Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary Verse 7. I will take you to me for a people, &c.] This was precisely the covenant that he had made with Abraham. See Gen. xvii. 7.
And ye shall know that I am the LORD your God] By thus fulfilling my promises ye shall know what is implied in my name. See note on "ver. 3".
But why should God take such a most stupid, refractory, and totally worthless people for his people? 1. Because he had promised to do so to their noble ancestors Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Judah, &c., men worthy of all praise, because in general friends of God, devoted to his will and to the good of mankind.
2. "That (as Bishop Warburton properly observes) the extraordinary providence by which they were protected, might become the more visible and illustrious; for had they been endowed with the shining qualities of the more polished nations, the effects of that providence might have been ascribed to their own wisdom." 3. That God might show to all succeeding generations that he delights to instruct the ignorant, help the weak, and save the lost; for if he bore long with Israel, showed them especial mercy, and graciously received them whenever they implored his protection, none need despair. God seems to have chosen the worst people in the universe, to give by them unto mankind the highest and most expressive proofs, that he wills not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn from his iniquity and live.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-9 - We are most likely to prosper in attempts to glorify God, and to be useful to men, when we learn by experience that we can do nothing of ourselves; when our whole dependence is placed on him, and our onl expectation is from him. Moses had been expecting what God would do but now he shall see what he will do. God would now be known by his name Jehovah, that is, a God performing what he had promised, an finishing his own work. God intended their happiness: I will take yo to me for a people, a peculiar people, and I will be to you a God. Mor than this we need not ask, we cannot have, to make us happy. He intended his own glory: Ye shall know that I am the Lord. These goo words, and comfortable words, should have revived the droopin Israelites, and have made them forget their misery; but they were s taken up with their troubles, that they did not heed God's promises. By indulging discontent and fretfulness, we deprive ourselves of the comfort we might have, both from God's word and from his providence and go comfortless.
Original Hebrew ולקחתי3947 אתכם853 לי לעם5971 והייתי1961 לכם לאלהים430 וידעתם3045 כי3588 אני589 יהוה3068 אלהיכם430 המוציא3318 אתכם853 מתחת8478 סבלות5450 מצרים׃4714
