Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• Zion's prominence before God 49:14-26
  God had not forgotten Israel. Even though He would leave her for a time, He would regather all her children from all over the world to Himself. Therefore she should continue to trust in Him.49:14 Having heard the promises tha...
• Worship or destruction 66:15-24
  This pericope concludes the sections on the culmination of Israel's future (65:17-66:24), Israel's future transformation (chs. 56-66), Israel's hope (chs. 40-66), and the whole book, Yahweh's salvation. As 56:1-8, it clarifie...
• Jacob's distress and deliverance 30:4-11
  30:4 This oracle concerns all the Israelites, those of both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms.30:5-6 A time of great terror, dread, and unrest was coming. Men would behave as though they were in labor; they would hold themse...
• The new Jerusalem 31:38-40
  31:38-39 In the future, Jerusalem would undergo rebuilding for the Lord. It would be built larger than it had been before its destruction by the Babylonians. The tower of Hananel was at the northeast corner of the city (Neh. ...
• The departure of God's glory from Jerusalem and the end of Ezekiel's vision 11:22-25
  11:22-23 Ezekiel then saw in his vision the glory of God depart from the temple gate and from the city of Jerusalem. He saw the cherubim under Yahweh's throne-chariot bear the Lord east from the entrance of the temple to the ...
• A summary of God's blessing on Israel 39:25-29
  This message forms a fitting conclusion to the whole section of prophecies about Israel's restoration to the Promised Land (chs. 33-39) as well as to those about future invasion (chs. 38-39).39:25-26 The Lord promised to rest...
• The attack against the ruler 11:40-45
  11:40 Finally the very end time will arrive (cf. vv. 27, 35; 12:4, 9). Then this king will be the focus of attack by the king of the South (cf. vv. 42-43), a power south of Palestine, and the king of the North, a force to its...
• The first answer 12:7
  The angel above the river swore by the eternal God that what he was about to say was true. Normally people who swore by God lifted one hand to heaven (cf. Deut. 32:40). This angel lifted both hands thus stressing the truthful...
• 2. The Lord's promise of blessing 2:19-27
  Having given His essential response to the people's repentance, the Lord now explained what He would do in more detail. This section is chiastic with the focus of emphasis on verses 21-24. Verses 19 and 26-27 promise a restor...
• A description of inevitable judgment 5:18-20
  5:18 The prophet began his message by crying, "Alas"(Heb., hoy, woe, oh). This word announced coming doom, another funeral lament (cf. v. 1). Many Israelites in Amos' day were looking forward to a coming day of the Lord. Form...
• 4. The peace of Zion 5:5b-6
  This pericope continues the emphasis on future peace.5:5b Assyria was the main threat to the Israelites in Micah's day, but this prophecy predicts their victory over the Assyrians. This did not happen in the history of Israel...
• E. Judgment on all nations 3:8
  The people of Jerusalem needed to wait a little longer. The Lord would soon rise up as a devouring animal to consume His prey. He had determined to gather nations and kingdoms that were wicked, including Judah, and pour His b...
• II. A promise of future glory for the temple 2:1-9
  2:1 The Lord revealed another message to Haggai almost one month later, on the twenty-first day of the seventh month (Tishri, modern October 17) of the same year, 520 B.C. This was the last day of the feast of Tabernacles (Bo...
• 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...
• Date
  Zechariah's inspired preaching began in the eighth month of 520 B.C. (1:1). His eight night visions followed three months later in 520 B.C. (1:7), when he was a young man (2:4). He delivered the messages in chapters 7-8 in 51...
• Purpose and Themes
  Zechariah ministered to the restoration community to motivate those Jews to finish rebuilding the temple and to rededicate themselves to Yahweh with the prospect of His blessing. The central theme of the book is encouragement...
• Canonicity and Unity
  The book is the second to the last of the Minor Prophets in the second (Prophets) division of the Hebrew Bible. Neither Jews nor Christians seriously challenged its canonicity. One reason for this is the fact that the New Tes...
• Structure
  "The shape' of a poem, the artistic arrangement of a book are instruments used by the Holy Spirit to convey His message."24In the case of Zechariah, there are three large chiastic sections (1:7-6:15; 7:1-8:19; and chs. 9-14)....
• Outline
  I. Introduction 1:1-6II. The eight night visions and four messages 1:7-6:8A. The horseman among the myrtle trees 1:7-171. The vision proper 1:7-152. The oracle about God's jealousy for Israel 1:16-17B. The four horns and the ...
• Yahweh's ultimate blessing of Israel 2:10-13
  2:10-11 The Israelites in Jerusalem and elsewhere were to rejoice because the Lord promised to intervene for them and to dwell among them. His return to Jerusalem would prompt the nations to come there and acknowledge Him as ...
• H. The four chariots 6:1-8
  There are several similarities between this last vision and the first one (1:7-17) indicating a return to ideas introduced at the beginning of this chiastic series of revelations. Again there is a group of horses of various c...
• III. The symbolic crowning of Joshua 6:9-15
  The visions ended and Zechariah awoke from his dream-like state. What follows is a symbolic act that took place in Jerusalem at the Lord's command."The position of this actual ceremony after the eight visions is significant. ...
• V. Oracles about the Messiah and Israel's future chs. 9--14
  This part of Zechariah contains two undated oracles that are almost entirely eschatological. They expand the eschatological vision in chapters 1-8 and modify its generally optimistic view with emphasis on Israel's purificatio...
• 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 appearance of the bad shepherd 11:15-17
  "The full fate of Israel is not recounted in the rejection of the good Shepherd God raised up to tend them. The complete tale of woe centers in their acceptance of the bad shepherd God will raise up to destroy them. The one d...
• B. The burden concerning Israel: the advent and acceptance of Messiah chs. 12-14
  This last section of the book contrasts initial judgments on Israel with ultimate deliverance, restoration, and blessing."As a portion of the prophetic Scriptures it is second to none in importance in this book or in any othe...
• Israel's deliverance 12:1-9
  12:1 "The burden . . . concerning Israel"introduces chapters 12-14 as "The burden . . . against the land of Hadrach"(9:1) did chapters 9-11. By describing Yahweh as the creator of the heavens, earth, and man, Zechariah remind...
• The final deliverance of Israel and the return of Messiah 14:1-8
  14:1 The Lord announced through His prophet that a day was coming, for His benefit primarily, when the nations that had plundered Israel victoriously would divide their spoil among themselves in Jerusalem. This would be the L...
• The destruction of Israel's enemies 14:12-15
  Chronologically these verses describe what will follow verse 3.14:12 The Lord would smite the nations that warred against Jerusalem (vv. 1-3) with a plague that would cause the people's flesh to rot off them wherever they mig...
• The perils of their mission 10:16-25
  Jesus proceeded to elaborate on the dangers the apostles would face and how they should deal with them.In His descriptions of the opposition His disciples would experience, Jesus looked beyond His death to the time of tribula...
• 1. The setting of these revelations 24:1-3 (cf. Mark 13:1-4; Luke 21:5-7)
  24:1 The connective "and"(NASB, Gr. kai) ties what follows to Jesus' preceding denunciation of the generation of Jews that rejected Him and the divine judgment that would follow (23:36-39). However the "apocalyptic"or "eschat...
• 2. Jesus' warning about deception 24:4-6 (cf. Mark 13:5-7; Luke 21:8-9)
  Jesus began the Olivet Discourse by warning His disciples about the possibility of their concluding wrongly that He had returned or was just about to return.86124:4-5 The destruction of Jerusalem and other similar catastrophe...
• 3. The judgment coming on Jerusalem 21:20-24
  Jesus now returned to the subject of when the temple would suffer destruction (v. 7). The similar passages in Matthew and Mark are sufficiently different to alert the reader to the fact that they deal with a different inciden...
• C. Personal watchfulness 5:1-11
  In view of the imminency of Christ's return Paul exhorted the Thessalonians to be ready to prepare them to meet the Lord at any time."The former [paragraph, i.e., 4:13-18] offered instruction concerning the dead in Christ; th...
• B. Encouragement to persevere 1:5-10
  These verses explain what God's future righteous judgment is.1:5 Paul explained that suffering for Christ demonstrates the believer's worthiness to participate in God's kingdom. A hot fire under gold ore separates the gold fr...
• The dragon's vengeance on the woman 12:13-17
  The revelation of Satan's activity, which the song of the martyrs (vv. 10-12) interrupted, now resumes.12:13 Satan will concentrate his vengeance on Israelites during the Great Tribulation, under the sovereign control of God,...
• 8. The sixth bowl 16:12-16
  The final three bowl judgments all have political consequences.16:12 The problem that this judgment poses for earth-dwellers is not a result of the judgment itself but its consequences, namely, war. It does not inflict a plag...
• M. The millennial reign of Christ ch. 20
  John recorded his vision of Jesus Christ's reign on the earth for 1, 000 years to inform his readers of what would take place after He returns to the earth."Few verses in the Bible are more crucial to the interpretation of th...