IiNdumiso 105:12

Izhibhalo Ezingcwele

12 Besengamadoda ambalwa, Bebancinane, bengabaphambukeli kulo.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a few: Genesis 34:30, Deuteronomy 7:7, Deuteronomy 26:5, Isaiah 51:2, Ezekiel 33:24-33

and strangers: Genesis 17:8, Genesis 23:4, Acts 7:5, Hebrews 11:9, Hebrews 11:12

Reciprocal: Genesis 15:13 - thy Exodus 6:4 - the land of their Jeremiah 35:6 - Ye shall

Gill's Notes on the Bible

When they were but a few men in number,.... Or "men of number" d, that might easily be numbered; see Genesis 34:30, when this covenant, promise, and oath, were first made to Abraham, he was alone, and had no child; and when his posterity were increased in Jacob's time, and sojourned in Egypt, they were but few, though greatly enlarged when they came out of it: in comparison of other nations, they were the fewest of all people, and therefore had this grant of Canaan, not for their numbers any more than their goodness. And this circumstance is mentioned to show the unmerited goodness of God unto them; see Deuteronomy 7:6. And so the Lord's people, to whom he gives the kingdom of heaven, are a little flock; they are only a few that find the way to eternal life, Luke 12:32.

Yea, very few; or "as a little thing" e: so were the people of Israel a little contemptible body of men in the eyes of others, and in comparison of them. And such are the saints in this world; "the filth of it", and the "offscouring of all things";

yea, things that are not; that scarce deserve, in the opinion of men, to be reckoned entities or beings. And strangers in it; as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were, Hebrews 11:9, and so are the people of God, who are the heirs of the heavenly Canaan. These are strangers to the men of the world, who know them not; and the men of the world to them; with whom they have no conversation and fellowship in things sinful and criminal; for which they late despised by the world: yet these are the fellow citizens of heaven, and of the household of God, which shows his discriminating grace.

d מתי מספר "viros numeri", Montanus; so Vatablus, Gejerus, Michaelis. e כמעט "sicut parum", Montanus; so Vatablus; "aut exile aliquid", Gejerus; so Gussetius, p. 477.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

When they were but a few men in number - literally, “In their being people of number, very little.” That is, They could then be easily numbered, and they were so few that they could not take possession of it themselves. This is in contrast with the promise then made to them that they should be in number as the stars, and as the sand on the sea shore.

And strangers in it - Foreigners. They were mere sojourners. They did not become incorporated with the people of the land. They did not acquire property there. They were regarded and treated as belonging to a foreign people. See the notes at Hebrews 11:9.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 105:12. But a few men — When all appearances were against them, and nothing but the arm of God could have brought them through their difficulties, and given them a settlement in the promised land.