Acts 13:17

17 God of the people of Israel chose our fathers, and enhanced the people, when they were comelings in the land of Egypt, and in an high arm he led them out of it;

Acts 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.

Acts 13:17 In-Context

15 And after the reading of the law and of the prophets, the princes of the synagogue sent to them, and said, Brethren [Soothly after the reading of the law and prophets, the princes of the synagogue sent to them, saying, Men brethren], if any word of exhortation to the people is in you, say ye.

16 And Paul rose, and with hand bade silence, and said, Men of Israel, and ye that dread God, hear ye. [Forsooth Paul rising, and with hand bidding silence, saith, Men of Israel, and ye that dread God, hear.]

17 God of the people of Israel chose our fathers, and enhanced the people, when they were comelings in the land of Egypt, and in an high arm he led them out of it;

18 and by the time of forty years he suffered their manners in desert.

19 And he destroyed seven folks in the land of Canaan, and by lot parted to them their land, [And he destroying seven folks in the land of Canaan, by sort parted to them the land of them,]