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#12.
Sichem, Moreh, Bethel and Hai (Gen. 12: 6-8).
pp. 136 - 138
In the first half of Genesis (1:-11:) "time" takes precedence of "place", but with the
opening of the story of Abraham, geography comes into its own, and makes as much
demand upon time and thought as does the ever growing chain of time that binds Adam,
Abraham and Christ together.
Gen. 12: not only speaks of the land of Canaan in general but speaks of places in
particular, and the study of these places must be our concern. We read:
"And Abram passed through the land into the place of Sichem, unto the plain of
Moreh" (Gen. 12: 6).
"And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his
tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east" (Gen. 12: 8).
Sichem is the alternative spelling of Shechem a city which, at the distribution of the
land to the twelve tribes, was allotted to Levi and became one of the six cities of refuge
(Josh. 20: 7). Situated in the valley that lies between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim
(Judges 9: 7) it fell within the territory of Ephraim (I Kings 12: 25). Shechem is
thirty-four miles north of Jerusalem, and seven miles south of Samaria.
In the time of the Judges, Abimelech the usurper and type of Antichrist, made
Shechem his capital (Judges 9: 6). In later times it became associated with the ten tribes,
and it was here that Jeroboam conceived the idea of making the golden calves which he
set up at Dan and Bethel which became "a sin". Its modern name Nablus is a corruption
of Neapolis "New City", so named by the Romans. The New Testament name Sychar
(John 4: 5) has been variously explained. It may be but the change that time works in the
speech of men, but there is a possibility that it is a sort of nickname or by-word invented
by the Jews, playing upon the Hebrew words sheker "falsehood", spoken of idols
(Hab. 2: 18), and shikkor "drunkard' (Isa. 28: 1, 3), and the enmity between the Jews
and the Samaritans would fully account for such imposition of an evil name. It is
noteworthy that Stephen uses the ancient name (Acts 7: 16). Here Abraham first halted
in the land of promise, and here subsequently Abimelech and Jeroboam set up their
kingdom; Christ revealed Himself to the woman at the well as the long promised
Messiah (John 4:).
It has been supposed that the statement of Gen. 12: 6, that Abram came unto the
"place" of Sichem, that the town was not actually built at the time. Smith's Dictionary
of the Bible gives passages which use the word "place" as equivalent to a city.
Dr. W. Max Muller found the name Shechem in the "Travels of Mohar", where it reads
"The mount of Sa-ka-ma" (Asien 5: Europa, 394).