Psalms 47:4 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

He shall choose our inheritance for us The Syriac, Arabic, and Latin, render the word יבחר, jibchar, here used, in the past time, he hath chosen, which, if understood of God's choosing Canaan for the Israelites, and placing them in it, is certainly more proper, being according to the matter of fact. The word, however, is in the future tense, and if interpreted of the Gentiles, who were to be called into God's church, and to receive the blessings of grace and glory for their inheritance, the more proper rendering is that of our translators, He shall choose, or, he will appoint, and bestow upon us, our inheritance That is, the inheritance intended for us, designed to be ours, namely, God himself, who is the portion of his people, or the presence, worship, and blessing of God. This God had chosen for the Israelites, and had resolved to choose, or set apart, for the Gentiles. The excellency of Jacob Or, his glory, or boast, as גאון, geon, also means; that wherein he gloried and excelled all other people, namely, not Canaan, but God's sanctuary, the ordinances of his worship, and his presence and blessing. See Ezekiel 24:21; Amos 6:8; Amos 8:7. He may mean the person of Jacob, who, though he never had the actual possession of Canaan, yet had the Lord, and his presence and blessing, for his inheritance. Or, rather, he means the people of Israel, who are frequently called Jacob; for these did actually enjoy both the promised inheritance of Canaan and the presence of God in his sanctuary. Whom he loved This he adds, partly as the reason why he chose such a noble inheritance for them, which was not any peculiar worth in them, more than in other people, but only for his free love to them, as he declares, Deuteronomy 7:7-8; and Deuteronomy 9:5; and partly as an evidence of the excellence of this inheritance, because it was chosen for his beloved people.