Shechem

Etymology

The name of Shechem is attested as sꜣkꜣmꜣꜣ in Ancient Egyptian and Ša-ak-mi in Amarna letter 289, which indicates the first consonant was */θ/ at this time. The name שְׁכֶם was understood to be derived from the Hebrew word שְׁכֶם shěkem "shoulder, saddle", from Proto-West Semitic *ṯVkm- "the lowest part of the neck". The sense of "shoulder" corresponds with the mountainous configuration of the city.

Geographical position

Shechem's position is indicated in the Hebrew Bible: it lay north of Bethel and Shiloh, on the high road going from Jerusalem to the northern districts (Judges xxi, 19), at a short distance from Michmethath (Joshua 17:7) and of Dothain (Genesis 37:12–17); it was in the hill-country of Ephraim (Joshua 20:7; 21:21; 1 Kings 12:25; 1 Chronicles 6:67; 7:28), immediately below Mount Gerizim (Judges 9:6–7). These indications are substantiated by Josephus, who says that the city lay between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, and by the Madaba map, which places its Sykhem between one of its two sets of "Tour Gobel" (Ebal) and the "Tour Garizin" (Garizim). The site of Shechem in patristic sources is almost invariably identified with, or located close to, the town of Flavia Neapolis (Nablus).

History

Shechem (Tell Balata) was situated in a narrow valley separating Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, two of the largest mountains in Samaria. This valley was a principal highway for merchants and travelers moving in the hills between northern and southern Israel (see Way of the Patriarchs), and made Shechem a crucial trade hub in this region.

Nearby sites: Tell Dothan towards Jenin and the Yizreel Valley, and Tell el-Farah North, north of Jerusalem (50 km).

An abundance of water, thanks to numerous natural springs and a high, stable water table, which made digging new wells easy. The fertile valley soil allowed an economy based on agriculture and livestock.

Chalcolithic

The oldest settlement in Shechem goes back to about five thousand years ago, during the Chalcolithic period (3500-3000 BC). At that time agriculture was already practiced.

Early Bronze

During the Early Bronze Age, activity seems to have moved to the nearby area of Khirbet Makhneh el-Fauqa. Some publications claim that Shechem is mentioned in the third-millennium Ebla tablets, but this has been denied by archaeologists.

Middle Bronze

The first substantial building activity at Shechem (Strata XXII-XXI) dates from the Middle Bronze Age IIA (c. 1900 BC). It became a very substantial Canaanite settlement, and was attacked by Egypt, as mentioned in the Sebek-khu Stele, an Egyptian stele of a noble at the court of Senusret III (c. 1880–1840 BC).

Fortifications were made in the MB IIB (XX-XIX).

This period marks the "urban revolution" of Shechem, where the site was transformed into a fortified stronghold.

The Temenos 1 Wall: A massive enclosure wall was constructed to segregate the sacred area from the residential quarters.

The Courtyard Temples: Archaeological evidence shows a series of three superimposed courtyard temples (901, 902, and 939) within the sacred precinct. These structures follow a Syrian-influenced architectural plan (Campbell, 2002). The city’s first true defensive wall (Wall D, an orthostat-lined structure) was erected during this phase.

The MB IIB pottery was studied by Cole.

In Field VI the general strata were XVII (MB IIC), XVIII, XIX and XX (MB IIA-B or MB IIA).

In Field VI Stratum XX (MB IIA or MB IIA/B) is later than Tel Beit Mirsim G-F but earned the designation MB IIA-B, while Mazar (1967) saw Str. XX contemporary with Megiddo XII (MB IIA).

In Field VI Stratum XIX (MB IIB1). (cf. Tel Beit Mirsim E)

In Field VI Stratum XVIII (MB IIB2). (cf. Tel Beit Mirsim E)

In Field VI Stratum XVII (MB IIC) pottery reflect a ceramic tradition more consistent with the preceding MB IIB strata.

Late Bronze

In the Amarna letters of about 1350 BC, Šakmu (i.e., Shechem) was the center of a kingdom carved out by Labaya (or Labayu), a Canaanite prince who recruited mercenaries from among the Habiru. Labaya was the author of three Amarna letters (EA 252, EA 253, and EA 254), and his name appears in 11 of the other 382 letters, referred to 28 times, with the basic topic of the letter, being Labaya himself, and his relationship with the rebelling, countryside Habiru.

Shechem may be identical to the Sakama mentioned in an account dated to the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt (around 1200 BC). (See Papyrus Anastasi I.)

Iron Age

A 2002 final published report on the stratigraphic and architectural evidence at Tell Balata indicates that there was a break in occupation between the end of the Late Bronze Age (c. 1150 BC) through to the early Iron Age II (c. 975 BC). A small quadrangular altar discovered in Tell Balata, similar to ones found in other Iron Age sites such as Tel Arad and Tel Dan, may have been used for burning incense.

During the Iron Age II, Shechem was a city in the northern Kingdom of Israel. It had an estimated population of 1,200 during the 9th and 8th centuries BC, according to archaeologist William G. Dever.

During the Babylonian captivity (606 to 536 BC), Judean and Samarian remnants reestablished an altar at Shechem to keep the Israelite worship system going when access to both the Temple in Jerusalem and Mount Gerizim was cut off.

Classical antiquity

During the Hellenistic and Roman periods, Shechem was the main settlement of the Samaritans, whose religious center stood on Mount Gerizim, just outside the town.

In 6 AD, Shechem was annexed to the Roman Empire as the province of Judea. Samaritans rose up in arms on Mount Gerizim at the time of the Galilee campaign in 67, which was part of the First Jewish–Roman War. Josephus, The Jewish War, III, vii, 32 states that Sextus Vettulenus Cerialis destroyed Shechem during that war.

In 72 AD, a new city, Flavia Neapolis, was built by Vespasian 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) to the west of the old one; it is the origin of the current place-name of Nablus. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 4.8.44, placed the city between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. Elsewhere, he refers to it simply as "Neapolis".

During Emperor Hadrian's reign, the temple on Mount Gerizim was restored and dedicated to Jupiter.

Like Shechem, Neapolis had a very early Christian community, including the early saint Justin Martyr; bishops of Neapolis are mentioned. On several occasions, the Christians suffered greatly at the hands of the Samaritans. In 474, the emperor, to avenge what Christians considered an unjust attack by the Samaritans, deprived the latter of Mount Gerizim and gave it to the Christians, who built on it a church dedicated to the Mary, mother of Jesus.

Later history

The city of Nablus was Islamicized in the Abbasid and Ottoman periods. In 1903 near Nablus, a German party of archaeologists led by Dr. Hermann Thiersch stumbled upon the site called Tell Balata and now identified as ancient Shechem. Nablus is still referred to as Shechem by Israeli Hebrew speakers, even though the original site of Shechem lies east of the modern-day city.

In the Bible

Shechem is mentioned 60 times in the Bible.

Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)

Shechem first appears in the Hebrew Bible in Genesis 12:6–8, which says that Abraham reached the "great tree of Moreh" at Shechem and offered sacrifice nearby. Genesis, Deuteronomy, Joshua and Judges hallow Shechem over all other cities of the land of Israel. According to Genesis (12:6–7) Abram "built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him… and had given that land to his descendants" at Shechem. The Bible states that on this occasion, God confirmed the covenant he had first made with Abraham in Harran, regarding the possession of the land of Canaan.

On a later sojourn, two sons of Jacob, Simeon (Shimon) and Levi, avenged their sister Dinah's abduction and rape by "Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land" of Shechem. Jacob's sons said to the Shechemites that if "every male among you is circumcised, then we will give our daughters to you and take your daughters to ourselves." Once the Shechemites agree to the mass circumcision, however, Jacob's sons except for Joseph exploit the following soreness, with Shimon and Levi massacring all of the city's men, and the rest robbing their treasures, and stealing their women. This eventually leads to Shimon and Levi not getting a blessing from Jacob for betraying his trust, hurting innocents, misusing religious rites and endangering their tribe to the wrath of neighbouring people.

Following the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan after their Exodus from Egypt, according to the biblical narrative, Joshua assembled the Israelites at Shechem and asked them to choose between serving the God of Abraham who had delivered them from Egypt, or the false gods which their ancestors had served on the other side of the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land they now lived. The people chose to serve the God of the Bible, a decision which Joshua recorded in the Book of the Law of God, and he then erected a memorial stone "under the oak that was by" in Shechem. The oak is associated with the Oak of Moreh where Abram had set up camp during his travels in this area. Shechem and its surrounding lands were given as a Levitical city to the Kohathites.

Owing to its central position, no less than to the presence in the neighborhood of places hallowed by the memory of Abraham (Genesis 12:6, 7; 34:5), Jacob's Well (Genesis 33:18–19; 34:2, etc.), and Joseph's tomb (Joshua 24:32), the city was destined to play an important part in the history of Israel. Jerubbaal (Gideon), whose home was at Ophrah, visited Shechem, and his concubine who lived there was mother of his son Abimelech (Judges 8:31). She came from one of the leading Shechemite families who were influential with the "Lords of Shechem" (Judges 9:1–3, wording of the New Revised Standard Version and New American Bible Revised Edition).

New Testament

Shechem is mentioned in the Book of Acts (Acts 7, Acts 7:16).

It is not known whether the Samaritan city of Sychar (Ancient Greek: Συχάρ, romanized: Sykhár) in the Gospel of John (John 4:5) refers to Shechem or to another nearby village: "So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph."

John 4 (John 4:15) mentions one of the women of Sychar going to Jacob's Well. Some scholars believe the location of Sychar is at the foot of Mount Ebal, but other scholars disagree because the proposed location is 1 km (0.62 mi) from Jacob's Well, which they think is not close enough for the women of Sychar to have fetched their water there. Based on John 4:15, these scholars have argued that Shechem is the Samaritan city of Sychar described in the Gospel of John.

Some of the inhabitants of Sychar were "Samaritans" who believed in Jesus when he tarried two days in the neighborhood (John 4). Sychar and/or Shechem city must have been visited by the Apostles on their way from Samaria to Jerusalem (Acts 8:25).