ויעבר אברם בארץ עד מקום שכם, "Avram traversed the country (traveling in a southerly direction) as far as the site of the town of Shechem.⁠" The location is mentioned to tell us that he offered a prayer there concerning the sons of Yaakov, who he foresaw, would encounter many problems associated with that location and who would engage in a war there in order to free their sister Dinah who had been captured and raped. This in spite of the fact that when he had described himself as ערירי, unable to sire offspring, God had assured him that he would not only have children but that he would found a great nation. He was concerned that perhaps due to a sin on his part, this promise would be long delayed in being fulfilled.

Nachmanides writes that all the journeys of Avraham which are recorded here, as well as those of Yitzchok and Yaakov after him, are recorded to serve as illustrations of the principle מעשה אבות סימן לבנים, that the affairs of the patriarchs foreshadow experiences which occurred in the lives of their offspring during the history of the Jews as a people. The decrees announced by the prophets (the "wakeful ones,⁠" according to Daniel 4,14) were based on their interpreting events in the lives of the patriarchs as foreshadowing the fate of their children and children's children. When the prophets engaged in what appear to be merely symbolic actions [such as Jeremiah 51,63-64 giving instructions to Baruch, his disciple, to tie a stone to the book of Jeremiah after he has finished reading it, and to throw it into the river Euphrates and to say at that moment: "thus shall Babylon sink and never rise again, because of the disaster that I will bring upon it.⁠"] Baruch was instructed to perform this act so as to make God's decree more than just a potential judgment on the Babylonians. By performing a tangible, visible act, the decree was transformed from something merely potential to something actual, though the time for realization had not yet been determined. In a similar manner, all the stories related in detail about the patriarchs serve as the catalyst for eventual repetition in the lives of the Jewish people. We find a similar example in the days of Elisha (Kings II 13,15) who instructed King Joash to get a bow and arrows and to shoot out the window. Having shot an arrow, Elisha proclaimed this gesture to have been a symbol of victory for the people of Israel. He then instructed the king to pick up the arrows he had shot. The King complied. He was then instructed to strike the ground. The King struck the ground three times and stopped. (without having been told to stop) Elisha was very angry at the King and told him that if only he had continued another five or six times, he would have annihilated Aram. As it were, he would defeat the armies of Aram only three times. [Elisha was already sick at the time, close to death, and therefore especially frustrated by the King's action. Ed.] The Bible does not tell us stories like this merely to embellish the study of our history. These symbolic actions are extremely important in helping certain decrees of God which were in the realm of the potential only, to become translated into reality. God provided the patriarchs with opportunities to perform such symbolic gestures, which in the course of Jewish history would prove to have been the trigger setting in motion important historic developments. This is the meaning of מעשה אבות סימן לבנים.

The Torah stated והכנעני אז בארץ, that "the Canaanite was then in control of the land of Canaan,⁠" a banal statement, for why else would the land be described as the land of the Canaanites? There is a far deeper meaning to this statement. Among other meanings, the Torah is on record that Jews had already moved around unopposed in the land of Canaan at a time when the time was not yet ripe for this people to be expelled from that land on account of what the Torah described as עון האמורי, "the sin of the Emorite.⁠" (Genesis 15,16)

It is also possible that the reason why the Torah saw fit to write the line והכנעני אז בארץ, is to explain why it took Avraham such a long time before he built the first altar dedicated to monotheism. He had been afraid, as the land was owned by the Canaanite and he could not expect that they would take kindly to a stranger publicly challenging their religious convictions. It was only after God had appeared to him and given him assurances that he was no longer afraid to do what he had in mind to do already previously. The promise that his children in due course would inherit this land, a promise given in verse 7, encouraged him to become an evangelist on behalf of his God.

Elon (Moreh) (verse 6) is none other than Shechem. (Nablus in our time) The addition of the word מורה appears in connection with this location which is also defined as being opposite Gilgal and Mount Gerizim elsewhere. (compare Deut. 11,30) The meaning of the words ה-אל הנראה אליו, appears to imply that God instructed Avraham to build the altar at that location The word מורה, from הוראה, "instruction,⁠" was appended to the name of the place Elon to remind us that Avraham had received Divine instructions there. The very word אליו "directly to him,⁠" is indicative of the fact that this revelation was of a more advanced nature than any previous communication by God to Avraham.

There are some commentators who feel that the words והכנעני אז בארץ, were meant to stress the loving kindness of God towards Avraham in that He protected Avraham every step of the way in spite of the fact that the land was owned by a hostile nation [which had already succeeded in driving the Semites out of most of that land. Ed.] Avraham traversed this land with substantial herds, as if the whole land belonged to him. He was not challenged and not molested.