Exodus 6:4 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Bible Comments

My covenant. — See Genesis 15:18-21; Genesis 17:7-8; Genesis 26:3-4; Genesis 35:12. &c.

The land of Canaan. — Canaan proper was the tract between Sidon and Gaza (Genesis 10:19), which is now counted as “Palestine “; but the region promised to Abraham, and included in a larger sense of the word “Canaan,” was very much more extensive, reaching as it did from the Nile to the Euphrates (Genesis 15:18). This vast territory was actually possessed by Israel under David and Solomon (1 Kings 4:21-24).

The land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. — Heb., The land of their sojournings, wherein they sojourned. (Comp. Genesis 17:8; Genesis 23:4; Genesis 28:4.) Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were occupants of Canaan merely by sufferance: they were allowed to dwell in it because it was not half peopled; but the ownership was recognised as belonging to the Canaanite nations, Hittites and others (Genesis 20:15; Genesis 23:3-20, &c).

Exodus 6:4

4 And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.