Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• Scope
  The events recorded in Genesis stretch historically from Creation to Joseph's death, a period of at least 2500 years. The first part of the book (ch. 1-11) is not as easy to date precisely as the second part (ch. 12-50). The ...
• Purpose
  Genesis provides the historical basis for the rest of the Bible and the Pentateuch, particularly the Abrahamic Covenant. Chapters 1-11 give historical background essential to understanding that covenant, and chapters 12-50 re...
• Outline
  The structure of Genesis is very clear. The phrase "the generations of"(toledotin Hebrew, from yaladmeaning "to bear, to generate") occurs ten times (really eleven times since 36:9 repeats 36:1), and in each case it introduce...
• D. What became of Noah 6:9-9:29
  The Lord destroyed the corrupt, violent human race and deluged its world, but He used righteous Noah to preserve life and establish a new world after the Flood."Noah's experience presents decisively the author's assertion tha...
• F. What became of Shem 11:10-26
  "The Babel account (11:1-9) is not the end of early Genesis. If it were, the story would conclude on the sad note of human failure. But as with earlier events in Genesis 1-11, God's grace once again supersedes human sin, insu...
• 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...
• A. What became of Terah 11:27-25:11
  A major theme of the Pentateuch is the partial fulfillment of the promises to the patriarchs. The promises in Genesis 12:1-3 and 7 are the fountainhead from which the rest of the Pentateuch flows.397Walter Kaiser labeled the ...
• The divine promises 12:1-9
  "These verses are of fundamental importance for the theology of Genesis, for they serve to bind together the primeval history and the later patriarchal history and look beyond it to the subsequent history of the nation."414"W...
• 2. Abram in Egypt 12:10-20
  The second crisis Abram faced arose because of a famine in Canaan. Abram chose to sojourn in the Nile Valley until it was past. In this incident Abram tried to pass Sarai off as his sister because he feared for his life. By d...
• 16. The purchase of Sarah's tomb ch. 23
  Abraham's purchase of a burial site in the Promised Land demonstrated his intention to remain in Canaan rather than going back to his native homeland. Since he was a sojourner in Canaan his friends probably expected him to bu...
• Abraham's sons by Keturah 25:1-6
  Keturah may have been a concubine like Hagar (v. 6; 1 Chron. 1:32). It is not possible to prove that Abraham married Keturah and that she bore him six sons after Sarah's death, though this was probably the case. He may have m...
• C. What became of Isaac 25:19-35:29
  A new toledotbegins with 25:19. Its theme is "the acquisition of the blessing and its development and protection by the Lord."625Moses set up the whole Jacob narrative in a chiastic structure that emphasizes the fulfillment o...
• 7. Jacob's marriages and Laban's deception 29:1-30
  The long account of Jacob's relationship with Laban (chs. 29-31) is the centerpiece of the Jacob story (chs. 25-35). It is a story within a story, and it too has a chiastic structure. At its center is the account of the birth...
• Bibliography
  Aalders, Gerhard Charles. Genesis. The Bible Student's Commentary series. 2 vols. Translated by William Heynen. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981.Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas...
• 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...
• Balaam's seven oracles chs. 23-24
  "Chapters 23 and 24 are two of the brightest chapters in the book of Numbers. Scores of wonderful things are said about Israel, mainly prophetical. The dark sins of the past were forgotten; only happy deliverance from Egypt w...
• Moses' last campaign ch. 31
  The writer now recorded the fulfillment of God's instructions to Moses that Israel should destroy the Midianites (25:16-18). In this account, the aftermath of the battle receives more attention than the battle itself. Evident...
• Limits on a father's authority 21:15-17
  The first-born son was to receive the traditional double portion of his father's inheritance. This was to be Israel's practice even though he may have been the son of the wife her husband loved less than another wife he had (...
• Renewed apostasy and its punishment 6:1-10
  The Midianites were Bedouin nomads and descendants of Abraham and Keturah (Gen. 25:2) who occupied the plains that bordered the Arabian desert to the east of Moab and Ammon. They were raiders who descended on the Israelites a...
• C. Ruth's profession of faith in Yahweh 1:15-18
  Ruth concluded that her prospects for loyal love and rest (vv. 8-9) were better if she identified with Israel than if she continued to identify with Moab. She had come to admire Israel's God. Elimelech and his family had fulf...
• 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...
• 5. Yahweh's final rejection of Saul ch. 15
  "In the short pericope 13:7b-15a obedience was the stone on which Saul stumbled; here it is the rock that crushes him."147Chapter 15 records one of the battles Saul had with the Amalekites, Israel's enemy to the south (cf. 14...
• 1. The first test 1:6-22
  These verses reveal that angels ("sons of God,"v. 6), including Satan, periodically report to God on their activities. Satan was doing then what he still does today, namely, "seeking whom he may devour"(1 Pet. 5:8).25Satan's ...
• C. Job's Comforters 2:11-13
  Really four men came to visit Job, though the writer did not mention Elihu's presence until chapter 32. Eliphaz seems to have been the eldest for several reasons. His name occurs first (2:11; 42:9), he spoke before the others...
• 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...
• Audience and Purpose
  Since Obadiah's concern was Jerusalem, and since it seems likely that he lived in Judah, the original audience that received his prophecy may also have been the residents of Judah.Obadiah wrote to announce coming divine judgm...