Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• 2. Confidence in God 11:4-7
  11:4 David's perspective included God's throne in heaven. There he visualized Yahweh sitting in perfect control over the nation He had created and promised to maintain (cf. Hab. 2:19). The pagans thought their gods dwelt in h...
• The length of the exile and Babylon's fate 25:1-14
  Chapter 25 serves as a capstone for all of Jeremiah's previous prophecies. The prophet's perspective now broadens quickly to include the whole world and divine judgments ordained for it.25:1-2 Jeremiah received another prophe...
• Yahweh's cup of wrath for the nations 25:15-29
  25:15 The Lord instructed Jeremiah to take from His hand, figuratively, a cup of His wrath and to cause all the nations to whom the Lord would send him to drink from it. The cup is a common figure for the wrath of God in Scri...
• I. The oracle against Babylon chs. 50-51
  Jeremiah wrote almost as much about Babylon's future as he did about the futures of all the other nations in his other oracles combined. The length of this oracle reflects the great importance of Babylon in his ministry as we...
• Jerusalem's judgment for prostitution 23:22-35
  Four messages announce God's judgment on Jerusalem for her unfaithfulness (vv. 22-27, 28-31, 32-34, 35).23:22-24 Because of her behavior the Lord promised to turn Oholibah's soldier-lovers against her, even the Babylonians, C...
• A. The Judgment of Edom and the Nations vv. 15-18
  References to the work and word of the Lord frame this section. Obadiah announced that a reversal of rolls was coming for Edom and all the nations.v. 15 "The day of the Lord"here is a future day in which God will reverse the ...
• B. The Ninevites' repentance 3:5-10
  Jonah's proclamation moved the Ninevites to humble themselves and seek divine mercy.3:5 The people believed in God because of the message from God that Jonah had brought to them. Fasting and wearing sackcloth were signs of se...
• A. The judgment coming on Israel 1:2-7
  This opening pericope sets the tone and forms the backdrop for the rest of the book. All people were to hear God's indictment against His people (v. 2). Punishment was coming (vv. 3-4) that would be both reasonable (v. 5) and...
• Audience and Purpose
  The people to whom Habakkuk ministered were Judeans who apparently lived under the reign of King Jehoiakim. During his reign the Israelites were looking for help in the wrong places, Egypt and Assyria, in view of growing Baby...
• Literary form
  This book contains a variety of literary forms. The first part of the book contains a dialogue between Habakkuk and his God that alternates between lament and oracle (1:2-2:5). The second part is a taunt or mocking song that ...
• Outline
  I. Heading 1:1II. Habakkuk's questions and Yahweh's answers 1:2-2:20A. Habakkuk's question about Judah 1:2-4B. Yahweh's answer about Judah 1:5-11C. Habakkuk's question about Babylonia 1:12-17D. Yahweh's answer about Babylonia...
• Judgment for self-exaltation 2:9-11
  2:9 Babylon used its unjust acquisitions to build a secure place for itself that they thought would be safe from all calamity (cf. Gen. 11:4). It built a strong and rich dynasty (house) so it would be self-sufficient.Saving t...
• Judgment for oppression 2:12-14
  2:12 The Babylonians could expect distress because they had built their cities at the expense of the lives of their enemies. We speak of "blood money"as money obtained by making others suffer, even shedding their blood. Babyl...
• 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...
• Judgment for idolatry 2:18-20
  2:18 Habakkuk, like other prophets, saw through the folly of idolatry and exposed it (cf. Isa. 41:7; 44:9-20; 45:16, 20; 46:1-2, 6-7; Jer. 10:8-16). An idol carved by human hands cannot help its maker because anyone who creat...
• B. The prayer for revival 3:2
  The prophet acknowledged that he had received the Lord's revelation (cf. 2:1). It was essentially a revelation of Yahweh, His justice, sovereignty, and power, and it had filled him with awe. Reception of divine revelation res...
• 1. Yahweh's awesome appearance 3:3-7
  3:3 The prophet pictured Yahweh as arising over His people like the rising sun, appearing over Teman, a large town in Edom, and Mt. Paran, the mountain opposite Teman (cf. Deut. 33:2-4). These locations were to the east of th...
• E. The concluding musical notation 3:19b
  The final footnote to this book gives direction to the choir director who used this chapter as part of Israel's formal worship. Habakkuk specified the use of stringed instruments to accompany the singing undoubtedly because t...
• Distinctive features
  The Book of Zephaniah has been called "a compendium of the oracles of the prophets."9This is true for two reasons. First, Zephaniah's general message is similar to that of most of the other writing prophets. Second, he used t...
• 2. The course of Judah's judgment 1:7-13
  1:7 In view of the inevitability of coming judgment for idolatry, it was appropriate for the Judeans to be quiet before sovereign Yahweh (cf. Hab. 2:20)."This is a call to the people of Judah to cease every manner of oppositi...
• 1. Jesus' forerunner 3:1-12 (cf. Mark 1:2-8; Luke 3:3-18)
  It was common when Jesus lived for forerunners to precede important individuals to prepare the way for their arrival. For example, when a king would visit a town in his realm his emissaries would go before him to announce his...
• 2. Jesus' teaching about serving 10:35-45 (cf. Matt. 20:20-28)
  This pericope parallels 9:30-37. Both sections deal with true greatness, and both follow predictions of Jesus' passion. This second incident shows the disciples' lack of spiritual perception and their selfishness even more th...
• 1. Jesus' requests for Himself 17:1-5
  17:1 "These things Jesus spoke"(NASB, Gr. tauta elalesen Iesous) clearly connects what follows with what Jesus had just been saying (cf. 14:25; 16:1, 4, 25, 33). Lifting up the eyes to heaven indicated prayer, as did Jesus' w...
• 2. The seriousness of the error vv. 10-13
  v. 10 The things the false teachers did not understand but reviled probably refer to aspects of God's revealed will that they chose to reject (cf. 1 Cor. 2:7-16)."Jude, like his brother James, denounces the sins of the tongue...
• 5. The fifth seal 6:9-11
  What happened next evidently took place in heaven.6:9 The altar John saw was evidently in heaven (cf. 8:3, 5; 14:18). Earlier John had seen a throneroom in heaven (chs. 4-5), but now he saw a temple. Probably the concepts of ...
• The seventh seal 8:1
  When the Lamb broke the seventh seal of the scroll, silence fell on the heavenly scene. For "half an hour"awesome silence continued as all of those assembled around the throne waited expectantly to see what God would do next....