Shechem

The ancient Canaanite city nestled between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim that holds profound significance throughout biblical history—from Abraham’s first altar in Canaan to Jacob’s well where Jesus revealed himself as the Messiah to a Samaritan woman. Shechem served as a covenant renewal site and the burial place of Joseph’s bones.

When Abraham first entered Canaan in obedience to God’s call, “he passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh…Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him” (Genesis 12:6-7). This marked the first altar Abraham built in the Promised Land and God’s first explicit promise that his descendants would possess it.

Jacob purchased land near Shechem for one hundred pieces of money (Genesis 33:19) and dug a well there that would serve his household and flocks. When his household had accumulated foreign gods from their time in Mesopotamia, Jacob commanded them to purify themselves and bury their idols under the oak at Shechem before going to Bethel (Genesis 35:2-4). Jacob’s deep connection to Shechem is shown by his gifting this portion of land specifically to Joseph (Genesis 48:22).

Joshua gathered all Israel at Shechem for a solemn covenant renewal ceremony: “Choose this day whom you will serve…But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15). The people pledged allegiance to God, and Joshua “wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the LORD” (Joshua 24:26). When Joseph’s bones were finally brought from Egypt, they were buried in the plot of ground Jacob had purchased (Joshua 24:32).

Centuries later, Jesus stopped at Jacob’s well near Shechem (called Sychar in John 4) and asked a Samaritan woman for water—breaking multiple social taboos. He revealed knowledge of her five previous husbands and current unmarried state, leading her to recognize him as a prophet. When she mentioned the Samaritan temple on nearby Mount Gerizim versus worship in Jerusalem, Jesus declared: “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father…God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:21, 24). The woman became the first evangelist to the Samaritans, bringing many to faith.