Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• 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 (...
• 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 incomparable Lord 40:12-26
  The preceding section answered the question that the people of Isaiah's day had about God's desire to deliver them. Yes, He wantedto deliver them. This section answered their question about whether He could save them. Yes, He...
• God's purposes for His servants 42:10-44:22
  The section of Isaiah that I have titled "God's promises to His servants"(41:1-42:9) sets the stage and introduces themes that Isaiah proceeded to develop in this section. Those themes are the certainty of redemption (42:10-4...
• 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 memory of redemption 44:21-22
  This brief section is a call to God's people to embrace God's promises. It concludes this section of the prophecy (42:10-44:22) by affirming that God would not abandon the Israelites because of their sins but would deliver th...
• 3. The Lord's redemption of His servant 44:23-47:15
  Isaiah began this section of the book dealing with God's grace to Israel (chs. 40-48) by glorifying God as the incomparable Lord of His servant Israel (ch. 40). Then he explained God's promises to (41:1-42:9) and His purposes...
• The announcement of redemption 44:23-28
  The section begins with an announcement of the salvation that God would provide for His chosen people.44:23 This verse concludes the thought expressed in the preceding one, so many translations and commentators regard it as t...
• 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 nation to be judged ch. 47
  This section of Isaiah on "The Lord's redemption of His servant [Israel]"(44:23-47:15) has included an announcement of redemption (44:23-28), the identification of the instrument of redemption, Cyrus (45:1-13), and a reminder...
• 4. The servant's attention to her Lord ch. 48
  This chapter climaxes Isaiah's arguments for Yahweh's superiority over pagan idols. The prophet was led to use the Israelites' exile in Babylon to prove his point. Isaiah had demonstrated God's trustworthiness (chs. 7-39) and...
• The present possibility 48:12-22
  In a sense verses 12-22 are the second verse of the song of which verses 1-11 are the first verse. God was making much the same point though with a slightly different emphasis.48:12 This segment opens like the first one (cf. ...
• B. God's atonement for Israel chs. 49-55
  In the previous section (chs. 40-48), Isaiah revealed that God would redeem His servant Israel from Babylonian captivity by using one of His servants, Cyrus. Israel's sin had resulted in her going into the furnace of Babylon ...
• 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...
• Transforming salvation 55:6-13
  This pericope repeats and refocuses the invitation just extended (vv. 1-3). The offer continues to be to come to God, but the focus shifts from receiving satisfaction to resting in faith and from salvation's freeness to its t...
• 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...
• 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 ...
• 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...
• 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...
• A satire on idolatry 10:1-16
  This scathing exposé of the folly of idolatry resembles several polemics in Isaiah (cf. Isa. 40:18-20; 41:6-7; 44:9-20; 46:5-7). Verses 12-16 appear again in 51:15-19."Why did so easy a target as idolatry need so many at...
• 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...
• Making idols 8:1-7
  8:1 The Lord commanded Hosea to announce coming judgment by telling him to put a trumpet to his lips. The blowing of the shophar announced that an invader was coming (cf. 5:8). Israel's enemy would swoop down on the nation as...
• 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:...
• 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...
• 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...