Commento su Genesi 13:7

ויהי ריב AND THERE WAS A QUARREL because Lot’s shepherds were wicked men and grazed their cattle in other people’s fields. Abram's shepherds rebuked them for this act of robbery, but they replied, “The land has been given to Abram, and since he has no son as heir, Lot will be his heir: consequently this is not robbery”. Scripture, however, states: “The Canaanite and the Perizzite abode then in the land”, so that Abram was not yet entitled to possession (Genesis Rabbah 41:5).

AND THERE WAS A QUARREL. Rashi wrote, “Because Lot’s shepherds grazed their cattle in other people’s fields, Abram’s shepherds rebuked them for this act of robbery, but they replied, ‘The land has been given to Abram, and he has no [son as an] heir, and so Lot will be his heir. Hence this is not robbery.’ Scripture however states, And the Canaanite and the Perrizite abode then in the land, so that Abram was not yet the legitimate owner.” This is a Midrash of our Rabbis.⁹⁹Bereshith Rabbah 41:6.
But I wonder: The gift of the Land declared to Abram was for his children, as it is said above, Unto thy seed will I give this land,¹⁰⁰Above, 12:7. so how can Lot inherit it? Perhaps the shepherds heard of the gift and they mistook its meaning, for Scripture states that in the meantime, the land belonged neither to Abram nor to Lot. Accordingly, the verse stating at the outset, for their possessions were great,¹⁰¹Verse 6 here. intended to say that because of their extensive possessions, the land could not support them, and Lot’s shepherds therefore found it necessary to bring their cattle into fields that had owners. This was the cause of the quarrel.
By way of the plain meaning of Scripture the quarrel concerned the pasture as the land could not support them both. When Abram’s cattle were grazing in the pasture, Lot’s shepherds would come into their territory and graze their cattle there. Now Abram and Lot were both strangers and sojourners in the land. Abram, therefore, feared that the Canaanite and the Perrizite, who inhabit the land, might hear of the abundance of their cattle, [whose great number was made apparent when Lot’s shepherds encroached on Abram’s land, thereby combining the flocks], and drive them out of the land or slay them by sword and take their cattle and wealth since the mastery of the land belonged to them, not to Abram. This is the purport of the verse, And the Canaanite and the Perrizite. Scripture thus mentioned that there were many peoples dwelling in that land, they and their cattle being innumerable, and the land could not support them and Abram and Lot.
From the word oz (then) — [And the Canaanite and the Perrizite abode ‘then’ in the land] — it appears to me that the nations dwelling in the land at that time were those who live in tents and have cattle, some of them converging on one district and grazing there for a year or two and then journeying from there to another district in which they had not previously pastured. And so they continued to do, as is customary among “the children of the east.”¹⁰²See Judges 6:3. The Canaanite and the Perrizite were thus “then” in the land of the south, and in the following years the Jebusite and the Amorite would come there.

...these two great nations, the Canaanites and Perizzites live in the land without any argument but the land is unable to support these two shepherds living together...

ויהי ריב בין רועי מקנה אברם ובין רועי מקנה לוט, there was an argument between who would succeed to drive out the other from the available grazing land they would find.

ויהי ריב, we already explained the meaning of the words והכנעני אז בארץ on 12,6. In this verse the tribe פריזי has been mentioned which had not been featured previously. This tribe also resided in the region of Beyt El and Ai.

ויהי ריב, “A quarrel had broken out, etc.” Rashi explains that the quarrel had its origin in Lot’s shepherds allowing their herds to graze in pastures belonging to others, whereas Avraham objected, respecting private property of the Canaanites. Nachmanides writes that they were actually not grazing in fields owned by others seeing G’d had already promised the entire country to Avraham and his descendants. Seeing that Lot was not an heir of Avraham, his sheep were not entitled to graze anywhere without express permission of the owners. The plain explanation of our verse is that the quarrel originated due to what has been written in verses 5 and 6 that due to the extensive flocks and herds of both Avraham and Lot, there was not enough grazing land (land not privately owned) so that the shepherds felt obliged to allow their flocks to eat whatever they could find. This is the reason why the Torah records that at that time the Canaanite and the Perisite were dwelling in the land, i.e. they owned it. There was no land which was hefker, ownerless.

Because Lot’s shepherds were ... Rashi is answering the questions: Why did they quarrel, and why does it say here, “The Canaanites ... were then living in the land”? Rashi explains: [They quarreled] “because Lot’s shepherds were wicked and grazed their animals in others’ fields ... .” And the verse says, “The Canaanites ... were then living in the land” because this was Hashem’s response [to their claim that it is not robbery]. And we need not ask why Avraham’s shepherds did not respond that Avraham will still beget an heir, for the response they gave was a better one, in that even Lot’s shepherds, who did not know that Avraham would still beget an heir, [had to admit that] “the Canaanites ... were then living in the land.”

Oben heißt es im allgemeinen: והכנעני אז בארץ, hier ist פרזי hinzugefügt und es heißt בארץ. Abraham und Lot konnten als Fremde natürlich nur auf herrenlosem Boden weiden, der war aber schon ein beschränkter. Es hatte sich schon mehr als ein Volksstamm im Lande niedergelassen. Wäre nur ein Volk im Lande gewesen, es hätte nur das gegenwärtig in Gebrauch zu nehmende in Besitz genommen und abgegrenzt; konnte ja das andere nötigenfalls noch immer nehmen. Wohnen jedoch verschiedene Stämme im Lande, so sucht jeder vorweg alles zu nehmen, auch das nicht sofort Nötige, damit ihm der Nachbar nicht zuvorkomme. Darum war der Boden für Abraham und Lot beschränkt.

בין רועי מקנה אברם ובין רועי מקנה לוט, “between Avram’s shepherds and Lot’s shepherds.” Neither of them could locate additional grazing land which was not privately owned. The reason was that the Canaanites had claimed all that land as theirs.

והכנעני והפריזי אז יושב בארץ. This is why a quarrel between two brothers who lived side by side was especially embarrassing and harmful to the image of Avram among the surrounding tribes. When those tribes would see the brothers quarrel, they would assume that neither of them was a peace-loving individual and they would reason that they had even more reason to quarrel with either one of those recent immigrants.

So that Avram did not yet possess it. Otherwise, Avram would give them permission to graze wherever they wish. (Gur Aryeh)