SHECHEM A Spiritual
Object Lesson
In John 4, Jesus came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jesus sat by Jacob’ s well there when along came a Samaritan woman to draw water. Jesus broke with cultural convention by talking to a lone“ Samaritan” woman for Jews and Samaritans did not socialise but this was one of many momentous times at Shechem which is mentioned 60 times in the Old Testament.
In Hebrew Shechem means, shoulder or back probably because it is situated between two mountains, Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. Shechem saw a lot of traffic in its history and often found itself in major events in the Bible due to its central location and vital crossroads. Today, it is located near the town of Nablus in the West Bank area of Israel.
Shechem is first mentioned in the Bible in Genesis 12:6-7 when Abram arrives in Canaan. If he had climbed up Mount Ebel and scanned the horizon he would have seen the land.“ Abram travelled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh or Terebinth at Shechem” …“ To your offspring, I will give this land,”… and Abram built an altar to the Lord.
Idolatry, rape and massacre
ensues in next mention of Shechem when Jacob, Abraham’ s grandson,“ camped within sight of the city” Gen 33:18 During Jacob’ s( renamed Israel) stay he dug a well for his many herds; this well exists today. He built an altar and named it El-elohe-Israel meaning God, the God of Israel after purchasing the land near Shechem. The same place where his son Joseph would later be buried. Joshua 24:32
During Jacob’ s stay at Shechem, Dinah his daughter was raped by a man named Shechem and that resulted in the revengeful massacre of Shechem’ s male population by two of Jacob’ s sons. Gen 33 – 34 On God’ s instructions the Israelites gave up all their foreign gods and purified themselves. Jacob had not destroyed his family idols as he should have but buried them under a tree near Shechem. Jacob clearly had a personal relationship with God yet he still couldn’ t eliminate idol worship.
A tale of deception and treachery follows: the story of Joseph Jacob’ s 17-year-old son, who was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. Gen 37 His brothers were grazing the family’ s flocks near Shechem when Jacob sent Joseph to find them. After looking for them at Shechem he found them a short distance north at Dothan. There, the brothers plotted to sell Joseph into slavery. They then lied to explain Joseph’ s disappearance to their father.
God rescued the Israelites from Egyptian bondage 400 years on and led them through the desert for 40 years. Near the end of this journey, their leader Moses, said that once they entered the promised land at Shechem,( see Gen 12:7) they were to read portions of the Law, while the people were assembled before Mounts Ebal and Gerizim. Dt 11:26 – 30; 27:12, 13 They were to pronounce the blessings of the Mosaic covenant on the nation. With half the people in front of Mount Ebal and the other half in front of Mount Gerizim; they shouted the curses they would encounter if they disobeyed the law and blessings if they obeyed.
A mixed crowd of both Israelites and native Shemites( aliens) heard the words of the law that day. The Bible implies that they co-existed peacefully together at that time. Joshua built an altar to God on Mount Ebal and on the pillar of stones he wrote a copy of the law. Joshua 8:30-35 With Mount Ebal and Gerizim overlooking the Shechem valley a natural amphitheatre, in which the reciting of the Law could have been easily heard, was formed. Despite the mountains’ heights( Ebal is 3,083
10 | SHARE | MAGAZINE January- March 2017