John Calvin Commentary Exodus 15:17

"Thou wilt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, The place, O Jehovah, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, The sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established." — Exodus 15:17 (ASV)

You shall bring them in. The metaphor of planting denotes a firm habitation, as also in Psalm 44:2, You did drive out the heathen with your hand, and planted our fathers, and caused them to take root.

Moreover, by his commendatory allusion to the temple, Moses excites in the people’s hearts a desire for the land, which was to be God’s “Sanctuary;” and by this secret thought attracts them, indifferent as they were, to seek the enjoyment of this great blessing. He also prophesies of Mount Sion many ages before the temple was erected there, from which we gather that it was not chosen by man’s will, but consecrated by the eternal counsel and predestination of God.

For it was fitting that the unmerited favor of God should manifest itself regarding this place, as well as toward people themselves. Thus, in Psalm 78:67, it is said,

He refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim; but chose the tribe of Judah, etc.

Elsewhere also (Psalms 132:13, 14),

For the Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his habitation: this is my rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it.

But the stability of the temple is also foretold, as in another passage,¹⁶⁷ Your hand has founded Zion (Psalms 87:1). And God himself declares by Isaiah that He will not allow Jerusalem to be laid waste (Isaiah 37:26), because He had formed it in ancient times.

Although the whole land of Canaan is elsewhere called God’s rest, and the people were never collected into one city, yet because God blessed the whole nation and land from His sanctuary, special mention is therefore made of His holy mountain.

This prophecy was very necessary for the support of their minds, because Jerusalem only came into their power at a late period. Doubtless, their posterity would have been still slower to take possession of it had their hearts not been stimulated by this promise.

A short sentence follows concerning God’s eternal reign, on which the perpetuity of the Church is founded. Thus David (Psalms 102:27), after having said that God would always be the same and His years would have no end, concludes, The children of your servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before you (Psalms 102:28).

Moses, then, would extend the hope of the people to all ages, because there is no end to God’s kingdom.

¹⁶⁷ It will be seen that the sense, and not the words, of the citation are given.