Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance;
It records God's pledge to give Canaan to Israel as their allotted inheritance, spoken when they were few in number and strangers in the land. The pledge belongs to the covenant with Abraham, sworn to Isaac and confirmed to Jacob and Israel as an everlasting covenant, where the land promise stands as promise distinct from the commanded law though embraced with it in that one covenant. The word commanded to a thousand generations is the Ten Commandments spoken by God and written on stone, meant in poetic language denoting perpetuity and not a literal count of generations. The land is given on condition of obedience as Abraham obeyed God's voice and laws, so that transgressors under the curse cannot inherit until Christ redeems them from the curse and restores the blessing of Abraham in the gospel. The inheritance is therefore not for Jews after the flesh in literal Canaan but for those who are Christ's, pointing to the better heavenly country and prepared city, though those who held otherwise taught that the covenant commanded to a thousand generations was circumcision and that the land promise belonged to it.
Context and Wording
The song delivered when the ark was brought up contains in 1 Chronicles 16:8-22 the same words found in Psalm 105:1-15, with the promise to give Canaan standing within that parallel passage. The section that follows it, 1 Chronicles 16:23-33, corresponds to Psalm 96 with slight variations. The whole setting is Hebrew poetry, not prose, and its wording is figurative poetic diction that must not be construed with severe literalism as if it were prose. Words in that setting such as thousand, everlasting, and forever keep their full poetic force and cannot be limited to less than one generation.
The saying records God's promise to give the land of Canaan as Israel's allotted inheritance, the lot of inheritance. It belongs to the covenant promise made to Abraham and confirmed to Isaac and Jacob, and it recalls the time when those to whom the promise was made were few in number and strangers in the land. The promise part stands distinct from the commanded word even while joined with it in the covenant, and it is distinct from the covenant made at Sinai. The promise concerned the land itself, not the law itself.
That promise stands inside Israel's charge to declare Jehovah's glory among the nations, that the Gentiles might be converted. God gave His truth to Israel not for themselves alone but that the whole nation might serve as His priest to the world.
Covenant Promise and Law
The land of Canaan, given as the lot of inheritance, is the inheritance promised in God's covenant made with Abraham, sworn to Isaac and confirmed to Jacob and to Israel for an everlasting covenant, and the covenant commanded to a thousand generations belongs to that same Abrahamic covenant. The land promise is the promise side of that covenant, distinct in nature from the commanded covenant or law even though closely connected with it and embraced with it in the Abrahamic covenant, for a promise and a command are different things. It therefore does not identify the land promise itself as the law Abraham obeyed, and this Abrahamic covenant is distinguished from the covenant made at Sinai. Its promise to Abraham's natural descendants when they were few and strangers in the land is linked to the Ten Commandments as the conditions of the covenant.
The commanded covenant, the word commanded to a thousand generations and confirmed to Jacob and to Israel, is the Ten Commandments which God spoke and wrote on two stone tablets, so that keeping the covenant meant keeping them. The land is given on condition of obedience to God's commandments, statutes and laws, as Abraham obeyed God's voice, charge, commandments, statutes and laws, and faithful performance of that commanded covenant is the basis or consideration for the promise. Transgressors under the curse of the law cannot inherit those blessings until the curse is removed, and the right forfeited by breaking the law is restored only through Christ redeeming from the curse, the blessing of Abraham being identical with the blessing of the gospel so that all stand in the same relation to God's commanded covenant as Abraham did. To inherit the blessing of Abraham requires walking in the steps of Abraham's faith by keeping that law upon which the blessing was based, but all have broken it and forfeited all right to the blessing.
The phrase commanded to a thousand generations denotes perpetuity, the same as showing mercy to thousands of them that love God and keep His commandments, and is not limited to a literal number. It does not establish that Israel must possess literal Canaan for 950 generations, or more than 40,000 years, or that the end of the world is tens of thousands of years away. The verse says nothing about the covenant of circumcision and makes no allusion to it. Circumcision was given as a rite and received as a sign or token of the covenant made with Abraham, so in the accommodated sense in which covenant means sign or token it cannot itself be that covenant commanded to a thousand generations.
By contrast, those who held otherwise taught that the covenant God commanded to a thousand generations is the covenant of circumcision and not the covenant of the Ten Commandments, and that the promise to give Canaan for the lot of inheritance belongs to that commanded covenant. By that reckoning, even if the commanded covenant were admitted to be the Ten Commandments, its command to a thousand generations would mean the Decalogue must be observed nine hundred generations yet, since only about one hundred generations have passed since creation.
Heirs and Fulfillment
The grant of Canaan as the allotted inheritance is not a pledge that the Jews after the flesh shall possess the literal land, but belongs to those who are Christ's. If the promise demanded possession of literal Canaan, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the other faithful of old would have to be raised from the dead to receive it. Christ's followers in the present would likewise have to journey to that earthly territory to enter upon it. The promised inheritance is instead to be understood in connection with the better, heavenly country and the city which God has prepared, as set forth in Hebrews 11.
It records God's pledge to give Canaan to Israel as their allotted inheritance, spoken when they were few in number and strangers in the land. The pledge belongs to the covenant with Abraham, sworn to Isaac and confirmed to Jacob and Israel as an everlasting covenant, where the land promise stands as promise distinct from the commanded law though embraced with it in that one covenant. The word commanded to a thousand generations is the Ten Commandments spoken by God and written on stone, meant in poetic language denoting perpetuity and not a literal count of generations. The land is given on condition of obedience as Abraham obeyed God's voice and laws, so that transgressors under the curse cannot inherit until Christ redeems them from the curse and restores the blessing of Abraham in the gospel. The inheritance is therefore not for Jews after the flesh in literal Canaan but for those who are Christ's, pointing to the better heavenly country and prepared city, though those who held otherwise taught that the covenant commanded to a thousand generations was circumcision and that the land promise belonged to it.
Context and Wording
The song delivered when the ark was brought up contains in 1 Chronicles 16:8-22 the same words found in Psalm 105:1-15, with the promise to give Canaan standing within that parallel passage. The section that follows it, 1 Chronicles 16:23-33, corresponds to Psalm 96 with slight variations. The whole setting is Hebrew poetry, not prose, and its wording is figurative poetic diction that must not be construed with severe literalism as if it were prose. Words in that setting such as thousand, everlasting, and forever keep their full poetic force and cannot be limited to less than one generation.
The saying records God's promise to give the land of Canaan as Israel's allotted inheritance, the lot of inheritance. It belongs to the covenant promise made to Abraham and confirmed to Isaac and Jacob, and it recalls the time when those to whom the promise was made were few in number and strangers in the land. The promise part stands distinct from the commanded word even while joined with it in the covenant, and it is distinct from the covenant made at Sinai. The promise concerned the land itself, not the law itself.
That promise stands inside Israel's charge to declare Jehovah's glory among the nations, that the Gentiles might be converted. God gave His truth to Israel not for themselves alone but that the whole nation might serve as His priest to the world.
Covenant Promise and Law
The land of Canaan, given as the lot of inheritance, is the inheritance promised in God's covenant made with Abraham, sworn to Isaac and confirmed to Jacob and to Israel for an everlasting covenant, and the covenant commanded to a thousand generations belongs to that same Abrahamic covenant. The land promise is the promise side of that covenant, distinct in nature from the commanded covenant or law even though closely connected with it and embraced with it in the Abrahamic covenant, for a promise and a command are different things. It therefore does not identify the land promise itself as the law Abraham obeyed, and this Abrahamic covenant is distinguished from the covenant made at Sinai. Its promise to Abraham's natural descendants when they were few and strangers in the land is linked to the Ten Commandments as the conditions of the covenant.
The commanded covenant, the word commanded to a thousand generations and confirmed to Jacob and to Israel, is the Ten Commandments which God spoke and wrote on two stone tablets, so that keeping the covenant meant keeping them. The land is given on condition of obedience to God's commandments, statutes and laws, as Abraham obeyed God's voice, charge, commandments, statutes and laws, and faithful performance of that commanded covenant is the basis or consideration for the promise. Transgressors under the curse of the law cannot inherit those blessings until the curse is removed, and the right forfeited by breaking the law is restored only through Christ redeeming from the curse, the blessing of Abraham being identical with the blessing of the gospel so that all stand in the same relation to God's commanded covenant as Abraham did. To inherit the blessing of Abraham requires walking in the steps of Abraham's faith by keeping that law upon which the blessing was based, but all have broken it and forfeited all right to the blessing.
The phrase commanded to a thousand generations denotes perpetuity, the same as showing mercy to thousands of them that love God and keep His commandments, and is not limited to a literal number. It does not establish that Israel must possess literal Canaan for 950 generations, or more than 40,000 years, or that the end of the world is tens of thousands of years away. The verse says nothing about the covenant of circumcision and makes no allusion to it. Circumcision was given as a rite and received as a sign or token of the covenant made with Abraham, so in the accommodated sense in which covenant means sign or token it cannot itself be that covenant commanded to a thousand generations.
By contrast, those who held otherwise taught that the covenant God commanded to a thousand generations is the covenant of circumcision and not the covenant of the Ten Commandments, and that the promise to give Canaan for the lot of inheritance belongs to that commanded covenant. By that reckoning, even if the commanded covenant were admitted to be the Ten Commandments, its command to a thousand generations would mean the Decalogue must be observed nine hundred generations yet, since only about one hundred generations have passed since creation.
Heirs and Fulfillment
The grant of Canaan as the allotted inheritance is not a pledge that the Jews after the flesh shall possess the literal land, but belongs to those who are Christ's. If the promise demanded possession of literal Canaan, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the other faithful of old would have to be raised from the dead to receive it. Christ's followers in the present would likewise have to journey to that earthly territory to enter upon it. The promised inheritance is instead to be understood in connection with the better, heavenly country and the city which God has prepared, as set forth in Hebrews 11.