Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• 3. David's acceptance by all Israel 5:1-12
  In 1004 B.C. David became king of all Israel and Judah.50This was his third anointing (cf. 1 Sam. 16:13; 2 Sam. 2:4). The people acknowledged David's previous military leadership of all Israel as well as God's choice of him t...
• E. Jehoahaz's Evil Reign 23:31-35
  Jehoahaz, whose other name was Shallum, was the middle of Josiah's three sons all of whom ruled Judah after Josiah. Jehoahaz was the people's choice (v. 31), but he reigned for only three months in 609 B.C.When Pharaoh Neco d...
• F. Jehoiakim's Evil Reign 23:36-24:7
  Jehoiakim reigned as a puppet king for 11 years (609-598 B.C.). He was a weak ruler who did not stand up for Judah's interests against her hostile enemies.In 605 B.C. Prince Nebuchadnezzar led the Babylonian army of his fathe...
• 2. The reason for David's discipline 30:6-10
  30:6 David had evidently become self-confident and had forgotten his complete dependence on the Lord (cf. John 15:5). Prosperity often tempts us with a false sense of our security (cf. Prov. 1:32; Jer. 22:21), and David slipp...
• V. THE CONCLUSION 8:5-7
  These verses summarize the theme of the book.8:5a Evidently these are the words of the daughters of Jerusalem. The couple is coming up out of the wilderness. The "wilderness"connoted Israel's 40 years of trials to the Jewish ...
• Historical Background
  The biblical records of the times in which Jeremiah ministered are 2 Kings 21-25 and 2 Chronicles 33-36. His contemporary prophets were Zephaniah and Habakkuk before the Exile, and Ezekiel and Daniel after it began.King Manas...
• Purpose
  Jeremiah's purpose was to call his hearers to repentance in view of God's judgment on Judah, which would come soon from an army from the north (chs. 2-45). Judgment was coming because God's people had forsaken Yahweh and had ...
• Outline
  I. Introduction ch. 1A. The introduction of Jeremiah 1:1-3B. The call of Jeremiah 1:4-191. The promise of divine enablement 1:4-102. Two confirming visions 1:11-19II. Prophecies about Judah chs. 2-45A. Warnings of judgment on...
• 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....
• A. Warnings of judgment on Judah and Jerusalem chs. 2-25
  Chapters 2-25 contain warnings and appeals to the Judahites in view of their sins and the consequences of those sins.
• A lament over the king and the queen mother 13:18-19
  13:18 Jeremiah was to tell the king and the queen mother of Judah to humble themselves because the Lord had removed their authority or would remove it soon. Pride was a besetting sin of royalty. The individuals in view are pr...
• A collection of Jeremiah's denunciations of Judah's kings and false prophets chs. 21-23
  This section of the book contains some of Jeremiah's messages concerning Judah's kings (21:1-23:8) and false prophets (23:9-40) that he delivered closer to the time of Jerusalem's invasion than the previous chapters.300Beginn...
• Messages about the duties of the kings of Judah 21:11-22:9
  This group of prophecies begins and ends with oracles concerning the kings' duties (21:11-12; 22:1-9). In the middle is an oracle against Jerusalem (21:13-14).21:11-12 Jeremiah was to tell the king of Judah and his administra...
• A prophecy about King Jehoahaz (Shallum) 22:10-12
  This section probably contains two originally separate parts (vv. 10 and 11-12).22:10 Jeremiah instructed the people not to mourn over Josiah, who had died in battle with the Egyptians, as much as they should mourn over those...
• A prophecy about King Jehoiakim 22:13-19
  "Jehoiakim was condemned by Jeremiah more severely than any other king. He seems to have been a typical Oriental despot who rejected Josiah's reforms."30722:13-14 Jeremiah called down woe on the person who advanced his own in...
• An oracle of Jerusalem's doom 22:20-23
  22:20 The prophet spoke of Jerusalem as a young woman in this oracle. He called on her to go up on the surrounding mountains to bewail the loss of her lovers (political allies and pagan gods). The Lebanon mountains were to th...
• Prophecies about King Jehoiachin (Coniah) 22:24-30
  This section contains two prophecies about this king (vv. 24-27 and 28-30) The historical setting is the three-month reign of eighteen year-old Jehoiachin in 598-597 B.C. (cf. 2 Kings 24:8-17). Coniah was a shortened form of ...
• Promises about the future of the Davidic line and the people 23:1-8
  "After the oracles against wicked kings, there is a promise of a righteous one, the Shoot of David."313Jeremiah just announced that none of Coniah's descendants would ever rule as kings. Now he went on to clarify that a David...
• The two baskets of figs ch. 24
  24:1 This prophetic message came to Jeremiah after Nebuchadnezzar had taken King Jehoiachin (Coniah, Jeconiah, cf. 22:24) and many of the other royal counselors, craftsmen, and smiths (or artisans) captive to Babylon in 597 B...
• Universal judgment to come 25:30-38
  25:30 Jeremiah was also to announce that God would prepare to judge all the inhabitants of the earth (v. 29). As a lion announces its intent to attack with a roar, so Yahweh would one day announce His attack on earth dwellers...
• B. Controversies concerning false prophets chs. 26-29
  These chapters contrast the true prophet of Yahweh with the false prophets. Distinguishing between them was difficult for Jeremiah's contemporaries, but their essential difference is clear. The true prophets proclaimed the Lo...
• Jeremiah's conflict with Hananiah ch. 28
  Jeremiah's symbolic act of wearing a yoke led to another symbolic act, the breaking of that yoke. Jeremiah's act brought a false prophet into direct confrontation with the true prophet.28:1 The following event took place in t...
• The restoration of Jerusalem and Judah confirmed 33:1-13
  33:1 Jeremiah received another message from the Lord while he was still confined in the court of the guard (cf. 32:2).33:2 The Lord introduced Himself as the Creator and Establisher of the earth (cf. 32:17; Gen. 1). This was ...
• D. Incidents surrounding the fall of Jerusalem chs. 34-45
  The Book of Consolation contained messages of future hope for Judah (chs. 30-33). Now Jeremiah returned to document her present judgment. Chapters 34-45 continue the theme of judgment on Judah and Jerusalem from chapters 2-29...
• The announcement of Zedekiah's fate 34:1-7
  "The Book of Consolation has ended, and 34:1 confronts its readers with the full force of the invading imperial army. The destruction of Jerusalem and the remainder of Judah seems inevitable (v 3) because the LORD has made Ne...
• Its rewriting 36:27-32
  36:27-28 The Lord commanded Jeremiah to make another copy of the scroll that the king had burned (cf. 2 Kings 22:15-20).36:29 He was also to send a message from the Lord to the king. Jehoiakim had burned the first scroll beca...
• Baruch's despair and consolation ch. 45
  This chapter belongs after chapter 36 chronologically, either after 36:8 or 36:32. It serves as an appendix to the historical incidents recorded there. Perhaps the writer or final editor placed it here to show that Yahweh exe...
• A. The fall of Jerusalem and the capture of Zedekiah 52:1-16
  This is one of four accounts of the fall of Jerusalem in the Old Testament (cf. 2 Kings 25; 2 Chron. 36:11-21; Jer. 39:1-14). The repetition underlines the importance of the event.52:1 Zedekiah (Mattaniah, 2 Kings 24:17) was ...
• D. The release of Jehoiachin from prison 52:31-34
  This section is an almost verbatim repetition of 2 Kings 25:27-30. It closes the book on a note of hope.52:31 In 562 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar's son Evilmerodach (Awel-Marduk, lit. man of Marduk; 562-560 B.C.), who succeeded his fa...
• Bibliography
  Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Revised ed. London: Collier Macmillan Publishers; and New York: Macmillan Publishers Co., 1977.Albright, William Foxwell. The Archaeology of Palestine. Revis...
• The interpretation of the riddle 17:11-21
  17:11-12 Ezekiel was now to tell his rebellious hearers what this story represented.250The first eagle stood for the king of Babylon (cf. Jer. 48:40; 49:22; Dan. 7:4). His invasion of Jerusalem (the specific identity of the L...
• 10. A lament for the kings of Israel ch. 19
  This prophecy shows that there were no more rulers left in Judah who could restore the nation to its former glory. Evidently the exiles hoped that some Davidic descendant would prove successful in overcoming the Babylonians a...
• Jerusalem's prostitution 23:11-21
  23:11-13 Oholibah observed her sister's behavior and fate, but she did not learn from them. As many historians have observed, the one thing we learn from history is that most people do not learn from history. Oholibah became ...
• 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...
• IV. A prophecy concerning Zerubbabel 2:20-23
  2:20 The Lord gave Haggai a second message on the same day as the previous message (v. 10), the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month (Kislev 24, December 18).2:21 Haggai was to tell Zerubbabel that Yahweh was going to shake t...
• 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 ...
• The announcement of doom 11:1-3
  11:1 The prophet announced in vigorous poetic language that Lebanon's famous cedars would perish. The Israelites referred to the royal palace in Jerusalem as Lebanon because it contained so much cedar from Lebanon (Jer. 22:23...
• 3. Jesus' lamentation over Jerusalem 23:37-39 (cf. Luke 13:34-35)
  This lamentation should help us realize that the judgment Jesus just announced in such strong language was not something that delighted Him. It broke His heart. This is also clear from His personalizing the people in Jerusale...
• 2. Warnings against deceptions 13:5-8 (Matt. 24:4-8; Luke 21:8-11)
  Jesus first answered the disciples' second question about the sign of the end of the present age. He did so negatively by warning them of false signs (vv. 5-13). Then He gave them positive information about the event that wil...
• 3. Jesus' postponement of the kingdom 13:31-35
  Another comment triggered teaching of a similar nature. The continuing theme is the messianic kingdom.13:31 This incident followed the former one chronologically. Therefore it is probable that Jesus' words about Jews not ente...
• B. The Basis for Confidence and Steadfastness 6:13-20
  Again the change in genre, this time from exhortation to exposition, signals a new literary unit within the epistle. Here the writer proceeded to expound the reliability of God's promise to Christians through Jesus Christ's h...
• 3. The death of the two witnesses 11:7-10
  11:7 It is only when they have finished their ministry that God will permit the beast to kill the two witnesses. They will not die prematurely. This is the first of 36 references to "the beast"in Revelation (cf. Dan. 7:21). H...