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the father of Boar. [ Salma, Or Salmon ] a hill near Shechem, on which Abimelech and his followers cut down the boughs with which they set the tower of Shechem on fire. ( Judges 9:48 ) Its exact position is not known. Referred to in ( Psalms 68:14 )
(watch mountain). This city is situated 30 miles north of Jerusalem and about six miles to the northwest of Shechem, in a wide basin-shaped valley, six miles in diameter, encircled with high hills, almost on the edge of the great plain which borders upon the Mediterranean. In the centre of this basin, which is on a lower level than the valley of Shechem, rises a less elevated hill, with steep yet accessible sides and a long fiat top. This hill was chosen by Omri as the site of the capital of the kingdom of Israel. He “bought the hill of Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of the owner of the hill, Samaria.” ( 1 Kings 16:23 , 24 ) From the that of Omri’s purchase, B.C. 925, Samaria retained its dignity as the capital of the ten tribes, and the name is given to the northern kingdom as well as to the city. Ahab built a temple to Baal there. ( 1 Kings 16:32 , 33 ) It was twice besieged by the Syrians, in B.C. 901, ( 1 Kings 20:1 ) and in B.C. 892, ( 2 Kings 6:24-7 ; 2 Kings 6:20 ) but on both occasions the siege was ineffectual. The possessor of Samaria was considered Deuteronomy facto king of Israel. ( 2 Kings 15:13 , 14 ) In B.C. 721 Samaria was taken, after a siege of three years, by Shalmaneser king of Assyria, ( 2 Kings 18:9 , 10 ) and the kingdom of the ten tribes was put an end to. Some years afterward the district of which Samaria was the centre was repeopled by Esarhaddon. Alexander the Great took the city, killed a large portion of the inhabitants, and suffered the remainder to set it at Shechem. He replaced them by a colony of Syro-Macedonians who occupied the city until the time of John Hyrcanus, who took it after a year’s siege, and did his best to demolish it entirely. (B.C. 109.) It was rebuilt and greatly embellished by Herod the Great. He called it Sebaste=Augusta, after the name of his patron, Augustus Caesar. The wall around it was 2 1/2 miles long, and in the centre of the city was a park 900 feet square containing a magnificent temple dedicated to Caesar. In the New Testament the city itself does not appear to be mentioned; but rather a portion of the district to which, even in older times it had extended its name. ( Matthew 10:5 ; John 4:4 , 5 ) At this clay the city is represented by a small village retaining few vestiges of the past except its name, Sebustiyeh, an Arabic corruption of Sebaste. Some architectural remains it has, partly of Christian construction or adaptation, as the ruined church of St. John the Baptist, partly, perhaps, traces of Idumaean magnificence, St. Jerome, whose acquaintance with Palestine imparts a sort of probability to the tradition which prevailed so strongly in later days, asserts that Sebaste, which he invariably identifies with Samaria was the place in which St. John the Baptist was imprisoned and suffered death. He also makes it the burial-place of the prophets Elisha and Obadiah.
Samaria at first included all the tribes over which Jeroboam made himself king, whether east or west of the river Jordan. ( 1 Kings 13:32 ) But whatever extent the word might have acquired, it necessarily be came contracted as the limits of the kingdom of Israel became contracted. In all probability the territory of Simeon and that of Dan were very early absorbed in the kingdom of Judah. It is evident from an occurrence in Hezekiah’s reign that just before the deposition and death of Hoshea, the last king of Israel, the authority of the king of Judah, or at least his influence, was recognized by portions of Asher, Issachar and Zebulun and even of Ephraim and Manasseh. ( 2 Chronicles 30:1-26 ) Men came from all those tribes to the Passover at Jerusalem. This was about B.C. 728. Samaria (the city) and a few adjacent cities or villages only represented that dominion which had once extended from Bethel to Dan northward, and from the Mediterranean to the borders of Syria and Ammon eastward. In New Testament times Sa maria was bounded northward by the range of hills which commences at Mount Carmel on the west, and, after making a bend to the southwest, runs almost due east to the valley of the Jordan, forming the southern border of the plain of Esdraelon. It touched toward the south, is nearly as possible, the northern limits of Benjamin. Thus it comprehended the ancient territory of Ephraim and that of Manasseh west of Jordan. The Cuthaean Samaritans, however, possessed only a few towns and villages of this large area, and these lay almost together in the centre of the district. At Nablus the Samaritans have still a settlement, consisting of about 200 persons. [ Shechem ]
Strictly speaking, a Samaritan would be an inhabitant of the city of Samaria, but the term was applied to all the people of the kingdom of Israel. After the captivity of Israel, B.C. 721, and in our Lord’s time, the name was applied to a peculiar people whose origin was in this wise. At the final captivity of Israel by Shalmaneser, we may conclude that the cities of Samaria were not merely partially but wholly depopulated of their inhabitants in B.C. 721, and that they remained in this desolated state until, in the words of ( 2 Kings 17:24 ) “the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and front Cuthah, and from Av. (Ivah,) ( 2 Kings 18:34 ) and from Hamath, and front Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.” Thus the new Samaritans were Assyrians by birth or subjugation. These strangers, whom we will now assume to hare been placed in “the cities of Samaria” by Esar-haddon, were of course idolaters, and worshipped a strange medley of divinities. God’s displeasure was kindled, and they were annoyed by beasts of prey, which had probably increased to a great extent before their entrance upon the land. On their explaining their miserable condition to the king of Assyria, he despatched one of the captive priests to teach them “how they should fear the Lord.” The priest came accordingly, and henceforth, in the language of the sacred historian, they “Feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their children and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do the unto this day.” ( 2 Kings 17:41 ) A gap occurs in their history until Judah has returned from captivity. They then desire to be allowed to participate in the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem; but on being refused, the Samaritans throw off the mask, and become open enemies, frustrate the operations of the Jews through the reigns of two Persian kings, and are only effectually silenced in the reign of Darius Hystaspes, B.C. 519. The feud thus unhappily begun grew year by year more inveterate. Matters at length came to a climax. About B.C. 409, a certain Manasseh, a man of priestly lineage, on being expelled from Jerusalem by nehemiah for an unlawful marriage, obtained permission from the Persian king of his day, Darius Nothus, to build a temple on Mount Gerizim for the Samaritans, with whom he had found refuge. The animosity of the Samaritans became more intense than ever. They are sid to have done everything in their power to annoy the Jews. Their own temple on Gerizim they considered to be much superior to that at Jerusalem. There they sacrificed a passover. Toward the mountain, even after the temple on it had fallen, wherever they were they directed their worship. To their copy of the law they arrogated an antiquity and authority greater than attached to any copy in the possession of the Jews. The law (i.e. the five books of Moses) was their sole code; for they rejected every other book in the Jewish canon. The Jews, on the other hand, were not more conciliatory in their treatment of the Samaritans. Certain other Jewish renegades had from time to time taken refuge with the Samaritans; hence by degrees the Samaritans claimed to partake of jewish blood, especially if doing so happened to suit their interest. Very far were the Jews from admitting this claim to consanguinity on the part of these people. The traditional hatred in which the jew held the Samaritan is expressed in Ecclus. 50:25 , 26 . Such were the Samaritans of our Lord’s day; a people distinct from the jews, though lying in the very midst of the Jews; a people preserving their identity, though seven centuries had rolled away since they had been brought from Assyria by Esar-haddon, and though they had abandoned their polytheism for a sort of ultra Mosaicism; a people who, though their limits had gradually contracted and the rallying-place of their religion on Mount Gerizim had been destroyed one hundred and sixty years before by John Hyrcanus (B.C. 130), and though Samaria (the city) had been again and again destroyed, still preserved their nationality still worshipped from Shechem and their impoverished settlements toward their sacred hill, still retained their peculiar religion, and could not coalesce with the Jews.
(safe). ( Genesis 33:18 ) Probably not a proper name, but a place. It is certainly remarkable that there should be a modern village hearing the name of Salim three miles east of Nablus, the ancient Shechem.
(back or shoulder). An important city in central Palestine, in the valley between mounts Ebal and 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 sit 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 ( Genesis 12:6 ) At the time of Jacob’s arrival here, after his sojourn in Mesopotamia, ( Genesis 33:18 ; 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. ( Genesis 33:19 ; Joshua 24:32 ; John 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, ( Joshua 20:7 ) but was assigned to the Levites, and became a city of refuge. ( Joshua 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. (27:11; Joshua 24:23-25 ) it was here Joshua assembled the people, shortly before his death, and delivered to them his last counsels. ( Joshua 24:1 , 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 9:1 ) ... 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. ( Judges 9:34-45 ) It was soon restored, however, for we are told in ( 1 Kings 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, ( 1 Kings 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. [ Samaria ] Shechem reappears in the New Testament. It is the Sychar of ( John 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 a small 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. The son of Hamor, the chieftain of the Hivite settlement of Shechem at the time of Jacob’s arrival. ( Genesis 33:19 ; 34:2-26 ; Joshua 24:32 ; Judges 9:28 ) A man of Manasseh, of the clan of Gilead. ( Numbers 26:31 ) A Gileadite, son of Shemida, the younger brother of the foregoing. ( 1 Chronicles 7:19 )
the family of Shechem son of Gilead. ( Numbers 26:31 ) comp. Josh 17:2
(place of rest), a city of Ephraim. In ( Judges 21:19 ) it is said that Shiloh is “on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem and on the south of Lebonah.” In agreement with this the traveller of our own city, going north from Jerusalem, lodges the first night at Beitin, the ancient Bethel; the next day, at the distance of a few hours, turns aside to the right, in order to visit Seilun, the Arabic for Shiloh; and then passing through the narrow wady which brings him to the main road, leaves el-Lebban, the Lebonah of Scripture, on the left, as he pursues “the highway” to Nublus, the ancient Shechem. [ Shechem ] Shiloh was one of the earliest and most sacred of the Hebrew sanctuaries. The ark of the covenant, which had been kept at Gilgal during the progress of the conquest, ( Joshua 17:1 ) seq., was removed thence on the subjugation of the country, and kept at Shiloh from the last days of Joshua to the time of Samuel. ( Joshua 18:10 ; Judges 18:31 ; 1 Samuel 4:3 ) It was here the Hebrew conqueror divided among the tribes the portion of the west Jordan region which had not been already allotted. ( Joshua 18:10 ; 19:51 ) In this distribution, or an earlier one, Shiloh fell within the limits of Ephraim. ( Joshua 16:5 ) The ungodly conduct of the sons of Eli occasioned the loss of the ark of the covenant, which had been carried into battle against the Philistines, and Shiloh from that time sank into insignificance. It stands forth in the Jewish history as a striking example of the divine indignation. ( Jeremiah 7:12 ) In the Authorized Version of the Bible Shiloh is once used as the name of a person, in a very difficult passage, in ( Genesis 49:10 ) “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” Supposing that the translation is correct, the meaning of the word is peaceable or pacific, and the allusion is either to Solomon, whose name has a similar signification, or to the expected Messiah, who in ( Isaiah 9:6 ) is expressly called the Prince of Peace. [ Messiah ] Other interpretations, however, of the passage are given, one of which makes it refer to the city of this name. [See the following article] It might be translated “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, till he shall go to Shiloh.” In this case the allusion would be to the primacy of Judah in war, ( Judges 1:1 , 2 ; 20:18 ; Numbers 2:3 ; 10:14 ) which was to continue until the promised land was conquered and the ark of the covenant was solemnly deposited at Shiloh.
( Genesis 12:6 ) [ Shechem ]
(heard). The second of Jacob’s son by Leah. His birth is recorded in ( Genesis 29:33 ) The first group of Jacob’s children consists, besides Simeon, of the three other sons of Leah—Reuben, Levi, Judah. Besides the massacre of Shechem, ( Genesis 34:25 ) the only personal incident related of Simeon is the fact of his being selected by Joseph as the hostage for the appearance of Benjamin. ( Genesis 42:19 , 24 , 36 ; 43:23 ) The chief families of the tribe of Simeon are mentioned int he lists of ( Genesis 46:10 ) At the census of Sinai Simeon numbered 59,300 fighting men. ( Numbers 1:23 ) When the second census was taken, at Shittim, the numbers had fallen to 22,200, and it was the weakest of all the tribes. This was no doubt partly due to the recent mortality following the idolatry of Peor, but there must have been other causes which have escaped mention. To Simeon was allotted a portion of land out of the territory of Judah, on its southern frontier, which contained eighteen or nineteen cities, with their villages, spread round the venerable well of Beersheba. ( Joshua 19:1-8 ; 1 Chronicles 4:28-33 ) Of these places, with the help of Judah, the Simeonites possessed themselves, ( Judges 1:3 , 17 ) and there they were found, doubtless by Joab, residing in the reign of David. ( 1 Chronicles 4:31 ) What part of the tribe took at the time of the division of the kingdom we are not told. The only thing which can be interpreted into a trace of its having taken any part with the northern kingdom are the two casual notices of ( 2 Chronicles 15:9 ) and 2Chr 34:6 Which appear to imply the presence of Simeonites there in the reigns of Asa and Josiah. On the other hand the definite statement of ( 1 Chronicles 4:41-43 ) proves that at that time there were still some of them remaining in the original seat of the tribe, and actuated by all the warlike, lawless spirit of their progenitor. A devout Jew, inspired by the Holy Ghost, who met the parents of our Lord in the temple, took him in his arms, and gave thanks for what he saw and knew of Jesus. ( Luke 2:25-35 ) There was a Simeon who succeeded his father Hillel as president of the Sanhedrin about A.D. 13, and whose son Gamaliel was the Pharisee at whose feet St. Paul was brought up. ( Acts 22:3 ) It has been conjectured that he may be the Simeon of St. Luke.
(booths). An ancient town, first heard of in the account of the homeward journey of Jacob from Padan-aram. ( Genesis 35:17 ) The name is derived from the fact of Jacob’s having there put up “booths” (succoth) for his cattle as well as a house for himself. From the itinerary of Jacob’s return it seems that Succoth lay between Peniel, near the ford of the torrent Jabbok and Shechem. Comp. ( Genesis 32:30 ) and Genesis33:18 In accordance with this is the mention of Succoth in the narrative of Gideon’s pursuit of Zebah and Zalluunna. ( Judges 5:5-17 ) It would appear from this passage that it lay east of the Jordan, which is corroborated by the fact that it was allotted to the tribe of Gad. ( Joshua 13:27 ) Succoth is named once again after this—in ( 1 Kings 7:46 ; 2 Chronicles 4:17 )—as marking the spot at which the brass founderies were placed for casting the metal work of the temple. (Dr. Merrill identifies it with a site called Tell Darala, one mile north of the Jabbok.—ED.) The first camping-place of the Israelites when they left Egypt. ( Exodus 12:37 ; 13:20 ; Numbers 33:5 , 6 ) This place was apparently reached at the close of the first days march. Rameses, the starting-place, was probably near the western end of the Wadi-t-Tumeylat . The distance traversed in each day’s journey was about fifteen miles.
a place named only in ( John 4:5 ) Sychar was either a name applied to the town of Shechem or it was an independent place. The first of these alternatives is now almost universally accepted. [ Shechem ]
the Greek form of the word Shechem. It occurs in ( Acts 7:16 ) only. [ Shechem ]
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