John Calvin Commentary Genesis 12:8

"And he removed from thence unto the mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Ai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto Jehovah, and called upon the name of Jehovah." — Genesis 12:8 (ASV)

And he removed from thence. When we hear that Abram moved from the place where he had built an altar to God, we should not doubt that he was compelled by some necessity to do so. He found the inhabitants there unfavorable, and therefore moved his tent elsewhere. But if Abram bore his continual wanderings patiently, our fussiness is utterly inexcusable when we complain against God if He does not grant us a quiet nest. Certainly, when Christ has opened heaven to us and daily invites us there to live with Him, we should not take it badly if He chooses for us to be strangers in the world. The sum of the passage is this: Abram was without a settled residence, a title Paul assigns to Christians (1 Corinthians 4:11). Moreover, there is a clear prolepsis (an anticipatory reference) in the use of the name Bethel; for Moses gives the place this name to make his account understandable to the people of his own time.

And there he builded an altar. Moses commends Abram's tireless devotion to piety. For by these words, he indicates that whatever place Abram visited, he practiced the external worship of God there, both so that he would share no religious rites with the wicked and so that he might keep his family in sincere piety.

And it is probable that, for this reason, he would face considerable hostility, because there is nothing that more infuriates the wicked than a religion different from their own, by which they perceive themselves to be not only despised but completely condemned as blind. And we know that the Canaanites were cruel and proud, and very quick to avenge insults.

This was perhaps the reason for Abram’s frequent moves: his neighbors regarded the altars he built as a reproach to themselves. It should indeed be attributed to the wonderful favor of God that he was not frequently stoned. Nevertheless, since the holy man knows that he is rightly required to bear witness that he has a God uniquely his own, whom he must not, through pretense, effectively deny, he therefore does not hesitate to prefer the glory of God to his own life.