Shechem (Nablus)

שכם


Genesis 12:6; 33:18; 35:4; 37:12 et al. But it is Genesis 34 which contains the key story of Shechem, namely the rape of Dinah and her vengeance by her brothers Levi and Shim'on, for which see the textual commentary.

The city on Mount Ephrayim is situated between Mounts Eyval and 
Gerizim, so it is both cursed and blessed. The Romans renamed it Flavia Neapolis ("the new city of the Emperor Flavius"), which became Arabised into the modern Nablus.

Numbers 26:31 and Joshua 17:2 make Shechem a son of Gil'ad (גִלְעָד) in the tribe of Menasheh, but this can only be accounted for by, a) the forced circumcision of the surviving Beney Shechem at the time of the revenge of Dinah; or b) their conquest by the Beney Menasheh at the time of Yehoshu'a.

The shechem was the shoulder (Psalm 21:13) of any animal, the full back including the shoulder-blades, the part of the sacrifice that was refused to Oedipus by the Corinthians, but which was the priestly portion of the Temple sacrifices.

Copyright © 2019 David Prashker
All rights reserved
The Argaman Press




No comments:

Post a Comment