Genesis 21:33 - Exposition

And Abraham planted —as a sign of his peaceful occupation of the soil (Calvin); as a memorial of the transaction about the well ('Speaker's Commentary'); or simply as a shade for his tent (Rosenmüller); scarcely as an oratory (Bush, Kalisch)— a grove —the אֵשֶׁל —wood, plantation (Targum, Vulgate, Samaritan, Kimchi); a field, ἄρουραν ( LXX .)—was probably the Tamarix Africanae (Gesenius, Furst, Delitzsch, Rosenmüller, Kalisch), which, besides being common in Egypt and Petraea, is mid to have been found growing near the ancient Beersheba— in Beersheba, and called there (not beneath the tree or in the grove, but in the place) on the name of the Lord ,—Jehovah ( vide Genesis 12:8 ; Genesis 13:4 )— the everlasting God —literally, the God of eternity ( LXX ; Vulgate, Onkelos); not in contrast to heathen deities, who are born and die (Clericus), but "as the everlasting Vindicator of the faith of treaties, and as the infallible Source of the believer's rest and peace" (Murphy).