Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess [it].
Ver. 23. Their children also multipliedst thou] Judaea was not above two hundred miles long and fifty miles broad (not near the half of England by much), yet what a numerous people they were! what huge armies they had!
And broughtest them into the land] Not the nearest way, but the best for them; that he might humble them, and try them, and do them good in the latter end. If God will bring us to heaven at length (as Israel in the wilderness, so) must we follow him and the line of his law, though it seem to lead us in and out, backward and forward, as if we were treading a maze.
Concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers] And they disposed of it by will to their posterity, as if they had been in present possession. God's promises are good surehold: the patriarchs would be buried there, though they died in Egypt, and keep possession, as they could; for they knew that all was their own.