Genesis 12:8

8 And from thence he passed forth to the hill [of] Bethel, that was against the east, and setted there his tabernacle, having Bethel from the west, and Hai from the east. And he builded also there an altar to the Lord, and inwardly called his name. (And from there he went on to the hill country that was east of Bethel, and pitched his tent there, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east. And there he also built an altar to the Lord, and inwardly called on his name.)

Genesis 12:8 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 12:8

And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of
Bethel
As it was afterwards called by Jacob, which before and at this time had the name of Luz, ( Genesis 28:19 ) now to the east of this place was a mountain, whither Abram removed his tent from Sichem, which was about twenty miles from it, as Sir Walter Raleigh ^F6 observes, some say twenty eight ^F7:

and pitched his tent;
that is, upon the mountain, as before upon the plain, fitly representing the state of the people of God, as sojourners in this world, living like Abram in tents and tabernacles, having no abiding place:

having Bethel on the west,
or "on the sea" ^F8, the Mediterranean sea, which Aben Ezra calls the Spanish sea, and lay to the west of the land of Canaan:

and Hai on the east;
the same which is called "Ai", and said to be on the east side of Bethel, ( Joshua 7:2 ) hard by this place, Rauwolff

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 says, you shall still find some old ruins of old stones, where first Abraham the patriarch did build a tent, as you read in ( Genesis 12:8 ) and he says that Bethel is still called to this day Bethisella, and is situated half a league further towards the west, at the foot of the hill, in a very fruitful country:

and there he builded an altar unto the Lord:
as he had done at Sichem; for wherever he went he worshipped God, and offered sacrifice unto him:

and called upon the name of the Lord:
prayed unto him for fresh mercies, as well as gave thanks for past ones; or, "he called in the name of the Lord" ^F11, he called upon Jehovah the Father, in the name of his Son, the glorious Mediator, who had appeared unto him, and whose day he saw and was glad.

F6 History of the World, par. 1. b. 2. sect. 3. p. 132.
F7 Bunting's Travels, p. 56.
F8 (Mym) "a mari", Montanus, Piscater, Schmidt.
F9 Travels, part 3. ch. 21. p. 317. Ed. Ray.
F11 (hwhy Mvb arqyw) "et invocavit in nomine Domini", Montanus, Tigurine version.

Genesis 12:8 In-Context

6 Abram passed through the land till to the place of Sichem, and till to the noble valley. Forsooth Canaanite was then in the land. (And Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, and to the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.)

7 Soothly the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, I shall give this land to thy seed. And Abram built there an altar to the Lord, that appeared to him (And Abram build an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him).

8 And from thence he passed forth to the hill [of] Bethel, that was against the east, and setted there his tabernacle, having Bethel from the west, and Hai from the east. And he builded also there an altar to the Lord, and inwardly called his name. (And from there he went on to the hill country that was east of Bethel, and pitched his tent there, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east. And there he also built an altar to the Lord, and inwardly called on his name.)

9 And Abram went going, and going forth over to the south. (And Abram continued on, and went down to the south.)

10 Soothly hunger was made in the land; and Abram went down into Egypt, to be a pilgrim there (to live there for a while), for hunger had the mastery in the land.