John Calvin Commentary Genesis 12:6

"And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Shechem, unto the oak of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land." — Genesis 12:6 (ASV)

And Abram passed through the land. Here Moses shows that Abram did not immediately, upon entering the land, find a dwelling in which he might rest. For the expression "passed through," and the position of the place (Shechem) to which he passed, show that his journey had been long.

Shechem is not far from Mount Gerizim, which is towards the desert of the southern region. Therefore, it is just as Moses said, that Abram's faith was again tested when God allowed him as a wanderer to traverse the whole land before He gave him any fixed dwelling. How hard it would seem, when God had promised to be his Protector, that not even a small corner was assigned to him on which he might set his foot! But he was compelled to wander in a circuitous route, so that he might better exercise self-denial.

The word אלון (Elon) is translated by some as an oak forest, by others as a valley; still others take it as the proper name of a place. I do not doubt that Moreh is the proper name of the place. However, I explain Elon to mean a plain or an oak—not that it was a single tree, but the singular is used for the plural—and this latter interpretation I most approve.

And the Canaanite was then in the land. This clause concerning the Canaanite is not added without reason, because it was no slight temptation to be thrown among that treacherous and wicked nation, devoid of all humanity. What could the holy man then think, but that he was betrayed into the hands of these most depraved men, by whom he might soon be murdered, or else that he would have to spend a disturbed and miserable life amidst continual injuries and troubles?

But it was beneficial for him to become accustomed, through such discipline, to cherish a better hope. For if he had been kindly and courteously received in the land of Canaan, he would have hoped for nothing better than to spend his life there as a guest. But now God raises his thoughts higher, so that he might conclude that at some future time, with the inhabitants destroyed, he would be the lord and heir of the land.

Moreover, he is admonished by the continual lack of rest to look up towards heaven. For since the inheritance of the land was specially promised to him, and would belong to his descendants only for his sake, it follows that the land in which he was so badly and inhumanly treated was not presented to him as his ultimate goal, but that heaven itself was offered to him as his final resting place.