סָדִ֣ין עָ֭שְׂתָה וַתִּמְכֹּ֑ר וַ֝חֲג֗וֹר נָתְנָ֥ה לַֽכְּנַעֲנִֽי׃
Elle confectionne des tissus, qu’elle vend, et des ceintures, qu’elle cède au marchand.
Rabbeinu Bahya
והכנעני אז בארץ, “and the Canaanite was in the land at that time.” The plain meaning of these words is that the Canaanite, a powerful people, dominated that land at that time. Avraham was afraid of them and this is why we did not hear of his building an altar, i.e. preaching his religion, at that time until G’d appeared to him at Shechem and promised him that his descendants would inherit the land of Canaan. Then Avraham was no longer afraid and it became clear to him that this was the land that G’d had promised him and this is why the Torah says in verse 7: “he built an altar to the G’d who had appeared to him.” This was a way of thanking G’d for this assurance (compare Bereshit Rabbah 39,16) that his descendants would inherit the land. The reason the Torah writes the word אז instead of writing והכנעני היה מאז בארץ, is that the Canaanite had already lived in that land since the days of Noach. This made it easy for G’d to dispossess them in due course; they were after all a nation cursed to be slaves and as slaves had no legal claim to any property.
Another reason for the word אז is that the word is an acrostic composed of 'אקלים ז, the seventh climate. [This is a hyperbole for the central region, the words “middle climate” referring to a region devoid of extremes. Ed.] It may also be referred to as the land of the fourth, i.e. the central “climate”. Concerning this central “climate,” Solomon wrote in Proverbs 3124, וחגור נתנה לכנעני, “she gave the belt to the Canaanite.” As is well known, a belt is worn around a person’s middle. What Solomon meant was that this central piece of the earth was given to the Canaanites on a temporary basis until its true owner, the Jewish people, would be awarded it by G’d on a permanent basis.
Another reason for the word אז is that the word is an acrostic composed of 'אקלים ז, the seventh climate. [This is a hyperbole for the central region, the words “middle climate” referring to a region devoid of extremes. Ed.] It may also be referred to as the land of the fourth, i.e. the central “climate”. Concerning this central “climate,” Solomon wrote in Proverbs 3124, וחגור נתנה לכנעני, “she gave the belt to the Canaanite.” As is well known, a belt is worn around a person’s middle. What Solomon meant was that this central piece of the earth was given to the Canaanites on a temporary basis until its true owner, the Jewish people, would be awarded it by G’d on a permanent basis.