ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף שמות 6:4

וישב יעקב בארץ מגורי אביו בארץ כנען, "Yaakov settled in the land in which his fathers had lived as sojourners, in the land of Canaan." The Torah uses the term וישב, i.e. permanent residence, instead of ויגר, “he sojourned (as a stranger)“ in order to create a parallel with Esau who had been described as securely settled in the mountains of Seir in 36,8. Esau was so described as we were told about the kings, etc., which he established in his country starting at that time. His descendants remained on the same soil never to migrate again. The Torah had to contrast this with the fact that Yaakov took undisputed possession of a part of the (subsequent) land of Israel for the first time. Such possession is here described by the words וישב. His tenure is contrasted with that of either Avraham or Yitzchak, who a) lived there as nomads, b) as individuals, not having produced a clan of 70 people plus their in-laws as had Yaakov. At the same time the Torah also refers to the temporary status of the patriarchs in the land of Canaan by saying ארץ מגוריהם אשר גרו שם, (Exodus 6,4) where all of the patriarchs were referred to as only sojourning in that land. The fact is that whereas Avraham had been a first generation immigrant, both Yitzchak’s mother and Yaakov’s mother as well as the mothers of all of his children had been born outside the Holy Land thus making also their children “strangers,” at least technically.

Another reason why the Torah wrote here נותן לכם, "am about to give you," may be based on Sanhedrin 90 where the Talmud raises the question "where it is written in the Torah that there will be a resurrection?" The Talmud quotes Exodus 6,4: "and I will also keep My covenant with them (the patriarchs) to give the land of Canaan to them." The fact that the Torah did not write "to you," seeing the living Israelites were being addressed, proves that the patriarchs will be resurrected. In our verse the Torah addresses "carcasses." The verse makes sense only if it presumes that these "carcasses" will be resurrected and will take possession of their land.

“Take for me a three-year-old heifer.” Regarding this vision, there are many opinions. I too will share my interpretation. Since we find that in the promise of the land, sometimes the patriarchs are mentioned and sometimes their descendants, where do we find that the patriarchs had a portion in the land? Were they not all strangers in the land? Yet the verse states For I will give it to you, and it is written to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, etc. (Exodus 6:8). Therefore, our Sages learned (Sanhedrin 90b) from here about the resurrection of the dead from the Torah, as it is said to give to them (Exodus 6:4) — it does not say “to you” but rather to them. This too requires explanation, for will the patriarchs inherit a portion in the land in this world during the resurrection of the dead?

שלשים שנה וארבע מאות שנה FOUR HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS — Altogether from the birth of Isaac until now were 400 years, and we must reckon from that event, for only from the time when Abraham had offspring from Sarah could the prophecy (Genesis 15:13) “Thy offspring shall be a stranger” be fulfilled; and there had been 30 years since that decree made at “the convenant between the parts” until the birth of Isaac. It is impossible to say that this means that they were 430 years in the land of Egypt alone, for Kohath was one of those who came into Egypt with Jacob (Genesis 46:11); go and reckon all his years and all the years of Amram his son and the whole eighty years of Moses, the latter’s son, until the Exodus and you will not find that they total to so many; and you must admit that Kohath had already lived many years before he went down to Egypt, and that many of Amram’s years are included in the years of his father Kohath, and that many of the 80 years of Moses are included in the years of his father Amram, so that you see that you will not find 400 years from the time of Israel’s coming into Egypt until the Exodus. You are compelled to admit, even though unwillingly, that the other settlements which the patriarchs made in lands other than Egypt come also under the name of “sojourning as a stranger” (גרות), including also that at Hebron, even though it was in Canaan itself, because it is said, (Genesis 35:27) “[Hebron] where Abraham and Isaac sojourned”, and it says, (Exodus 6:4) “[the land Canaan], the land of their sojournings wherein they sojourned”. Consequently you must necessarily say that the prophecy, “thy offspring shall be strangers… [four hundred years]” began only from the time when he had offspring. And only if you reckon the 400 years from the birth of Isaac will you find that from the time they came into Egypt until the time they left it, was 210 years (as alluded to in Genesis 15:13). This was one of the passages which they altered for king Ptolemy (Mekhilta; Megillah 9a).