Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• The temptation of Eve 3:1-5
  As in chapters 1 and 2, the word of the Lord is very important in chapter 3. Here Adam and Eve doubted God's integrity. This pericope also has something to teach about the acquisition of wisdom. Chapter 2 anticipated God's gi...
• 14. The sacrifice of Isaac 22:1-19
  In obedience to God's command Abraham took his promised heir to Moriah to sacrifice him to the Lord. Because Abraham was willing to slay his uniquely begotten son God restrained him from killing Isaac and promised to bless hi...
• 17. The choice of a bride for Isaac ch. 24
  Abraham's servant returned to Paddan-aram charged with the duty of finding a suitable bride for Isaac. He faithfully and resolutely fulfilled his task relying on God's faithfulness to prosper his journey and God's providence ...
• 1. David's sin of numbering the people 24:1-9
  David probably ordered this census about 975 B.C."After the revolutions of both Absalom and Sheba it would have been reasonable for David to reassess his military situation against the possibility of similar uprisings or othe...
• Solomon's skill 4:29-34
  Here is more evidence that God gave Solomon wisdom (Heb. hokmah) as He had promised (3:12). He was one of the outstanding sages of the ancient world.61What Solomon received was the ability to make correct decisions. Even thou...
• Date
  Concerning the time the events recorded took place there have been many views ranging from the patriarchal age of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (beginning about 2100 B.C.) to the sixth century B.C.Internal evidence suggests that J...
• Message
  What this book is all about has been the subject of considerable debate. Many people think God gave it to us to provide His answer to the age-old problem of suffering. In particular, many believe it is in the Bible to help us...
• Outline
  I. Prologue chs. 1-2A. Job's character 1:1-5B. Job's calamities 1:6-2:101. The first test 1:6-222. The second test 2:1-10C. Job's comforters 2:11-13II. The dialogue concerning the basis of the divine-human relationship 3:1-42...
• A. Job's Character 1:1-5
  Uz (1:1) was probably southeast of the Dead Sea (cf. vv. 3, 14, 19; 42:12).15Some scholars place it in Bashan south of Damascus, but the writer of Lamentations (probably Jeremiah) associated the land of Uz with Edom (Lam. 4:2...
• C. Job's Comforters 2:11-13
  Really four men came to visit Job, though the writer did not mention Elihu's presence until chapter 32. Eliphaz seems to have been the eldest for several reasons. His name occurs first (2:11; 42:9), he spoke before the others...
• Eliphaz's vision 4:12-21
  Eliphaz's authority was a vision (v. 12). It seems that his vision was not a revelation from God for the following reasons. He did not say that it was from the Lord. God normally identified revelations from Himself as such to...
• The justice of God 8:1-7
  Bildad's initial words contrast with Eliphaz's. Whereas Eliphaz was gentle and indirect, Bildad was impatient and insensitive. He accused Job of being a blow-hard (v. 2)."Bildad is objective and analytical in his speech about...
• Illustrations of Job's godlessness 8:11-19
  The illustration of the water plant (vv. 11-13) emphasized the fact that in Bildad's view Job had abandoned God, the source of his blessing (cf. 1:1, 8). Bildad advised his friend not to forget God. The spider's web analogy (...
• God's swift judgment of the wicked 20:20-29
  Zophar explained that while the wicked greedily fill their own bellies, God sends His anger into their bowels (v. 23). In other words, the poor health that accompanies over indulgence is God's instrument of judgment on the we...
• 1. The introduction of Elihu 32:1-5
  A short prose pericope (32:1-6a) breaks into the poetic body of the book. Its purpose is to introduce Elihu, as the prose prologue to the whole book (chs. 1-2) introduced the other characters.Elihu may have been a relative of...
• God's dealings with nature 36:27-37:24
  Elihu focused next on God's activities in nature. There may be reference to autumn conditions in 36:27-33, winter in 37:1-13, and summer in 37:17-18.150Elihu's third "Behold"(36:26) draws attention to the infinite wisdom of G...
• A. Job's Friends 42:7-9
  God addressed Eliphaz but also had Bildad and Zophar in view. He evidently excluded Elihu because he had not misrepresented God as the other three friends had. Their error was limiting God's sovereignty. By asserting that God...
• 4. Assurance of recovery 6:8-10
  Apparently David received an answer to his petition. It may have come through a prophet or just the inner conviction that he would recover. In any case he closed the psalm with a warning to his adversaries (v. 7) to get out o...
• 2. David's answer 15:2-5
  15:2a-b In this section the psalmist summarized what was necessary to have an intimate relationship with the Lord. First, he or she must have a pattern of life that is blameless (Heb. tamim). This word means genuine, free fro...
• 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...
• Yahweh's cup of wrath for the nations 25:15-29
  25:15 The Lord instructed Jeremiah to take from His hand, figuratively, a cup of His wrath and to cause all the nations to whom the Lord would send him to drink from it. The cup is a common figure for the wrath of God in Scri...
• C. Hope following the siege 4:21-22
  4:21 The Edomites, kinsmen of the Judahites, were rejoicing over Judah's destruction (cf. Ps. 137:7; Jer. 49:7-22; Ezek. 25:12-14; 35), but the same fate was sure to overtake them (Deut. 30:7). They would have to drink the cu...
• 5. The need of personal righteousness for deliverance 14:12-23
  This prophecy continues the emphasis on judgment from the previous one and stresses the irrevocability of Jerusalem's destruction (cf. Jer. 7:16; 15:1-4).14:12-14 The Lord spoke to Ezekiel again. He revealed that Jerusalem's ...
• D. The Destruction of Edom's Leadership vv. 8-9
  "Obadiah's discussion nicely interweaves the themes of divine intervention and human instrumentality."21v. 8 The repetition of "declares the Lord"(cf. v. 4) reemphasizes Yahweh's initiative in this judgment. "That day"points ...
• V. Oracle four: the problem of God's justice 2:17--3:6
  That another oracle is in view is clear from the question and answer format that begins this pericope, as it does the others. Verse 17 contains the question and answer, and the discussion follows in 3:1-6. The Israelites' cha...
• 5. Our eternal security 8:31-39
  The apostle developed the fact that God will not lose one whom He has foreknown in this climactic section, and he gloried in this great truth."Nowhere in the annals of sacred literature do we find anything to match the power ...
• Paul's judgment of this case 5:1-5
  5:1 "Immorality"is a general translation of the Greek word porneia, which means fornication, specifically sexual relations with a forbidden mate. The precise offense in this case was sexual union with the woman who had marrie...
• B. Spiritual warfare 6:10-20
  That this section is distinct from the five that precede it is evident from two facts. Paul introduced it differently, and the emphasis in it is on God's resources. Earlier Paul urged the strengthening and growth of the body ...
• Paul's plan 2:17-20
  2:17-18 Paul and his companions had to leave Thessalonica prematurely, and for Paul the separation was an especially sorrowful one. He compared it to being bereft (lit. orphaned). He felt torn from his spiritual children. How...
• 1. The goal of peace 12:14-17
  These verses summarize what the writer said previously about irrevocable loss through disobedience, unbelief, apostasy, and contempt for New Covenant privileges. The fearful warning about Esau brings these earlier warnings to...
• 2. The source of temptation 1:13-14
  James did not want us to draw the conclusion that because God permits us to experience trials He is the source of temptation. That deduction might encourage us to give in to sin.1:13 God is never the source of temptation. He ...
• 3. Exhortation 2:10a
  These persecuted Christians did not need to fear their adversaries or death since they would live forever with Jesus Christ. "Behold"signals an oracular declaration (cf. 2:22; 3:8, 9, 20).96The devil would incite their foes t...