Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• The sixth day 1:24-31
  1:24-25 "Cattle"probably refers to animals that man could tame and "beasts"to wild animals.What happened to the dinosaurs? Conservative Bible interpreters generally believe they existed but became extinct before the Flood or ...
• 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...
• 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...
• Abnormalities in human skin 13:1-46
  God dealt with 21 different cases of skin diseases in this pericope. Some of these may have included measles, smallpox, scarlet fever, and other diseases characterized by skin rash.141Some authorities believe that exact ident...
• 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...
• Solomon's petition for wisdom 3:4-15
  A tabernacle, evidently the Mosaic tabernacle, and the Mosaic tabernacle's bronze altar still stood at Gibeon (lit. little hill; 1 Chron. 16:39-40; 21:28-29; 2 Chron. 1:3, 5-6). Gibeon was one of the so-called high places whe...
• J. Uzziah ch. 26
  The Chronicler gave us much more information about Uzziah than we have in Kings (2 Kings 15:1-7). Uzziah ("Yahweh is strong") was evidently the king's throne name and Azariah ("Yahweh helps") his personal name.Uzziah, as his ...
• God's introductory challenge to Job 38:1-3
  God sometimes made His self-revelations to people in a storm symbolic of the disturbing effects His awesome presence produced (cf. Exod. 19:16-17; 1 Kings 19:11-13; Isa. 6:4; Ezek. 1:4; Zech. 9:14). One wonders if Job's frien...
• 2. The appearance of the King 97:2-9
  97:2-5 These verses reveal the appearance of the Lord in terms similar to other visions God gave His prophets (cf. Isa. 6:1-4; Ezek. 1; Rev. 1). The psalmist's words describe God's glory in figurative language. Clouds and thi...
• Title and writer
  The title of this book of the Bible, as is true of the other prophetical books, comes from its writer. The book claims to have come from Isaiah (1:1; 2:1; 7:3; 13:1; 20:2; 37:2, 6, 21; 38:1, 4, 21; 39:3, 5, 8), and Jesus Chri...
• Theology
  The Book of Isaiah, the third longest book in the Bible after Psalms and Jeremiah, deals with as broad a range of theology as any book in the Old Testament. In this respect it is similar to Romans. However, there are four pri...
• Structure
  Occasional time references scattered throughout the book indicate that Isaiah arranged his prophecies in a basically chronological order (cf. 6:1; 7:1; 14:28; 20:1; 36:1; 37:38). However, they are not completely chronological...
• Message20
  In contrast to the New Testament prophets, Isaiah had very little to say about an individual's relationship with God. His concern was more the relationship of God's people as a whole to the Lord, specifically the nation of Is...
• Outline
  I. Introduction chs. 1-5A. Israel's condition and God's solution ch. 11. The title of the book 1:12. Israel's condition 1:2-93. God's solution 1:10-204. Israel's response 1:21-31B. The problem with Israel chs. 2-41. God's des...
• I. introduction chs. 1--5
  The relationship of chapters 1-5 to Isaiah's call in chapter 6 is problematic. Do the first five chapters describe the prophet's ministry before he received his call--is the order chronological--or do they constitute an intro...
• The effect of the problem: humiliation 2:10-21
  Verses 10-21 are a poem on the nature and results of divine judgment. Note the repetition of key words and phrases at the beginnings and ends of the sections and subsections. The section breaks down as follows.The Lord is exa...
• C. The analogy of wild grapes ch. 5
  This is the third and last of Isaiah's introductory oracles. The first one (ch. 1) introduced the book as a whole by presenting major themes with which the prophet proceeded to deal in chapters 2-66. The second chiastic one (...
• II. Isaiah's vision of God ch. 6
  Most serious students of Isaiah have believed that the record of Isaiah's call in this chapter occurred before he wrote any of the prophecies in this book. The title "holy one of Israel,"Isaiah's trademark name for God, conne...
• 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 ...
• B. The prophet's commission 6:9-13
  The Lord proceeded to give Isaiah specific instructions about what He wanted him to do and what the prophet could expect regarding his ministry (vv. 9-10), his historic-political situation (vv. 11-12), and his nation's surviv...
• A. The choice between trusting God or Assyria chs. 7-12
  This section of Isaiah provides a historical introduction to the theological problem described above. King Ahaz had to make this decision of faith because he faced the threat of military invasion. Though warned by the prophet...
• The command to trust God 7:1-9
  This introductory segment provides the basic information about the historical situation that Judah faced plus God's command concerning that situation. Would King Ahaz face his threat from God's perspective or from man's? Woul...
• The sign of Immanuel 7:10-17
  Isaiah next tried to move Ahaz to faith (vv. 10-12), then denounced the king for his failure to trust Yahweh (vv. 13-15), and finally forecast a calamity worse than the division of Israel's united kingdom (vv. 16-17).7:10 Evi...
• The promise of restoration 10:20-27
  The focus of the prophecy shifts from Assyria to Israel.10:20 In some future day, the remnant (cf. 6:13; 7:3) who escaped annihilation by the Assyrians would no longer trust in man for deliverance, as Ahaz and Judah did befor...
• The rule of the Shoot 11:1-9
  Messiah would meet certain qualifications (vv. 2-3a) and would rule with absolute justice (vv. 3b-5) with the result that people would live in peace (vv. 6-9)11:1 The prophet had just described Assyria cut down like a forest ...
• 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...
• The woe against Ephraim and Judah ch. 28
  "The section begins (1-6) and ends (23-29) with double illustrations drawn from nature and agriculture. Between lies a meditation in eight broadly equal parts on how Jerusalem's leaders refused the word of invitation and inhe...
• Two woes against Jerusalem ch. 29
  There are two more "woes"that deal with Jerusalem in this chapter (vv. 1-14, 15-24) in addition to the one in chapter 28. The first of these is similar to the previous "woe"(cf. vv. 1-8 with 28:1-6, and vv. 9-14 with 28:7-13)...
• The woe against rebellion by God's children ch. 30
  There are several thematic connections between this chapter and chapter 28.298The general structure of the chapter is chiastic."AContemporary events: Egypt no help (1-7)BComing human events: the refusal of the word, the way o...
• The woe against rejecters of God's help chs. 31-32
  Like the third "woe"(ch. 30), this fourth one deals with the folly of trusting in Egypt for security rather than the Lord. It applies particularly the principles set forth in the first part of the second "woe"(29:1-14), as is...
• Yahweh's day of blessing ch. 35
  In contrast to the preceding chapter, this one is full of joy and rejoicing. There God turned the world into a desert; here He transforms that desert into a garden.339References to "be glad"and "gladness"begin and end the poe...
• C. The tests of Israel's trust chs. 36-39
  Chapters 36-39 conclude the section of the book dealing with the issue of trust by giving historical proof that Yahweh will protect those who trust in Him. In these chapters, King Hezekiah represents the people of Judah.344Th...
• The Babylonian embassy ch. 39
  39:1 The phrase "At that time"(cf. 38:1) anticipates a specially significant event and ties it to what preceded in chapter 38. As this verse explains, the events that follow happened after Hezekiah had recovered from his illn...
• IV. Israel's calling in the world chs. 40--55
  This part of Isaiah picks up a theme from chapters 1-39 and develops it further. That theme is God's faithfulness to His promises to give His people a glorious future after He disciplined them for their unfaithfulness. The Lo...
• 1. The Lord of the servant ch. 40
  Would the coming Babylonian exile prove that God could not deliver His people or that He would not because they had been so sinful? Isaiah's answer was a resounding no! The new historical situation did not signal a change in ...
• The comforting Lord 40:1-11
  The first strophe of this poem (vv. 1-2) sets the tone for the rest of the chapter and for the rest of the book. It is an introduction to an introduction. In spite of affliction that lay ahead for the Judahites, God's ultimat...
• The certainty of redemption 42:10-43:7
  God had not forgotten nor was He unable to deliver His people. Their redemption was certain."This vision of what God will accomplish through his Servant is so exciting that Isaiah breaks into the ecstatic hymn of praise (vv. ...
• The witness to redemption 43:8-44:20
  Isaiah continued to show that Yahweh was both willing and able to deliver His people, a theme begun in 42:10. He confronted the gods, again (cf. 41:21-29), but this time he challenged them to bring forth witnesses to their de...
• The Servant despised 53:1-3
  Expositors have called this chapter the holy of holies of Isaiah. It is also the middle chapter in part two of the book (chs. 40-66). Most of the approximately 80 references to Isaiah in the New Testament come from this chapt...
• 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...
• 1. The need for humility and holiness chs. 56-57
  These chapters introduce the main subject of this section of the book, which grows out of what Isaiah revealed previously. If salvation depends on God's grace, do God's servants have any responsibility other than receiving th...
• Israel's confession 59:9-15a
  Isaiah, speaking for the sinful Israelites (cf. 6:5), first acknowledged the consequences of their behavior (vv. 9-11) and then confessed their guilt (vv. 12-15a).59:9 Because they had denied justice and righteousness to othe...
• What God would do 59:15b-21
  This is the third and last pericope, parallel to 57:14-21, that announces that God would deliver His people from the sin that plagued them as redeemed people (cf. 6:5). The section also closes the part of Isaiah that deals wi...
• The nations serving Israel 60:10-16
  Now the relationship of the nations to Israel becomes even clearer. The Gentiles will come to Israel because of her God, will submit themselves to Israel because of what the Lord will do for her, and will serve the Lord with ...
• Contrasts with the present 60:17-22
  60:17 Everything will be better in Israel's future. The contrasts appear to be with regard to Zion (v. 14). Peace and righteousness will be the governing principles in that city. If peace and righteousness are the slave drive...
• The delayed salvation 63:7-64:12
  If the Lord was capable of defeating Israel's enemies, as the previous revelation of the Warrior claimed, why had He not acted for Israel already? This intercessory communal lament explains that delayed salvation was not beca...
• The complaint 63:15-19
  Isaiah next appealed to God, on behalf of the nation, to have pity on Israel. The prophet was speaking for the faithful remnant after the exile who found little evidence that God was among them then as He had been during the ...
• The confession 64:1-7
  64:1 The prophet called on God to make another appearance among His people, as He had done at Mt. Sinai and at other times (cf. Exod. 19:18-20; Judg. 5; Ps. 18; Mic. 1:3-4; Hab. 3). The Israelites' condition was so desperate ...
• Worship or destruction 66:15-24
  This pericope concludes the sections on the culmination of Israel's future (65:17-66:24), Israel's future transformation (chs. 56-66), Israel's hope (chs. 40-66), and the whole book, Yahweh's salvation. As 56:1-8, it clarifie...
• Bibliography
  Alexander, Joseph Addison. Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah. 1846, 1847. Revised ed. 2 vols. in 1. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1971.Allen, Kenneth W. "The Rebuilding and Destruction of Babylon."Bibliotheca...
• 1. The promise of divine enablement 1:4-10
  1:4 The prophet now began speaking to his readers and telling them what the Lord had said to him. Throughout this book, an indication that the Lord had told Jeremiah something is often the sign of a new pericope, as here (cf....
• Yahweh's warning to His complacent people 5:20-31
  There were three aspects to Judah's failure: the people's perversity (vv. 20-25), their injustice (vv. 26-29), and their leaders (vv. 30-31).143"Jeremiah rebukes the Judeans as a whole for their utter stupidity and lack of mo...
• Prophecies about false prophets 23:9-40
  Having given a true prophecy about the future, Jeremiah proceeded to announce God's judgment on the false prophets who were misleading His people with false prophecies (cf. v. 1). This section consists of six different messag...
• I. Ezekiel's calling and commission chs. 1--3
  Four elements that mark the commission narratives in the prophets are all present in this account of Ezekiel's calling. These include a divine confrontation, an explanation of the prophet's task and its importance, objections...
• The expanse 1:22-28
  1:22 Ezekiel also saw something like a clear expanse (Heb. raqia', firmament, Gen. 1:6; Ps. 19:1; 150:1; Dan. 12:3) of ice (Heb. qerah, crystal) over the heads of these four living creatures. Rather than being empty space thi...
• 2. The encouragement in Ezekiel's ministry 2:6-7
  2:6 Ezekiel was not to fear the Israelites to whom he was to minister even though their reactions to him might be as uncomfortable as pricking thorns or stinging scorpions (cf. Josh. 1:9). Their words and actions would not be...
• 3. The nature of Ezekiel's ministry 2:8-3:11
  This pericope contains 10 commands, and it is the center of the chiasm in chapters 1-3."The Lord's charge to Ezekiel emphasized the absolute necessity of hearing, understanding, and assimilating God's message prior to going f...
• God's preparations to judge the city 10:1-8
  10:1 Ezekiel next saw in his vision the cherubim that he had seen by the river Chebar (1:22, 26).163Over their heads he again saw the throne-chariot that resembled a sapphire in its color and beauty.16410:2 Ezekiel saw the Lo...
• The sign of the departing deportee 12:1-7
  12:1-2 The Lord came to Ezekiel with another message.190He told His servant that the people among whom he lived, the house of Israel, were rebellious against Him (cf. 2:3-8). Their blindness to the things that they saw and th...
• Daniel's continuing weakness 10:15-17
  10:15 Apparently the angel's explanation about the angelic conflict was something about which Daniel had known nothing. His only reaction to this information, on top of the vision that he had just seen, was to bow his head an...
• Yahweh's inescapable punishment 9:1-4
  9:1 In the final vision that Amos recorded, he saw Yahweh standing beside an altar. The altar at Bethel is probably in view since Bethel was the worship site in view in most of this book and since Amos' encounter with Amaziah...
• D. A prediction of future regathering and leadership 2:12-13
  The message of the false prophets was not completely wrong; it just presented the positive aspects of God's promises to Israel but omitted the negative. Micah's message had been mainly negative; the people needed to repent or...
• A. The purification of the nations 3:9
  "Then"signals a major change in time as well as in the focus of Zephaniah's prophecy. It is a hinge word that serves as a transition from judgment in the Tribulation to blessing in the Millennium. Then, after these judgments ...
• C. The command to repent 7:8-14
  Having referred to the words of the former prophets (v. 7), Zechariah now summarized them as an exhortation to his own generation of Israelites.7:8-10 Zechariah received another message from the Lord related to this inquiry. ...
• 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...
• 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...
• The purpose of the parables 13:10-17 (cf. Mark 4:10-12; Luke 8:9-10)
  13:10 The disciples wanted to know why Jesus was teaching in parables. This was not the clearest form of communication. Evidently the disciples asked this question when Jesus had finished giving the parables to the crowd (cf....
• The purpose of the parables 4:10-12 (cf. Matt. 13:10-17; Luke 8:9-10)
  4:10 Mark alone noted that those who asked Jesus to explain the parables included the Twelve plus other disciples (v. 10). Evidently their question concerned why Jesus was using parables to teach as well as what they meant. H...
• 4. The call of Peter, James, and John 5:1-11 (cf. Matt. 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20)
  Luke's account of this incident is the longest of the three. Luke stressed Peter and omitted any reference to Andrew, his brother (Matt. 4:18; Mark 1:16). He characteristically focussed on single individuals that Jesus' touch...
• The reason for using parables 8:9-10 (cf. Matt. 13:10-17; Mark 4:10-12)
  Luke focused the disciples' question on the one parable he recorded so far. Matthew and Mark had them asking Jesus why He was speaking to the people in parables (plural). "Mysteries"were revelations previously unknown about t...
• 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...
• D. The incarnation of the Word 1:14-18
  John's return to the Word in verse 14 from verse 1 introduces new revelation about Him. Though still part of the prologue, the present section focuses on the Incarnation of the Word.1:14 The Word, who existed equal with God b...
• 3. Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus 3:1-21
  John now presented evidence that Jesus knew people as no others did and that many believed in His name (2:23). This constitutes further witness that He is the Son of God. John summarized several conversations that Jesus had w...
• Spiritual sight and blindness 9:35-41
  "John is interested in the way the coming of Jesus divides people."3479:35 The healed man had responded positively and courageously to the light that he had so far, but he did not have much light. Therefore Jesus took the ini...
• The explanation of Israel's unbelief 12:37-43
  12:37-38 The majority of the Jews did not believe on Jesus despite the many miracles that He performed that indicated His messiahship (cf. 1:11). John again attributed Israel's unbelief to God's will, though he balanced that ...
• The church's reaction 4:23-31
  4:23-28 After hearing the apostle's report, the Christians sought the Lord (Gr. Despota, sovereign ruler) in prayer."Three movements may be discerned in this prayer of the early church: (1) God is sovereign (v. 24). (2) God's...
• Paul's second conference with the Jewish leaders 28:23-28
  28:23 Luke's concern in this pericope was to emphasize what Paul preached to these men and their reaction to it. The term "kingdom of God"probably means the same thing here as it usually does in the Gospels, namely Messiah's ...
• 1. The source of Paul's gospel 1:11-17
  Paul clarified the source of his gospel message in this pericope to convince his readers that the gospel he had preached to them was the true gospel. What the false teachers were presenting was heresy. He began an autobiograp...
• B. The commission of the prophet 1:9-20
  John next explained a vision of the glorified Christ that God had given him (cf. Isa. 6; Ezek. 1). First, he related the circumstances of his first commission to write (vv. 9-11). Second, he provided a detailed description of...
• 3. The amplification of the commission 1:17-20
  John's response to this revelation was similar to Daniel's response to the vision God gave him (cf. Dan. 10:7-9). Jesus then proceeded to give John more information about what He wanted him to do.1:17 This revelation of Jesus...
• The preparation of the agents of judgment 15:5-8
  15:5 "After these things I looked"(Gr. meta tauta eidon) indicates a transition to a new vision and a new subject: the bowl judgments. These are in a category of their own. John saw the heavenly temple opened. This gave the s...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

• Vision And Service
  In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. 2, Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and wi...
• The Making Of A Prophet
  Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.'--Isaiah 6:5.IN previous pages we have se...