Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 17:8

And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

8. the land of thy sojournings ] This is explained to be “all the land of Canaan.” The word “sojournings” denotes “residences of a stranger” (cf. Gen 15:13). The stranger ( gr) has no fixed possession in a land. The land where he has been a stranger is now promised to become his settled possession. The promise, therefore, reverses Abraham’s present position. The land will be no longer one of “sojourning” ( megrm), but a “possession” ( auzzah). Cf. Gen 28:4, Gen 36:7, Gen 37:1, Gen 47:9; Exo 6:4 (all in the P narrative). For “everlasting possession,” see Gen 48:4 (P).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Verse 8. Everlasting possession] Here olam appears to be used in its accommodated meaning, and signifies the completion of the Divine counsel in reference to a particular period or dispensation. And it is literally true that the Israelites possessed the land of Canaan till the Mosaic dispensation was terminated in the complete introduction of that of the Gospel. But as the spiritual and temporal covenants are both blended together, and the former was pointed out and typified by the latter, hence the word even here may be taken in its own proper meaning, that of ever-during, or eternal; because the spiritual blessings pointed out by the temporal covenant shall have no end. And hence it is immediately added, I will be their God, not for a time, certainly, but for ever and ever. See Clarke on Ge 21:33.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

And to thy seed; unto thee, not in thy own person, but in thy seed. See Gen 13:15,17.

For an everlasting possession; upon condition of their obedience to God, as is oft expressed; wherein seeing they so notoriously failed, it is no wonder if they possessed it but a little while, as the prophet complains, Isa 63:18.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

8. I will give unto thee . . . thelandIt had been previously promised to Abraham and hisposterity (Ge 15:18). Here itis promised as an “everlasting possession,” and was,therefore, a type of heaven, “the better country” (Heb11:16).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee,…. To him in right, and to them in possession, and for an inheritance:

the land wherein thou art a stranger; or “the land of sojournings” or “pilgrimages” l, which were many; for he often removed from place to place, and sometimes sojourned in one place, and sometimes in another:

all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; this respects only the natural seed of Abraham, and those in the line of Isaac and Jacob, to whom this land was given to hold for ever, in case they were obedient to the will of God; and therefore whenever they were disobedient, they were carried captive from it, as they are at this day; but when they shall be converted, they will return to this land and possess it to the end of the world; and which was a figure of the heavenly inheritance, which is an eternal one, and will be enjoyed by all his spiritual seed to all eternity:

and I will be their God; as he was to all the natural seed of Abraham in a spiritual sense, to whom the adoption belonged, and whom he chose and separated as a peculiar people to himself, and bestowed in providence many peculiar favours upon them, both in a civil and religious way; and as he is to all his spiritual seed in an evangelic sense, to whom he stands in the relation of their covenant God and Father in Christ, in whom he blesses them with all spiritual blessings, and will continue to be so unto death, and to all eternity.

l “terram peregrinationum tuarum”, Pagninus, Montanus, &c.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Gen 17:8. I will be their God The spiritual and temporal covenant are blended together, and with propriety, as the latter was eminently typical of the former. The Scripture covenant with Abraham, and all his children by faith, is strictly everlasting; for it extends to the possession of that heavenly and better country, the celestial Canaan, where God will be the God of all faithful believers throughout eternity. See Rev 21:3 and Jer 31:33.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

It is profitable to observe, how God’s purposes are accomplished, concerning the fulfilment of this promise. As this child was a child of promise, Sarah shall be left past the period allowed to child-bearing, that God’s grace in the gift, might more illustriously appear. Surely that song of the Church, sung in after ages, was peculiarly sweet here. Isa 54:1 ; Gal 4:27 – And is not the verse following delightful? Yes! if you and I can personally adopt it. Gal 4:28

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Gen 17:8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

Ver. 8. All the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. ] And yet now, for their inexpiable guilt, in putting to death the Lord of life, they are utterly dispossessed of that pleasant land. In Jerusalem itself there are not to be found a hundred households of Jews. a Adrian the emperor drove them utterly out of Judea, and commanded them by proclamation not so much as to look toward it, from any tower or high mountain. b Yea, long before this, the Lord, for their wickedness, counted them but usurpers, and called them “sojourners in that land.” Eze 20:38 ; Eze 11:15 If men forfeit their privileges, God may, at his pleasure, take the forfeiture, and disprivilege them, as he did Saul, and Judas, who “by transgression fell” from his office, “that he might go to his own place”. Act 1:25

I will be their God. ] This is a singular comfort for all believing parents. Their greatest care is for their poor little ones, what they shall do another day: why, cast them upon God, their God as well as thine: for is not tie in covenant with them too? It would be a great stay of mind, if God should say to us for our children, as David said to Mephibosheth, or to Barzillai, of his son Chimham, “Chimham shall go over with me, and will I do to him that which shall seem good unto thee; and whatsoever thou shalt require of me, that will I do for, thee,” 2Sa 19:38 Behold, God saith all this, and more to us, when he saith, “I will be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee.” I remember a sweet passage of Mr Saunders the martyr in a letter to his wife: “Though we do shortly depart hence, and leave our poor infant, to our seeming, at all adventures, yet shall he have our gracious God to be his God: for so hath he said – and he cannot lie; – ‘I will be thy God, and of thy seed.’ Yea, if you leave him in the wilderness, destitute of all helps, being called of God to do his will, either to die for the confession of Christ, or any work of obedience; that God, which heard the cry of the little poor infant of Hagar, and did succour it, will do the like to the children of you, or any other fearing him, and trusting in him.” c

a Brerewood.

b Funccius.

c Act. and Mon., fol. 1364

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

land . . . stranger. Hebrew. land of thy sojourning!

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

And I: Gen 12:7, Gen 13:15, Gen 13:17, Gen 15:7-21, Psa 105:9, Psa 105:11

wherein thou art a stranger: Heb. of thy sojournings, Gen 23:4, Gen 28:4

everlasting: Gen 48:4, Exo 21:6, Exo 31:16, Exo 31:17, Exo 40:15, Lev 16:34, Num 25:13, Deu 32:8, 2Sa 23:5, Psa 103:17, Heb 9:15

their: Exo 6:7, Lev 26:12, Deu 4:37, Deu 14:2, Deu 26:18, Deu 29:13

Reciprocal: Gen 9:9 – General Gen 15:13 – thy Gen 15:18 – Unto thy Gen 24:7 – which spake Gen 24:12 – O Lord Gen 26:3 – unto thee Gen 36:6 – went Gen 36:7 – the land Gen 37:1 – wherein his father was a stranger Gen 50:24 – sware Exo 3:6 – I am Exo 3:15 – The Lord Exo 6:4 – established Exo 12:24 – General Exo 13:5 – sware Exo 20:2 – the Lord Lev 10:15 – for ever Lev 14:34 – which I Lev 26:45 – for their Num 34:2 – is the land Deu 1:8 – which Deu 9:5 – that he may Deu 26:3 – which the Jdg 2:1 – I will never 2Ki 13:23 – because of his covenant 1Ch 16:17 – an everlasting 1Ch 16:18 – Unto thee Neh 9:8 – madest Neh 9:23 – which thou Psa 47:9 – the God Psa 74:20 – Have Psa 105:10 – an everlasting Psa 105:12 – and strangers Pro 11:21 – the seed Pro 13:22 – leaveth Isa 44:7 – since Jer 11:4 – ye be Jer 25:5 – for Jer 31:1 – will Jer 31:33 – and will Jer 32:22 – which Eze 37:23 – they be Eze 47:14 – lifted up mine hand Mic 7:20 – General Hab 3:9 – according Mat 19:14 – Suffer Mar 12:26 – I am Joh 20:17 – your God Act 2:39 – the promise Act 7:5 – yet Act 13:17 – God Act 13:19 – Chanaan Rom 3:29 – General 2Co 6:16 – I will be 2Co 11:22 – the seed Gal 3:16 – to Gal 3:17 – the covenant Gal 4:7 – heir Heb 8:10 – I will be Heb 11:8 – which Heb 11:9 – he sojourned Heb 11:16 – to be Rev 21:3 – they shall

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Gen 17:8. And I will give thee Canaan for an everlasting possession As a type of heaven, that everlasting rest which remains for the people of God. This is that better country to which Abraham had an eye, and the grant of which was that which answered the vast extent of that promise, that God would be to them a God; so that if God had not designed this, he would have been ashamed to be called their God, Heb 11:16. As the land of Canaan was secured to the seed of Abraham, according to the flesh; so heaven is secured to all his spiritual seed for a possession truly everlasting. The offer of this eternal life is made in the word, and the earnest of it is given to all believers.