Shechem, Bethel, and the Negev: places on Abram’s route
Says Abram passed through the land “as far as the site of the Oak of Moreh at Shechem” (Gen 12:6; אֵלוֹן מוֹרֶה, elon moreh; שְׁכֶם, shekhem), noting that “at that time the Canaanites were in the land”, then camped “with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east” (12:8) and “journeyed on toward the Negev” (12:9; הַנֶּגְבָּה, hannegbah).
Keil places Shechem where “the present Nâblus, afterwards stood, between Ebal and Gerizim, in the heart of the land”, and takes Moreh’s tree as a terebinth. Calvin holds that “Moreh is the proper name of the place”; his editor glosses the oak as “an oak grove, or forest”. Pseudo-Jonathan has “the plain which had been showed”; Jubilees has Abram dwell “near a lofty oak”, and Charles notes “So LXX”. Keil says Bethel is named “proleptically”, the place then being Luz, “its present name is Beitin”; Calvin also sees “a manifest prolepsis in the word Bethel”. On the Canaanites, Pseudo-Jonathan adds “for the time had not yet come that the sons of Israel should possess it”, and Keil denies that the notice points “to a post-Mosaic date”. Josephus reports a village in the country of Damascus called “The Habitation of Abram”. These are their readings.
Uncertain Whether Moreh is a name or means “teacher,” and what “at that time” implies about date, are open. No ancient Near Eastern text is cited or compared, and these identifications do not fix the meaning of 12:4–9.
Claims
- SaysGen 12:6–9: Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the oak of Moreh, while the Canaanite was then in the land; he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east, and journeyed on toward the Negev.
- UncertainWhether Moreh is a proper name or means “teacher,” and what “then” in 12:6 implies about the date of writing, are open; no ancient Near Eastern text is cited or compared, and the identifications do not fix the meaning.
Citations
- BSB public domain Gen 12:6, 12:8–9
- OSHB CC BY 4.0 Gen 12:6, 12:9
- Keil–Delitzsch, Pentateuch 1 public domain Keil, Pentateuch vol. 1 (Clark, Martin trans., 1868), on Gen 12:6–8, p. 195 (leaf n198), p. 196 (leaf n199); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
- Calvin, Genesis (King) 1 public domain Calvin, Genesis 1 (King, CTS 1847), on Gen 12:6, 8, with the editor’s note, p. 352 (leaf n361), p. 356 (leaf n365); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
- Etheridge public domain Etheridge, vol. 1 (1862), Targum of Palestine (Pseudo-Jonathan) on Gen 12:6, p. 193 (leaf n205); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
- APOT public domain vol. 2 (1913): Jub 13:1, with Charles’s note, p. 32 (leaf n51); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
- Josephus (Whiston) public domain Ant. 1.7.2 = 1.158–160 (Whiston, 1817, vol. 1), p. 27 (leaf n36); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
2026-11-12
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