And Abram passed through—literally, passed over, or traveled about as a pilgrim (cf. Hebrews 11:9) in—the land unto (or as far as) the place of Sichem. A prolepsis for the place where the city Shechem (either built by or named after the Hivite prince, Genesis 34:2) was afterwards situated, viz; between Ebal and Gerizim, in the middle of the land; "the most beautiful, perhaps the only very beautiful, spot in Central Palestine" (Stanley's 'Sinai and Palestine,' 5:234).
The modern name of Sichem is Nablus, a corruption of Neapolis. Unto the plain. אֵלוֹן, from אוּל or אִיל, to be strong, a strong, hardy tree: the terebinth, as opposed to the oak, אַלּוֹן, from אָלַל (Celsius Michaelis, Rosenmüller, Keil); the oak, as distinguished from אֵלָה, the turpentine tree, or terebinth (Gesenius, Kalisch, Murphy).
But it seems demonstrable that these and the other cognate terms, אַלָּה אֵיל, are frequently used as synonymous for any large, strong tree (cf. Genesis 35:5; 9:9; 24:26; Joshua 19:33 with 4:11), though commonly אֵלוֹן, oak, is opposed to אֵלָה, terebinth, as in Isaiah 6:13; Hosea 4:13.
The translation of אֵלוֹן by plain (Targums, A.V.) is inaccurate, though "the truth is it was both a plain and set with oaks" (Willet). Of Moreh. like Mature (Genesis 13:18), the name of the owner of the oak-grove (Murphy, Kalisch, Alford); probably a priestly character (Moreh signifying a teacher, 7:1; 2 Kings 17:28; Isaiah 9:15) who instituted the Divine cultus in the locality (Luther); though it has also been regarded as the name of the place (Calvin), which maybe here given to it by anticipation (Wordsworth), being derived from raah, to see, and equivalent to the place of vision (Samaritan), because God there appeared to the patriarch (Fagius), and showed him the land of Canaan (Masius, Lyra).
Knobel renders "the oak of the teacher," comparing it with "the oak of the witches" ( 9:37). The LXX. translate by ὑψηλήν, lofty, and the Vulgate by illustrem. And the Canaanite was then in the land.