When ye were but few, even a few, and strangers in it.
The verse is part of the psalm David gave to be sung when the ark was brought to Jerusalem. It is Hebrew poetry, not prose to be pressed literally, and figurative expressions in such poetry must not be construed literally, just as statements in prose must not be swelled to the fervor of poetic diction. It stands within 1 Chronicles 16:8-22, which is found almost word for word as the first fifteen verses of Psalm 105, that is Psalm 105:1-15. The teaching of those who held it puts 1 Chronicles 16:8-22 as the same as Psalm 105:1-6. The following passage, 1 Chronicles 16:23-33, is the whole of Psalm 96 with slight variations.
It recalls that Israel, Abraham's people, were only a small people and strangers in Canaan when God made the land part of their covenant inheritance and promise. It shows the covenant promise of Canaan was confirmed to Jacob and Israel while they were still few in number and strangers in the land, which distinguishes it from the Sinai covenant made after Israel had grown numerous and points it to the earlier promise of the land to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants.
It belongs to Israel's charge to declare Jehovah's glory among the nations so the Gentiles might be converted, for God gave His truth to Israel not for themselves alone but for the whole nation to be His priest to the world by living the law so other nations would be won, and when people of the nations gave themselves to God one law was for both Jew and Gentile. The promise of the land in the verse is no reason to place the end of the world far in the future, because it belongs to those who are Christ's, not to the Jews by ancestry. If the promise required a literal Canaan, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the other worthies would have to be resurrected to possess it and Christ's followers would have to go there, whereas the better country they desire is heavenly, where God has prepared a city.
The verse is part of the psalm David gave to be sung when the ark was brought to Jerusalem. It is Hebrew poetry, not prose to be pressed literally, and figurative expressions in such poetry must not be construed literally, just as statements in prose must not be swelled to the fervor of poetic diction. It stands within 1 Chronicles 16:8-22, which is found almost word for word as the first fifteen verses of Psalm 105, that is Psalm 105:1-15. The teaching of those who held it puts 1 Chronicles 16:8-22 as the same as Psalm 105:1-6. The following passage, 1 Chronicles 16:23-33, is the whole of Psalm 96 with slight variations.
It recalls that Israel, Abraham's people, were only a small people and strangers in Canaan when God made the land part of their covenant inheritance and promise. It shows the covenant promise of Canaan was confirmed to Jacob and Israel while they were still few in number and strangers in the land, which distinguishes it from the Sinai covenant made after Israel had grown numerous and points it to the earlier promise of the land to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants.
It belongs to Israel's charge to declare Jehovah's glory among the nations so the Gentiles might be converted, for God gave His truth to Israel not for themselves alone but for the whole nation to be His priest to the world by living the law so other nations would be won, and when people of the nations gave themselves to God one law was for both Jew and Gentile. The promise of the land in the verse is no reason to place the end of the world far in the future, because it belongs to those who are Christ's, not to the Jews by ancestry. If the promise required a literal Canaan, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the other worthies would have to be resurrected to possess it and Christ's followers would have to go there, whereas the better country they desire is heavenly, where God has prepared a city.