Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• Prophets 18:9-22
  The context of this section is significant as usual. Verses 1-8 deal with people who ministered to Yahweh in various ways for the people, and verses 15-22 concern the delivery of God's revelations to His people. Verses 9-14 c...
• D. Moses' blessing of the tribes ch. 33
  After receiving the reminder of his death and as one of his final official acts as Israel's leader, Moses pronounced a prophetic blessing on the tribes of Israel (cf. Gen. 49)."In the ancient Near East, a dying father's final...
• The crossing of the river ch. 3
  3:1-6 Joshua may have moved the nation from Shittim to the Jordan's edge at approximately the same time he sent the spies on their mission (cf. vv. 1-2 and 1:11; 2:22). However the sequence of events was probably as it appear...
• Jephthah's battle with the Ephraimites 12:1-7
  The writer's emphasis now shifts from Jephthah's foolishness to Ephraim's arrogance.The Ephraimites were the Gileadites' neighbors to the west. They resented the fact that Jephthah had not requested their assistance in the wa...
• 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 ...
• 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...
• The basis of acceptance and blessing 56:1-8
  This transitional pericope introduces the problem that the previous sections of the book posed, which I have tried to explain just above. It also begins the explanation of the solution by placing in stark contrast two opposin...
• Plan and Structure
  Matthew often grouped his material into sections so that three, five, six, or seven events, miracles, sayings, or parables appear together.27Jewish writers typically did this to help their readers remember what they had writt...
• Outline
  I. The introduction of the King 1:1-4:11A. The King's genealogy 1:1-17B. The King's birth 1:18-25C. The King's childhood 2:1-231. The prophecy about Bethlehem 2:1-122. The prophecies about Egypt 2:13-183. The prophecies about...
• 1. Jesus' forerunner 3:1-12 (cf. Mark 1:2-8; Luke 3:3-18)
  It was common when Jesus lived for forerunners to precede important individuals to prepare the way for their arrival. For example, when a king would visit a town in his realm his emissaries would go before him to announce his...
• 2. Jesus' baptism 3:13-17 (cf. Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-23)
  Jesus' baptism was the occasion at which His messiahship became obvious publicly. Matthew recorded this event as he did to convince his readers further of Jesus' messianic qualifications.3:13-14 John hesitated to baptize Jesu...
• A. The beginning of Jesus' ministry 4:12-25
  Matthew gave much prominence to Jesus' teachings in his Gospel. The first of these is the so-called Sermon on the Mount (chs. 5-7). To prepare the reader for this discourse, the writer gave a brief introduction to Jesus' mini...
• 1. The setting of Jesus' ministry 4:12-16
  Comparison of John's Gospel and Matthew's shows that Jesus ministered for about a year before John the Baptist's arrest. John had criticized Herod Antipas for having an adulterous relationship with his brother Philip's wife (...
• 4. A summary of Jesus' ministry 4:23-25 (cf. Mark 1:35-39; Luke 4:42-44)
  This brief resumé (cf. 9:35-38) stresses the varied activities and the geographical and ethnic extent of Jesus' ministry then. It sets the stage for the discourse to follow (chs. 5-7) implying that this is but a sample o...
• 1. The setting of the Sermon on the Mount 5:1-2 (cf. Luke 6:17-19)
  The "multitudes"or "crowds"consisted of the people Matthew just mentioned in 4:23-25. They comprised a larger group than the "disciples."The disciples were not just the Twelve but many others who followed Jesus and sought to ...
• Their condition 5:3-10 (cf. Luke 6:20-26)
  This pericope describes the character of the kingdom's subjects and their rewards in the kingdom.236"Looked at as a whole . . . the Beatitudes become a moral sketch of the type of person who is ready to possess, or rule over,...
• A. Demonstrations of the King's power 8:1-9:34
  Matthew described Jesus' ministry as consisting of teaching, preaching, and healing in 4:23. Chapters 5-7 record what He taught His disciples. We have the essence of His preaching ministry in 4:17. Now in 8:1-9:34 we see His ...
• The scope of their mission 10:5-8
  Jesus first explained the sphere and nature of the apostles' temporary ministry to Israel.10:5-6 The apostles were to limit their ministry to the Jews living in Galilee. They were not to go north or east into Gentile territor...
• 4. Jesus' continuation of His work 11:1 (cf. Mark 6:12-13; Luke 9:6)
  Here is another of Matthew's formulas that ended a discourse (cf. 7:28-29; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1). Matthew had no concern for recording what happened when the Twelve went out having received Jesus' instructions. He passed over th...
• 2. Indifference to the King's message 11:20-24
  One indication of Israel's opposition to her King was the antagonism she displayed toward John and Jesus' methods (vv. 2-19). Another was her indifference to Jesus' message. Jesus and His disciples had preached and healed thr...
• Revelation about the church 16:18-20
  16:18 "I say to you"(cf. 5:18, 20, 22, 28, 32, 34, 39, 44; 8:10) may imply that Jesus would continue the revelation the Father had begun. However the phrase occurs elsewhere where that contrast is not in view. Undoubtedly it ...
• Jesus' passion 16:21-23 (cf. Mark 8:31-33; Luke 9:22)
  16:21 This is only the second time in the Gospel that Matthew used the phrase apo tote erxato, "from that time"(cf. 26:16). The first time was in 4:17 where Jesus began to present Himself to Israel as her Messiah. Here it ann...
• D. The King's rejection of Israel ch. 23
  Israel's rejection of Jesus as her King was now unmistakably clear. Her leaders had consistently refused to accept Him. Their rejection was a rejection of Jesus' person (22:42). It contrasts sharply with the disciples' confes...
• 3. Jesus' general description of the future 24:7-14 (cf. Mark 13:8-13; Luke 21:10-19)
  Jesus proceeded to give His disciples a general picture of conditions just before He will return to end the present age and inaugurate His kingdom.24:7-8 Wars, famines, and earthquakes will anticipate the end of the present a...
• The parable of the 10 virgins 25:1-13
  This parable helps disciples understand what it means to await the King's return with prudence.25:1 The introductory "then"ties this parable to the subject of the preceding instruction, namely the Second Coming of the Son of ...
• Bibliography
  Abbott-Smith, G. A. A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1937.Albright, W. F. and Mann, C. S. Matthew. The Anchor Bible series. Garden City: Doubleday, 1971.Alford, Henry. The Greek Testa...
• 2. Jesus' teaching in Nazareth 4:16-30
  In contrast to most people, the inhabitants of Jesus' hometown did not praise Him. When Jesus began to speak of God extending salvation to the Gentiles, a particular interest of Luke's, the Jews there opposed Him violently. P...
• 3. The importance of participation 10:1-16
  The theme of discipleship training continues in this section of verses. The 70 disciples that Jesus sent out contrast with the three men Luke just finished presenting (9:57-62). This was a second mission on which Jesus sent a...
• Peter's exhortation 2:37-41
  2:37 The Holy Spirit used Peter's sermon to bring conviction, as Jesus had predicted (John 16:8-11). He convicted Peter's hearers of the truth of what he said and of their guilt in rejecting Jesus. Their question arose from t...
• 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 ...
• C. The Danger of Negligence (The First Warning) 2:1-4
  Having just encouraged his readers with a reminder of God's help for the faithful (1:14) the writer next urged his readers to be faithful. He did so to warn them of the possibility of retrogressing spiritually and consequentl...
• 4. The resources to choose right 4:6-10
  4:6 God has set a high standard of wholehearted love and devotion for His people, but He gives grace that is greater than His rigorous demand. Proverbs 3:34, quoted here, reminds us that God opposes the proud, those who pursu...
• The enticements of the world 2:15-17
  John next warned his readers of worldly dangers that face the Christian as he or she seeks to get to know God better. He did so to enable them to prepare for and to overcome these obstacles with God's help."As often in 1 John...
• 3. Rejecting worldliness reaffirmed 4:1-6
  "The worldliness' in view here, as in 2:12-17, is primarily a wrong attitude: a determination to be anchored to a society which does not know God (cf. 3:1 . . .). But whereas in the earlier section John shows that worldly att...
• 3. The final judgment of Satan 20:7-10
  20:7 At the end of the Millennium God will release Satan from the abyss (cf. 1 Pet. 3:19). Two reasons are implied in the text: to demonstrate the incorrigibility of Satan, and to demonstrate the depravity of humanity.695God ...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

• St. Matthew 1-8
  Matthew 1-8
• The Early Welcome And The First Ministers Of The King
  From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 18. And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into th...