Gevurot 13:17

17 “Elohei HaAm Yisroel chose Avoteinu. Hashem made the people great during their sojourn in Eretz Mitzrayim, and with an uplifted arm He led them out of it, [SHEMOT 6:1,6,7; 14:8; DEVARIM 7:6-8]

Gevurot 13:17 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 13:17

The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their seed after them, to be a peculiar people to himself; wherefore he is often, as here, styled their God, and whom he distinguished and blessed with many blessings, civil and religious, above all people upon the face of the earth. The apostle seems particularly to address himself to the Gentiles, the inhabitants of Antioch, and the proselytes of righteousness, now in the synagogue, ( Acts 13:42 Acts 13:43 ) and, as it were, with his finger pointed to the native Jews present, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, a part of the people whose God the Lord was:

and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of
Egypt
as they did for many years, and as the Lord foretold to Abraham they should, ( Genesis 15:13 ) This refers either to the great honour and dignity Joseph was advanced unto, and to the favours and privileges bestowed on Jacob and his family at the first of their sojourning in that land; or to the great increase of their posterity towards the close of it, even when they were the most oppressed and afflicted.

And with an high arm he brought them out of it
out of the land of Egypt, and out of their oppression in it; which was owing to, and was a wonderful display of his mighty power and great strength here expressed by an "high arm" for nothing short of that could have wrought deliverance for them.

Gevurot 13:17 In-Context

15 After the kri’at HaTorah (reading of the Sefer Torah) and the kri’at HaNevi’im, the Rashei Beit HaKnesset sent to them, saying “Anashim Achim, if there is any dvar hachizzuk among you to the people, say it.”
16 And having got up and having motioned with his hand, Rav Sha’ul said, “Anshei Yisroel, and Yirei Elohim, listen!
17 “Elohei HaAm Yisroel chose Avoteinu. Hashem made the people great during their sojourn in Eretz Mitzrayim, and with an uplifted arm He led them out of it, [SHEMOT 6:1,6,7; 14:8; DEVARIM 7:6-8]
18 “and lav davka (approximately) ARBA’IM SHANAH He put up with them in the desert [DEVARIM 1:31; BAMIDBAR 14:33,34; TEHILLIM 95:10; SHEMOT 16:35]
19 “and having destroyed SHIVAH GOYIM in eretz Kena’an, he gave as a nachalah (an inheritance) their land [DEVARIM 7:1; YEHOSHUA 14:2; 19:51; TEHILLIM 78:55]
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.