Genesis 13:3

3 From the Negev, they continued traveling by stages toward Bethel, and they pitched their tents between Bethel and Ai, where they had camped before.

Genesis 13:3 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 13:3

And he went on in his journeys from the south
He took the same tour, went the same road, stopping at the same resting places, as when he went down to Egypt; having learned, as Jarchi observes, the way of the earth, that a man should not change his host. Though some, as Ben Gersom, understand it of his taking his journeys as were suitable for his cattle, as they were able to bear them, and not overdrive them, lest he should kill them, but made short stages, and frequently stopped and rested. And thus he went on through the southern part of the land, until he came

even to Bethel;
as it was afterwards called, though now Luz, ( Genesis 28:19 )

unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning;
when he first came into the land of Canaan, to a mountain

between Bethel and Hai;
afterwards called Mount Ephraim, and was four miles from Jerusalem on the north ^F20; see ( Genesis 12:8 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 Bunting's Travels p. 59.

Genesis 13:3 In-Context

1 So Abram left Egypt and traveled north into the Negev, along with his wife and Lot and all that they owned.

2 (Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold.)

3 From the Negev, they continued traveling by stages toward Bethel, and they pitched their tents between Bethel and Ai, where they had camped before.

4 This was the same place where Abram had built the altar, and there he worshiped the LORD again.

5 Lot, who was traveling with Abram, had also become very wealthy with flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and many tents.