Exodus 6:4 - Exposition

I have established my covenant with them . Compare Genesis 15:18-21 ; Genesis 17:7 , Genesis 17:8 ; Genesis 26:3 ; Genesis 28:13 . The land of Canaan , in a narrow acceptation, reached "from Sidon unto Gaza" ( Genesis 10:19 ); in a wider sense it included the whole tract between "the river of Egypt ( Wady-el-Arish ) and the great river, the river Euphrates" ( Genesis 15:18 ). It was this larger tract which was promised by God to Abraham. The land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers . Literally, "the land of their sojourns wherein they sojourned." (So Kalisch.) It was by permission of the lords of the soil—the Canaaaites, Perizzites, Hittites, and others, that Abraham and his descendants dwelt in Canaan to the time of Jacob's descent into Egypt. (See Genesis 12:6 ; Genesis 13:7 ; Genesis 23:7 ; Genesis 27:46 , etc.)