19. The good land covenanted to Abraham is to be restored to his seed. But the question arises, How shall this be done?
      put . . . among . . . children--the Greek for adoption means, literally, "putting among the sons."
      the children--that is, My children. "How shall I receive thee back into My family, after thou hast so long forsaken Me for idols?" The answer is, they would acknowledge Him as "Father," and no longer turn away from Him. God assumes the language of one wondering how so desperate apostates could be restored to His family and its privileges (compare Eze 37:3; CALVIN makes it, How the race of Abraham can be propagated again, being as it were dead); yet as His purpose has decreed it so, He shows how it shall be effected, namely, they shall receive from Him the spirit of adoption to cry, "My Father" (Joh 1:12; Ga 4:6). The elect are "children" already in God's purpose; this is the ground of the subsequent realization of this relationship (Eph 1:5; Heb 2:13).
      pleasant land-- (Jer 11:5; Eze 20:6; Da 11:16, Margin).
      heritage of . . . hosts--a heritage the most goodly of all nations [MAURER]; or a "heritage possessed by powerful hosts" (De 4:38; Am 2:9). The rendering "splendors," instead of "hosts," is opposed by the fact that the Hebrew for "splendor" is not found in the plural.

JFB.