bowed himself Abraham's humble demeanour towards the people of the land doubtless conforms to the elaborate usages of Oriental bargaining. But it is also probably here emphatically recorded as indicating Abraham's loneliness among the people of the land, and, therefore, in ironical contrast with the time when his descendants would conquer the Canaanites and possess their country.

the people of the land Cf. Genesis 42:6 (P). This is the phrase, "am ha-âreṣ, so common in post-exilic literature for "the heathen": compare "peoples of the land," Ezra 10:2; Ezra 10:11; Nehemiah 10:28; Nehemiah 10:30.

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