They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.
4. Who are Israelites, etc. Here the reason is now more plainly given, why the destruction of that people caused him so much anguish, that he was prepared to redeem them by his own death, namely because they were Israelites; for the relative pronoun is put here instead of a causative adverb.
Whose are the fathers,.... Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for, according to the (a) Jewish writers, "they call none in Israel "fathers", but three, and they are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and they call none "mothers" but four, and they are, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah:'' their descent from these fathers was a privilege, though they valued themselves too highly upon it; but what was the...
Verse 4. Who are Israelites. Descended from Israel, or Jacob; honoured by having such an ancestor, and by bearing a name so distinguished as that of his descendants. It was formerly the honourable appellation of the people of God. To whom pertaineth. To whom it belongs. It was their elevated external privilege. The adoption.