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 appropriated this word to the oak, while the kindred word, `eelaah (H413), was used for the terebinth.] It is highly probable that in Moreh there was a grove of oak trees, whose inviting shade led Abram to choose it for an encampment. Moreh was probably the name of a native chief, who, like Mamre, had possessions and influence in that quarter (cf. Judges 7:1). Abram erected a temporary alter there; and in consequence of this interesting event the place became a hallowed spot in the eyes of the Hebrews (Genesis 35:4; Joshua 24:1; Joshua 24:26; Judges 9:6; Judges 9:37).
And the Canaanite was then in the land. The territory originally occupied by the Canaanites as a separate tribe is distinctly described, Genesis 10:19. This remark, which is subjoined parenthetically, has been fastened upon as a proof of the late composition of this history, as implying that though in Abram's time the Canaanite was in the land, he had ceased to have a place there in the writer's days. The objection is not founded in historic truth: for it appears from Genesis 34:30; 1 Kings 9:20-21; Ezekiel 9:1, that the Canaanite continued to a certain extent in later ages to occupy the land. Various explanations have been suggested of this difficulty. Rejecting that of Hengstenberg, who considers the word then an interpolation, we accept either that of Knobel, that the Canaanite tribes which in the time of Moses were spread over the western coast and along the Jordan, were in Abram's time, in the very heart of the country, even in Shechem; or that of Chrysostom, adopted by Gerlach, Delitzsch, etc., that the occupation of the land by that people at the time of Abram's entrance is mentioned to show the strength of his faith in the promise recorded (Genesis 12:7). The Canaanite might probably have shown some jealousy at the Shemite intruder into the neighbourhood of his settlements, which induced Abram to resolve on speedily removing southwards; and at such a time it was a most seasonable encouragement to his faith to receive a special assurance from God that "this land," then occupied by the hostile colony of Hamites, should become the permanent possession of his posterity.