Planted a grove— Abraham planted this grove, no doubt, to erect an altar there, and to perform the duties of religion. These groves were universal in the Heathen world; nunquam est lucus sine religione, says Servius, there is never a grove, but it is consecrated to religion. The pious fathers of the most early antiquity seem to have chosen groves as their temples and solemn theatres of devotion, to which their silence and natural gloom dispose the contemplative mind. From them the custom seems to have been derived to the heathen world: Pliny tells us, that as groves and trees were the ancient temples, so even in his days, among the country people, where primitive simplicity still remained, it was usual to consecrate to God the most stately tree of the grove. This custom, very likely, began with Abraham, but it soon degenerated into gross and barbarous superstition; on which account groves were prohibited by the Levitical law, and ordered universally to be destroyed. See Exodus 34:13; Exodus 34:35.Deuteronomy 12:3.
Called there— In the grove dedicated to the Divine service, he worshipped the Lord, the everlasting God, that Jehovah, who alone enjoys an essential underived existence, without beginning or end of duration, and from whom all other beings are derived; the God, who is, and was, and is to came.
Here for a while he settles in comfort, yet hath not a home, but a lodging; but wherever his abode, there shall be a house of prayer. He plants a grove, a place for contemplation, meditation, and prayer, and probably an open oratory, set apart not only for his own private, but also his family devotions, and those of any of his neighbours who choose to join with him; and the object of his worship is the Everlasting God. Happy they who follow his steps, and find the everlasting arms of this everlasting God under them, as Abraham did!