to cross over · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
land
בָּאָ֔רֶץba.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
place
מְק֣וֹםme.Kom
H4725
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct
Sichem
שְׁכֶ֔םshe.Khem
H7927
Shekem · proper noun, a place name
plain
אֵל֣וֹן'e.Lon
H436
an oak or other strong tree · noun, common masculine singular construct
Moreh
מוֹרֶ֑הmo.Reh
H4176
Moreh · proper noun, a place name
Canaanite
וְהַֽכְּנַעֲנִ֖יve.ha.ke.na.'a.Ni
H3669
a Kenaanite or inhabitant of Kenaan · conjunction + definite article + noun, gentilic masculine singular absolute
then
אָ֥ז'az
H227
at that time or place · adverb
land
בָּאָֽרֶץba.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Deuteronomy 11:30 Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over…
Hebrews 11:9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of t…
Genesis 13:7 And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled th…
Genesis 35:4 And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them…
Genesis 10:18-19 And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
Genesis 15:18-21 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great ri…
Judges 7:1 Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host…
Genesis 10:15 And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 12:6-9
One would have expected that Abram having had such an extraordinary call to Canaan some great event should have followed upon his arrival there, that he would have been introduced with all possible marks of honour and respect, and that the kings of Canaan should immediately have surrendered their crowns to him, and done him homage. But no; he comes not with observation, little notice is taken of him, for still God will have him to live by faith, and to look upon Canaan, even when he was in it, as a land of promise; therefore observe here,
I. How little comfort he had in the land he came to; for, 1. He had it not to himself: The Canaanite was then in the land. He found the country peopled and…
the place of Sichem--or Shechem, a pastoral valley then unoccupied (compare Gen 33:18).
plain of Moreh--rather, the "terebinth tree" of Moreh, very common in Palestine, remarkable for its wide-spreading branches and its dark green foliage. It is probable that in Moreh there was a grove of these trees, whose inviting shade led Abram to choose it for an encampment.
Adam Clarke on Genesis 12:6
The plain of Moreh - אלון elon should be translated oak, not plain; the Septuagint translate την δρυν την ὑψηλην, 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 cont…
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 S…
The Church Fathers
And when they had come to it, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. It is read above that while Abram was still living in Haran, the Lord spoke to him, promising manifold blessings, commanding him to leave there and come into the land that He would show him. When he did this and willingly obeyed the divine commands, he was immediately deemed worthy of greater grace from God, so that not only would he enjoy His speech, as before, but also merit His vision. When, through the same divine vision and speech, he knew that this was the land promised to him for possession, he quickly, as a man devoted to God, built an altar there to dedicate and consecrate it for offering sacrifices to Him. But because sacred history is full of mystical types, it should be noted that the Lord's appearance and the erection of the altar are recorded as having taken place at Shechem and at the oak of Moreh. What illustrious valley, if not humility, is figuratively understood? When called by the Lord from the labors and burdens of this world, we must have humility as the first among virtues, as He Himself says: "Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:29). The place Shechem mystically fits this bearing of the burden because it translates into shoulders in Latin, for it is necessary that with the humility of mind we take up the burdens of good works to be carried. When we diligently strive to do this, we will immediately merit the grace of the Lord's visitation and consolation, so that we may gradually be able to ascend to higher degrees of virtues. Hence rightly, about the advancements of Abram's journeys, which signify the progression of good works, it is added:
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Abraham — Father of a multitude, son of Terah, named (Gen. 11:27) before his older brothers Nahor and Haran, because he was the heir of the promises. Till the age of seventy, Abram sojourned among his kindred…
Canaanites — The descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham. Migrating from their original home, they seem to have reached the Persian Gulf, and to have there sojourned for some time. They thence “spread to the west,…
Canaanites, The — a word used in two senses:
Gilgal — Rolling. (1.) From the solemn transaction of the reading of the law in the valley of Shechem between Ebal and Gerizim the Israelites moved forward to Gilgal, and there made a permanent camp (Josh.…
Grove — (1.) Heb. ‘asherah, properly a wooden image, or a pillar representing Ashtoreth, a sensual Canaanitish goddess, probably usually set up in a grove (2 Kings 21:7; 23:4). In the Revised Version the…
Moreh — An archer, teacher; fruitful. (1.) A Canaanite probably who inhabited the district south of Shechem, between Mounts Ebal and Gerizim, and gave his name to the “plain” there (Gen. 12:6). Here at this…
Oak — There are six Hebrew words rendered “oak.” (1.) ‘El occurs only in the word El-paran (Gen. 14:6). The LXX. renders by “terebinth.” In the plural form this word occurs in Isa. 1:29; 57:5 (A.V. marg.…
Plain — (1.) Heb. ‘abel (Judg. 11:33), a “grassy plain” or “meadow.” Instead of “plains of the vineyards,” as in the Authorized Version, the Revised Version has “Abel-cheramim” (q.v.), comp. Judg. 11:22; 2…
Plains — This one term does duty in the Authorized Version for no less than seven distinct Hebrew words.
Shechem — Shoulder. (1.) The son of Hamor the Hivite (Gen. 33:19; 34). (2.) A descendant of Manasseh (Num. 26:31; Josh. 17:2). (3.) A city in Samaria (Gen. 33:18), called also Sichem (12:6), Sychem (Acts…
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…
On his arrival in Canaan, "Abram passed through the land to the place of Sichem:" i.e., the place where Sichem, the present Nablus, afterwards stood, between Ebal and Gerizim, in the heart of the land. "To the terebinth (or, according to Deu 11:30, the terebinths) of Moreh:" אלון איל (Gen 14:6) and אילה are the terebinth, אלּון and אלּה the oak; though in many MSS and editions אלּון and אלון are interchanged in Jos 19:33 and Jdg 4:11, either because the pointing in one of these passages is inaccurate, or because the word itself was uncertain, as the ever-green oaks and terebinths resemble one another in the colour of their foliage and their fissured bark of sombre grey. - The notice that "th…
The oak of Moreh was apparently a Canaanite shrine; fertile groves of trees were sacred to the Canaanites (cp. Isa 1:29), and Moreh means “teacher.” Abram proclaimed (Luther: “preached”) the Lord’s name beside a pagan place of worship and instruction (Gen 12:8). • Abram continued to be a blessing when he built an altar to worship God at Shechem and east of Bethel (12:8).
Canaan · .Promised to Abraham and his seed — .Promised to Abraham and his seed
Canaanites · Territory of — Territory of
Canaanites, The · Abraham: Had his faith tried by dwelling amongst — Abraham: Had his faith tried by dwelling amongst
Courage · .Abraham, in leaving his fatherland — .Abraham, in leaving his fatherland
Moreh · 1. A plain near Shechem and Gilgal — 1. A plain near Shechem and Gilgal
Religion · .Abraham — .Abraham
Shechem · .Abraham lives in — .Abraham lives in
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
