Who was in the land when God promised it to Abraham?
The land God promised to Abraham was inhabited by the Canaanites. Abraham was a stranger there, owning no ground and likely having to ask permission for his flocks, even though God had promised the land to him. He did not yet hold the deed to it.
Les explains that God had been promising Abraham a land and a nation of people, but the Canaanites were already in the land. Abraham was a stranger, probably having to ask permission wherever he went with his flocks, much like herders in Israel who had to ask orchard owners to graze their sheep or goats. He did not own a stick of ground and was a stranger in a land promised to him, but he still did not have the deed. Later, in Genesis 15:8, Abraham asked, "Lord God, whereby shall I know that I'll inherit it?" God gave him proof, deeding the land in the succeeding verses, from verse 10 down to verse 18, and it was not just the narrow land from the Mediterranean to Jordan but a much larger area, according to old customs possibly from the laws of Hammurabi.