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...
• I. PRIMEVAL EVENTS 1:1--11:26
  Chapters 1-11 provide an introduction to the Book of Genesis, the Pentateuch, and the whole Bible."What we find in chaps. 1-11 is the divine initiation of blessing, which is compromised by human sin followed by gracious prese...
• The third day 1:9-13
  1:9 "Seas"(Heb. yammim) refers broadly to all bodies of water, not just oceans.1:10 "Good"indicates beauty as well as purpose and order.65It was only when the land was ready for man that God called it good. This shows God's l...
• The fourth day 1:14-19
  The luminaries served four purposes.1. They distinguished day from night.2. They provided signs.3. They distinguished the seasons.4. They illuminated the earth."The narrative stresses their function as servants, subordinate t...
• 1. The effects of the curse on humanity ch. 5
  There are at least three purposes for the inclusion of this genealogy, which contains 10 paragraphs (vv. 1-5, 6-8, 9-11, 12-14, 15-17, 18-20, 21-24, 25-27, 28-31, and 32).1. It shows the development of the human race from Ada...
• 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...
• 3. The curse on Canaan 9:18-29
  This pericope presents the characteristics of the three branches of the human family that grew out of Noah. Moses stressed the themes of blessing and cursing. God cursed Canaan with slavery because Ham showed disrespect towar...
• E. What became of Noah's sons 10:1-11:9
  This chapter gives in some detail the distribution of Noah's descendants over the earth after the Flood (cf. 9:18-19).This fourth toledotsection (10:1-11:9) brings the inspired record of primeval events to a climax and provid...
• 1. The table of nations ch. 10
  This table shows that Yahweh created all peoples (cf. Deut. 32:8; Amos 9:7; Acts 17:26). As the genealogy in chapter 5, this one traces 10 main individuals, and the last one named had three sons."The table of nations is a hor...
• 2. The dispersion at Babel 11:1-9
  The main emphasis in this section is not the building of the tower of Babel but the dispersion of the peoples. We can see this in the literary structure of the passage.361AAll the earth had one language (v. 1)Bthere (v. 2)C o...
• 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...
• 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...
• 10. The destruction of Sodom ch. 19
  Chapters 18 and 19 "paint a vivid contrast between the respective patriarchal ancestors, Abraham and Lot, with an obvious moralistic intent (i.e., a demonstration that human initiatives--Lot's choice--always lead to catastrop...
• Esau's marriage 26:34-35
  We can identify three purposes for this brief section.1. Moses explained and justified the reason for Jacob's later departure for Paddan-aram (27:46-28:2).2. Moses identified the ancestors of the Edomites who later played a m...
• 14. Jacob's blessing of his sons 49:1-28
  Jacob blessed all 12 of his sons and foretold what would become of each of them and their descendants. He disqualified Reuben, Simeon, and Levi from leadership and gave that blessing to Judah. He granted the double portion to...
• 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...
• Distinctions between clean and unclean animals 11:1-23
  We have here the same threefold division of animals that inhabit the land, sea, and air as the one that appears in the story of creation (Gen. 1:20-23)."It has long been recognized . . . that the order of the purity laws in L...
• 2. Uncleanness due to childbirth ch. 12
  The laws of purification begun in this chapter connect in principle with the preceding ones that deal with unclean food and animals. The defilement dealt with in this group (chs. 12-15) proceeded from the human body. Pollutio...
• 2. Holiness of the marriage relationship ch. 18
  Emphasis shifts in this chapter from ceremonial defilement (ch. 17) to moral impurity. The Lord wanted His people to be holy in their behavior and character as well as in less important ritual observances (cf. Matt. 23:28; Ro...
• Bibliography
  Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Revised ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1977.Albright, William Foxwell, The Archaeology of Palestine. 1949. Revised ed. Pelican Archaeology series. H...
• Command to destroy the Canaanites and their idolatry ch. 7
  This chapter is a logical development of what Moses said in chapters 5 and 6. God had called on His people to acknowledge that He is the only true God and to be completely loyal to Him. In Canaan they would encounter temptati...
• 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...
• 5. The treaty with the Gibeonites ch. 9
  The residents of the town of Gibeon decided that if they could not defeat the Israelites they would join them. This has been a strategy that enemies of believers have employed for centuries (cf. Num. 25:1-2).9:1-2 Israel is t...
• 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...
• Solomon's forced labor 9:20-23
  Solomon put the defeated native Canaanites to work on government projects (cf. Gen. 9:25-26). Nevertheless this plan proved to be a source of major dissatisfaction in Israel (cf. 12:4).There was a distinction in Solomon's day...
• 3. The sovereignty of Yahweh 29:10-11
  29:10 The present storm reminded David of the inundation of the whole world in Noah's day. The Hebrew word for flood here occurs elsewhere in the Old Testament only in Genesis 6-11. As Yahweh ruled over His creation then, so ...
• The first oracle against Babylon 13:1-14:27
  The reader would expect that Isaiah would inveigh against Assyria since it was the most threatening enemy in his day and since he referred to it many times in earlier chapters. However, he did not mention Assyria in this sect...
• The preservation of God's people within a world under divine judgment 24:1-20
  Isaiah revealed that the Lord's people are at the center of His plans for the world (cf. 14:2; 21:10). He will preserve them even though He will judge sinful humanity.227This passage contains many connections with the flood n...
• 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...
• Judgment for rapacity 2:15-17
  2:15 God would judge Babylon because the Babylonians had deceived their neighbor nations with the result that they were able to take advantage of them. The Babylonians had behaved like a man who gets a woman drunk so she will...
• The worship of the sovereign King 14:16-21
  14:16 The remaining former enemies of Israel who would not die would bow to the sovereignty of Yahweh (cf. 8:20-23; Isa. 2:2-4; 45:21-24; 60:4-14; Ezek. 40-48; Phil. 2:10). They would be expected to make annual pilgrimages to...
• God's faithfulness to His people 7:9-16
  Stephen next proceeded to show what God had done with Joseph and his family. He selected this segment of the patriarchal narrative primarily for two reasons. First, it shows how God miraculously preserved His people in faithf...
• James' testimony 15:13-21
  15:13-14 James was Jesus' half brother, the writer of the Epistle of James, and the leading figure in the Jerusalem church (12:17; Gal. 1:19; 2:9, 12).612"Simeon"was Peter's older Jewish name. James' use of it would have emph...
• 1. Renouncing sin reaffirmed 3:4-9
  "The present vv, 3:4-9, form six strophes, each of which divides . . . roughly into half. The two halves of the strophes balance one another; for the second part of the v provides a development of the first part (vv 4, 5, 7),...