Genesis 13:17

17 Arise, go through the length of the land and through its breadth, for I will give 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 for all the land which you see I will give to you, and to your descendants, forever.
16 I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth which, if anyone were able to count the dust of the earth, your descendants would be [so] counted.
17 Arise, go through the length of the land and through its breadth, for I will give it to you."
18 So Abram pitched his tent, and he came and settled at the oaks of Mamre, which [were] at Hebron. And there he built an altar to Yahweh.
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