“And Avram passed through the land… and the Canaanites were then in the land” (B’reishis 12:6). Being that the text of the Torah was given to the nation before Moshe died (see D’varim 31:26), and this part of the Torah was part of “the Book of the Covenant” that Moshe wrote down and read to the nation at Sinai, 40 years before he died (see Rashi on Sh’mos 24:7), saying that the Canaanites were “then” in the land seems out of place. Since the Land of Canaan wasn’t conquered until after Moshe’s death, obviously during Avr[ah]am’s time the Canaanites were still there. What is the Torah trying to tell us by mentioning that when Avraham traveled through the Promised Land the Canaanites were there?
Ibn Ezra points out that the word “then” fits if the Canaanites conquered the land from someone else, as they were “then” in the land even though they hadn’t been there previously. However, since the Land of Canaan is described as being the “borders” of Canaan’s descendants from the time the world was re-inhabited after the flood (B’reishis 10:19), it would be difficult to say that it originally belonged to others and was later conquered by the Canaanites. We would also need to figure out why the Torah wanted us to know that the Land of Canaan had belonged to others before the Canaanites conquered it.
Along similar lines, Rashi explains the verse to mean that “Canaan was then in the process of conquering the land from the descendants of Shem.” Although this explains why the Torah uses the word “then” (as that was the precisely when Canaan was conquering the land), it raises other issues. Besides the Torah indicating that the land was initially inhabited by Canaan (and not Shem), why would they be conquering it from Shem’s descendants rather than directly from Shem himself? I addressed these and other issues several years ago (www.aishdas.org/ta/5765/lechLecha.pdf), suggesting that although the land was given to Shem, it was assigned to his servants, Canaan, to take care of until the time came for the Chosen People (who were descendants of Shem) to inherit the Promised Land. However, instead of fulfilling their role as caretakers, the Canaanites took possession of the land with the intent of becoming its owners, thereby “conquering” it from the descendants of Shem (as opposed to from Shem himself, who still lived there). As far as why the Torah tells us this, Rashi continues by saying “therefore ‘and G-d said to Avraham (paraphrasing the next verse) I will give this land to your descendants,’ [i.e.] I will, in the future, return it to your sons who are descendants of Shem.” In other words, the reason G-d told Avraham that his descendants would be given the land was to alleviate his concerns about the Canaanites conquering the land from Shem.
[Even though this is the first time the Torah mentions that the Promised Land will be given to Avraham and his descendants, since this conversation took place when Avraham was 75 years old (12:4), and the “covenant between the pieces” took place when he was 70 years old (see Rashi on Sh’mos 12:40; Avraham was 100 when Yitzchok was born, which was 30 years after this covenant was enacted), Avraham had been told that he (15:7) and his descendants (15:18) would be given the Promised Land at least five years earlier. Therefore, upon Avraham seeing the Canaanites take possession of land that belonged to Shem, G-d reassured him that even though he (Avraham) would be considered a “stranger” in the land, eventually his descendants would become its rightful owners.]
In “Recalling the Covenant,” Rabbi Moshe Shamah (discussing Avr[ah]am and Terach’s leaving Ur Kasdim) mentions a “migration trend of those times that saw people moving from the exceedingly populated Mesopotamian centers of the East (i.e. Ur) to the more lightly populated West” (i.e. Charan). Referring to Avraham’s subsequent move to Canaan, he writes, “Canaan, with its sparse population, was a region more suitable for the founding of a new nation.” Chasam Sofer, expanding upon the difficulty Avraham faced moving from familiar surroundings to Canaan, says the following: “[Avraham] expected that [G-d] would bring him to one of the countries that was still uninhabited, for this occurred shortly after the dispersion (when the nations were scattered after the attempt to build the Tower of Bavel, see B’reishis 11:1-9), as Avraham was 48 when the dispersion took place (see Rashi on 19:20) and was now 75, and in those 27 years not every country was settled, and [Avraham] thought G-d would have him take hold of one of the areas that was uninhabited, and live there and grow.” Chasam Sofer continues by saying that this was the significance of “and the Canaanites were then in the land,” meaning that contrary to what Avraham thought, the place that G-d led him to was in fact already inhabited (by Canaanites). Instead of being able to start a new nation and religion in a new, uninhabited country, he would have to do so in a place that was already settled, where he would be a “stranger.” According to this, rather than the word “then” implying “but not before” (as Ibn Ezra implies) or “during that time” (as Rashi understands it), it would mean “already by that time,” as, much to Avraham’s surprise, the Canaanites had already settled the land.
One advantage Chasam Sofer’s approach has over Rashi’s is that it fits better with a similar verse later on (13:7), “and the Canaanites and the Perizites were then dwelling in the land.” Although the context of this statement indicates that the information is relevant to the quarrel that took place between Avraham’s shepherds and Lot’s shepherds (as having others who lived there meant that the grazing land had to be shared by that many more people; Rashi explains it to mean that since the land belonged to others, Avraham and Lot had no right to graze on it), and the word “then” in that verse can be explained the same way as in the earlier one, the addition of the word “dwelling” complicates matters. According to Chasam Sofer, since the point of saying “then” is that they were already living there, mentioning that two Canaanite families already lived there is easy to understand (with the second “family of Canaan” included because they were living near where Avraham and Lot had their flocks). According to Rashi, though, was there really enough time between Avraham and Lot’s move to Canaan (when the Canaanites were “conquering” the land) and their return to Canaan from Egypt for the “conquerors” to now be considered “dwellers”? Wasn’t their act of “conquering” continuous, building up and living in the area as if they were its owners rather than its caretakers? On the other hand, according to Chasam Sofer, the fact that the Canaanites were “dwellers” was mentioned the second time because being “dwellers” gave them the rights to the grazing land, a point that was irrelevant the first time.
Another aspect that Chasam Sofer’s approach brings out is why Avraham traveled from place to place after he arrived in the Promised Land. Although G-d explicitly told him to travel “its length and breadth” (13:17), those instructions weren’t given until after Lot had separated from him and moved to Sodom; Avraham moved from place to place right away, “passing through the land” (12:6) and continuously traveling (12:8-9). If Avraham was expecting to find an uninhabited place to live, we can understand why he kept moving, as he was searching for an area that was vacant. It was only after G-d told him that the entire area would be his (13:14-15), even though he could see that large swaths (at the very least) were already inhabited, that Avraham stopped looking for a “private” area to live, and started to “dwell” with those who were already there (13:18).
