16 Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said , "Men of Israel , and you who fear God , listen : 17 "The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt , and with an uplifted arm He led them out from it. 18 "For a period of about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness . 19 " When He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan , He distributed their land as an inheritance -all of which took about four hundred and fifty years . 20 "After these things He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet . 21 "Then they asked for a king , and God gave them Saul the son of Kish , a man of the tribe of Benjamin , for forty years . 22 "After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king , concerning whom He also testified and said , ' I HAVE FOUND DAVID the son of Jesse , A MAN AFTER MY HEART , who will do all My will .'
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Acts 13:16-22
Commentary on Acts 13:14-31
(Read Acts 13:14-31)
When we come together to worship God, we must do it, not only by prayer and praise, but by the reading and hearing of the word of God. The bare reading of the Scriptures in public assemblies is not enough; they should be expounded, and the people exhorted out of them. This is helping people in doing that which is necessary to make the word profitable, to apply it to themselves. Every thing is touched upon in this sermon, which might best prevail with Jews to receive and embrace Christ as the promised Messiah. And every view, however short or faint, of the Lord's dealings with his church, reminds us of his mercy and long-suffering, and of man's ingratitude and perverseness. Paul passes from David to the Son of David, and shows that this Jesus is his promised Seed; a Saviour to do that for them, which the judges of old could not do, to save them from their sins, their worst enemies. When the apostles preached Christ as the Saviour, they were so far from concealing his death, that they always preached Christ crucified. Our complete separation from sin, is represented by our being buried with Christ. But he rose again from the dead, and saw no corruption: this was the great truth to be preached.