Psalm 105:11

Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) This verse marks the scope of the psalm, to show how the promise made to Abraham was fulfilled.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

105:8-23 Let us remember the Redeemer's marvellous works, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth. Though true Christians are few number, strangers and pilgrims upon earth, yet a far better inheritance than Canaan is made sure to them by the covenant of God; and if we have the anointing of the Holy Spirit, none can do us any harm. Afflictions are among our mercies. They prove our faith and love, they humble our pride, they wean us from the world, and quicken our prayers. Bread is the staff which supports life; when that staff is broken, the body fails and sinks to the earth. The word of God is the staff of spiritual life, the food and support of the soul: the sorest judgment is a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. Such a famine was sore in all lands when Christ appeared in the flesh; whose coming, and the blessed effect of it, are shadowed forth in the history of Joseph. At the appointed time Christ was exalted as Mediator; all the treasures of grace and salvation are at his disposal, perishing sinners come to him, and are relieved by him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan - Genesis 13:14-15.

The lot of your inheritance - Or, that shall be the lot of your inheritance; or, what you shall inherit. The margin is, "the cord." The Hebrew word - חבל chebel - means properly a cord, a rope; and then, a measuring-line. Hence, it means a portion "measured out" and assigned to anyone as land, Joshua 17:14; Joshua 19:9. Compare Psalm 16:6. The meaning is, that the land of Canaan was given by promise to the patriarchs as their lot or portion of the earth; as that which they and their descendants were to possess as their own.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10, 11. Alluding to God's promise to Jacob (Ge 28:13). Out of the whole storehouse of the promises of God, only one is prominently brought forward, namely, that concerning the possession of Canaan [Ps 105:11]. Everything revolves around this. The wonders and judgments have all for their ultimate design the fulfilment of this promise.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The portion assigned to you by lot and the designation of Divine Providence. See Poole "Deu 32:9"; See Poole "Psalm 16:6".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Saying, unto thee will I give the land of Canaan,.... To each of the above persons, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their posterity, the children of Israel. Not that the word "saying", as Gussetius (c) well observes, signifies that the words following it are expressive of the covenant, for that is expressed Psalm 105:7, the main article, sum, and substance of it, being this, that the Lord was their God; but it only signifies that this earthly promise was pronounced when that everlasting covenant was given, Genesis 17:7. Besides, this must be considered as typical of the heavenly inheritance; as that was a land of promise, so is this; it is the promise, the grand promise, which God has promised; as that was a land prepared and ready furnished with houses, fields, and vineyards, so is heaven a kingdom prepared by God the Father, and by the presence and mediation of his Son; as the Israelites passing through the wilderness met with many difficulties, and fought many battles, before possessed of it, so the people of God pass through the wilderness of this world, go through many tribulations, and fight the good fight of faith before they lay hold on eternal life; and as not Moses, but Joshua, led the people into the land, so not the law, but Jesus the Saviour, the great Captain of salvation, brings the many sons to glory; and as that was a land of rest after fatiguing travels, is heaven the sabbatism or rest for the people of God, a rest from all their toil and labour; and as the one was the pure gift of God, so is the other:

to thee will I give, &c. And as the land of Canaan is here called "the lot of your inheritance", it being divided and distributed by lot to the children of Israel, who find each their proper share and portion, Joshua 14:1 so heaven is an inheritance, not purchased, nor acquired, but bequeathed by the will of God; comes through the death of the testator Christ, belongs only to children, and is, as inheritances are, for ever; this is also by lot, as the word is in Ephesians 1:11, not that it is a casual thing, for it is appointed by the Lord for his people, and they for that; it is what they are predestinated to, as in the aforementioned text; but it denotes that everyone shall have their part and portion in it.

(c) Ebr. Comment. p. 822.

Geneva Study Bible

Saying, {f} Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance:

(f) He shows that they would not enjoy the land of Canaan by any other means, but by reason of his covenant made with their fathers.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

11. The promise was made to the patriarchs individually (‘unto thee’), but in them to their descendants also; hence ‘your inheritance.’

the lot &c.] The Heb. chĕbĕl means (1) a measuring-cord, (2) a measured portion (cp. our ‘rod’): so, for your appointed inheritance. Cp. Psalm 78:55.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. - Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan (see Genesis 13:15; Genesis 17:8; Genesis 26:3; Genesis 28:13). The lot of your inheritance; literally, the cord, or line, of your inheritance (comp. Psalm 78:55). The words are not found among the promises made to the patriarchs, but are perhaps regarded by the writer as implied in them. When the allotment of Canaan to the several tribes was made, recourse was doubtless had to the measuring line. Psalm 105:11

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The poet now begins himself to do that to which he encourages Israel. Jahve is Israel's God: His righteous rule extends over the whole earth, whilst His people experience His inviolable faithfulness to His covenant. יהוה in Psalm 105:7 is in apposition to הוּא, for the God who bears this name is as a matter of course the object of the song of praise. זכר is the perfect of practically pledges certainty (cf. Psalm 111:5, where we find instead the future of confident prospect). The chronicler has זכרוּ instead (lxx again something different: μνημονεύωμεν); but the object is not the demanding but the promissory side of the covenant, so that consequently it is not Israel's remembering but God's that is spoken of. He remembers His covenant in all time to come, so that exile and want of independence as a state are only temporary, exceptional conditions. צוּה has its radical signification here, to establish, institute, Psalm 111:9. לאלף דּור (in which expression דור is a specifying accusative) is taken from Deuteronomy 7:9. And since דּבר is the covenant word of promise, it can be continued אשׁר כּרת; and Haggai 2:5 (vid., Khler thereon) shows that אשׁר is not joined to בריתו over Psalm 105:8. וּשׁבוּעתו, however, is a second object to זכר (since דּבר with what belongs to it as an apposition is out of the question). It is the oath on Moriah (Genesis 22:16) that is meant, which applied to Abraham and his seed. לישׂחק (chronicler ליצחק), as in Amos 7:9; Jeremiah 33:26. To זכר is appended ויּעמרדה; the suffix, intended as neuter, points to what follows, viz., this, that Canaan shall be Israel's hereditary land. From Abraham and Isaac we come to Jacob-Israel, who as being the father of the twelve is the twelve-tribe nation itself that is coming into existence; hence the plural can alternate with the singular in Psalm 105:11. את־ארץ כּנען (chronicler, without the את) is an accusative of the object, and חבל נחלתכם accusative of the predicate: the land of Canaan as the province of your own hereditary possession measured out with a measuring line (Psalm 78:55).