Genesis 13:18

Then Abram removed [his] tent,.... From the mountain between Bethel and Hai, Genesis 13:3; and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, or "in the oaks of Mamre" (e); in a grove of oaks there, as being

Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.

Mamre was an Amorite of great note, from whom the city Hebron was called Mamre, , a friend and confederate of Abram, , by whom it is thought he was brought to the knowledge and worship of the true God. In Hebron; or, near Hebron; for so the Hebrew Beth is sometimes taken.

Genesis 13:18 Then Abram removed [his] tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which [is] in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.Ver. 18. Built an altar.]

(18) The plain of Mamre.—(Heb., oaks of Mamre. See on Genesis 12:6). Mamre was an Amorite, then living, and as he was confederate with Abram, it was apparently with the consent of the Amorites, and by virtue of the treaty entered into with them, that Abram made this oak-grove one of his permanent stations. Hebron.—That is, alliance. Hebron was perhaps so called from the confederacy formed between Abram and the Amorites, and was apparently the name not only of a city, but of a district, as the oaks of Mamre are described as being “in Hebron.” For its other name, Kirjath-arba, see note on Genesis 23:2.

Verse 18. Abram removed his tent] Continued to travel and pitch in different places, till at last he fixed his tent in the plain, or by the oak, of Mamre, see Genesis 12:6, which is in Hebron; i.e., the district in which Mamre was situated was called Hebron. Mamre was an Amorite then living, with whom Abram made a league, Genesis 14:13; and the oak probably went by his name, because he was the possessor of the ground. Hebron is called Kirjath-arba, Genesis 23:2; but it is very likely that Hebron was its primitive name, and that it had the above appellation from being the residence of four gigantic or powerful Anakim, for Kirjath-arba literally signifies the city of the four; See Clarke on Genesis 23:2. Built there an altar unto the Lord.] On which he offered sacrifice, as the word מזבח mizbach, from זבח zabach, to slay, imports. THE increase of riches in the family of Abram must, in the opinion of many, be a source of felicity to them. If earthly possessions could produce happiness, it must be granted that they had now a considerable share of it in their power. But happiness must have its seat in the mind, and, like that, be of a spiritual nature; consequently earthly goods cannot give it; so far are they from either producing or procuring it, that they always engender care and anxiety, and often strifes and contentions. The peace of this amiable family had nearly been destroyed by the largeness of their possessions. To prevent the most serious misunderstandings, Abram and his nephew were obliged to separate. He who has much in general wishes to have more, for the eye is not satisfied with seeing. Lot, for the better accommodation of his flocks and family, chooses the most fertile district in that country, and even sacrifices reverence and filial affection at the shrine of worldly advantage; but the issue proved that a pleasant worldly prospect may not be the most advantageous, even to our secular affairs. Abram prospered greatly in the comparatively barren part of the land, while Lot lost all his possessions, and nearly the lives of himself and family, in that land which appeared to him like the garden of the Lord, like a second paradise. Rich and fertile countries have generally luxurious, effeminate, and profligate inhabitants; so it was in this case. The inhabitants of Sodom were sinners, and exceedingly wicked, and their profligacy was of that kind which luxury produces; they fed themselves without fear, and they acted without shame. Lot however was, through the mercy of God, preserved from this contagion: he retained his religion; and this supported his soul and saved his life, when his goods and his wife perished. Let us learn from this to be jealous over our own wills and wishes; to distrust flattering prospects, and seek and secure a heavenly inheritance.

18. the oaks of Mamre] Better, as R.V. marg., terebinths. Cf. Genesis 14:13, Genesis 18:1. Probably the sacred trees of the Canaanite sanctuary at Hebron. Josephus (Ant. i. x. § 4 and B.J. iv. ix. § 7) mentions the oak tree (äñýò) of Hebron. The so-called oak of Abraham, 3 miles N.W. of Hebron, was shattered by a storm in the winter of 1888–9. The tree was said to be six or seven hundred years old. In Genesis 14:24 Mamre is the name of a local chieftain allied with Abram. Here, and in Genesis 23:17; Genesis 23:19, Genesis 25:9, Genesis 49:30, Genesis 50:13, it is the name of a place near Hebron. in Hebron] The famous city of Judah; cf. Genesis 23:2. From its connexion with Abram it derives its modern name El Ḥ ?alil, “the friend,” an abbreviation of Ḥ ?alil er-raḥ ?man, “the friend of the Merciful One, i.e. God,” the designation of Abram. Cf. Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23. It stands 3000 ft. above the sea, at the junction of the main roads, from Gaza in the W., from Egypt in the S.W., from the Red Sea on the S.E., and from Jerusalem, 19 miles away, on the N.

18. Plain of Mamre — Rather, oaks of Mamre. Abram now pitches his tent among the oaks (or in the oak-grove) of Mamre, as formerly at the oak of Moreh. Genesis 12:6, note.