Genesis 12:7

7 God appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your children." Abram built an altar at the place God had appeared to him.

Genesis 12:7 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 12:7

And the Lord appeared unto Abram
Perhaps in an human form, and so it was the Son of God; for whenever there was any visible appearance of a divine Person, under the former dispensation, it seems to be always of the essential Word, that was to be incarnate, and who spake with an articulate voice:

and said, unto thy seed will I give this land;
the whole of it inhabited by Canaanites and others; and it was for this end chiefly that Abram was called out of Chaldea into Canaan, to be shown the land, and have the grant of it for his posterity:

and there builded an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him:
by way of gratitude and thankfulness for his kind and gracious appearance, and for the gift of the land of Canaan to his offspring; for on this altar he no doubt offered sacrifice in a way of thanksgiving, as Noah did when he came out of the ark.

Genesis 12:7 In-Context

5 Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot with him, along with all the possessions and people they had gotten in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan and arrived safe and sound.

6 Abram passed through the country as far as Shechem and the Oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites occupied the land.

7 God appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your children." Abram built an altar at the place God had appeared to him.

8 He moved on from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent between Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. He built an altar there and prayed to God.

9 Abram kept moving, steadily making his way south, to the Negev.