Shechem

VIEW:24 DATA:01-04-2020

part; portion; back early in the morning
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary


SHECHEM.—1. Gen_33:19; Gen_34:2; Gen_34:4 etc. See Jacob, Hamor. 2. A Manassite clan, Num_26:31 (35), (the Shechemites), Jos_17:2, 1Ch_7:19. 3. See next article.
SHECHEM.—The place in which Jacob for a while established himself (Gen_33:18, Joh_4:12). Here he is said to have dug the well coosecrated by Christ’s conversation with the Samaritan woman, and still shown to travellers, with a claim to authenticity which is lacking in the vast majority of the so-called ‘holy places.’ It was evidently a place of sanctity: there was a great oak (or terebinth) here—no doubt a sacred tree—where Jacob hid his teraphim (Gen_35:4), and under which Joshua gave his parting address to the elders (Jos_24:1-33). A great stone under the tree was traditionally connected with the latter event (Jos_24:26). This is no doubt the reason why Shechem was a Levitical city, and also a city of refuge (Jos_20:7). The city, however, remained Canaanite after the conquest, serving the local god Baal-herith (Jdg_9:4): Gideon’s concubine, mother of Abimelech, was a Canaanitess from Shechem, and her relatives set up her son as a king, to his and their own destruction (Jdg_9:1-57). Here Rehoboam alienated the Northern Kingdom by his overhearing speech (1Ki_12:1), and Jeroboam for a time was established here (1Ki_12:25). It was not a place of importance before the Exile, though continuously inhabited down to and after that event (Jer_41:5). The development of the Samaritan nation led to its rise. It was known at this period to the natives by the name Mabortha (Jos. [Note: Josephus.] BJ IV. viii. 1), but the name by which it was generally known, after its re-building by Titus Flavins Vespasianus, was Flavia Neapolis, or, more briefly, Neapolis—a name which still persists in the modern Arabic form Nâblus, though usually Roman or Greek names imposed on Palestinian sites have disappeared, the older names persisting.
In the Byzantine period there was a bishopric at Neapolis, of which we know little—save that the Samaritans in a.d. 474 wounded the bishop, and were in consequence severely punished by the emperor Zeno. The city fell to the Crusaders in 1099, and several churches were there built by them—one of which still survives in part as a mosque. In 1184 it was re-conquered by Saladin. The inhabitants have always been noted for turbulence and lawlessness. Towards the end of the 18th century it was a storm-centre of the inter-tribal wars of the fellahîn, the leader of the district being the notorious Kasim el-Ahmad.
It is now a town of some 24,000 inhabitants, all Moslems except about 150 Samaritans and 700 Christians. They are concerned in extensive soap manufacture, and in trade in wool and cotton with Eastern Palestine. There are Protestant and Roman Catholic missions, and an important English hospital directed by the Church Missionary Society.
In or near the town are shown ‘Jacob’s well,’ which, as already said, is not improbably authentic; and a shrine covering the traditional ‘tomb of Joseph,’ the genuineness of which is perhaps less unassailable.
R. A. S. Macalister.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

She'chem. (back or shoulder). An important city in central Palestine, in the valley between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, 34 miles north of Jerusalem, and 7 miles southeast of Samaria. Its present name, Nablus, is a corruption of Neapolis, which succeeded the more ancient Shechem, and received its new name from Vespasian. On coins still extant, it is called Flavia Neapolis. The situation of the town is one of surpassing beauty. It lies in a sheltered valley, protected by Gerizim on the south and Ebal on the north. The feet of these mountains, where they rise from the town, are not more than five hundred yards apart. The bottom of the valley is about 1800 feet above the level of the sea, and the top of Gerizim 800 feet higher still.
The site of the present city, which was also that of the Hebrew city, occurs exactly on the water-summit; and streams issuing from the numerous springs there, flow down the opposite slopes of the valley, spreading verdure and fertility in every direction. Travellers vie with each other in the language which they employ to describe the scene that, here, bursts so suddenly upon them on arriving in spring or early summer, at this paradise of the Holy Land. "The whole valley," says Dr. Robinson, "was filled with gardens of vegetables and orchards of all kinds of fruits, watered by fountains which burst forth in various parts and flow westward in refreshing streams. It came upon us suddenly like a scene of fairy enchantment. We saw nothing to compare with it in all Palestine."
The allusions to Shechem in the Bible are numerous, and show how important the place was in Jewish history. Abraham, on his first migration to the land of promise, pitched his tent and built an altar under the oak, (or terebinth), of Moreh at Shechem. "The Canaanite was then in the land;" and it is evident that the region, if not the city, was already in possession of the aboriginal race. See Gen_12:6. At the time of Jacob's arrival here, after his sojourn in Mesopotamia, Gen_33:18; Gen_33:34, Shechem was a Hivite city, of which Hamor, the father of Shechem, was the headman. It was at this time that the patriarch purchased from that chieftain "the parcel of the field" which he subsequently bequeathed, as a special patrimony, to his son Joseph. Gen_33:19; Jos_24:32; Joh_4:5. The field lay undoubtedly on the rich plain of the Mukhna, and its value was the greater on account of the well which Jacob had dug there, so as not to be dependent on his neighbors for a supply of water.
In the distribution of the land, after its conquest by the Hebrews, Shechem fell to the lot of Ephraim, Jos_20:7, but was assigned to the Levites, and became a city of refuge. Jos_21:20-21. It acquired new importance as the scene of the renewed promulgation of the law, when its blessings were heard from Gerizim, and its curses from Ebal, and the people bowed their heads and acknowledged Jehovah as their king and ruler. Deu_27:11; Jos_24:23-25. It was here Joshua assembled the people, shortly before his death, and delivered to them his last counsels. Jos_24:1; Jos_24:25.
After the death of Gideon, Abimelech, his bastard son, induced the Shechemites to revolt from the Hebrew commonwealth and elect him as king. Jdg_9:1. In revenge for his expulsion, after a reign of three years, Abimelech destroyed the city, and as an emblem of the fate to which he would consign it, sowed the ground with salt. Jdg_9:34-45. It was soon restored, however, for we are told in 1Ki_12:1, that all Israel assembled at Shechem, and Rehoboam, Solomon's successor, went thither to be inaugurated as king. Here, at this same place, the ten tribes renounced the house of David, and transferred their allegiance to Jeroboam, 1Ki_12:16, under whom Shechem became, for a time, the capital of his kingdom.
From the time of the origin of the Samaritans, the history of Shechem blends itself with that of this people and of their sacred mount, Gerizim. See Samaria. Shechem reappears in the New Testament. It is the Sychar of Joh_4:5 near which the Saviour conversed with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. The population of Nablus consists of about 5000, among whom are 500 Greek Christians, 150 Samaritans, and a few Jews. The enmity between the Samaritans and Jews is as inveterate still as it was in the days of Christ. The Mohammedans, of course, make up the bulk of the population.
The well of Jacob and the tomb of Joseph are still shown in the neighborhood of the town. The well of Jacob lies about a mile and a half east of the city, close to the lower road, and just beyond the wretched hamlet of Balata. The Christians sometimes call it Bir es-Samariyeh ? "the well of the Samaritan woman". The well is deep ? 75 feet when last measured ? and there was, probably, a considerable accumulation of rubbish at the bottom. Sometimes, it contains a few feet of water, but at others, it is quite dry. It is entirely excavated in the solid rock, perfectly round, 9 feet in diameter, with the sides hewn smooth and regular. Of all the special localities of our Lord's life, this is almost the only one absolutely undisputed.
The tomb of Joseph lies about a quarter of a mile north of the well, exactly in the centre of the opening of the valley. It is between Gerizim and Ebal. It is a small, square enclosure of high whitewashed walls, surrounding a tomb of the ordinary kind, but with the peculiarity that it is placed diagonally to the walls, instead of parallel as usual. A rough pillar used as an altar, and black with the traces of fire is at the head, and another at the foot of the tome. In the walls are two slabs with Hebrew inscriptions, and the interior is almost covered with the names of pilgrims in Hebrew, Arabic and Samaritan. Beyond this, there is nothing to remark in the structure itself. The local tradition of the tomb, like that of the well is as old as the beginning of the fourth century.
2. The son of Hamor, the chieftain of the Hivite settlement of Shechem, at the time of Jacob's arrival. Gen_33:19; Gen_34:2-26; Jos_24:32; Jdg_9:28.
3. A man of Manasseh, of the clan of Gilead. Num_26:31.
4. A Gileadite, son of Shemida, the younger brother of Shechem, 3. 1Ch_7:19.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

The ancient town of Shechem lay between Mt Gerizim and Mt Ebal in central Canaan (Deu_27:12-13; Jdg_9:7). It was the first recorded camping place of Abraham when he came to Canaan from Haran (Gen_12:4-6). (For maps of the region see PALESTINE.)
Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, upon returning to Canaan from Paddan-aram, bought land in Shechem and settled there with his family and flocks (Gen_33:18-19). When a conflict arose with some of the local inhabitants, Jacob’s sons massacred the men of Shechem and plundered the town (Genesis 34). Jacob and his family then moved elsewhere, though at times they still pastured their flocks near Shechem (Gen_35:1-4; Gen_37:12). Joseph’s bones were later buried at Shechem in a field that Jacob had given to Joseph (Gen_48:22; Jos_24:32; Joh_4:5-6).
After the conquest of Canaan, the people of Israel gathered at Shechem to confirm the covenant. The blessings of the covenant were announced from Mt Gerizim on one side of the town, and the curses from Mt Ebal on the other. Just before Joshua’s death, the leaders of Israel gathered at Shechem once more and declared their loyalty to the covenant (Deu_27:1-14; Jos_8:30-35; Jos_24:1-28).
In the division of Canaan among the Israelites, Shechem fell within the tribal allotment of Ephraim, but was set apart for the Levites. It was one of the three cities of refuge west of Jordan (Jos_20:2; Jos_20:7; Jos_21:20-21; see CITY OF REFUGE).
In the time of the judges, Abimelech tried to establish a kingdom in Shechem but his success was shortlived (Jdg_9:1-6; Jdg_9:16-57). In the time of the monarchy, after the death of Solomon, Rehoboam went to Shechem to be crowned king, no doubt hoping this would help him win the allegiance of the northern tribes. However, the northerners broke away and established their own kingdom, with its capital initially at Shechem (1Ki_12:1; 1Ki_12:25). Within a few years they shifted the capital to Tirzah, and later again to Samaria (1Ki_15:33; 1Ki_16:8; 1Ki_16:24; 1Ki_16:29). Although Shechem lost its importance, it continued to exist, even after the Assyrians had destroyed the northern kingdom and taken most of the people into captivity (Jer_41:5).
When Assyria brought people from elsewhere to live in the deserted northern kingdom, these immigrants intermarried with the Israelites left in the land. In due course this produced a people of mixed blood and mixed religion who became known as the Samaritans. Shechem became the chief city of the Samaritans, and Mt Gerizim became to them a sacred mountain. There they built their temple, worshipped, and held religious festivals. The village of Sychar was nearby (Joh_4:5-6; Joh_4:20). (See SAMARIA, SAMARITANS.)
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.

shē?kem (שׁכם, shekhem, ?shoulder?; Συχέμ, Suchém, ἡ Σίκιμα, hē Sı́kima, τὰ Σίκιμα, tá Sı́kima, etc.; the King James Version gives ?Sichem? in Gen_12:6; and ?Sychem? in Act_7:16):

1. Historical:
This place is first mentioned in connection with Abraham's journey from Haran. At the oak of Moreh in the vicinity he reared his first altar to the Lord in Palestine (Gen_12:6 f). It was doubtless by this oak that Jacob, on his return from Paddan-aram, buried ?the strange (the American Standard Revised Version ?foreign?) gods? (Gen_35:4). Hither he had come after his meeting with Esau (Gen_33:18). Eusebius, in Onomasticon, here identifies Shechem with Shalem; but see SHALEM. To the East of the city Jacob pitched his tent in a ?parcel of ground? which he had bought from Hamor, Shechem's father (Gen_33:19). Here also he raised an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel, ?God, the God of Israel? (Gen_33:20). Then follows the story of Dinah's defilement by Shechem, son of the city's chief; and of the treacherous and terrible vengeance exacted by Simeon and Levi (Genesis 34). To the rich pasture land near Shechem Joseph came to seek his brethren (Gen_37:12 ff). It is mentioned as lying to the West of Michmethath (el-Makhneh) on the boundary of Manasseh (Jos_17:7). It was in the territory of Ephraim; it was made a city of refuge, and assigned to the Kohathite Levites (Jos_20:7; Jos_21:21). Near the city the Law was promulgated (Deu_27:11; Jos_8:33). When his end was approaching Joshua gathered the tribes of Israel here and addressed to them his final words of counsel and exhortation (chapter 24). Under the oak in the neighboring sanctuary he set up the stone of witness (Jos_24:26). The war of conquest being done, Joseph's bones were buried in the parcel of ground which Jacob had bought, and which fell to the lot of Joseph's descendants (Jos_24:33). Abimelech, whose mother was a native of the city, persuaded the men of Shechem to make him king (Jdg_9:1-6), evidently seeking a certain consecration from association with ?the oak of the pillar that was in Shechem.? Jotham's parable was spoken from the cliff of Gerizim overhanging the town (Jdg_9:7 ff). After a reign of three years Abimelech was rejected by the people. He captured the city, razed it to the foundations, and sowed it with salt. It was then the seat of Canaanite idolatry, the temple of Baal-berith being here (Jdg_9:4, Jdg_9:46). In the time of the kings we find that the city was once more a gathering-place of the nation. It was evidently the center, especially for the northern tribes; and hither Rehoboam came in the hope of getting his succession to the throne confirmed (1Ki_12:1; 2Ch_10:1). At the disruption Jeroboam fortified the city and made it his residence (2 Ch 10:25; Ant., VIII, viii, 4). The capital of the Northern Kingdom was moved, however, first to Tirzah and then to Samaria, and Shechem declined in political importance. Indeed it is not named again in the history of the monarchy. Apparently there were Israelites in it after the captivity, some of whom on their way to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem met a tragic fate at the hands of Ishmael ben Nethaniah (Jer_41:5 ff). It became the central city of the Samaritans, whose shrine was built on Mt. Gerizim (Sirach 50:26; Ant., XI, viii, 6; XII, i, 1; XIII, iii, 4). Shechem was captured by John Hyrcanus in 132 BC (Ant., XIII, ix, 1; BJ, I, ii, 6). It appears in the New Testament only in the speech of Stephen (Act_7:16, King James Version ?Sychem?). Some (e.g. Smith, DB, under the word) would identify it with Sychar of Joh_4:5; but see SYCHAR. Under the Romans it became Flavia Neapolis. In later times it was the seat of a bishopric; the names of five occupants of the see are known.

2. Location and Physical Features:
There is no doubt as to the situation of ancient Shechem. It lay in the pass which cuts through Mts. Ephraim, Ebal and Gerizim, guarding it on the North and South respectively. Along this line runs the great road which from time immemorial has formed the easiest and the quickest means of communication between the East of the Jordan and the sea. It must have been a place of strength from antiquity. The name seems to occur in Travels of a Mohar (Max Muller, Asien u. Europa, 394), ?Mountain of Sahama? probably referring to Ebal or Gerizim. The ancient city may have lain somewhat farther East than the modern Nāblus, in which the Roman name Neapolis survives. The situation is one of great beauty. The city lies close to the foot of Gerizim. The terraced slopes of the mountain rise steeply on the South. Across the valley, musical with the sound of running water, the great bulk of Ebal rises on the North, its sides, shaggy with prickly pear, sliding down into grain fields and orchards. The copious springs which supply abundance of water rise at the base of Gerizim. The fruitful and well-wooded valley winds westward among the hills. It is traversed by the carriage road leading to Jaffa and the sea. Eastward the valley opens upon the plain of Makhneh. To the East of the city, in a recess at the base of Gerizim, is the sanctuary known as Rijāl el-‛Amūd, literally, ?men of the column? or ?pillar,? where some would locate the ancient ?oak of Moreh? or ?of the pillar.? Others would find it in a little village farther East with a fine spring, called Balāṭa, a name which may be connected with ballūṭ, ?oak.? Still farther to the East and near the base of Ebal is the traditional tomb of Joseph, a little white-domed building beside a luxuriant orchard. On the slope of the mountain beyond is the village of ‛Askar; see SYCHAR. To the South of the vale is the traditional Well of Jacob; see &JACOB'S WELL. To the Southwest of the city is a small mosque on the spot where Jacob is said to have mourned over the blood-stained coat of Joseph. In the neighboring minaret is a stone whereon the Ten Commandments are engraved in Samaritan characters. The main center of interest in the town is the synagogue of the Samaritans, with their ancient manuscript of the Pentateuch.

3. Modern Shechem:
The modern town contains about 20,000 inhabitants, the great body of them being Moslems. There are some 700 or 800 Christians, chiefly belonging to the Greek Orthodox church. The Samaritans do not total more than 200. The place is still the market for a wide district, both East and West of Jordan. A considerable trade is done in cotton and wool. Soap is manufactured in large quantities, oil for this purpose being plentifully supplied by the olive groves. Tanning and the manufacture of leather goods are also carried on. In old times the slopes of Ebal were covered with vineyards; but these formed a source of temptation to the ?faithful.? They were therefore removed by authority, and their place taken by the prickly pears mentioned above.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

Shechem, 1
Shechem, a town of central Palestine, in Samaria, among the mountains of Ephraim (Jos_20:7; 1Ki_12:25), in the narrow valley between the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim (comp. Jdg_9:7), and consequently within the tribe of Ephraim (Jos_21:20). It is in N. lat. 32?17′, E. long. 35?20′, being thirty-four miles north of Jerusalem and seven miles south of Samaria. It was a very ancient place, and appears to have arisen as a town in the interval between the arrival of Abraham in Palestine and the return of Jacob from Padan-aram, for it is mentioned only as a place, described by reference to the oaks in the neighborhood, when Abraham came there on first entering the land of Canaan (Gen_12:6). But, in the history of Jacob it repeatedly occurs as a town having walls and gates: it could not, however, have been very large or important, if we may judge from the consequence which the inhabitants attached to an alliance with Jacob, and from the facility with which the sons of the patriarch were able to surprise and destroy them (Gen_33:18-19; Gen_34:1-2; Gen_34:20; Gen_34:24; Gen_34:26). After the conquest of the country, Shechem was made a city of refuge (Jos_20:7), and one of the Levitical towns (Jos_21:21), and during the lifetime of Joshua it was a center of union to the tribes (Jos_24:1; Jos_24:25), probably because it was the nearest considerable town to the residence of that chief in Timnath-serah. In the time of the judges, Shechem became the capital of the kingdom set up by Abimelech (Jdg_9:1, sq.), but was at length conquered and destroyed by him (Jdg_9:34). It must, however, have been before long rebuilt, for it had again become of so much importance by the time of Rehoboam's accession, that he there gave the meeting to the delegates of the tribes, which ended in the separation of the kingdom (1Ki_12:10). It was Shechem which the first monarch of the new kingdom made the capital of his dominions (1Ki_12:25; comp. 14:17), although later in his reign the pleasantness of Tirzah induced him to build a palace there, and to make it the summer residence of his court; which gave it such importance, that it at length came to be regarded as the capital of the kingdom, till Samaria eventually deprived it of that honor (1Ki_14:7; 1Ki_16:24) [ISRAEL]. Shechem, however, still throve. It subsisted during the exile (Jer_41:5) and continued, for many ages after, the chief seat of the Samaritans and of their worship, their sole temple being upon the mountain (Gerizim), at whose foot the city stood [SAMARITANS]. The city was taken, and the temple destroyed, by John Hyrcanus, B.C. 129. In the New Testament it occurs under the name of Sychar (Joh_4:5), which seems to have been a sort of nick name, such as the Jews were fond of imposing upon places they disliked. Stephen, however, in his historical retrospect, still uses the proper and ancient name (Act_7:16). Not long after the times of the New Testament the place received the name of Neapolis, which it still retains in the Arabic form of Nabulus, being one of the very few names imposed by the Romans in Palestine which have survived to the present day. It had probably suffered much, if it was not completely destroyed, in the war with the Romans, and would seem to have been restored or rebuilt by Vespasian, and then to have taken this new name. It has remained in the hands of the Muhammadans since A.D. 1242.
There is no reason to question that the present town occupies the site of the ancient Shechem, although its dimensions are probably more contracted. The fertility and beauty of the deep and narrow valley in which the town stands, especially in its immediate neighborhood, have been much admired by travelers, as far exceeding what they had seen in any other part of Palestine. The town itself is long and narrow, extending along the N.E. base of Mount Gerizim, and partly resting upon its declivity. The population of the place is rated by Dr. Olin at 8000 or 10,000, of whom 500 or 600 are Christians of the Greek communion, and the rest Muslims, with the exception of about 130 Samaritans, and one-third that number of Jews. The inhabitants bear the character of being an unusually valiant as well as a turbulent race, and some years since maintained a desperate struggle against the Egyptian government in some bloody rebellions.
Shechem, 2
Shechem, son of Hamor, prince of the country or district of Shechem, in which Jacob formed his camp on his return from Mesopotamia. This young man having seen Jacob's daughter Dinah, was smitten with her beauty, and deflowered her. This wrong was terribly and cruelly avenged by the damsel's uterine brothers, Simeon and Levi, as described in the article Dinah (Genesis 34). It seems likely that the town of Shechem, even if of recent origin, must have existed before the birth of a man so young as Hamor's son appears to have been; and we may therefore suppose it a name preserved in the family, and which both the town and the princes inherited. Shechem's name is always connected with that of his father Hamor (Gen_33:19; Genesis 34; Act_7:16).




The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.


(Heb. Shekem',. שְׁכֶם[“in pause” She'kem, שֶׁכֶם, both as a common noun (Psa_21:13) and as a proper name (Num_26:31; Jos_17:2; 1Ch_7:19)], a shoulder; Sept. Συχέμ), the name of three men and one place in the Bible.
1. The son of Hamor, prince of the country or district of Shechem in which Jacob formed his camp oa his return from Mesopotamia. B.C. 1906. This young man, having seen Jacob's daughter Dinah, was smitten, with her beauty, and deflowered her. This wrong was terribly and cruelly avenged by the damsel's uterine brothers, Simeon and Levi. SEE DINAH. It seems likely that the town of Shechem, even if of recent origin, must have existed before the birth of a man so young as Hamor's son appears to have been; aid we may therefore suppose it a name preserved in the family, and which both the town and the princes inherited. See No. 4 below. Shechem's name is always connected with that of his father, Hamor (Gen_33:19; Genesis 34; Jos_24:32; Jdg_9:28; Act_7:16). SEE JACOB.
2. A son of Gilead, of the tribe of Manasseh, and head of the family of the' Shechemites (Num_26:31). B.C. post 1856. His family are again mentioned as the Beni-Shechem (Jos_17:2).
3. In the lists of 1 Chronicles another Shechem is named among the Gileadites as a son of Shemidah, a younger member of the family of the foregoing (7:19). B.C. post 1856. It must have been the recollection of one of these two Gileadites which led Cyril of Alexandria into his strange fancy (quoted by Reland, Paloest. p. 1007, from his Comm. on Hosea) of placing the city of Shechem on the eastern side of the Jordan.
4. An ancient and important city of Central Palestine, which still subsists, although under a later designation. In our account of it we introduce the copious illustrations by modern explorers.
I. The Name. — The Hebrew word, as above seen, means a “shoulder,” or, more correctly, the upper part of the back, just below the neck, like the Latin dorsum, a ridge (Gesenius, s.v.). The origin of this name is doubtful. Some have supposed it was given to the town from its position on the watershed lying between the valley of the Jordan, on the east, and the Mediterranean, on the west. But this is not altogether correct, for the watershed is more than halfway from the city to the entrance of the valley; and, had it been otherwise, the elevation at that point is so slight that it would neither suggest nor justify this as a distinctive title. It has also been made a question whether the place was so called from Shechem, the son of Hamor, head of their tribe in the time of Jacob (Gen_33:18 sq.), or whether he received his name from the city. The import of the name favors, certainly, the latter supposition, since its evident signification as an appellative, in whatever application, would naturally originate such a name; and the name, having been thus introduced, would be likely to appear again and again in the family of the hereditary rulers of the city or region. The name, too, if first given to the city in the time of Hamor, would have been taken, according to historical analogy, from the father rather than the son. Some interpret Gen_33:18-19 as showing that Shechem in that passage may have been called also Shalem. But this opinion has no support except from that passage; and the meaning even there more naturally is that Jacob came in safety to Shechem (שָׁלֵם, as an adjective, safe; comp. Gen_28:21); or (as recognized in the English Bible) that Shalem belonged to Shechem as a dependent tributary village. SEE SHALEM. The name is also given in the, A,V. in the form of SICHEM (Gen_12:6) and SYCHEM (Act_7:16), to which, as well as SYCHAR (Joh_4:5), the reader is referred. In the Sept., above stated, it is (as in the New Test. above) usually designated by Συχέμ, but also ἡ Σίκιμα in 1Ki_12:25; and τὰ Σίκιμα, as in Jos_24:32, which is the form generally used by Josephus and Eusebius (in the Onomast.). But the place has also been known by very different names from these variations of the ancient Shechem. To say nothing of Mabortha (Μαβορθά or Μαβαθρά), which Josephus says (War, 4, 8, 1) it was called by the people of the country (מִעֲבִרְתָּא, ithe thoroughfare or gorge), and which also appears, with a slight variation (Mamortha) in Pliny (Hist. Nat. 5, 13), Josephus (ibid.) calls it Neapolis (Νεάπολις, “New Town”), from its having been rebuilt by Vespasian after the Roman war in Palestine; and this name is found on coins still extant (Enckel, Doctr. Num. 3, 433). SEE NEAPOLIS. This last name it has still retained in the Arab Nablus, and is one of the very few instances throughout the country where the comparatively modern name has supplanted the original
II. Location. — The scriptural indications of its locality are not numerous. Joshua places it in Mount Ephraim (20:7; see also 1Ki_12:25). Shiloh was “on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem” (Jdg_21:19); hence Shechem must have been farther north than Shiloh. In the story of Jotham it is more precisely located under Mount Gerizim (9:7); which corresponds with the more full and exact description of Josephus, who places it between Gerizim and Ebal (Ant. 4,8, 44). Further, Shechem, as we learn from Joseph's history (Gen_37:12, etc.), must have been near Dothan; and, assuming Dothan to be the place of that name a few miles northeast of Nablus, Shechem must have been among the same mountains, not far distant. So, too, as the Sychar in Joh_4:5 was probably the ancient Shechem, that town must have been near Mount Gerizim, to which the Samaritan woman pointed or glanced as she stood by the well at its foot. The collateral evidences in support of this opinion we may briefly state.
1. The city is not built on an elevated position, as almost all the towns of Palestine are, but at the foot of Gerizim and along the valley, indicating a date anterior to the warlike and unsettled state of the country which led the inhabitants to select a more secure and defensive site for their towns; as also the unwillingness of the people through future generations to change the site of their ancient and renowned city.
2. The advantage which it affords of a good supply of running water — a most important consideration in that climate especially. No spot in this favored locality has such an abundance as the city itself.
3. The road which has connected the valley with the summit of Mount Gerizim through all past ages is the one ascending behind the present town. It is true that there is another path leading up from the valley about halfway between the city and the east end of the valley; but this has never been more than a kind of by path, used by few except shepherds.
4. The antiquities in and around the city. These are neither numerous nor important in themselves, but as evidence on the subject in question they are of considerable value. They consist of portions of walls, cisterns, fragments of potteries, and such like, all of early date, and some evidently of Hebrew origin. These being either within the walls of the present city, or in its immediate vicinity, and none to be met with in any other part of the valley, seem to be a pretty conclusive proof that the present site is the original one.
5. The narrative of Jotham's parable to the people of Shechem clearly indicates the same spot (Jdg_9:7-21). He would have stood on one of those large projections of Gerizim that overlook the city; and in no other spot in the valley would the whole story tally so well. Josephus, in relating Jotham's exploit, confirms this beyond all dispute. His words are that Jotham went up to Mount Gerizim, which overhangs the city Shechem (Ant. v, 7, 2). We may remark that Josephus usually retains the old name Shechem when speaking of the city, but occasionally adopts, the new name, Neapolis (War, 4, 8, 1); and thus clearly identifies Shechem with Nablus. This was certainly the Jewish opinion, as we read in Midrash Rabbah that “Shechem in Mount Ephraim is Napulis.” So, also, the early Christians Epiphanius (Adv. Hoer. 3, 1055) and Jerome (Epit. Paula). The only ancient author that makes a distinction between Shechem and Nablus is Eusebius, if indeed he means to assert the fact, which seems doubtful from his mode of expression (Onomast. s.v. Τερέβινθος, Συχέμ). But his contemporary, the Bordeaux Pilgrim, who visited the place in A.D. 333, not only identities the two, but also never calls the city by its new name, Neapolis, but only its ancient name, Sychem; and most likely he thus only expressed the general and probably universal opinion that then prevailed among both Jews and Christians. The ancient town, in its most flourishing age, may have filled a wider circuit than its modern representative. It could easily have extended farther up the side of Gerizim, and eastward nearer to the opening into the valley from the plain But any great change in this respect, certainly the idea of an altogether different position, the natural conditions of the locality render doubtful. That the suburbs of the town, in the age of Christ, approached nearer than at present to the entrance into the valley between Gerizim and Ebal may be inferred from the implied vicinity of Jacob's well to Sychar in John's narrative (Joh_4:1 sq.). The impression made there on the reader is that the people could be readily seen as they came forth from the town to repair to Jesus at the well; whereas Nablus is more than a mile distant, and not visible from that point. The present inhabitants have a belief or tradition that Shechem occupied a portion of the valley on the east beyond the limits of the modern town; and certain travelers speak of ruins there, which they regard as evidence of the same fact. The statement of Eusebius that Sychar lay east of Neapolis may be explained by the circumstance that the part of Neapolis in that quarter had fallen into such a state of ruin when he lived as to be mistaken for-the site of a separate town (see Reland, Palest.. p. 1004). The portion of the town on the edge of the plain was more exposed than that in the recess of the valley, and, in the natural course of things, would be destroyed first, or be left to desertion and decay. Josephus says that more than ten thousand Samaritans (inhabitants of Shechem are meant) were destroyed by the Romans on one occasion (War, 3, 7, 32). The population, therefore, must have been much greater than Nablus, with its present dimensions, would contain.
III. History. — The allusions to Shechem in the Bible are numerous, and show how important the place was in Jewish history. Abraham, on his first migration to the land of promise, pitched his tent and built an altar under the oak (or Terebinth) of Moreh at Shechem. The Canaanite was then in the land;” and it is evident that the region, if not the city, was already in possession of the aboriginal race (see Gen_12:6). Some have inferred from the expression “place of Shechem” (מְקוֹם שְׁכֶם) that it was not inhabited as a city in the time of Abraham. But we have the same expression used of cities or towns in other instances (Gen_18:24; Gen_19:12; Gen_29:22); and it may have been interchanged here, without any difference of meaning, with the phrase, “city of Shechem,” which occurs in Gen_33:18. A position affording such natural advantages would hardly fail to be occupied as soon as any population existed in the country. The narrative shows incontestably that at the time of Jacob's arrival here, after his sojourn in Mesopotamia (Gen_33:18; ch. 34), Shechem was a Hivite city, of which Hamor, the father of Shechem, was the head man. It was at this time that the patriarch purchased from that chieftain “the parcel of the field,” which he subsequently bequeathed, as a special patrimony, to his son Joseph (Gen_43:22; Jos_24:32; Joh_4:5). The field lay undoubtedly on the rich plain, of the Mukhna, and its value was the greater on account of the well which Jacob had dug there, so as not to be dependent on his neighbors for a supply of water.
The defilement of Dinah, Jacob's daughter, and the capture of Shechem and massacre of all the male inhabitants by Simeon and Levi, are events that belong to this period (Gen_34:1 sq.). As this bloody act, which Jacob so entirely condemned (Gen_34:30) and reprobated with his dying breath (Gen_49:5-7), is ascribed to two persons, some urge that as evidence of the very insignificant character of the town at the time of that transaction. But the argument is by no means decisive. Those sons of Jacob were already at the head of households of their own, and may have had the support, in that achievement of their numerous slaves and retainers. We speak in like manner of a commander as taking this or that city when we mean that it was done under his leadership. The oak under which Abraham had worshipped survived to Jacob's time; and the latter, as he was about to remove to Beth-el, collected the images and amulets which some of his family had brought with them from Padan-aram and buried them “under the oak which was by Shechem” (Gen_35:1-4). The “oak of the monument” (if we adopt that rendering of אֵלוֹן מֻצָּב in Jdg_9:6), where the Shechemites made Abimelech king, marked, perhaps, the veneration with which the Hebrews looked back to these earliest footsteps (the incunabula gentis) of the patriarchs in the Holy Land. SEE MEONENIM.
During Jacob's sojourn at Hebron his sons, in the course of their pastoral wanderings, drove their flocks to Shechem, and at Dothan, in that neighborhood, Joseph, who had been sent to look after their welfare, was seized and sold to the Ishmaelites (Gen_37:12; Gen_37:28). In the distribution of the land after its conquest by the Hebrews, Shechem fell to the lot of Ephraim (Jos_20:7), but was assigned to the Levites, and became a city of refuge (21:20, 21). It acquired new importance as the scene of the renewed promulgation of the law, when its blessings were heard from Gerizim and its curses from Ebal, and the people bowed their heads and acknowledged Jehovah as their king and ruler (Deu_27:11; Joshua 9:32-35). It was here Joshua assembled the people, shortly before his death, and delivered to them his last counsels (Jos_24:1; Jos_24:25). After the death of Gideon, Abimelech, his bastard son, induced the Shechemites to revolt from, the Hebrew commonwealth and elect him as king (Judges 9). It was to denounce this act of usurpation and treason that Jotham delivered his parable of the trees to the men of Shechem from the top of Gerizim, as recorded at length in Jdg_9:22 sq. The picturesque traits of the allegory, as Prof. Stanley suggests (Sinai and Palestine, p. 236; Jewish Church, p. 348), are strikingly appropriate to the diversified foliage of the region. In revenge for his expulsion, after a reign of three years, Abimelech destroyed the city, and, as an emblem of the fate to which he would consign it, sowed the ground with salt (Jdg_9:34-45).
It was soon restored, however, for we are told in 1 Kings 12 that all Israel assembled at Shechem, and Rehoboam, Solomon's successor, went thither to be inaugurated as king. Its central position made it convenient for such assemblies; its history was fraught with recollections which would give the sanctions of religion as well as of patriotism to the vows of sovereign and people. The new king's obstinacy made him insensible to such influences. Here, at this same place, the ten tribes renounced the house of David and transferred their allegiance to Jeroboam (1Ki_12:16), under whom Shechem became for a time the capital of his kingdom. We come next to the epoch of the exile.. The people of Shechem doubtless shared the fate of the other inhabitants, and were, most of them at least, carried into captivity (2Ki_17:5-6; 2Ki_18:9 sq.). But Shalmaneser, the conqueror, sent colonies from Babylonia to occupy the place of the exiles (17:24). It would seem that there was another influx of strangers, at a later period, under Esar-haddon (Ezr_4:2). The “certain men from Shechem” mentioned in Jer_41:5, who were slain on their way to Jerusalem, were possibly Cuthites, i.e. Babylonian immigrants who had become proselytes or worshippers of Jehovah (see Hitzig, Der Proph. Jeremiah p. 331)., These Babylonian settlers in the land, intermixed, no doubt, to some extent with the old inhabitants, were the Samaritans, who erected at length a rival temple on Gerizim (B.C. 300), and between whom and the Jews a bitter hostility existed for so many ages (Josephus, Ant. 12, 1, 1; 13, 3, 4). The Son of Sirach (1, 26) says that “a foolish people,” i.e. the Samaritans, “dwelt at Shechem” (τὰ Σίκιμα). From its vicinity to their place of worship, it became the principal city of the Samaritans, a rank which it maintained at least till the destruction of their temple, about B.C. 129, a period of nearly two hundred years (ibid. 13, 9, 1; War, 1, 2, 6). From the time of the origin of the Samaritans the history of Shechem blends itself with that of this people and of their sacred mount, Gerizim; and the reader will find the proper information on this part of the subject under those heads. The city was taken and the temple destroyed by John Hyrcanus, B.C. 129 (Ant. 13, 9, 1; War, 1, 2, 6).
As already intimated, Shechem reappears in the New Test. It is probably the Sychar of Joh_4:5, near which the Savior conversed with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. Συχάρ, as the place is termed there (Σιχάρ in Rec. Text is incorrect), found only in that passage, was no doubt current among the Jews in the age of Christ, and was either a term of reproach (שֶׁקֶר, “a lie”) with reference to the Samaritan faith and worship, or, possibly, a provincial mispronunciation of that period (see Lucke, Comm. ub. Johan. 1, 577). The Savior, with his disciples, remained two days at Sychar on his journey from Judaea to Galilee. He preached the Word there, and many of the people believed on him (Joh_4:39-40). In Act_7:16, Stephen reminds his hearers that certain of the patriarchs (meaning Joseph, as we see in Jos_24:32, and following, perhaps, some tradition as to Jacob's other sons) were buried at Sychem. Jerome, who lived so long hardly more than a day's journey from Shechem, says that the tombs of the twelve patriarchs were to be seen there in his day. The anonymous city in Act_8:5, where Philip preached with such effect, may have been Sychem, though many would refer that narrative to Samaria, the capital of the province.
We have seen that not long after the times of the New Test. the place received the name of Neapolis, which it still retains in the Arabic form of Nablus, being one of the very few names imposed by the Romans in Palestine which have survived to the present day. It had probably suffered much, if it was not completely destroyed, in the war with the Romans (see Rambach, De Urbe Sichem Sale Conspersa [Hal. 1730]), and would seem to have been restored or rebuilt by Vespasian, and then to have taken this new name; for the coins of the city, of which there are many, all bear the inscription Flavia Neapolis — the former epithet no doubt derived from Flavius Vespasian (Mionnet, Med. Antiq. 5, 499). The name occurs first in Josephus (War, 4, 8, 1), and then in Pliny; (Hist. Nat. 5, 14), Ptolemy (Geog. v, 16). As intimated above, there had already been converts to the Christian faith at this place under our Savior, and it is probable that a Church had been gathered here by the apostles (Joh_4:30-42; Act_8:25; Act_9:31; Act_15:3). Justin Martyr was a native of Neapolis (Apolog. 2, 41). The name of Germanus, bishop of Neapolis, occurs in A.D. 314; and other, bishops continue to be mentioned down to A.D. 536, when the bishop John signed his name at the synod of Jerusalem (Reland, Palest. p. 1009). When the Moslems invaded Palestine, Neapolis and other small towns in the neighborhood were subdued. while the siege of Jerusalem was going on (Abulfeda, Annal. 1, 229). After the taking of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, Neapolis and other towns in the mountains of Samaria tendered their submission, and Tancred took possession of them without resistance (Will. Tyr. 9, 20). Neapolis was laid waste by the Saracens in A.D. 1113; but a few years after (A.D. 1120) a council was held here by king Baldwin II to consult upon the state of the country (Fulcher, p. 424; Will. Tyr. 12, 13). Neapolis was not made a Latin bishopric, but belonged probably to that of Samaria, and the property of it was assigned to the abbot and canons of the Holy Sepulchre (Jac. de Vitriacus, ch. 58). After some disasters in the unquiet times which ensued, and after some circumstances which show its remaining importance, the place was finally taken from the Christians in A.D. 1242 by Abu Ali, the colleague of sultan Bibars, and has remained in Moslem hands ever since.
IV. Description. —
1. The natural features of the neighborhood are the two mountains Gerizim and Ebal, standing in front of each other like two giants, with the little valley running between, and on the eastern side the noble plain of Mukhna stretching from north to south. The two mountains run in parallel ranges from east to west — Ebal on the north and Gerizim on the south — and both reach an elevation of some 2500 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, and 800 feet above the valley itself. From the town to the eastern opening of the valley, a distance of about a mile and a half, where the two mountain ranges have their starting points, and to which parts the names of Gerizim and Ebal are confined, both mountains rise immediately from the valley in steep and mostly precipitous declivities to the height stated; and both, as seen, from the valley, are equally naked and sterile. But immediately behind the city, and there only, Gerizim has the advantage, owing to a copious stream that flows through a small ravine at the west side of the town. Here are several orchards and gardens, producing abundantly. On Ebal also, opposite the town, there are several gardens and cultivated plots — some old, but the majority of late planting — and all in a comparatively thriving condition but these can never equal those on the Gerizim side on account of the deficiency of water. The valley itself stands at an elevation of some 1700 feet above the Mediterranean, running from east to west, and extending from the eastern abutments of the two mountains as far as Sebustieh (Samaria) westward.
A portion of this only belongs to our present notice, namely, from its eastern opening to the town of Nablus, a distance of about a mile and a half. Its width varies. At its commencement it measures somewhat more than half a mile; but near halfway to the town it contracts to about half that width. But as we proceed towards the city the mountains again recede, and the valley widens to its former width; but again, at the city, contracts to its narrowest dimension. It is hardly in any part a flat level, but rather a gradual slope of the two mountains, until they dovetail into each other. Just at the commencement of the valley, on either side, are Jacob's well and Joseph's tomb. (See below.) A little farther on, and near the center of the valley, stands the hamlet Balata, the remains of a town of the same name mentioned by Parchi (Kapht va-Pherach), but of no historical importance. Near halfway up the valley is the highest ground, forming the watershed between the valley of the Jordan and the Mediterranean. The valley thus far is almost without trees of any kind, but the part nearest the town is well wooded. The principal kind of tree is the olive, as it seems to have been in the days of Jotham (Jdg_9:8). The town itself is surrounded by orchards and gardens, where figs, mulberries, grapes, almonds, oranges, apricots, and other fruit grow luxuriantly.
One of the great and peculiar features of this valley is the abundance of water. Dr. Kosen says that the inhabitants boast of the existence of not less than eighty springs of water within and around the city. He gives the names of twenty-seven of the principal of them. Within some two miles' radius from thirty to forty copious springs exist. But within the area now under notice they are more copious than numerous. There is not a single spring on the Ebal side till we have passed the city for some distance. On the Gerizim side, outside the city, there are three. The first, rising near the watershed, dries up in summer. The next, ‘Ain Dafna (the Δάφνη of the Roman period of the city), a very large stream, issues out near the road and runs in an open channel past Jacob's well, turning a mill on its way, and emptying itself to water the plain. ‘Ain Balata, named from the little village whence it flows, is the other, issuing from a subterranean chamber supported by three pillars, and sufficiently copious to supply a large population. Within the city itself the principal supply is derived from a stream descending from a ravine on the western side of the town, which is made to flow in abundance along the channels of some of the streets. The fountains are numerous. The most remarkable, ‘Ain el-Kerun, is under a vaulted dome, and is reached by a flight of steps.' The water is conveyed, hence by conduits to two of the principal mosques and some private houses, and afterwards serves to water the gardens below. The various streams run on the northern side of the town into one channel, which serves to turn a corn mill that is kept going summer and winter.
On the eastern side of the valley, as already mentioned, lies the extensive plain of the Mukhna, stretching for many miles from north to south, and hemmed in on both sides by mountain chains, the slopes of which support several villages and hamlets. In Scripture it is called Sadeh (שָׂדֶה), a smooth or level cultivated open land (Gen_33:19), to which our Savior pointed when he said, “Say ye not, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest?” etc. (Joh_4:35).
The situation of the town is one of surpassing beauty. “The land of Syria,” said Mohammed, “is beloved by Allah beyond all lands, and the part of Syria which he loveth most is the district of Jerusalem, and the place which he loveth most in the district of Jerusalem is the mountain of Nablus” (Fundgr. des Orients, 2, 139). Its appearance has called forth the admiration of all travelers who have any sensibility to the charms of nature. It lies in a sheltered valley, protected by Gerizim on the south and Ebal on the north. The feet of these mountains, where they rise from the town, are not more than five hundred yards apart. The bottom of the valley is about 1800 feet above the level of the sea, and the top of Gerizim 800 feet higher still. Those who have been to Heidelberg will assent to Von Richter's remark that the scenery, as viewed from the foot of the hills, is not unlike that of the beautiful German town.
The site of the present city, which we believe to have been also that of the Hebrew city, occurs exactly On the water summit; and streams issuing from the numerous springs there flow down the opposite slopes of the valley, spreading verdure and fertility in every direction. Travelers vie with each other in the language which they employ to describe the scene that bursts here so suddenly upon them on arriving in spring or early summer at this paradise of the Holy Land. The somewhat sterile aspect of the adjacent mountains becomes itself a foil, as it were, to set off the effect of the verdant fields and orchards which fill up the valley. “There is nothing finer in all Palestine,” says Dr. Clarke, “than a view of Nablus from the heights around it. As the traveler descends towards it from. the hills, it appears luxuriantly embosomed in the most delightful and fragrant bowers, half concealed by rich gardens and by stately trees collected into groves, all around the bold and beautiful valley in which it stands.” “The whole valley,” says Dr. Robinson, “was filled with gardens of vegetables and orchards of all kinds of fruits, watered by fountains which burst forth in various parts and flow westward in refreshing streams. It came upon us suddenly, like a scene of fairy enchantment. We saw nothing to compare with it in all Palestine. Here, beneath the shadow of an immense mulberry tree, by the side of a purling rill, we pitched our tent, for the remainder of the day and the night.... We rose early, awakened by the songs of nightingales and other birds, of which the gardens around us were full.” “There is no wilderness here,” says Van de Velde (1, 386), “there are no wild thickets, yet there is always verdure, always shade, not of the oak, the terebinth, and the caroub tree, but of the olive grove, so soft in color, so picturesque in form, that, for its sake, we can willingly dispense with all other wood. There is a singularity about the vale of Shechem, and that is the peculiar coloring which objects assume in it. You know that wherever there is water the air becomes charged with watery particles, and that distant objects beheld through that medium seem to be enveloped inl a pale blue or gray mist, such as contributes not a little to give a charm to the landscape.
But it is precisely those atmospheric tints that, we miss so much in Palestine. Fiery tints are to be seen both in the morning and the evening, and glittering violet or purple-colored hues where the light falls next to the long, deep shadows; but there is an absence of coloring, and of that charming dusky hue in which objects assume such softly blended forms, and in which also the transition in color from the foreground to the farthest distance loses the hardness of outline peculiar to the perfect tansparency of an Eastern sky. It is otherwise in the vale of Shechem, at least in the morning and the evening. Here the exhalations remain hovering among the branches and leaves of the olive trees, and hence that lovely bluish haze. The valley is far from broad, not exceeding in some places a few hundred feet. This you find generally enclosed on all sides; here, likewise, the vapors are condensed. And so you advance under the shade of the foliage, along the living waters, and charmed by the melody of a host of singing birds — for they, too, know where to find their best quarters — while the perspective fades away and is lost in the damp, vapory atmosphere.” Apart entirely from the historic interest of the place, such are the natural attractions of this favorite resort of the patriarchs of old, such the beauty of the scenery, and the indescribable air of tranquillity and repose which hangs over the scene, that the traveler, anxious as he may be to hasten forward in his journey, feels that he would gladly linger, and could pass here days and weeks without impatience.
2. The modern city, as already observed, is situated in the valley, about a mile and a half from its eastern opening. It stands at the foot of Gerizim, and stretches from east to west in an irregular form. Just where the city stands there is scarcely any flat ground, the gradual slopes of the two mountains dovetailing into each other. The roads leading to the town from all parts are in a most primitive and wretched condition, and the town itself is surrounded by all kinds of filth. The city is encompassed by a wall of very common structure, and in a most dilapidated condition. The two principal gates — one in the eastern and the other in the western end of the town — are in keeping with the walls, and would not give so much trouble to a conqueror as in the time of Abimelech. Notwithstanding, they are of no small importance in the economy of the town. Here we still find a faint emblem of what gates were in ancient times — the great emporiums where all the public affairs of the city were transacted.
The gates of Nablus retain their importance in part. At the western gate the revenue department is still located, and all who pass through with any commodities to sell, and purchasers, are charged a certain toll according to the value of the articles. The main street, following the line of the valley from east to west, runs almost in a straight line the whole length of the town, connecting the two gates. Most of the other streets cross this quite irregularly, and are, almost without exception, narrow and dirty. Nearly all of them have a channel along the center, in which runs a stream of water. In the winter season these streams are full, but diminish during the summer months, and several are dried up. This arrangement of the water causes the town to be very damp during the winter; and, however pleasant it may be in summer, it certainly forms anything but a good element in the sanitary condition of the place. This state of the streets, together with the fact of some of them being arched, makes the town uncommonly sombre and dull. But when we speak of streets, our readers must not imagine them to be similar to European streets, formed by the front of lines of houses, private or public; but the streets of Nablus, like those of other Oriental towns, are only passages between dead walls, except where the bazaars break the monotony. These are the Eastern shops or marketplaces — a kind of recesses in the walls — and are comparatively numerous in Nablus. They are grouped according to the merchandise they contain, and are situated principally in the main street.
With regard to the buildings, we may remark that all the houses are built of stone, and are heavy and sombre. They are entered from the street through a ponderous strong door, barred on the inside (2Sa_13:18); a large iron knocker is attached, and two or three blows with this will suffice to bring one of the inmates to ask, “Who is there?” (Act_12:13). From the inside it will be found that each house stands detached from its neighbor, and consists of detached vaulted rooms, all built of stone, and all. opening into the court, which is uncovered, but screened from the observation of all but the inmates by the high walls of the house on all sides. Every house has one dome or more; but the roof is flat, with, battlements surrounding it, to prevent any one falling into the street or court (Deu_22:8). In the better sort of houses a kind of family saloon is built on a portion of the roof of the house, much more spacious and airy than the other rooms, and preserved principally for the entertainment of guests who are to be treated with marked respect. This is the aliyah, עֲלַיָּה, of the Old Test. (1Ki_17:19), and the “larger upper room” (ἀνώγαιον μέγα) of the New (Mar_14:15). The windows of the houses are sometimes only square holes in the wall (Act_20:9); but generally finished with lattice work as of old (Jdg_5:28; Son_2:9).
There are no public buildings worth mentioning. The Keniseh, or synagogue of the Samaritans, is a small edifice, in the interior of which there is nothing remarkable, unless it be an alcove, screened by a curtain, in which their sacred writings are kept. The structure may be three or four centuries old. A description and sketch plan of it are given in Mr. Grove's paper On the Modern Samaritans, in Vacation Tourists for 1861. Nablus has five mosques, two of which, according to a tradition in which Mohammedans, Christians, and Samaritans agree, were originally churches. One of them, it is said, was dedicated to John the Baptist; its eastern portal, still well preserved, shows the European taste of its founders. The domes of the houses and the minarets, as they show themselves above the sea of luxuriant vegetation which surrounds them, present a striking view to the traveler approaching from the east or the west.
There are a few small portions of the town remaining, in all probability, from ancient times. The arched passage in the Samaritan quarter seems to be partly of this class, comprising levelled stones of Jewish style. Similar ones are in other parts of the town. The marble troughs used at the principal streams are probably Israelitish remains. These are five in number, dug up in the plain on the eastern side of Gerizim, and originally the sarcophagi of the dead. Rosen, during his stay at Nablus, examined anew the Samaritan inscriptions found there, supposed to be among the oldest written monuments in Palestine. He has furnished, as Prof. Rodiger admits, the best copy of them that has been taken (see a facsimile in Zeitschr. der deutschen morgenl. Gesellschaft, 1860, p. 621). The inscriptions, on stone tablets, distinguished in his account as No. 1 and No. 2, belonged originally to a Samaritan synagogue which stood just out of the city, near the Samaritan quarter, of which synagogue a few remains only are now left.. They are thought to be as old at least as the age of Justinian, who (A.D. 529) destroyed so many of the Samaritan places of worship. Some, with less reason, think they may have been saved from the Temple on Gerizim, having been transferred afterwards to a later synagogue. One of the tablets is now inserted in the wall of a minaret; the other was discovered not long ago in a heap of rubbish not far from it. The inscriptions consist of brief extracts from the Samaritan Pentateuch, probably valuable as paleographic documents. Similar slabs are to be found built into the walls of several of the sanctuaries in the neighborhood of Nablus; as at the tombs of Eleazar, Phinehas, and Ithamar at Awertah.
3. To complete our survey of Shechem and its neighborhood, we must take a brief glance at the traditional monuments that exist there. The most interesting by far are the Well of Jacob and the Tomb of Joseph. These stand at the eastern opening of the valley, the former near the foot of Gerizim, and the latter near the foot of Ebal, as if keeping guard over the parcel of field bought by the patriarch of the children of Hamor.
(1.) With regard to the first of these, we may observe that the language in the original is remarkably descriptive of the spot. Had Jacob bought a portion of the valley, we should have had emek, עֵמַק. but here it is a part of the sadeh, הִשָּׂדֶה, the level cultivated land, the plain of Mukhna already described; and to no other part of the country could this term be applied. This, in connection with the unbroken tradition of the spot, renders its genuineness beyond all doubt. The well is not an ‘ain, עִיַן, a fountain of living water; but a beer, בְּאֵר, a cistern to hold rainwater. Hence our Savior's contrast, with the Samaritan woman, between the cistern (φρέαρ) which Jacob gave them and the fountain (πηγή) which he should give them (Joh_4:12; Joh_4:14). Faithful to the language of Scripture, the natives never call it ‘Ain, Yakub, but always Bir Yakub, Jacob's Well. The native Christians of Nablus frequently call it Bir Samariyeh, the Samaritan Well; but the Samaritans themselves only call it Bir Yakub.
“A low spur projects from the base of Gerizim in a northeastern direction, between the plain and the opening of the valley. On the point of this spur is a little mound of shapeless ruins, with several fragments of granite columns. Beside these is the well. Formerly there was a square hole opening into a carefully built vaulted chamber, about ten feet square, in the floor of which was the true mouth of the well. Now a portion of the vault has fallen in and completely covered up the mouth, so that nothing can be seen above but a shallow pit half filled with stones and rubbish. The well is deep — seventy-five feet when last measured, and there was probably a considerable accumulation of rubbish at the bottom. Sometimes it contains a few feet of water; but at others it is quite dry. It is entirely excavated in the solid rock, perfectly round, nine feet in diameter, with the sides hewn smooth and regular” (Porter, Handbook, p. 340). The well is fast filling up with the stones thrown in by travelers and others. At Maundrell's visit (1697) it was 105 feet deep, and the same measurement is given by Dr. Robinson as having been taken in May, 1838. But, five years later, when Dr. Wilson recovered Mr. A. Bonar's Bible from it, the depth had decreased to “exactly seventy-five” (Wilson, Lands, 2, 57). Maundrell (March 24) found fifteen feet of water standing in the well. It appears now to be always dry.
“It has every claim to be considered the original well, sunk deep into the rocky ground by ‘our father Jacob.'” This, at least, was the tradition of the place in the last days of the Jewish people (Joh_4:6; Joh_4:12). Its position adds probability to the conclusion, indicating, as has been well observed, that it was there dug by one who could not trust to the springs so near in the adjacent vale — the springs of Ain Balata and ‘Ain Dafna — which still belonged to the Canaanites. Of all the special localities of our Lord's life, this is almost the only one absolutely undisputed. “The tradition, in which, by a singular coincidence, Jews and Samaritans, Christians and Mohammedans, all agree, goes back,” says Dr. Robinson (Bib. Res. 2, 284), “at least to the time of Eusebius, in the early part of the 4th century. That writer indeed speaks only of the sepulchre; but the Bordeaux Pilgrim, in A.D. 333, mentions also the well; and neither of these writers has any allusion to a church. But Jerome, in Epitaphium Pauloe, which is referred to A.D. 404, makes her visit the church erected at the side of Mount Gerizim around the Well of Jacob, where our Lord met the Samaritan woman.
The church would seem, therefore, to have been built during the 4th century; though not by Helena, as is reported in modern times. It was visited and is mentioned, as around the well, by Antoninus Martyr near the close of the 6th century; by Arculfus a century later, who describes it as built in the form of a cross; and again by St. Willibald in the 8th century. Yet Saewulf, about A.D. 1103, and Phocas in 1185, who speak of the well, make no mention of the church; whence we may conclude that the latter had been destroyed before the period of the Crusades. Brocardus speaks of ruins around the well, blocks of marble and columns, which he held to be the ruins of a town, the ancient Thebez; they were probably those of the church, to which he makes no allusion. Other travelers, both of that age and later, speak of the church only as destroyed, and the well as already deserted. Before the days of Eusebius there seems to be no historical testimony to show the identity of this well with that which our Savior visited; and the proof must therefore rest, so far as it can be made out at all, on circumstantial evidence.
I am not aware of anything, in the nature of the case, that goes to contradict the common tradition; but, on the other hand, I see much in the circumstances tending to confirm the supposition that this is actually the spot where our Lord held his conversation with the Samaritan woman. Jesus was journeying from Jerusalem to Galilee, and rested at the well, while his disciples were gone away into the city to buy meat. The well, therefore, lay apparently before the city, and at some distance from it. In passing along the eastern plain, Jesus had halted at the well, and sent his disciples to the city situated in the narrow valley, intending, on their return, to proceed along the plain on his way to Galilee, without himself visiting the city. All this corresponds exactly to the present character of the ground. The well, too, was Jacob's Well, of high antiquity, a known and venerated spot, which, after having already lived for so many ages in tradition, would not be likely to be forgotten in the two and a half centuries intervening between John and Eusebius.”
It is understood that the well, and the site around it, have lately been purchased by the Russian Church, not, it is to be hoped, with the intention of erecting a Church over it, and thus forever destroying the reality and the sentiment of the place. A special fund has recently been raised in England for the purpose of surveying the premises and cleaning out the well. SEE JACOBS WELL.
(2.) The second of the spots alluded to is the Tomb of Joseph. It lies about a quarter of a mile north of the well, exactly in the center, of the opening of the valley between Gerizim and Ebal. It is a small square enclosure of high whitewashed walls, surrounding a tomb of the ordinary kind, but with the peculiarity that it is placed diagonally to the walls, instead of parallel, as usual. A rough pillar used as an altar, and black with the traces of fire, is at the head, and another at the foot of the tomb. In the left-hand corner as you enter is a vine, whose branches “run over the wall,” recalling exactly the metaphor of Jacob's blessing (Gen_49:22). In the walls are two slabs with Hebrew inscriptions. One of these is given by Dr. Wilson (Lands, etc. 2, 61), and the interior is almost covered with the names of pilgrims in Hebrew, Arabic, and Samaritan. Beyond this there is nothing to remark in the structure itself. It purports to cover the tomb of Joseph, buried there in the “parcel of ground” which his father bequeathed especially to him his favorite son, and in which his bones were deposited after the conquest of the country was completed (Jos_24:32).
The local tradition of the tomb, like that of the well, is as old as the beginning of the 4th century. Both Eusebius (Onomast. Συχέμ ) and the Bordeaux Pilgrim mention its existence. So do Benjamin of Tudela (1160- 79) and Maundeville (1322), and so — to pass over intermediate travelers- does Maundrell (1697). All that is wanting in these accounts is to fix the tomb which they mention to the present spot. But this is difficult. Maundrell describes it as on his right hand, in leaving Nablus for Jerusalem; “just without the city” — a small mosque, “built over the sepulchre of Joseph” (March 25). Some time after passing it he arrives at the well. This description is quite inapplicable to the tomb just described, but perfectly suits the Wely at the northeast foot of Gerizim, which also bears (among the Moslems) the name of Joseph. When the expressions of the two oldest authorities cited above are examined, it will be seen that they are quite as suitable, if not more so, to this latter spot as to the tomb on the open plain. On the other hand, the Jewish travelers, from hap-Parchi (cir. 1320) downwards, specify the tomb as in the immediate neighborhood of the village el-Balata. See the itineraries entitled Jichus hat-Tsadikim (A.D. 1561) and Jichus ha-Aboth (1537), in Carmoly, Itineraires de la Terre- Sainte. Stanley states, after Buckingham, that it is said by the Samaritans to be thus called after a rabbi Joseph of Nablus (Sin. and Pal. p. 241, note). But this identification seems to be a mistake, probably a Mohammedan legend, and imposed upon inquisitive travelers by unscrupulous guides. The present Samaritans know of no Joseph's tomb but the generally accepted one; and to it does the Jewish as well as the Samaritan tradition bear testimony. Hap-Parchi, who spent some years exploring Palestine, fixes Joseph's Tomb fifty yards north of Balata (Kapht. va-Pherach).
In this conflict of testimony, and in the absence of any information on the date and nature of the Moslem tomb, it is impossible to come to a definite conclusion. There is some force, and that in favor of the received site, in the remarks of a learned and intelligent Jewish traveler (Lowe, in the Allg. Zeitung des Judenthums [Leipsig, 1839], No. 50) on the peculiar form and nature of the ground surrounding the tomb near the well, the more so because they are suggested by the natural features of the spot, as reflected in the curiously minute, the almost technical, language of the ancient record, and not based on any mere traditional or artificial considerations. “The thought,” says he, “forced itself upon me, how impossible it is to understand the details of the Bible without examining them on the spot. This place is called in the Scripture neither emek (‘valley') nor shephelah (‘plain'), but by the individual name of Chelkath has-Sadeh; and in the whole of Palestine there is not such another plot to be found — a dead level, without the least hollow or swelling in a circuit of two hours. In addition to this, it is the loveliest and most fertile spot I have ever seen.” SEE JOSEPHS TOMB.
(3.) About halfway between Jacob's Well and the city, and nestling in a bend of Mount Gerizim, is the mosque Sheik el-'Amud (the Saint of the Pillar), so called from a Mussulman saint. This saint, however, is only a modern invention of the Mohammedans. By the Samaritans the place is simply called El-'Amud, the Pillar, their tradition identifying it with the pillar of stone set up by Joshua, as noticed above. They also believe that the celebrated oak of Moreh stood on the same spot. The Mohammedans come here occasionally to pray, but no great honor is paid to the place if we may judge from its present dilapidated state.
(4.) About one third of the way up the side of Mount Ebal, in front of the town, is a bold perpendicular rock, some sixty feet high, called, after a Mohammedan female saint, Sit es-Salamiyeh. In front of the rock stands a small building, consisting of two chambers and a wely for prayer, but all in a dilapidated state. This part of the mountain is called by the saint's name.
(5.) A little farther westward, and about midway to the summit, stands the only edifice now remaining on Mount Ebal. This is called ‘Imad ed-Din — the Column of Religion. According to the current tradition, this building was erected over the tomb of a Mohammedan saint, honored by the above name (and the building, of course, receiving its name from the saint), who flourished some five hundred years ago. The building is used as a mosque, but the native Christians say that originally it was a Christian church. It consists of two apartments, the floor of the first still partly paved with fragments of very beautiful mosaic work, wrought in marble of red, blue, and white. On the middle of the inner room stands a large wooden lamp stand in imitation of a tree, with a goodly number of branches, on which a number of oil lamps are hanging, together with a formidable array of filthy rags placed there by pilgrims in honor of the saint, whose tomb, they say, is in the northern wall, indicated by a marble slab placed against it. This part of the mount is frequently called by the natives after the saint, ‘Imad ed- Din.
4. The present inhabitants of Nablus, with very few exceptions, are Arabs. It is difficult to say with exactness what is the number of its population, inasmuch as no census is taken. About 10,000 is near the mark. Of these there are about 100 Jews, 150 Samaritans, from 500 to 600 native Christians; the remaining 9400 are Mohammedans — the most bigoted and unruly, perhaps, in Palestine. The enmity between the Samaritans and Jews is as inveterate still as it was in the days of Christ.
Being, as it is, the gateway of the trade between Jaffa and Beirut on the one side, and the transjordanic districts on the other, and the center also of a province so rich in wool, grain, and oil, Nablus becomes, necessarily, the seat of an active commerce, and of a comparative luxury to be found in very few of the inland Oriental cities. It produces, in its own manufactories, many of the coarser woollen fabrics, delicate silk goods, cloth of camel's hair, and especially soap, of which last commodity large quantities, after supplying the immediate country, are sent to Egypt and other parts of the East. The ashes and other sediments thrown out of the city, as the result of the soap manufacture, have grown to the size of hills, and give to the environs of the town a peculiar aspect. The olive, as in the days when Jotham delivered his famous parable, is still the principal tree. Figs, almonds, walnuts, mulberries, grapes, oranges, apricots, pomegranates, are abundant. The valley of the Nile itself hardly surpasses Nablus in the production of vegetables of every sort. See Robinson, Palestine, 2, 94-136; Olin, Travels, 2, 339-365; Narrative of the Scottish Deputation, p. 208-218; Schubert, Morgenland, 3, 136- 154; Lord Nugent, Lands Classical and Sacred, 2, 172-180; Hackett, Illustrations of Scripture, p. 193 sq.; Thomson, Land and Book, 2, 203; Conder, Tent Work in Palestine, 1, 61 sq. Dr. Rosen, in the Zeitschr. der deutschen morgenland. Gesellschaeft for 1860 (p. 622-639), has given a careful plan of Nablus and the environs, with various accompanying remarks. SEE SAMARITANS, MODERN.



CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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