Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• 9. Jacob's new contract with Laban 30:25-43
  Jacob and Laban ("White") made an agreement that each man felt he could manipulate to his own advantage. However, God sovereignly overruled to bless Jacob as He had promised in spite of Laban's deceit and Jacob's devices (cf....
• 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...
• I. PROLOGUE chs. 1--2
  The writer composed the prologue and epilogue of this book in prose narrative and the main body (3:1-42:6) in poetry. The prologue and epilogue form a frame around the main emphasis of the revelation, the poetic section, and ...
• B. The First Cycle of Speeches between Job and His Three Friends chs. 4-14
  The two soliloquies of Job (chs. 3 and 29-31) enclose three cycles of dialogue between Job and his three friends. Each cycle consists of speeches by Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar in that order interspersed with Job's reply to e...
• 1. Eliphaz's first speech chs. 4-5
  Eliphaz's first speech has a symmetrical introverted (chiastic) structure that emphasizes the central section."AOpening remark (4:2)BExhortation (4:3-6)CGod's dealings with men (4:7-11)DThe revelation of truth (4:12-21)C'God'...
• Eliphaz's counsel to Job 5:1-16
  Job's friend did not deny that the wicked fool (cf. Ps. 14:1) prospers temporarily (v. 3), but he believed that before a person dies God will punish him for his sins. Jesus disagreed (Luke 13:4). The well-known comparison in ...
• The greatness of God 9:1-12
  Job began his response to Bildad by acknowledging that much of what his friends had said was true (v. 2). Many of Job's speeches began with sarcasm or irony. He then turned to a question that Eliphaz had raised earlier (4:17)...
• Job's repudiation of his friends 12:1-13:19
  Verse 2 is irony; his companions were not as wise as they thought. Job pointed out that much of what they had said about God was common knowledge (cf. 5:9-10; 8:13-19; 11:7-9). Nonetheless their conclusion, that the basis of ...
• Job's confidence in God 19:23-29
  "But it is just here, when everything is blackest, that his faith . . . like the rainbow in the cloud . . . shines with a marvelous splendor."89This short section contains probably the best known verses in the book (vv. 23-27...
• Elihu's reasons for speaking 32:6-22
  Elihu began by voicing his respect for Job's three friends (vv. 6-10). They were older than he, and for this reason he said he had refrained from speaking until now. However he had become convinced that advancing age does not...
• Elihu's first response to Job ch. 33
  This whole speech is an attempt to explain to Job why God was not responding to him. Elihu was very wordy, which he admitted in 32:18. In summary, he told Job that God was not silent, as Job had charged, but that He was speak...
• B. Jeremiah's hope 3:19-40
  3:19 Jeremiah prayed that the Lord would remember his affliction and bitterness (cf. Job 13:15).3:20-21 He himself remembered something that gave him hope.3:22 The prophet remembered that the Lord's loyal love (Heb. hesed) ne...
• 3. Nebuchadnezzar's account of his dream 4:10-18
  4:10-12 The king described what he had seen in poetic language. His words therefore appear as a prophetic oracle. The ancients frequently used trees to describe rulers of nations (cf. Isa. 2:12-13; 10:34; Ezek. 31:3-17).141Th...
• B. The restoration promises 6:1-3
  This first part of chapter 6 envisions Israel's repentance. The prophet predicted the words that the penitent generation of Israelites would say when they sought the Lord (5:15). The message contains two cycles, each containi...
• 1. An oracle against Aram 1:3-5
  1:3 The expression "for three transgressions [Heb. pesha'im, rebellions, i.e., against the universal Sovereign; cf. Gen. 9:5-17] and for four"is one of Amos' trademarks (cf. vv. 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6). It means for numerous...
• 6. Human wisdom and limited blessing 3:18-23
  The apostle now combined the threads of his argument, which began at 1:18, and drew a preliminary conclusion. If his readers insisted on taking the natural view of their teachers and continued to form coteries of followers, t...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

• The Peaceable Fruits Of Sorrows Rightly Borne
  Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not then the chastening of the Almighty: 18. For He maketh sore, and bindeth up: the woundeth, and His hands make whole. 19. He shall deliver thee in six trouble...