5. Substance Literally, possessions which they had gained possession of flocks and herds . Souls Persons, which they had acquired, the dependent followers of the household establishment . We find afterwards that Abram has three hundred and eighteen trained servants whom he leads forth in a warlike expedition, to rescue Lot . Genesis 14:14. read more
6. Passed through the land Descending, probably, by way of Damascus as we find afterwards that the steward of his house is a native of that city thence southward and along the valley of the Jabbok by the route afterwards followed by Jacob, and across the Jordan unto the place of Sichem, or Shechem, the region in which afterwards, and in the writer’s time, the town of Shechem was situated. (Neapolis and Nablus in subsequent time.) Yet the name, meaning shoulder, was probably given the... read more
7. The Lord appeared unto Abram This is the first time that Jehovah is said to have appeared to man; and here, at Shechem, Christ revealed himself as the Messiah to a woman of Samaria . How Jehovah appeared at this time to Abram no man is now competent to say, and speculation and theories seem idle . Here was the first altar built to Jehovah as the covenant God; but we may be sure that “Melchizedek, king of Salem, and priest of the Most High God,” was also at this time offering... read more
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Whedon's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 12:4
ABRAM IN CANAAN, Genesis 12:4-9. 4. Departed Abram obeys, and goes forth from Haran, westward, over the river, as it was ever called by the Hebrews, the great Euphrates, afterwards the boundary of the kingdom of David and Solomon, separating Aram from Padan-Aram, the fertile Mesopotamian plain from the Syrian desert, and henceforth he was Abram, the Hebrew, the man who had crossed the border from beyond the great river, ( ο περατης , LXX of Genesis 14:13,) the emigrant, the ... read more