Genesis 13:17

17 Go and walk through the land in every direction, for I am giving it to you.”

Genesis 13:17 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 13:17

Arise, walk through the land
And take a survey of it, and see what a land it is, how good and how large, and take possession of it for himself and his, though he was only to be a sojourner in it; and so the Targum of Jonathan adds, and making in it a possession, which in civil law was done by walking: in the length of it, and in the breadth of it;
the extent of it is variously settled by geographers; some giving it no more than about one hundred and seventy or eighty miles in length, from north to south, and about one hundred and forty in breadth from east to west, where broadest, as it is towards the south, and but about seventy where narrowest, as it is towards the north: but it is observed F4 from the latest and most accurate maps, that it appears to extend near two hundred miles in length, and about eighty in breadth about the middle, and ten or fifteen more or less where it widens or shrinks: for I will give it unto thee;
that is, to his seed, the whole of it, in its utmost extent, as to length and breadth; which if he pleased for his own satisfaction he might take a tour through, whereby he would be a judge what was bestowed on him and his


FOOTNOTES:

F4 Vid. Universal History, vol. 2. p. 385.

Genesis 13:17 In-Context

15 I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a permanent possession.
16 And I will give you so many descendants that, like the dust of the earth, they cannot be counted!
17 Go and walk through the land in every direction, for I am giving it to you.”
18 So Abram moved his camp to Hebron and settled near the oak grove belonging to Mamre. There he built another altar to the LORD .
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