Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• 1. The possibility of restoration 30:1-10
  When banished to the ends of the earth, the Israelites could repent and return to Yahweh in their hearts purposing to obey Him again (vv. 1-2). In that event God would do several things for them. He would bring them back to t...
• 1. Preparations for building the temple ch. 2
  Though he gave some attention to the materials Solomon used in the temple, the writer's primary interest was the communications between Solomon and Hiram (Huram). Solomon's letter reveals that he had a sincere desire to glori...
• The rule of the Shoot 11:1-9
  Messiah would meet certain qualifications (vv. 2-3a) and would rule with absolute justice (vv. 3b-5) with the result that people would live in peace (vv. 6-9)11:1 The prophet had just described Assyria cut down like a forest ...
• 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...
• Future blessings following imminent judgment 16:14-21
  The following three pericopes bracket assurance of imminent judgment for Judah with promises of distant blessing for Israel and the nations. This passage promises deliverance from the captivity for the Israelites. It appears ...
• The importance of Sabbath observance 17:19-27
  This section contains one of Jeremiah's sermons. Notice its introduction, proclamation of the law, promise of blessing for the obedient, and threat of judgment for the disobedient.17:19-20 The Lord commanded Jeremiah to stati...
• Purpose
  Since the Jews read Lamentations on the annual fast that celebrated Jerusalem's destruction as far back as tradition reaches (cf. Zech. 7:3, 5; 8:19), it may be that the writer wrote this book to be read then. Its purpose the...
• An application of this history lesson 20:39-44
  20:39 For now the Israelites to whom Ezekiel spoke could continue to practice idolatry, not with the Lord's blessing of course, but in the future they would listen to and obey the Lord. Then they would make His name common no...
• The background to the parable 24:1-3a
  The Lord instructed Ezekiel to note permanently the day this revelation came to him because it was the very day that Nebuchadnezzar began his siege of Jerusalem. This day fell on January 15, 588 B.C. (cf. 2 Kings 25:1; Jer. 3...
• 1. An introductory prophecy of judgment on Egypt 29:1-16
  29:1 This is another dated prophecy. It came to Ezekiel in the year before his first oracle against Tyre (26:1), namely, in 587 B.C.29:2 The Lord directed His prophet to turn his attention to the south, to Pharaoh king of Egy...
• The covenant of peace 34:25-31
  "The themes of regathering as sheep and of covenant merge in Ezekiel 34:25-31. The Lord promises to make a covenant of peace with His regathered sheep."44434:25 The Lord also promised to make a covenant of peace (i.e., result...
• The establishment of Israel in the land 36:1-15
  This part of the prophecy of the preparation of the Promised Land sets forth what God would do for Israel. It contains the opposite of the curses against Israel warned of in chapter 6, and it contrasts Israel's glorious desti...
• Zion's positive future role 4:1-5
  4:1 Reference to "the last days"often points to the eschatological future in the Prophets, and it does here (e.g., Deut. 4:30; Ezek. 38:16; Dan. 2:28; 10:14; Hos. 3:5). This phrase usually refers to the Tribulation and or the...
• Title and Writer
  The title of this prophetic book is also the name of its writer.Haggai referred to himself as simply "the prophet Haggai"(1:1; et al.) We know nothing about Haggai's parents, ancestors, or tribal origin. His name apparently m...
• 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...
• 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 ...
• 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. ...
• IV. Messages concerning hypocritical fasting chs. 7--8
  A question posed by representative Israelites provided the occasion for God to give four messages that Zechariah collected in the text here. They all deal with the issue of empty ritualism, which the original question introdu...
• A. The question from the delegation from Bethel 7:1-3
  7:1 Another prophetic message came to Zechariah from the Lord in 518 B.C. The fourth day of the ninth month would have been in early December. Chislev is the Babylonian name of the month. This message, which comprises the fol...
• B. The Lord's rebuke 7:4-7
  This is the first of four messages that Zechariah received from the Lord that bear on the question just raised. That there were four separate messages seems clear since each one begins with the same preamble: "The word of the...
• D. Israel's restoration to God's favor 8:1-17
  Chapter 8 not only contains two major messages from the Lord (vv. 1-17, 18-23) but 10 minor messages, "a decalogueof divine words,"155that make up the two major ones. "Thus says the Lord"introduces each of these minor message...
• E. Kingdom joy and Jewish favor 8:18-23
  This final section of this part of the book (chs. 7-8) returns full circle to the theme with which it began, namely, the people's concern about fasting (cf. 7:1-7). These messages began after a few Bethelites came to Jerusale...
• 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...
• The worship of the sovereign King 14:16-21
  14:16 The remaining former enemies of Israel who would not die would bow to the sovereignty of Yahweh (cf. 8:20-23; Isa. 2:2-4; 45:21-24; 60:4-14; Ezek. 40-48; Phil. 2:10). They would be expected to make annual pilgrimages to...
• 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...
• 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...
• Fasting 6:16-18
  6:16 Fasting in Israel involved going without food to engage in a spiritual exercise, usually prayer, with greater concentration. Fasting fostered and indicated self-humiliation before God, and confession often accompanied it...
• The healing of a centurion's servant 8:5-13 (cf. Luke 7:1-10)
  8:5 Centurions were Roman military officers each of whom controlled 100 men, therefore the name "centurion."They were the military backbone of the Roman Empire. Interestingly every reference to a centurion in the New Testamen...
• 4. Jesus' attitude toward fasting 5:33-39 (cf. Matt. 9:14-17; Mark 2:18-22)
  The setting of this controversy is the same as the previous one, Levi's banquet.5:33 The religious leaders (v. 30; Mark 2:18) and John's disciples (Matt. 9:14; Mark 2:18) raised the question of fasting. They did so because it...
• Paul and Barnabas' return to Jerusalem 15:1-5
  15:1 The men from Judea who came down to Antioch appear to have been Jewish Christians who took the former view of Christianity described above. They believed a person could not become a Christian without first becoming a Jew...
• Application in view of unbelievers 14:20-25
  Uninterpreted tongues did not benefit visiting unbelievers any more than they edified the believers in church meetings. Prophecy, on the other hand, benefited both groups.14:20 Thinking that tongues-speaking demonstrates spir...
• The new man 4:20-32
  Paul turned from how not to walk to the positive responsibility Christians have to live in holiness.4:20 In contrast to unsaved Gentiles, Christians' minds are no longer dark, they are no longer aliens from God, and their hea...
• 4. The external behavior 1:26-27
  James proceeded to explain in 1:26-2:13 what a doer of works (1:25) does.1:26 "Religious"(Gr. threskos, used here only in the New Testament) describes someone who fears or worships God. In particular, it refers to the outward...
• 3. Promise 3:9-11a, 12
  Jesus Christ gave no rebuke to this church, as was true of the church in Smyrna. He gave the Christians five promises instead.1. Their Jewish antagonists would eventually have to acknowledge that the Christians were the true ...
• 2. The salvation of the great multitude 7:9-17
  There are a number of contrasts between the 144,000 and this great multitude. The number of the first group is not only smaller but definite whereas the number of the second group is larger and indefinite. People from the 12 ...
• 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...
• 2. John's first vision of the New Jerusalem 21:2-8
  21:2 In the same vision, John next saw a city descending out of heaven from God (cf. v. 10; 3:12; Heb. 11:13-16). It was holy in contrast to the former Jerusalem (cf. 11:8; Isa. 52:1; Matt. 4:5; 27:53). As the old Jerusalem w...