Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• VII. MOSES' LAST ACTS chs. 31--34
  Having completed the major addresses to the Israelites recorded to this point in Deuteronomy, Moses needed only to make a few final arrangements before Israel was ready to enter the land. The record of these events concludes ...
• The inheritance of Dan 19:40-48
  Dan received territory primarily in the Shephelah and Coastal Plain west of Benjamin that was between Judah and Ephraim. Its land was extremely fruitful."The Amorites, who settled portions of the Philistine plain (Judg. 1:34)...
• A. The return of the two and one-half tribes to their inheritances ch. 22
  The main part of the second half of the Book of Joshua dealing with the division of the land ends with the appointment of the Levitical cities (chs. 13-21). The rest of the book deals with settlement in the land (chs. 22-24)....
• Date and Writer
  Internal references help us locate the approximate date of composition of this book. The clause, "In those days there was no king in Israel,"(17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25) suggests that someone wrote Judges during the monarchical ...
• Message15
  Joshua reveals that victory, success, and progress result when God's people trust and obey Him consistently. Judges shows that defeat, failure, and retrogression follow when they fail to trust and obey consistently. In this r...
• Outline
  I. The reason for Israel's apostasy 1:1-3:6A. Hostilities between the Israelites and the Canaanites after Joshua's death 1:1-2:51. Initial successes and failures ch. 12. The announcement of God's discipline 2:1-5B. Israel's c...
• I. THE REASONS FOR ISRAEL'S APOSTASY 1:1--3:6
  The first major section in the book (1:1-3:6) explains very clearly why the period of the judges was a dark chapter in Israel's history. God revealed the reasons for Israel's apostasy and consequent national problems in terms...
• The activities of the other tribes 1:22-36
  1:22-26 The writer described Ephraim and Manasseh together as "the house of Joseph"(vv. 22-29). First, he narrated Ephraim's activity (vv. 22-26). The Ephraimites' treatment of the man of Bethel who gave them information viol...
• D. The fourth apostasy 6:1-10:5
  The writer of Judges structured this book so the story of Gideon would be its focal center."Within the main body of the book, seven major narrative blocks can be noted. Moreover, there are certain parallel features between th...
• Gideon's compromise 8:22-28
  The supernatural victory God had given His people elevated Gideon into national recognition. Some of the men of Israel invited Gideon to be their king and to begin a dynasty of rulers (v. 22). Perhaps they were from the north...
• F. The sixth apostasy chs. 13-16
  "From chapters 13 to 18, the author concentrates on the tribe of Dan, which had been one of the largest and most prominent tribes during the wilderness march (Num 2:25-31). In the period of the judges, however, Dan seemed hel...
• Samson's losses 14:15-20
  The writer called the Timnite Samson's wife even though the engaged couple had not yet consummated their marriage (v. 15)."The usual length of a [wedding] celebration was seven days and the marriage was not consummated until ...
• Samson and Delilah 16:4-21
  The first three verses present Samson sowing "wild oats."Verses 4-21 picture him reaping a bitter harvest (cf. Gal. 6:7).Samson allowed a woman to seduce him again. She lived in the Sorek Valley between Samson's home area of ...
• III. THE RESULTS OF ISRAEL'S APOSTASY chs. 17--21
  The following two extended incidents (ch. 17-21) differ from the records of the judges just completed (chs. 3-16). They are not accounts of the activities of any of Israel's judges. They are the record of events that took pla...
• A. The idolatry of Micah and the Danites chs. 17-18
  God undoubtedly included the story of Micah and the Danites in the sacred record because it relates the establishment of image worship in Israel. This was a new and catastrophic departure from Yahweh for the Israelites. Image...
• 1. The idolatry of Micah ch. 17
  The story of Micah (ch. 17) introduces the account of the setting up of image worship in the North (ch. 18).
• Micah's unlawful worship 17:1-6
  The writer told us nothing about Micah's background except that he originally lived in the Hill Country of Ephraim with or near his mother (vv. 1-2). Micah's name means "Who is like Yahweh."As is true of so many details in th...
• Micah's Levite 17:7-13
  Verses 1-6 stress the sin of self-styled worship. Verses 7-13 emphasize the folly of self-determined service.The writer did not call the young Levite who came to live with Micah a priest. He was evidently not a descendant of ...
• The messengers from Dan 18:1-6
  This chapter begins with another reference to the fact that there was no king in Israel then (cf. 17:6). The writer reminded us again that the Israelites were living unrestrained lives. Abundant evidence of this follows in ch...
• The theft of Micah's images and Levite 18:11-20
  An army of 600 Danites proceeded from Zorah and Eshtaol eastward up the Kesalon Valley to Kiriath-jearim and then northward into the Hill Country of Ephraim. They stopped at Micah's house, noted his images and ephod, and pond...
• The establishment of idolatry at Dan 18:27-31
  The Danites' defeat of the inhabitants of Laish appears cruel and unjustified (cf. 9:45-49). The town that seemed so desirable to the spies was really vulnerable and isolated. Its advantages proved to be weaknesses. Since God...
• B. The Immorality of Gibeah and the Benjamites chs. 19-21
  Chapter 19 records an event that provoked civil war in Israel. The account of that war follows in chapter 20. Then the consequences of the war unfold in chapter 21. This section of the book is the climactic and supreme demons...
• The background of the incident 19:1-15
  We meet another Levite in verse 1 who was paying no attention to God's directions concerning where the Levites should live (cf. 17:7). Since monogamy was God's standard for marriage the Levite should not have married a concub...
• Conclusion
  The Book of Joshua recorded Israel's victory over her enemies through trust in and obedience to God. The Book of Judges shows the defeat of the nation by its enemies from without and within due to refusal to trust and obey Go...
• Bibliography
  Aharoni, Yohanan. Land of the Bible. Phildelphia: Westminster Press, 1962.Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Revised ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1977.Albright, William Foxwell. The...
• I. NAOMI'S PREDICAMENT ch. 1
  As is often true in literature, the structure of the piece sometimes reveals the purpose of the writer. This is certainly the case in the Book of Ruth. The writer constructed the whole book with a chiastic (crossing) structur...
• A. The deaths of Naomi's husband and sons 1:1-5
  God had promised the Israelites that if they departed from Him He would discipline them by sending famine on the Promised Land (Deut. 28:17, 23, 38-40, 42).16The famine on Israel at this time indicates God's judgment for unfa...
• VII. SUMMARY ILLUSTRATIONS chs. 21--24
  The last major section of the Book of Samuel (2 Sam. 21-24) consists of six separate pericopes that together constitute a conclusion to the whole book (cf. Judg. 17-21). Each pericope emphasizes the theological message of the...
• Jeroboam's idolatry 12:25-33
  During its history the Northern Kingdom had three capitals: first Shechem (v. 25), then Tirzah (14:17; 15:33), and finally Samaria (16:23-24). Perhaps the king strengthened Penuel in west-central Gilead as a Transjordanian pr...
• 2. The restoration of the true people ch. 10
  The first part of this oracle focused particularly on the true King who would come and exercise sovereignty over the nations (ch. 9). Now the emphasis changes to the people of the King, the Israelites, who will return to the ...