City in Canaan, later allotted to Ephraim
Shechem
Named in 44 verses across 10 books, first in Genesis 12:6.
שְׁכֶםShechem
ΣυχέμShechem
The name means “part; portion; back early in the morning.” Hitchcock's Bible Names, 1869
About Shechem Written by AI
Shechem was an important city in central Canaan, located in the hill country between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. It is mentioned numerous times throughout the Bible, often in connection with significant events in Israel's history. Shechem first appears in the account of Abraham's journey to Canaan, where he built an altar to the Lord (Gen. 12:6-7). Later, Israel (or 'Jacob') settled near Shechem and purchased a piece of land, setting up an altar there (Gen. 33:18-20). However, the city also became the site of violence when Jacob's daughter Dinah was violated by Shechem, the son of Hamor, leading to the massacre of the city's male inhabitants by Jacob's sons Simeon and Levi (Gen. 34). During the conquest of Canaan, Shechem was allotted to the tribe of Ephraim and designated as a city of refuge (Josh. 20:7; 21:21). Joshua gathered the tribes at Shechem to renew the covenant and set up a stone of remembrance (Josh. 24:1, 25-26). The city later became the site of Abimelech's short-lived kingdom (Judg. 9) and was rebuilt by Jeroboam as the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel (1Ki. 12:25). Shechem held religious significance, as evidenced by the blessings and curses pronounced from Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal (Deut. 11:29; 27:12; Josh. 8:33). The city is also mentioned in the Psalms as a symbol of God's dominion over Israel (Ps. 60:6; 108:7). In the New Testament, Stephen's speech before the Sanhedrin mentions Shechem as the burial place of Jacob and his sons (Act.7.16), although this differs from the Old Testament account of their burial at Hebron (Gen. 49:29-33; 50:13). Shechem's location at the crossroads of major trade routes contributed to its strategic and economic importance. The city's history, marked by both sacred events and periods of violence, reflects the complex dynamics of Israelite settlement and inter-tribal relations in Canaan.
Drafted by an AI model for STEPBible's TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Check it against the verses below.
Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897
This entry is on the name Shechem, and may cover more than one person or place by that name.
Shoulder. (1.) The son of Hamor the Hivite (Gen. 33:19; 34).
(2.) A descendant of Manasseh (Num. 26:31; Josh. 17:2).
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(3.) A city in Samaria (Gen. 33:18), called also Sichem (12:6), Sychem (Acts 7:16). It stood in the narrow sheltered valley between Ebal on the north and Gerizim on the south, these mountains at their base being only some 500 yards apart. Here Abraham pitched his tent and built his first altar in the Promised Land, and received the first divine promise (Gen. 12:6, 7). Here also Jacob “bought a parcel of a field at the hands of the children of Hamor” after his return from Mesopotamia, and settled with his household, which he purged from idolatry by burying the teraphim of his followers under an oak tree, which was afterwards called “the oak of the sorcerer” (Gen. 33:19; 35:4; Judg. 9:37). (See MEONENIM.) Here too, after a while, he dug a well, which bears his name to this day (John 4:5, 39-42). To Shechem Joshua gathered all Israel “before God,” and delivered to them his second parting address (Josh. 24:1-15). He “made a covenant with the people that day” at the very place where, on first entering the land, they had responded to the law from Ebal and Gerizim (Josh. 24:25), the terms of which were recorded “in the book of the law of God”, i.e., in the roll of the law of Moses; and in memory of this solemn transaction a great stone was set up “under an oak” (comp. Gen. 28:18; 31:44-48; Ex. 24:4; Josh. 4:3, 8, 9), possibly the old “oak of Moreh,” as a silent witness of the transaction to all coming time.
Shechem became one of the cities of refuge, the central city of refuge for Western Palestine (Josh. 20:7), and here the bones of Joseph were buried (24:32). Rehoboam was appointed king in Shechem (1 Kings 12:1, 19), but Jeroboam afterwards took up his residence here. This city is mentioned in connection with our Lord’s conversation with the woman of Samaria (John 4:5); and thus, remaining as it does to the present day, it is one of the oldest cities of the world. It is the modern Nablus, a contraction for Neapolis, the name given to it by Vespasian. It lies about a mile and a half up the valley on its southern slope, and on the north of Gerizim, which rises about 1,100 feet above it, and is about 34 miles north of Jerusalem. It contains about 10,000 inhabitants, of whom about 160 are Samaritans and 100 Jews, the rest being Christians and Mohammedans.
The site of Shechem is said to be of unrivalled beauty. Stanley says it is “the most beautiful, perhaps the only very beautiful, spot in Central Palestine.”
Gaza, near Shechem, only mentioned 1 Chr. 7:28, has entirely disappeared. It was destroyed at the time of the Conquest, and its place was taken by Shechem. (See SYCHAR.)
M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary, third edition (1897), public domain, from CrossWire. Shown as written; its Scripture quotes are from older translations.
32.214, 35.282 See it on a map
Where the Bible names it
- Genesis 12:6
Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the Oak of Moreh at Shechem. And at that time the Canaanites were in the land.
- Genesis 33:18
After Jacob had come from Paddan-aram, he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan, and he camped just outside the city.
- Genesis 35:4
So they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and all their earrings, and Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem.
- Genesis 37:12
Some time later, Joseph’s brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks near Shechem.
- Genesis 37:13
Israel said to him, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flocks at Shechem? Get ready; I am sending you to them.” “I am ready,” Joseph replied.
- Genesis 37:14
Then Israel told him, “Go now and see how your brothers and the flocks are faring, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. And when Joseph arrived in Shechem,
- Joshua 17:7
Now the border of Manasseh went from Asher to Michmethath near Shechem, then southward to include the inhabitants of En-tappuah.
- Joshua 20:7
So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.
- Joshua 21:21
they were given Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim (a city of refuge for the manslayer), Gezer,
- Joshua 24:1
Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges, and officers of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.
- Joshua 24:25
On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he established for them a statute and ordinance.
- Joshua 24:32
And the bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up out of Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the plot of land that Jacob had purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver. So it became an inheritance for Joseph’s descendants.
- Judges 8:31
His concubine, who dwelt in Shechem, also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.
- Judges 9:1
Now Abimelech son of Jerubbaal went to his mother’s brothers at Shechem and said to them and to all the clan of his mother,
- Judges 9:2
“Please ask all the leaders of Shechem, ‘Is it better for you that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you, or just one man?’ Remember that I am your own flesh and blood.”
- Judges 9:3
And when his mother’s brothers spoke all these words about him in the presence of all the leaders of Shechem, their hearts were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.”
- Judges 9:6
Then all the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo gathered beside the oak at the pillar in Shechem and proceeded to make Abimelech their king.
- Judges 9:7
When this was reported to Jotham, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim, raised his voice, and cried out: “Listen to me, O leaders of Shechem, and may God listen to you.
- Judges 9:18
but you have risen up against my father’s house this day and killed his seventy sons on a single stone, and you have made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the leaders of Shechem because he is your brother—
- Judges 9:20
But if not, may fire come from Abimelech and consume the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo, and may fire come from the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo and consume Abimelech.”
- Judges 9:23
God sent a spirit of animosity between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem and caused them to treat Abimelech deceitfully,
- Judges 9:24
in order that the crime against the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come to justice and their blood be avenged on their brother Abimelech and on the leaders of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers.
- Judges 9:25
The leaders of Shechem set up an ambush against Abimelech on the hilltops, and they robbed all who passed by them on the road. So this was reported to Abimelech.
- Judges 9:26
Meanwhile, Gaal son of Ebed came with his brothers and crossed into Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem put their confidence in him.
- Judges 9:28
Then Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is not Zebul his officer? You are to serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem. Why should we serve Abimelech?
- Judges 9:31
So he covertly sent messengers to Abimelech to say, “Look, Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem and are stirring up the city against you.
- Judges 9:34
So Abimelech and all his troops set out by night and lay in wait against Shechem in four companies.
- Judges 9:39
So Gaal went out before the leaders of Shechem and fought against Abimelech,
- Judges 9:41
Abimelech stayed in Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers out of Shechem.
- Judges 9:46
On hearing of this, all the leaders in the tower of Shechem entered the inner chamber of the temple of El-berith.
- Judges 9:47
And when Abimelech was told that all the leaders in the tower of Shechem were gathered there,
- Judges 9:49
So each man also cut his own branch and followed Abimelech. Then they piled the branches against the inner chamber and set it on fire above them, killing everyone in the tower of Shechem, about a thousand men and women.
- Judges 9:57
And God also brought all the wickedness of the men of Shechem back upon their own heads. So the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal came upon them.
- Judges 21:19
“But look,” they said, “there is a yearly feast to the LORD in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel east of the road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.”
- 1 Kings 12:1
Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king.
- 1 Kings 12:25
Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And from there he went out and built Penuel.
- 1 Chronicles 6:67
They were given Shechem (a city of refuge) with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, and Gezer,
- 1 Chronicles 7:28
Their holdings and settlements included Bethel and its villages, Naaran to the east, Gezer and its villages to the west, and Shechem and its villages as far as Ayyah and its villages.
- 2 Chronicles 10:1
Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king.
- Psalm 60:6
God has spoken from His sanctuary: “I will triumph! I will parcel out Shechem and apportion the Valley of Succoth.
From STEPBible's TIPNR, Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0): names, family, references and the AI written article. Verse text is the BSB.