Genesis 17:8

Gen 17:8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

Ver. 8. All the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession.] And yet now, for their inexpiable guilt, in putting to death the Lord of life, they are utterly dispossessed of that pleasant land. In Jerusalem itself there are not to be found a hundred households of Jews. {a} Adrian the emperor drove them utterly out of Judea, and commanded them by proclamation not so much as to look toward it, from any tower or high mountain. {b} Yea, long before this, the Lord, for their wickedness, counted them but usurpers, and called them "sojourners in that land." {Eze 20:38; Eze 11:15} If men forfeit their privileges, God may, at his pleasure, take the forfeiture, and disprivilege them, as he did Saul, and Judas, who "by transgression fell" from his office, "that he might go to his own place". {Act 1:25}

I will be their God.] This is a singular comfort for all believing parents. Their greatest care is for their poor little ones, what they shall do another day: why, cast them upon God, their God as well as thine: for is not tie in covenant with them too? It would be a great stay of mind, if God should say to us for our children, as David said to Mephibosheth, or to Barzillai, of his son Chimham, "Chimham shall go over with me, and will I do to him that which shall seem good unto thee; and whatsoever thou shalt require of me, that will I do for, thee," {2Sa 19:38} Behold, God saith all this, and more to us, when he saith, "I will be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee." I remember a sweet passage of Mr Saunders the martyr in a letter to his wife: "Though we do shortly depart hence, and leave our poor infant, to our seeming, at all adventures, yet shall he have our gracious God to be his God: for so hath he said - and he cannot lie; - ‘I will be thy God, and of thy seed.’ Yea, if you leave him in the wilderness, destitute of all helps, being called of God to do his will, either to die for the confession of Christ, or any work of obedience; that God, which heard the cry of the little poor infant of Hagar, and did succour it, will do the like to the children of you, or any other fearing him, and trusting in him." {c}

{a} Brerewood.

{b} Funccius.

{c} Act. and Mon., fol. 1364

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gen 17:8. And I will give thee Canaan for an everlasting possession — As a type of heaven, that everlasting rest which remains for the people of God. This is that better country to which Abraham had an eye, and the grant of which was that which answered the vast extent of that promise, that God would be to them a God; so that if God had not designed this, he would have been ashamed to be called their God, Heb 11:16. As the land of Canaan was secured to the seed of Abraham, according to the flesh; so heaven is secured to all his spiritual seed for a possession truly everlasting. The offer of this eternal life is made in the word, and the earnest of it is given to all believers.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I will give unto thee . . . the land--It had been previously promised to Abraham and his posterity (Gen 15:18). Here it is promised as an "everlasting possession," and was, therefore, a type of heaven, "the better country" (Heb 11:16).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 8. Everlasting possession] Here עולם olam appears to be used in its accommodated meaning, and signifies the completion of the Divine counsel in reference to a particular period or dispensation. And it is literally true that the Israelites possessed the land of Canaan till the Mosaic dispensation was terminated in the complete introduction of that of the Gospel. But as the spiritual and temporal covenants are both blended together, and the former was pointed out and typified by the latter, hence the word even here may be taken in its own proper meaning, that of ever-during, or eternal; because the spiritual blessings pointed out by the temporal covenant shall have no end. And hence it is immediately added, I will be their God, not for a time, certainly, but for ever and ever. See Clarke on Ge 21:33.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. the land of thy sojournings] This is explained to be “all the land of Canaan.” The word “sojournings” denotes “residences of a stranger” (cf. Gen_15:13). The stranger (gêr) has no fixed possession in a land. The land where he has been a stranger is now promised to become his settled possession. The promise, therefore, reverses Abraham’s present position. The land will be no longer one of “sojourning” (megûrîm), but a “possession” (aḥuzzah). Cf. Gen_28:4, Gen_36:7, Gen_37:1, Gen_47:9; Exo_6:4 (all in the P narrative). For “everlasting possession,” see Gen_48:4 (P).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee,.... To him in right, and to them in possession, and for an inheritance:

the land wherein thou art a stranger; or "the land of sojournings" or "pilgrimages" (l), which were many; for he often removed from place to place, and sometimes sojourned in one place, and sometimes in another:

all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; this respects only the natural seed of Abraham, and those in the line of Isaac and Jacob, to whom this land was given to hold for ever, in case they were obedient to the will of God; and therefore whenever they were disobedient, they were carried captive from it, as they are at this day; but when they shall be converted, they will return to this land and possess it to the end of the world; and which was a figure of the heavenly inheritance, which is an eternal one, and will be enjoyed by all his spiritual seed to all eternity:

and I will be their God; as he was to all the natural seed of Abraham in a spiritual sense, to whom the adoption belonged, and whom he chose and separated as a peculiar people to himself, and bestowed in providence many peculiar favours upon them, both in a civil and religious way; and as he is to all his spiritual seed in an evangelic sense, to whom he stands in the relation of their covenant God and Father in Christ, in whom he blesses them with all spiritual blessings, and will continue to be so unto death, and to all eternity.

(l) "terram peregrinationum tuarum", Pagninus, Montanus, &c.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And to thy seed; unto thee, not in thy own person, but in thy seed. See Gen 13:15,17.

For an everlasting possession; upon condition of their obedience to God, as is oft expressed; wherein seeing they so notoriously failed, it is no wonder if they possessed it but a little while, as the prophet complains, Isa 63:18.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, literally, of thy sojournings (Gen_12:9; Act_7:5; Heb_11:9) all the land of Canaan (vide, Gen_10:19) for an everlasting possession. Literally, for a possession of eternity; i.e. the earthly Canaan should be retained by them so long as the arrangement then instituted should continue, provided always they complied with the conditions of the covenant; and the heavenly Canaan should be the inheritance of Abraham"s spiritual children forever. (vide Gen_9:16 Gen_13:15) And I will be their God. Literally, to them for Elohim (vide supra).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And I will give thee Canaan for an everlasting possession - God had before promised this land to Abraham and his seed, ver. 18. But here, it is promised for an everlasting possession, as a type of heaven, that everlasting rest which remains for the people of God. This is that better country to which Abraham had an eye, and the grant of which was that which answered the vast extent of that promise, that God would be to them a God; so that if God had not designed this, he would have been ashamed to be called their God, Heb. xi, 16. As the land of Canaan was secured to the seed of Abraham, according to the flesh; so heaven is secured to all his spiritual seed for a possession truly everlasting. The offer of this eternal life is made in the word, and confirmed by the sacraments, to all that are under the external administration of the covenant, and the earnest of it is given to all believers.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

לאחזת עולם FOR AN EVERLASTING POSSESSION — and there I will be your God; but whoever resides outside the land is as if he has no God (Ketubot 110b).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ונתתי... את ארץ מגורך, a reference to the locations in which Avraham had dwelled, not only these but the whole of the land of Canaan.

לאחוזת עולם, even though the Jewish people would be exiled from that country for a period of time, it would remain their eternal heritage. They would return to that land and G'd would be their G'd.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.