And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
And Abram took ... and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan (see the note at Genesis 11:31). Abram's property was in his flocks; his strength, in the devotedness of his clan; his daily cares and habits were those of the pastoral class to which he belonged. His tribe, as it moved along the successive tracts of country that lay between Haran and Canaan, presented externally a spectacle with which people in the lands of the East have been always familiar-that of a nomadic horde migrating from one district to another. Their immense flocks of sheep and goats, with cattle of various kinds, ranged in droves under the care of shepherds, precede; behind them, at a slow pace, the slaves ('the souls that they had gotten'), occupied in various departments of service, some gently leading the pregnant ewes, some carrying in their arms or on their shoulders the young and the lame, others conducting the wagons with the baggage, or driving the camels and she-asses on which the wives and children are conveyed in litters or counes, and the chief riding frequently from one part to another to see that all is right.
In this manner they move slowly forward on their journey at the rate of two and a half or three miles an hour, halting for a time at short stages, where pasture and water can be obtained, and looking out toward evening for some convenient spot to encamp, when the servants, hastily unbuckling the baggage, drive the tent-pins into the ground, unfurl the black or white goat or camel's hair-cloth, and placing the perpendicular poles, raise the oblong or cone-shaped tents, to the number of 50, 100, or 200, in a straight or semi-circular row.
As far as pertains to the outward appearance, an exact type of the nomad life which Abram led is exhibited by the Arab shepherds, who wander to this day over the unoccupied parts of Palestine and the adjoining countries. But the resemblance is only in outward aspect. The grand difference was in the inner life of Abram, who from the time of being called was, even amid the details of his pastoral pursuits, occupied with what is unseen and spiritual.
Into the land of Canaan they came - with his wife and an orphan nephew. His route is not described. But upon leaving Haran he would first have to cross the upper fords of the Euphrates, then, going along the desert road which still leads into Syria, he would pass through the oasis of Tadmor. It is probable that he advanced along what is still the desert road to Syria; but whether there be any reliable truth in the testimony of pagan historians and Oriental legends, that his caravan encamped at Aleppo, where a stone trough used by his cattle is still pointed out, and at Damascus, which is indirectly confirmed by the sacred history (Genesis 15:2), it is impossible to say. Leaving Damascus (which there is great probability that he visited), he would proceed across the Hauran, pass the Rephaim settlements in the Lejjah, descend the valley of the Jabbok, and crossing the ford of the Jordan, arrive in the valley of Shechem, the most beautiful and fertile district of Canaan. Abram reached his destination in safety, and thus the first promise (Genesis 12:1) was made good.