If one was walking on Friday afternoon, and he saw that it was getting dark fast, too fast for him to reach his home – but he noticed a tree that he knew was two thousand steps away from his home – then he should designate his residence under that tree. He would be able to walk to the tree, and then two thousand steps to his home.
However, he should express it correctly. If he just says, “Let my residence be under that tree,” - he has not said anything. He should have designated the specific four steps, such as “next to the trunk.”
What does it mean, “He has not said anything?” Rav says, literally, he got nothing: he lost his current area, did not acquire a new one, and has to stay within four steps of the place where the sundown catches him. However, Shmuel says that he acquired his residence somewhere, only it is not known where. Therefore, he can walk to the tree, if it is close enough, but he may not walk to his home – if it is exactly two thousand steps from the tree. That is because his residential four steps may be behind the trunk, away from home, and thus farther away than two thousand steps from his home.
They asked question on Rav, based on an old ruling (Mishnah) as follows: “If one asked his servants to prepare him an eruv with bread, and they did it in two places, then he can only walk in the common area of the two.” However, he can surely move for more than for steps! And they answered that Rav lived for 300 years, both in the time of the Mishna and of the Talmud, and was thus the only Talmud Sage whose opinion was part of the Mishna; thus, this contradiction did not present a problem for him.
Art: Paul Cezanne - Village behind Trees, Ile de France
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