 |  |
At the foot of Gerizim is a place called El'Amud (the column) and the
Rev. George Williams has with much probability identified it with "the pillar of
Shechem" where Abimelech was made king.
It is interesting to read that when Mahomet, on one of his journeys out of Arabia, was
taken to look upon Damascus, he gazed, but turned away; "Man", said he, "can have but
one Paradise, and mine is above". Abraham, we read in Heb. 11:, though given the land
of Canaan looked for a heavenly country. We can see how Lot was attracted by the
plains of Sodom, and must not judge ancient Palestine by its barren crudity when
"forsaken" for Israel's sin.
Before passing on to our next geographical term, we suggest that every reader take a
map of Palestine and actually identify the "place of Sichem", observing the distance and
probable route traveled by Abraham from Haran. Abraham came not only "unto the
place of Sichem", but "unto the plain of Moreh" (Gen. 12: 6).
Elon "plain", however, means "oak" as well, and although we do not believe that we
may to-day actually look upon the tree under which Abraham sat nearly 4,000 years ago,
yet the presence still of ancient and giant oaks in this same spot, enables us to picture the
patriarchal scene.
"And the Lord appeared unto Abraham" (Gen. 12: 7).
Apart from the record of Gen. 3: 8 this is the first theophany, or manifestation of
God, in scripture. It is associated with the promise of the "seed" and the "land" and the
building of an "altar" (Gen. 12: 7), all of which pointed down the ages to the birth and
death of Him Who should be named Immanuel, "God with us".
"And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Beth-el--and pitched
his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar
unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord" (Gen. 12: 8).
When Jacob left home for Padam-Aram and when he returned again he halted at
Beth-el, following, not only the footsteps of Abraham, but also using a well-known route
for travelers in his time. Like Sichem, Beth-el became identified with idolatry, and as it
was with Shechem, there was a play upon the name, and it was called Beth-aven, the
house of idols or vanity, instead of Beth-el, the house of God (Hosea 4: 15). The
spelling Hai, for the city Ai, is because translators have incorporated the "H", which is
the Hebrew article. Hai means "the heap" and its modern name Et Tell perpetuates the
meaning.
We observe that Abraham did not enter either Beth-el or Hai, but occupied a mountain
having Beth-el on one side and Hai on the other. When he returned to this same spot
(13: 3, 4) after his sad lapse in Egypt and after his noble act of faith which resulted in his
separation from Lot, it was from this mountain that Abraham saw, northward, southward,
eastward and westward, the land promised him. Dean Stanley tells us there is at this spot,
a conspicuous hill: