Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• 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...
• The first 10 sayings 22:22-23:11
  22:22-23 Note the chiastic structure in these four lines that unifies the thought of the passage: violence, litigation, litigation, violence. God will avenge the poor on those who oppress them.22:24-25 The writer gave a reaso...
• 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...
• 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...
• 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...
• 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 (...
• Yahweh's day of judgment ch. 34
  This poem depicts the effects of Yahweh's wrath on the self-exalting nations. His judgment will be universal (vv. 1-4). Isaiah particularized it with reference to Edom, a representative nation (vv. 5-17; cf. 25:10-12)."Here w...
• 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...
• 2. The Babylonian threat chs. 38-39
  The events in these chapters predate those in chapters 36-37 by a few months. Isaiah placed them here, out of chronological order, to make them a historical prologue to chapters 40-66, which focus on the Exile and the return ...
• 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...
• A. God's grace to Israel chs. 40-48
  These chapters particularly address the questions of whether God could deliver and whether He wanted to deliver the Israelites that the coming exile raised in the minds of Isaiah's contemporaries."We emerge in 40:1 in a diffe...
• 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 God of redemption 45:14-46:13
  This section develops the ideas that preceded by unfolding the characteristics of Yahweh that His people needed to appreciate in view of the shocking news that their new Moses would be Cyrus. It opens with an emphasis on God ...
• The Servant's ministry 49:8-13
  Isaiah now announced more about the work of the Servant (cf. 42:5-9). He will enable people around the world to return to God, similarly to how the Israelites would return to Jerusalem after the Exile. The response to God's s...
• 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...
• V. Israel's future transformation chs. 56--66
  The last major section of Isaiah deals with the necessity of living out the righteousness of God (cf. Rom. 12-16). These chapters emphasize what the characteristics of the servants of the Lord should be. Again, the focus is o...
• 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 ...
• The mission of the Anointed One 61:1-3
  These two chapters begin with an introduction of the Servant (Messiah) and His mission. That the Servant of the Servant Songs is the same person as the Anointed One (Messiah) of chapter 11 is clear from what Isaiah wrote abou...
• C. Recognition of divine ability chs. 63-66
  The third and final subdivision of this last part of the book (chs. 56-66) returns to many of the themes in the first subdivision (chs. 56-59). However, the structure of this subdivision is the mirror opposite of that one."Wh...
• The solitary Warrior 63:1-6
  "Having described the exaltation of Zion and her enlargement through the influx of the Gentiles, the prophet turns to describe the destruction of Zion's enemies."701"The oracle is most dramatic. The only OT passage that in an...
• 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 reminiscence 63:7-14
  This part of Isaiah's lament consists of a review of Israel's relationship with the Lord (vv. 7-10) and a call for Israel to remember who He is (vv. 11-14).63:7 The poetic prophet announced that he would reflect on the loyal ...
• 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 ...
• The appeal 64:8-12
  64:8 Yet Isaiah did appeal to God for help. He appealed on the basis that Yahweh had brought Israel into existence and was, therefore, responsible for her regardless of her condition (cf. 63:16). She was just inert clay, but ...
• The divine response 65:1-16
  The Lord responded, through the prophet, to the viewpoint expressed in the preceding prayer (63:7-64:12).
• Consistent faithfulness 65:8-16
  The Lord proceeded to explain that even though He would destroy the ungodly, He would also spare the truly godly among His people (cf. Gen. 18:23-25).65:8 Yahweh promised not to destroy the whole nation (cluster of grapes) bu...
• New heavens and a new earth 65:17-25
  God not only will be faithful to His promises in spite of Israel's unfaithfulness (63:1-65:16), but He will demonstrate His ability and desire to provide righteousness for sinful humankind by creating new heavens and a new ea...
• 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...
• C. The Book of Consolation chs. 30-33
  This section of the Book of Jeremiah is a collection of prophecies that focus on the hope that lay before the Israelites. To this point in the book the emphasis has been mainly on judgment to come, though we have seen occasio...
• Israel rebuilt and planted by a loving God 31:2-6
  31:2 When the Israelites would seek rest from the attacks of their enemies (cf. 6:16; Exod. 33:14; Deut. 3:20; Josh. 1:13, 15; 22:4; Isa. 63:14), they would find it in the wilderness (cf. 2:2; Rev. 12:14-16).401They will find...
• Ishmael's further atrocities and Johanan's intervention 41:4-18
  41:4-5 Two days after Gedaliah's murder, before the news of it had spread, 80 religious pilgrims came down from the old towns of Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria in northern Israel on their way to Jerusalem. Their dress and other...
• 2. The description of judgment 3:9-17
  This pericope contains a call to the nations to prepare for war (vv. 9-11), a statement by the Lord (vv. 12-13), and a description of the battle site (vv. 14-16).3:9-11 The Lord issued a call to war. The nations should prepar...
• The restoration of the Davidic kingdom 9:11-12
  The rest of the book is quite different from what has preceded because of its positive message. As is true of other eighth-century prophets to Israel and Judah, Amos included hope in his prophecy (cf. Isa. 40-66; Hos. 1:10-2:...
• B. Jonah's lack of compassion 1:4-6
  1:4 Jonah subjected himself to dangers that Israel and the entire ancient Near East viewed as directly under divine control when he launched out on the sea. The sea to them was the embodiment of the chaotic forces that humans...
• 1. The vision proper 1:7-15
  1:7 Zechariah received another revelation from the Lord three months after his previous one in Darius' second year, 520 B.C.35"On the same day (24 Shebat), five months earlier, the rebuilding of the temple had been resumed (c...
• V. Oracles about the Messiah and Israel's future chs. 9--14
  This part of Zechariah contains two undated oracles that are almost entirely eschatological. They expand the eschatological vision in chapters 1-8 and modify its generally optimistic view with emphasis on Israel's purificatio...
• 1. Disrespectful service 1:6-7
  1:6 This second oracle begins like the first one, with a statement by Yahweh and a challenging response (cf. Isa. 1:2-3). The first oracle appealed to the Israelites generally, but this one is addressed to the priests. The pr...
• 2. Jesus' baptism 3:13-17 (cf. Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-23)
  Jesus' baptism was the occasion at which His messiahship became obvious publicly. Matthew recorded this event as he did to convince his readers further of Jesus' messianic qualifications.3:13-14 John hesitated to baptize Jesu...
• 4. The second coming of the Son of Man 21:25-28 (cf. Matt. 24:29-31; Mark 13:24-27)
  Luke omitted Jesus' warnings about false prophets that Matthew and Mark recorded (Matt. 24:23-28; Mark 13:21-23). Perhaps he did this because he had included similar warnings in his account of Jesus' earlier teachings (17:21-...
• The reaping and treading of God's harvest 14:14-20
  This is the final scene that furnishes background information before the revelation of the seven bowl judgments. Again what John saw was mainly on the earth."The total scene in 14:14-20 closes the section on coming judgment (...
• 2. The return of Christ to earth 19:11-16
  On the one hand, the return of Jesus Christ to the earth is the climax of all that has preceded. On the other, it is the first of seven final things that John saw and recorded. These things were Christ's return, Satan's captu...
• M. The millennial reign of Christ ch. 20
  John recorded his vision of Jesus Christ's reign on the earth for 1, 000 years to inform his readers of what would take place after He returns to the earth."Few verses in the Bible are more crucial to the interpretation of th...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

• The Arm Of The Lord
  To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? '--Isaiah 53:1.In the second Isaiah there are numerous references to the arm of the Lord.' It is a natural symbol of the active energy of Jehovah, and is analogous to the other symbol ...
• The Winepress And Its Treader
  Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone.'--Isaiah 63:2-3.THE structure of these closing chapters is chronological, and this is the fi...
• The Sympathy Of God
  In all their afflictions He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them.'--Isaiah 63:9.