(9) For I will have respect unto you.--Better, And I will turn unto you, as it is rendered in the Authorised Version in Ezekiel 46:9, the only other passage where this phrase occurs; that is, be merciful to them and bless them. (Comp. 2 Kings 13:23; Psalm 25:16; Psalm 69:17, &c.)
And multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.--That is, by multiplying them as the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea, God fulfil the covenant which He made with their fathers (Genesis 12:2; Genesis 13:16; Genesis 15:5; Genesis 22:17; Exodus 23:26).
26:1-13 This chapter contains a general enforcement of all the laws given by Moses; by promises of reward in case of obedience, on the one hand; and threatenings of punishment for disobedience, on the other. While Israel maintained a national regard to God's worship, sabbaths, and sanctuary, and did not turn aside to idolatry, the Lord engaged to continue to them temporal mercies and religious advantages. These great and precious promises, though they relate chiefly to the life which now is, were typical of the spiritual blessings made sure by the covenant of grace to all believers, through Christ. 1. Plenty and abundance of the fruits of the earth. Every good and perfect gift must be expected from above, from the Father of lights. 2. Peace under the Divine protection. Those dwell in safety, that dwell in God. 3. Victory and success in their wars. It is all one with the Lord to save by many or by few. 4. The increase of their people. The gospel church shall be fruitful. 5. The favour of God, which is the fountain of all Good. 6. Tokens of his presence in and by his ordinances. The way to have God's ordinances fixed among us, is to cleave closely to them. 7. The grace of the covenant. All covenant blessings are summed up in the covenant relation, I will be your God, and ye shall be my people; and they are all grounded upon their redemption. Having purchased them, God would own them, and never cast them off till they cast him off.
For I will have respect unto you,.... Look at them with delight and pleasure, and with a careful eye on them, watch over them to do them good, and protect them from all evil; or turn himself to them from all others, having a particular regard for them and special care of them:
and make you fruitful and multiply you; increase their number, as he did in Egypt, even amidst all their afflictions; and much more might they expect this blessing in the land of Canaan, when settled there, which is the original blessing of mankind, see Genesis 1:28,
and establish my covenant with you; not the new covenant spoken of in Jeremiah 31:31; as Jarchi and other Jewish writers (l) suggest; for that was not to take place but in future time, under the Gospel dispensation; but rather the covenant made with them at Sinai, though perhaps it chiefly respects the covenant made with their ancestors concerning multiplication of their seed as the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea, Genesis 15:5, since it follows upon the promise of an increase of them.
(l) Torat Cohenim, apud Yalkut, par. 1. fol. 196. 3.
And multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.--That is, by multiplying them as the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea, God fulfil the covenant which He made with their fathers (Genesis 12:2; Genesis 13:16; Genesis 15:5; Genesis 22:17; Exodus 23:26).
and make you fruitful and multiply you; increase their number, as he did in Egypt, even amidst all their afflictions; and much more might they expect this blessing in the land of Canaan, when settled there, which is the original blessing of mankind, see Genesis 1:28,
and establish my covenant with you; not the new covenant spoken of in Jeremiah 31:31; as Jarchi and other Jewish writers (l) suggest; for that was not to take place but in future time, under the Gospel dispensation; but rather the covenant made with them at Sinai, though perhaps it chiefly respects the covenant made with their ancestors concerning multiplication of their seed as the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea, Genesis 15:5, since it follows upon the promise of an increase of them.
(l) Torat Cohenim, apud Yalkut, par. 1. fol. 196. 3.