21 And who is like thy people Israel, the one nation in the earth that God went to redeem to be a people to himself, to make thee a name of greatness and terribleness, by driving out nations from before thy people, which thou hast redeemed out of Egypt?
But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they were, in whose sight I had made myself known unto them in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt. And I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.
The sea saw it and fled, the Jordan turned back; The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. What ailed thee, thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou turnedst back? Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams? ye hills, like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the +God of Jacob, Who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a fountain of waters.
Say unto God, How terrible are thy works! because of the greatness of thy strength, thine enemies come cringing unto thee. All the earth shall worship thee, and sing psalms unto thee: they shall sing forth thy name. Selah. Come and see the works of God: he is terrible in [his] doings toward the children of men. He turned the sea into dry [land]; they went through the river on foot: there did we rejoice in him. He ruleth by his power for ever; his eyes observe the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.
And Jehovah said, I have seen assuredly the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and their cry have I heard on account of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good and spacious land, unto a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
Thou, by thy hand, didst dispossess the nations, but them thou didst plant; thou didst afflict the peoples, but them didst thou cause to spread out. For not by their own sword did they take possession of the land, neither did their own arm save them; but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst delight in them.
And ye went over the Jordan, and came unto Jericho, and the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I delivered them into your hand. And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, [as] the two kings of the Amorites; not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.
And Jehovah gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give unto their fathers; and they took possession of it, and dwelt in it. And Jehovah gave them rest round about, according to all that he had sworn unto their fathers; and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them: Jehovah gave all their enemies into their hand. There failed nothing of all the good things that Jehovah had spoken to the house of Israel: all came to pass.
There is none like unto the ùGod of Jeshurun, Who rideth upon the heavens to thy help, And in his majesty, upon the clouds. [Thy] refuge is the God of old, And underneath are the eternal arms; And he shall drive out the enemy from before thee, And shall say, Destroy [them]! And Israel shall dwell in safety alone, The fountain of Jacob, in a land of corn and new wine; Also his heavens shall drop down dew. Happy art thou, Israel! Who is like unto thee, a people saved by Jehovah, The shield of thy help, And the sword of thine excellency? And thine enemies shall come cringing to thee; And thou shalt tread upon their high places.
When Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations from before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou, and when Jehovah thy God shall give them up before thee and thou shalt smite them, then shalt thou utterly destroy them: thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them.
For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man on the earth, and from one end of the heavens to the other end of the heavens, whether there hath been anything as this great thing is, or if anything hath been heard like it? Did [ever] people hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? Or hath God essayed to come to take him a nation from the midst of a nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a powerful hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Jehovah your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
Ye have seen what I have done to the Egyptians, and [how] I have borne you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. And now, if ye will hearken to my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then shall ye be my own possession out of all the peoples -- for all the earth is mine -- and ye shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak to the children of Israel.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » John Gill's Exposition of the Bible » Commentary on 1 Chronicles 17
Commentary on 1 Chronicles 17 John Gill's Exposition of the Bible
INTRODUCTION TO 1 CHRONICLES 17
This chapter contains an account of David's intention to build an house for God, which, he signified to Nathan the prophet, who first encouraged him to it; but afterwards was sent by the Lord to him with an order to desist from it, assuring him, at the same time, that his son should build it, and that his own house and kingdom should be established for ever; for which David expressed great thankfulness, the whole of which is related in 2 Samuel 7:1 with some little variation, see the notes there; only one thing has since occurred, which I would just take notice of, that here, 1 Chronicles 17:5 as there also, it is said by the Lord, that he had "not dwelt in an house since the day he brought up Israel out of Egypt"; which seems to suggest that he had dwelt in one before, as has been hinted on 2 Samuel 7:6 even while the people of Israel were in Egypt, though it is nowhere mentioned by Moses, or any other writer; yet it is not unreasonable to suppose it; for as the ancestors of the Israelites, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when only travellers from place to place, built altars for God wherever they came; so their posterity, it is highly probable, not only did the same, but when they found themselves settled in Egypt, in the land of Goshen, might build places of worship; and when we consider the wealth of Joseph, and his family, and indeed of all Israel, who enjoyed for many years great plenty, prosperity, and liberty, before their servitude, the vast numbers they increased to and the long continuance of them in Egypt, more than two hundred years; it will not seem strange that they should build houses for religious worship, and even one grand and splendid for public service, to which also they might be led by the example of the Egyptians; who, as Herodotus saysF9 , were the first that erected altars, images, and temples to the gods, and who in the times of Joseph had one at On, where his father-in-law officiated as priest, Genesis 41:45 or rather to this they might be directed by some hints and instructions of their father Jacob before his death, who it is certain had a notion of a Bethel, an house for the public worship of God, Genesis 28:17 and I find a learned manF11Dickinson. Physic. vet. & vera, c. 19. sect. 24. of our own nation of this opinion, and which he founds upon this passage; and he supposes the house God dwelt in, in Egypt, was not a tent of goats' hair, as in the wilderness, but a structure of stones or bricks, a firm and stable house, such an one as Abraham built at Damascus when settled there; which continued to the times of Augustus Caesar, as related by Nicholas of DamascusF12Apud. Joseph. Antiqu. l. 1. c. 7. sect. 2. . See 2 Samuel 7:1.cf13 (i) Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 4.
See Chapter Introduction