between those recorded in Ezra 6 and 7. They have nothing to do with the people who returned from exile in Babylon. They deal with those who remained behind. Remember the dates of the three ...
• 1. Mordecai's loyalty 2:21-23
  We know no details concerning the identities of the assassins or the reasons they hated Ahasuerus. Extra-biblical sources have not yet clarified these matters, though the commentators love to speculate. Mordecai's position in...
• 2. Haman's request 3:8-9
  Perhaps Haman did not mention the Jews by name since Ahasuerus' predecessors, Cyrus and Darius I (Hystaspes), had issued proclamations favorable to them (Ezra 1:1-4; 6:3-5, 8-12). In any case his failure to mention them by na...
• 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...
• 5. The revelation of Israel's future in 70 sevens 9:24-27
  "In the concluding four verses of Daniel 9, one of the most important prophecies of the Old Testament is contained. The prophecy as a whole is presented in verse 24. The first sixty-nine sevens is described in verse 25. The e...
• 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 ...
• Historical Background
  Zechariah began ministering among the Jews who had returned from captivity in Babylon (i.e., the restoration community) two months after Haggai began preaching (1:1; 7:1; cf. Neh. 12:10-16; Hag. 1:1). In a sense, Zechariah's ...
• Historical Background
  Malachi was one of the three post-exilic writing prophets along with Haggai and Zechariah, and he was quite certainly the last one chronologically, even though we cannot be dogmatic about a date for his writing.The first grou...