=9. Abram=, at the call of the Lord, left with a large retinue of servants and crossed the Euphrates and came into Canaan, probably by the way of Damascus. He immediately entered into the land known then as Canaan, and the first place named on his way is “Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh.” Sichem is the place also called Shechem, and the word Sichem is in the Hebrew precisely the same as Shechem, the variation being one due only to the translator of the Hebrew name into English. =10. Shechem= is almost exactly half way between Dan on the north and Beersheba on the south. It was therefore not till Abram arrived in the midst of the land that he erected an altar to Jehovah after the Lord had promised that to his seed He would give this land, Gen. 12:7. Various tribes of Canaanites occupied the whole future land of Israel, Gen. 10:19. =11. The plain of Moreh= was a mile east of the city, or town, of Shechem. It is evident that both Moreh and Shechem were names of Canaanites, as Shechem is seen in Gen. 33; 34; Num. 26:31; Josh. 17:2, and other places, as a personal name. =12.= The word translated “plain” is equally applicable to a grove of trees, and it may be that Abram chose this grove as a shelter from the heat. Twenty-seven miles north of Shechem is probably the hill called in Judg. 7:1, after the same person, the hill of Moreh. The city of Shochen, which exists at the present time, is between the high hills of Gerizim on the south and Ebal on the north. For the reasons why the word “plain” should be rendered “oak” see Josh. 24:26 and Judg. 9:6, wherein it is evident that a pillar by the oak is meant. Also see that the word “oak” is in the Hebrew exactly the same as that translated “plain” in the text referred to above, Gen. 12:6, and this identical oak seems to have been used for an important purpose many years after. In Deut. 11:30 the name is in the plural, leading us to suppose that it was a grove continuing through many centuries. Groves always were important and sometimes sacred, as it appears from the action of Abraham, for in Gen. 21:33 it is stated that “Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God.” =13. The next place visited= by Abram was an unknown place between Bethel and Hai.[47] Bethel was not so named until 160 years afterwards, by Jacob, Gen. 28:19. Hai and Ai[48] are the same, and this place was probably a Canaanitish town at this time. The distance south of Shechem was 20 miles to the place occupied by the patriarch, where he seems to have remained only to build an altar and then moved on, evidently seeking pasture for his flocks and herds. EGYPT FIRST MENTIONED.