cheenc03a.pdf

SHECHEM
not inroluble; they settle themselves as soon as we
apply a methodical criticism to the tht. The whole
stom of the circumcision has arisen. ro in the care of
thekibeath ha-'ar816th1 (Josh. 53). from an early corrmption
of the text. That a city was attacked and
glundered by the Simeon and Levi clans, may be admitted
: but the name of the city was probably not
4439
SHEEP
Cuham may mean Halesah (or Dan) and Bethel, Bethel
with its sanctuary and citadel being of course adjacent
to the city . of Halesah. . The Neaeb, therefore, or at
any rate the greater part of it, cannoteither in Jer0bam.r
time or in that of Amos have been in the possession of
the kingdom of Judah.
NOC can we even venture to assert that Shechem war
the place where the great national assembly war held
which determined the fate of the people of Israel for all
time. It was only afterwards through the Snmaritanr
that it advanced a civtn to be the religious centre of
the land. We may regret these results ; but at least
the reader will admit that if the fame of Shechem has
here been curtailed, an almost forgotten place in the
true Holy Land of the Israelites (see PXOPHET, 5 6) has
been restored to its ancient dignity.
See Vogclrtcin, 'Shechem and Bcthel,'lQR 4, re*, ,938
W.R.5.-T.K.C..§~;T.K.C..~2f
8EECHEM, TOWEB OF (D?V iyn. Migdalshechcm).
Ar the story of Abimelech now stands,
Migdal-shechem was an unwalled town in the neighburhood
of Shechem, which owed its name perhaps to a
tower (nrigdol) that stood there, and wouid apbear to
have had a templededicated to El-berith (J~dg.9~6 f *g).
But the original story, in which Ahirnelech'r city
was probably not Shechem but Curham, may, it
seems, very possibly have had, not 'ma .$p but
[o-@?] ~ jap~!;-L.~. 'Jerahmedites [gloss. ~urhiter].'
Observe that in the MT of uv. 6 and pr the 'men of
Shechem' and the 'house of Milio' (see MILLO) are
It is true, there was another form of the Legend of
the acquisition of Cusham-jerahmeel. It is preserved
in Gen. 33 x~-=o, where it is possible
supposed that u. re originally ran. 'and Jacob came
mfmellEas. !o HalGah corrupted lnto nwk and then
into Dws=diw). a city if Crrrham, which
is in the land of the Kenizdte, [when he came from
Harran,] and encamped before the city,,and dought the
piece of ground. etc., of Cuzham-jerahmeel for a mina
of Carchemish ; and he erected a masrebah there, and
called it Bethel of the Jerahmeelites.' Cp KESITAH.
Luz, ZIKLAG. For a slightly different form of the
emendation see Crit. Bid.
There are yet two other eases in which Shechem has
increased its reputation at the expen= of the almost
forgotten city of Haleah in ' Cusham.' The first ir
in the history of Rehobam's accession (see REHOBOAM).
The second, in that of Jeroboam, who, as MT suggests
[A]), father of the Reubenite 'prince' Elizur: Nu. 15
(see $ I), made Shechem his royal residence. There is 2x0 730 (~A~coyp [Bfl, CEAICOYP [Bsb1. EAICOYP
evidence, however (see J~KOBOAM, 5 I), that his usual [A]). 3s (CEAIOYP[A and in 10.81) ; all P. See
residence was at 'Tirzah' (ree TIRZAH), and it doer
Pe~A~zrm.
not seem likely that he moved for a time to Shechem.
Apparently of the divine name .,w (ShaddniQ
and v. 'fire'(# 4s- Nqld. ZDMG 15 [re61 q, n. I : Nertlc,
In fact. I K. 129s does not fit in at all well with vu. ~igmi (6); Frd. 'Delazrsh (PraT. 96) explalnr 'daybreak
633.
from ASS. ~d ST;, hut improbably. ath her prhapr miswrirteh
Prohshly (see Get. Bi6. ) the oridnal ?