An Outline of Major Post-Exilic Events in the Old Testament

 I. CONQUEST AND EXILE

       1) The Conquest of Israel by Assyria (Shalmaneser III): 
            722 B.C. (2 Kings 17:4-6)
       2) The Conquest of Judah by Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar): 
            586 B.C. (2 Chron. 36:13-21)

II. THE POST-EXILIC PERIOD

       1) The First Return from Captivity: 538 B.C.
            ▸Ezra 1-6
            ▸Led by: Zerubabel (Ezra 2:2). Sheshbazzar was the 
              governor of Judah (1:8). Jeshua (3:1-6) was the high 
              priest.
            ▸Edict issued by King Cyrus of Persia after he captured 
              Babylon
            ▸Number of exiles that returned: 49,697
            ▸The restoration of the Temple began, and was finished 
               in  516 B.C.

[Haggai/Zechariah: 520 B.C.; Esther: 483 B.C. (in the third year of the reign of Xerxes)]

       2) The Second Return from Captivity: 458 B.C.
            ▸Ezra 7-10
            ▸Led by: Ezra
            ▸Number of exiles that returned: 1,758

       3) The Third Return from Captivity: 445 B.C.
            ▸Nehemiah 1-13
            ▸Led by Nehemiah
            ▸Number of exiles that returned: Unknown
            ▸The wall rebuilt in 52 days

[Malachi: 433 B.C.]      

A Brief Survey of Ecclesiastes 7:1-29

                    1. Wisdom and Folly Contrasted (7:1-29)

Wisdom	Folly
A good name (7:1)
Mourning (7:2a, 4a)	Feasting/Pleasure (7:2b, 4b)
Sorrow (7:3a)	Laughter (7:3b)
Receiving a rebuke (7:5a)	Listening to the song of fools (7:5b)
	Oppression (7:7a)
	A bribe (7:7b)
Patience of spirit (7:8a)	Haughtiness of spirit (7:8b)
	Eagerness to be angry (7:9)
	Looking to days gone by (7:10)
Wisdom with an inheritance (7:11-12)
Contentment in any situation (7:13-14)
	Self-righteousness (7:16)
	Excessive wickedness/foolishness (7:17)
Reverential awe of God (7:18)
	Taking peoples word's too seriously (7:21-22)
	Harlotry (7:26)

                    2. Theological Themes in Ecclesiastes 7

                       • Theodicy: . . . there is a righteous man who perishes in his 

                         righteousness and there is a wicked man who prolongs his 

                         life in his wickedness. (7:15b)

                      • Sin: Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who 

                        continually does good and who never sins. (7:20)

                      • Mankind's Limitations: I tested all this with wisdom, and 

                         I said, "I will be wise," but it was far from me. (7:23)

                      • Mankind's Fallen Nature: . . . God made men upright, but 

                         they have sought out many devices. (7:29b)

Commentary Review: NAC Commentary on Ezekiel

Cooper, Lamar Eugene, Sr. Ezekiel. New American Commentary.
     Vol. 17. Edited by E. Ray. Clendenen. Nashville: Broadman   
     & Holman, 1994.

        Lamar Cooper, a thoroughly conservative scholar, produced an in-depth commentary that focused heavily on the riches unlocked by a knowledge of the Hebrew text.  The author also rightly noted that visions “figure more prominently in Ezekiel that in any other Old Testament prophet except Daniel” (29).  Cooper’s view of authorship, an important key to interpreting the work, is that Ezekiel composed the entire book.

        The writer believed that the book of Ezekiel was largely a composition of theological tenets, listing the six most prominent ideas:  1) The holiness of God; 2) The sinfulness of humanity; 3) The inevitability of judgment; 4) Individual responsibility; 5) Hope of restoration; and 6) God’s redemptive purpose (40-43).  As a whole, Cooper understood the underlying message of the work to be “largely an eschatological one” (45).

        Although he takes Ezekiel’s visions as authentic, Cooper held that the images also contained symbolic imagery. The cherubim, who were described as being part angel, human, and animal were “fitting representatives of the whole created order” which demonstrated the might and authority of God (67).  Additionally the mobility of the wheels that were a part of the Lord’s throne structure represented God’s omnipresence.  The eyes represented God’s omniscience. Moreover, the elevated position of the throne portrayed God’s omnipotence (69).

        Cooper accepted Ezekiel as the author of the entire book, treating the prophet’s call in chapters 1-3 as an authentic account.  The writer also brought to light the judgments meted out by God, a significant portion of the composition.  Not only was God willing to punish His own people for their sins (8-24), Cooper focused heavily on the judgments directed to other countries (25-32).

        As to the relevance of 25-32, Cooper cited two applications:  1) All who oppose God will be judged; 2) Ungodly pride and idolatry will never be forgotten or ignored by the Creator.  The author of the commentary thought it odd that Babylon was not addressed in 25-32
(243), leaving the question of why unanswered until his account of 33-39.

        In the description of Gog in 38-39, Cooper understood the fulfillment of the passage to be a still future event although he did make reference to six other times periods that have been suggested as alternatives (331).  Additionally, Cooper offered a number of options for the identity of Gog, a cryptic reference to future Babylon in his opinion (330-31).

        Among other points, the author brought out the Edenic imagery in the latter portion of Ezekiel.  Along with Ezekiel 36, chapter 47 demonstrates that the world will one day be restored to its pre-Fall state.

        As far as the Temple is concerned in 43ff, Cooper asserted that a literal building would be constructed imbued with symbolic meaning.  The Temple, according to the writer, would be a sign of God’s election, the visible sign of God’s holiness, a visible witness of God’s redemptive love, and a physical sign of the new covenant (379).

        Cooper also addressed the intriguing question of the need for sacrifices in the new Temple since Christ will rule there.  His position on the issue is that the sacrifices will allow Israel to understand for the first time in their history that Christ’s salvation is the meaning of the system of offerings.

        As far as strengths are concerned, Cooper exhibited many.  First, unlike many writers, the author of the present work offered compelling views for the positions he embraced. Furthermore, Cooper also exhibited evidence as to why opposing ideas were not the best solutions to any given passage.

        Second, Cooper made good use of available research. His bibliography was extensive as well as fairly up-to-date because the work was published less than ten years ago. Moreover, Cooper was fair to the commentaries he employed, taking precautions to not put words in his associates’ mouths.

        Third, Cooper demonstrated an excellent knowledge of Hebrew.  His helpful insights shed light on important details that are not readily translated into the English language.

        Fourth, the author did not treat the book of Ezekiel as a dusty account of a forgotten era, but a living book that is still relevant in the present age.  Cooper’s applications established how believers should live in light of the amazing prophetic corpus of the book of Ezekiel.

Jonah: An Introduction and Commentary

Author: Jonah, the son of Amittai. He lived in Gath-Hepher, a tribal territory of Zebulun (2 Kings 14:25), which was in northern Israel.

Date: Jonah ministered during the reign of Jeroboam II, who was king of Israel from 793-753 B.C. The likely date of the Book of Jonah is 785-770 B.C.

Recipients: The northern kingdom (Israel)

Purpose: To explain that God's mercy extends even to pagan nations that repent.

I. GOD'S COMMISSION TO JONAH REJECTED (1:1-3)

The LORD called Jonah to cry against Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, about 50 to 60 years before the nation defeated the northern kingdom of Israel (722 B.C.). Because Jonah hated the wickedness of the Assyrians, he fled west to Joppa and sought to travel by ship to Tarshish. This was in the opposite direction from Nineveh.

II. JONAH'S FLIGHT AND GOD'S PURSUIT (1:4-17)

• In response to the prophet's disobedience, the LORD hurled a great storm into the sea, and even though the ship was about to break apart, Jonah was fast asleep in the hold of the ship. The captain woke Jonah up, and exhorted him to call upon his God so that the ship, its crew, and its passengers might be saved (1:4-6).

• The men decided to cast lots in order to determine who was at fault for the storm, and the lot fell upon Jonah. When they pressed him for personal information, he explained that he was a Hebrew who feared the LORD God of Heaven who had created the sea

and the dry land. He confessed that he was responsible for the storm, because he was running from the presence of the LORD (1:7-10).

• Jonah instructed the men to throw him overboard, and after asking the LORD not to punish them for doing so, they threw him into the sea. As a result, the sea stopped its raging, and the men feared the LORD, offering sacrifices to Him and making vows (1:11-16).

• Jonah did not die in the sea, however, because the LORD had appointed a great fish to swallow the prophet, and he remained in the fish's stomach for three days and three nights (1:17).

III. JONAH'S PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE (2:1-10)

• Within the fish's stomach, in his distress Jonah cried out to the LORD, from the depth of Sheol, indicating that he was near death (2:1-6).

• As Jonah was fainting away, he remembered the LORD and prayed to Him in His holy Temple. He confessed that idols are vain and useless, and that only God is worthy. Salvation comes only from Him (2:7-9).

• On the third day, the LORD commanded the fish to vomit Jonah up onto the dry land (2:10). Centuries later, Jesus used these events as an illustration of His death and resurrection: for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THEBELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three   nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:40).

IV. GOD'S COMMISSION RENEWED (3:1-10)

• Once more, the word of the LORD came to Jonah and directed him to go to Nineveh. Since the people worshiped a fish god, they would have been very eager to hear from a prophet who had been swallowed by a fish. Jonah's message was simple: "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown" (3:4b).

• In response to this message, the people declared a great fast and put on sackcloth. Even the king of Nineveh of Nineveh covered himself with sackcloth and sat on ashes. He decreed that the whole city fast from food and water, and that they turn from their wicked ways, because God might forgive them. In response to their repentance, God did not destroy them (3:5-10).

V. JONAH'S GRIEF AT NINEVEH'S REPENTANCE AND GOD'S REPLY (4:1-11)

• Rather than rejoicing because of the Ninevites' repentance, Jonah became angry (4:1): He prayed to the LORD and said, "Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity" (4:2). Jonah went as far as asking the LORD to kill him (4:3).

• When Jonah made a shelter for himself to the east of the city, the LORD appointed a plant to grow so that it would be a shade for him from the hot sun. Then, God appointed a worm to attack the plant so that it would wither. He also appointed a scorching east wind, and the prophet became faint (4:5-8).

• Jonah became angry because he had compassion on the plant that withered, but the LORD explained that it was much more important to have compassion on the 120,000 spiritually needy people who lived in Nineveh (4:9-11).

The Stolen Ark: A Brief Commentary on 1 Samuel 4-5

1. The Capture of the Ark of the Covenant (4:1b-11)

Chapter 4 records two skirmishess between the Israelites and the Philistines. “The immediate cause for the battle in chap. 4 is not made clear. Mayes (Israelite and Judean History, 323) has proposed that the Philistines were responding to Israel’s victory over their leader Sisera reported in Judg. 5, but reasons for battles between     Israel and the Philistines were, no doubt, numerous.”[1] The fact of the matter is that “Israel found the Philistines to be their most serious perennial adversay in the eleventh century,”[2] and struggles between the two nations are numerous in this time period (cf. Judg. 3:31; Judg. 13-16; 1 Sam. 13-14; 21:11-16; 27:1-28:2; 29:1-11; 31; 2 Sam. 5:17-25).

• The battlefield of the Israelites and the Philistines (4:1b)

While Israel camped beside Ebenezer, the Philistines camped at Aphek. This region was roughly twenty miles west of Shiloh and twenty miles north of the Philistine city of Ekron.[3]

• Israel's defeat (4:2-11)

During the first battle (vv. 2-4), the Philistines killed about 4,000 Israelites, so the people brought the Ark of the Covenant into battle. The purpose for bringing    the Ark of the Covenant into battle was because “the elders doubtless remembered the account of Joshua’s victory over Jericho, in which the ark was a highly visible symbol of divine help and strength (Josh. 6:2-20; cf. also Num. 10:35). It would accompany Israel’s army on at least one other occasion in the future as well (2 Sam. 11:11). What the elders failed to understand, however, was that the ark was neither an infallible talisman nor a military palladium that would ensure victory. If God willed defeat for his people, a thousand arks would not bring success. Marten H. Woudstra has well stated concerning attempts to manipulate    the ark: ‘the offenses against the ark as pledge of Yahweh’s presence appear to be mainly of two kinds: (1) a misplaced reliance on the ark, and (2) an irreverent disregard for the ark’ (The Ark of the Covenant from Conquest to Kingship [Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1965], p. 55). The elders understood     clearly that if God was not ‘with’ them, defeat was inevitable (Num. 14:42; Deut. 1:42). They mistakenly assumed, however, that wherever the ark was, the Lord was.”[4]

During the second battle (vv. 5-11), 30,000 Israelite soldiers were killed (v. 10)—more with the Ark than without the Ark in the first battle. Hophni and Phinehas both died in this battle on the same day, and the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines (v. 11).

2. The Death of Eli (4:12-22)

• The Benjamite's message (4:12-17)

   ▪ Israel had fled before the Philistines.

   ▪ There was a great slaughter among the people.

   ▪ Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, had been killed.

  ▪ The Ark of God had been captured.

• The aftermath of the message (4:18-22)

When Eli heard this news, he fell off his chair, broke his neck, and died (v. 18). He was a heavy man, perhaps due to his participation in gluttony with his sons (cf. 2:30). Additionally, Phinehas's wife went into premature labor when she heard the news. She named him Ichabod ("no glory"), because the glory had departed from Israel.

3. The LORD Afflicts the Philistines for Capturing the Ark (5:1-12)

 • The Ark of the Covenant is brought to Ashdod (5:1-2)

When the Philistines brought the Ark of God to Ashdod, they placed it in the temple of Dagon: “The ark would have been placed in the temple to indicate that  Yahweh, Israel’s God, was a defeated prisoner of Dagon . . . . There are several examples in the ancient world of statues of a god being carried off as trophies of war."[5] Dagon was considered the father of the storm-god Baal in Ugaritic literature, and scholars believe that he may have been considered to be the god of grain.[6]

• Dagon's humiliation (5:3-6a)

Dagon's statue fell on its face (v. 3), as if in worship to God. Then, Dagon's head and hands had been cut off (v. 4), just as the Philistines did to their defeated enemies. The message is clear; the LORD was more powerful than the false god Dagon!

• The LORD strikes the Philistines with a plague (5:6-12)

The purpose for moving the Ark of God was that God smote the people with a plague of tumors wherever they brought the Ark. There have been several views as to what the plague of tumors refers to:

            1) Boils

            2) Abscesses

            3) Hemorrhoids

            4) Dysentery; cf. Josephus, Antiquities 6.3

            5) Bubonic Plague

“The connection of the swellings with the bubonic plague has been supported by   the mention of rats or mice in v 6 . . . . It may well be that the mice [6:5] had been the carriers of the bubonic plague, which had raised buboes or tumors on the people."[7] Bubonic plague is spread through fleas that infest rats.”[8] “Untreated,[bubonic plague] is fatal in well over half of those who contract it."[9]

---

[1] Ralph W. Klein, 1 Samuel, vol. 10 in the Word Biblical Commentary, ed. David A. Hubbard and Glenna W. Barker (Waco, TX: Word, 1983), 41.

[2] Walter Brueggeman, First and Second Samuel, in Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, ed. James Luther (Louisville: John Knox, 1990), 29.

[3] Walton, Matthews, and Chavalas, The IVP Background Commentary: Old Testament, 286.

[4] Youngblood, "1, 2 Samuel," 595.

[5] Walton, Matthews, and Chavalas, The IVP Background Commentary: Old Testament, 287.

[6] Youngblood, 1, 2 Samuel, 601-2.

[7] Klein, 1 Samuel, 57.

[8] Walton, Matthews, and Chavalas, The IVP Background Commentary: Old Testament, 288.

[9] Baldwin, 1 and 2 Samuel, 74.

Proverbs: An Introduction and Outline

Authors

• Solomon (1:1-22:16; 25:1-29:27): David's son is the primary author of the Book of Proverbs. He reigned over Israel from 970-930 B.C.

• Agur (30:1-33): Agur was the son of Jakeh. Nothing more is         known about him.

• Lemuel (31:1-31): Lemuel is referred to as a king. This may be another name for Solomon.

• "Wise Men" (22:17-24:34)

Date: The majority of the book has as its author Solomon. Proverbs 25:1-29:27 originates from Solomon as well, but it was transcribed by the men of Hezekiah, who was king over Judah from ca. 715-686 B.C.

Recipients: The nation of Israel, but especially young people.[1]

Purpose: To provide the reader with "a collection of short sayings instructing the reader how to live well."[2]

An Outline of the Book of Proverbs

   I. Prologue (1:1-7)

 II. The Sayings of Solomon (1:8-9:18)

III. The Proverbs of Solomon (10:1-22:16)

 IV. The Sayings of the Wise Men (22:17-24:34)

  V. The Sayings of Solomon Transcribed by the Men of Hezekiah (25:1-29:27)

 VI. The Sayings of Agur (30:1-33)

VII. The Sayings of Lemuel (31:1-31)

I. An Overview of Proverbs (1:1-7)

This book contains a collection of proverbs from Israel's third king: Solomon, the son of David. Proverbs are short statements that express universal truths about human nature.[3] The prologue of Proverbs reveals the ways in which the book may be utilized by its readers:

1. To know wisdom and instruction (1:2a)

If a person is to live his or her life in a wise way, a person must first know what wisdom is.

2. To discern the sayings of understanding (1:2b)

Because many worthless statements and beliefs masquerade as wisdom, and because wise sayings often are misunderstood, a person must learn to differentiate between true wisdom and worthless words.

3. To receive instruction in wise behavior (1:3)

Wisdom is not just a list of rules to memorize, but a way of life. A good student of wisdom is ready to learn and quick to change his or her life in response to wise teaching.

4. To give prudence to the naive (1:4)

This refers either to those who are young, or those who flirt with sin.[4] Wisdom can given good sense[5] to both of these groups of people.

5. To increase the learning of the wise (1:5-6)

There is never a point at which a person becomes so wise that he or she has no more room to grow.[6] Obtaining wisdom is a lifelong process.

According to verse 6, the three types of wisdom that appear in the Book of Proverbs are:

1) Proverbs: short statements of truth

2) Figures: parables that are of a more extensive length

3) Riddles: statements that require contemplation in order to fully understand

---

 

[1] NIV Archaeological Study Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), 957.

[2] Bill T. Arnold and Bryan E. Beyer, Encountering the Old Testament: A Christian Survey (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 314.

[3] NIV Archaeological Study Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), 959.

[4] Irving L. Jensen, Proverbs, in Everyman's Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody, 1982), 42.

[5] NIV Archaeological Study Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), 959.

[6] Kathleen A. Farmer, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes: Who Knows What is Good? in the International Theological Commentary, ed. Frederick Carlson Holmgren and George A. F. Knight (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 26.