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SHECHEM (mod. Nablus)

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 817 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SHECHEM (mod. Nablus) , an See also:ancient See also:town of See also:Palestine, S.E. of See also:Samaria, which first appears in See also:history as the See also:place where See also:Jacob and his See also:family settled for a while (Gen. xxxiii. 18; cf. See also:John iv. 12). It was occupied then by See also:Hivites (Gen. xxxiv. 2), and a tragedy took place in connexion with the chieftain's violation of Jacob's daughter Dinah. It was set apart as a See also:city of See also:refuge (Jos. xx. 7) and was occupied by the Kohathite See also:Levites in the tribe of See also:Ephraim (xxi. 21). Here, between Ebal and See also:Gerizim, See also:Joshua made his last speech to the elders of the Israelites (Jos. See also:xxiv. 1).

The See also:

mother of See also:Abimelech the son of See also:Gideon was a Shechemite, and Shechem was the centre of his See also:short-lived See also:kingdom (See also:Jud. viii. 31, ix.). Here See also:Rehoboam made the foolish speech which kindled the revolt of the N. kingdom (1 See also:Kings xii. I),. after which it was for a See also:time the headquarters of See also:Jeroboam (1 Kings xii. 25). Shechem was evidently a See also:holy place in remote antiquity. The " See also:oak " under which Jacob hid his See also:teraphim (Gen. See also:xxxv. 4) was doubtless a sacred See also:tree, as there the images (which it was not seemly to bring on a See also:pilgrimage to Beth-el) would be safe. The See also:god of the Canaanite city was See also:Baal-Berith: his See also:temple was destroyed when Abimelech quelled the rising of his fickle subjects (Jud. ix. 4, 46). A See also:great See also:standing See also:stone under an oak-tree here was traditionally associated with Joshua's last speech (Jos. xxiv. 26).

During the latter See also:

part of the See also:Hebrew See also:monarchy we hear nothing of Shechem, no doubt on See also:account of the commanding importance of the neighbouring city of Samaria. It no doubt, owed its subsequent development to the destruction of Samaria and the rise in the See also:district surrounding of the Samaritan nation founded on the colonists settled by See also:Sargon and Assurbani-See also:pal. To See also:Josephus it was " the new city " by the inhabitants called Mabortha (B. J., IV. viii. 1), but the See also:official name Neapolis or Flavia Ncapolis, so called to commemorate its restoration by See also:Vespasian (See also:Titus Flavius Vespasianus), soon became universal, and is still preserved in the See also:modern name Nablus—a See also:signal exception to the See also:general See also:rule that the place-names of Palestine, whenever disturbed by See also:foreign See also:influence, usually revert in time to the old Semitic nomenclature. There was a bishopric at Neapolis during the See also:Byzantine See also:period, and an attack made by the See also:Samaritans on the See also:bishop (See also:Pentecost, A.D. 474) was punished by the See also:emperor See also:Zeno, who gave Gerizim to the Christians. It was captured by the crusaders under See also:Tancred soon after the See also:conquest of See also:Jerusalem (1099); they held it till 1184, when they lost it to See also:Saladin. The See also:principal See also:mosque of the town is a See also:church of the crusaders converted to See also:Mahommedan See also:worship. Towards the end of the 18th See also:century it was the See also:head-quarters of the turbulent See also:sheikh Kasim el-Ahmad. In 1834 the soldiers of See also:Ibrahim See also:Pasha pillaged it. Nablus is now the See also:chief town of a subdivision of the See also:province of See also:Beirut.

It lies in the valley between Ebal and Gerizim, on the See also:

main See also:caravan route from Jerusalem northward. The situation. is famous for its beauty. There are about 24,000 inhabitants—all Moslems except about 15o Samaritans and perhaps 700 Christians. The inhabitants are notorious for fanaticism and lawlessness, and Europeans are usually greeted with vile epithets. There are See also:missions, both See also:Protestant and See also:Roman See also:Catholic; and an important See also:hospital under the auspices of the Church Missionary Society. There is a flourishing See also:trade in See also:soap, which is here manufactured, and a considerable See also:commerce in See also:wool and See also:cotton with the regions E. of the' See also:Jordan. In the neighbourhood of Nablus are shown: (I) a modern See also:building which covers the traditional site of the See also:tomb of See also:Joseph, as accepted by See also:Jews, Samaritans and Christians. The authority for the See also:burial of Joseph at Shechem is the speech of See also:Stephen (Acts vii. 16), though Josephus places the See also:sepulchre at See also:Hebron (See also:Ant. II. viii. 2).

Moslem tradition also regards Shechem as the burial-place of Joseph; but it appears as though the actual site, as shown, has not been always in one unvarying spot. (2) The well of Jacob, about a mile and a See also:

half from Nablus on the way to Jerusalem, which is an excavation of great See also:depth. The tradition fixing this hallowed place seems to have been See also:constant throughout the whole of the See also:Christian centuries, and it is one of the very few " holy places " shown to travellers and pilgrims in Palestine, the authenticity of which deserves See also:consideration. It is one of the small number of sites mentioned by the See also:Bordeaux See also:pilgrim (A.D. 333). The site of the sacred oak has been sought at two places: one called El-'Amud, " the See also:column "—where is " Joseph's tomb "; and the other at Balata (a name containing the consonants of the Semitic word for " oak "), near Jacob's well. (R. A. S.

End of Article: SHECHEM (mod. Nablus)

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