Genesis 12:6

_AND ABRAM PASSED THROUGH THE LAND UNTO THE PLACE OF SICHEM, UNTO THE PLAIN OF MOREH. AND THE CANAANITE WAS THEN IN THE LAND._ The place of Sichem - or Shechem, a pastoral valley then unoccupied (cf. Genesis 33:18), and in which the future city of Shechem stood. There is a valley called Wady Mukhna, a wide fertile valley, extending northward far beyond that in which Nablous (Shechem) now stands. It was probably at the entrance of that valley or glen that Abram made his first sojourn in Canaan, as his grandson Jacob pitched his first encampment there also, on his return from Haran (Genesis 33:18). It was well watered and afforded good pasturage. PLAIN OF MOREH - rather х_ 'EELOWN_ (H436).], the oak. [The Hebrews seem to have a

6._And Abram passed through the land_. Here Moses shows that Abram did not immediately, on his entering into the land, find a habitation in which he might rest. For the expression passed through, and the position of the place (Sichem) to which he passed, show that the length of his journey had been great. Sichem is not far from Mount Gerizim, which is towards the desert of the Southern region. Wherefore, it is just as Moses had said, that the faith of Abram was again tried, when God suffered him as a wanderer to traverse the whole land, before he gave him any fixed abode. How hard would it seems when God had promised to be his Protector, that not even a little corner is assigned him on which he may set his foot? But he is compelled to wander in a circuitous route, in order that he may the better exercise self denial. The word אלון (_Elon_) is by some translated an oak forest, by some a v...

6-9 Abram found the country peopled by Canaanites, who were bad neighbours. He journeyed, going on still. Sometimes it is the lot of good men to be unsettled, and often to remove into various states. Believers must look on themselves as strangers and sojourners in this world, Hebrews 11:8; Hebrews 11:13; Hebrews 11:14. But observe how much comfort Abram had in God. When he could have little satisfaction in converse with the Canaanites whom he found there, he had abundance of pleasure in communion with that God, who brought him thither, and did not leave him. Communion with God is kept up by the word and by prayer. God reveals himself and his favours to his people by degrees; before, he had promised to show Abram this land, no...

Verse Genesis 12:6. _THE PLAIN OF MOREH._] אלון _elon_ should be translated _oak_, not _plain_; the Septuagint translate την δρυν την υψηλην, the _lofty oak_; and it is likely the place was remarkable for a grove of those trees, or for one of a stupendous height and bulk. _THE CANAANITE WAS THEN IN THE LAND._] This is thought to be an interpolation, because it is supposed that these words must have been written _after_ the Canaanites were expelled from the land by the Israelites under Joshua; but this by no means follows. All that Moses states is simply that, at the time in which Abram passed through Sichem, the land was inhabited by the descendants of Canaan, which was a perfectly possible case, and involves neither a contradiction nor absurdity. There is no rule of criticism by which these words can be produced as an evidence of in

- The Call of Abram 6. שׁכם _shekem_ Shekem, “the upper part of the back.” Here it is the name of a person, the owner of this place, where afterward is built the town called at first Shekem, then Flavia Neapolis, and now Nablous. אלון _'ēlôn_ “the oak;” related: “be lasting, strong.” מורה _môreh_ In Onkelos “plain;” Moreh, “archer, early rain, teacher.” Here the name of a man who owned the oak that marked the spot. In the Septuagint it is rendered ὑψηγήν _hupseegeen_. 8. בית־אל _bēyt_-_'êl_, Bethel, “house of God.” ים _yam_ “sea, great river, west.”...

EXPOSITION GENESIS 12:6 AND ABRAM PASSED THROUGH—literally, _passed over, _or traveled about as a pilgrim (cf. Hebrews 11:9) in—THE LAND UNTO (or as far as) THE PLACE OF SICHEM. A prolepsis for the place where the city Shechem (either built by or named after the Hivite prince, Genesis 34:2) was afterwards situated, viz; between Ebal and Gerizim, in the middle of the land; "the most beautiful, perhaps the only very beautiful, spot in Central Palestine" (Stanley's 'Sinai and Palestine,' 5:234). The modern name of Sichem is Nablus, a corruption of Neapolis. UNTO THE PLAIN. אֵלוֹן, from אוּל or אִיל, to

AND ABRAM PASSED THROUGH THE LAND,.... Entering the northern part of it, as appears by his going southward, Genesis 12:9 he went on UNTO THE PLACE OF SICHEM, UNTO THE PLAIN OF MOREH; the place afterwards called Shechem, from a prince of that name in the times of Jacob; and so it was called when Moses wrote, and therefore, by way of anticipation, calls it so here; it was about the middle of the land of Canaan, and the same with Sychar, a city of Samaria, in the times of Christ, John 4:5. Moreh was the name of a man, from whence the plain took its name, which was near Sichem; some render it the oak of Moreh e, perhaps the same with that in Genesis 35:4 or a grove of oaks of that name; the Syriac and Arabic versions ren

We will read two or three passages in the Book of Genesis concerning God blessing his servant Abraham. Turn first to the twelfth chapter. Genesis 12:1. _Now the lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:_ It was God's intention to keep his truth and his pure worship alive in the world by committing it to the charge of one man, and the nation that should spring from him. In the infinite sovereignty of his grace, he chose Abraham, passing by all the rest of mankind, and elected him to be the depository of the heavenly light, that through him it might be preserved in the world until the days when it should be more widely scattered. It seemed essential to this end that Abraham should come right out from his fellow-countrymen, and be separate unto Jehovah, so the Lord said to hi

CHAPTER 12 THE FIRST EVENTS IN ABRAM'S LIFE _ 1. The call and the promise (Genesis 12:1)_ 2. Abram's obedience (Genesis 12:4) 3. The second communication of Jehovah (Genesis 12:7) 4. Abram in Egypt and first denial of Sarai (Genesis 12:10) We come now to a new beginning, the Abrahamic covenant. It marks the beginning of that wonderful race, the seed of Abraham, the people of Israel. Abraham's name is mentioned 74 times in the New Testament. How closely his history is interwoven into New Testament doctrine. This may be learned by consulting the following passages:...

THE CALL OF ABRAHAM, HIS MIGRATION TO CANAAN, AND YAHWEH'S PROMISE TO HIM. From J, except Genesis 12:4_ b_, Genesis 12:5, which is clearly from P. Abraham is called to leave country, kindred, and home for an unnamed land. His faith is thus challenged at the outset (Hebrews 11:8); at the call of God, without question or demur, he abandons the tangible certainties of the present for a vague destination, and the hazards of travel and settlement in a new land. But he goes in confidence, staking his all on the faithfulness of God's promise, that He would make of him a mighty nation, the incarnation of blessedness, to such a degree that all nations would bless themselves by him, that is, use his name in the invocation of blessin