Genesis 21:32

32 and they made bond of peace for the well of an oath. Forsooth Abimelech rose, and Phicol, the prince of his chivalry, and they turned again into the land of Palestines. (and so they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech, and Phicol, the ruler of his cavalry, arose, and they returned to the land of the Philistines.)

Genesis 21:32 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 21:32

Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba
Which took its name from the oath annexed to the covenant there made; and which is observed for the sake of what follows, to show that when they finished their agreement, and the ceremony of it, then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol, the chief captain of his host;
from the place where they had been conversing and covenanting with Abraham: and they returned into the land of the Philistines;
from Beersheba, which was in the extreme border of it, unto Gerar, which lay in the midst of it, and was the capital city in it; otherwise both places were in Palestine, or the land of the Philistines, a people that came out of Egypt originally, and settled here: in Jerom's ^F21 time Beersheba was a large village, twenty miles from Hebron to the south.

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 De loc. Heb. fol. 89. F.

Genesis 21:32 In-Context

30 And he said, Thou shalt take of mine hand seven ewe lambs, that those be into witnessing to me, for I digged this well. (And he said, Take thou these seven ewe lambs from me, and by accepting them, thou agreeth that I have dug this well.)

31 Therefore that place was called Beersheba, (that is, The Well of the Oath ,) for ever either swore there;

32 and they made bond of peace for the well of an oath. Forsooth Abimelech rose, and Phicol, the prince of his chivalry, and they turned again into the land of Palestines. (and so they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech, and Phicol, the ruler of his cavalry, arose, and they returned to the land of the Philistines.)

33 Soothly Abraham planted a wood in Beersheba, and inwardly called there (on) the name of [the] everlasting God;

34 and he was an earth-tiller, or a comeling, of the land of Palestines in many days. (and as a newcomer, he worked the soil in the land of the Philistines, for many days.)