Thematic Bible: Also called sychar, a city of refuge in mount ephraim
Thematic Bible
Shechem » Also called sychar, a city of refuge in mount ephraim
So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (also known as Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.
So they concluded, "Look, there's a festival to the LORD every year in Shiloh on the north side of Bethel, south of Lebonah and on the east side of the highway that runs from Bethel to Shechem""
Shechem was allocated to them as a city of refuge for unintentional killers, along with its pasture lands, in the mountainous region of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasture lands,
Shechem » Also called sychar, a city of refuge in mount ephraim » Joshua buried at
they buried him in his territorial inheritance at Timnath-serah in the mountainous region of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. Israel served the LORD for the entire lifetimes of Joshua and of the officials who outlived Joshua, that is, the ones who had personally known everything that the LORD had done for Israel. They also buried the bones of Joseph, which the Israelis brought up from Egypt, in the parcel of ground at Shechem that Jacob had purchased from the descendants of Shechem's father Hamor, for 100 pieces of silver. It became part of the inheritance of the descendants of Joseph.
Shechem » Also called sychar, a city of refuge in mount ephraim » Joshua assembled the tribes of israel at, with all their elders, chiefs, and judges, and presented them before the lord
Then Joshua assembled together all of the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He called for the leaders, officials, judges, and tribal officers of Israel. They assembled in formation before God, and Joshua told all of the people, "This is what the LORD God of Israel has to say: "Long ago your ancestors lived beyond the Euphrates River, including Terah, father of both Abraham and Nahor, where they served other gods. Then I took your ancestor Abraham from the other side of the Euphrates River and led him through the entire land of Canaan. I multiplied his descendants, and gave him his son Isaac. read more.
I gave Jacob and Esau to Isaac. And I gave Mount Seir to Esau as his possession, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. "Later I commissioned Moses and Aaron, and I inflicted plagues on Egypt by what I did among them. Afterwards, I brought all of you out. "Then I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, and you came to the Sea, and the Egyptians followed your ancestors with chariots and horsemen to the Reed Sea. But when they cried out to the LORD, he placed darkness between you and the Egyptians, brought the sea upon the Egyptians, and swallowed them up. Your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you lived in the desert for a long time. "I brought you into the territory of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan River. They fought you, but I gave them into your control, and you took possession of their land. I destroyed them from your presence. "Then Zippor's son, King Balak of Moab, showed up and fought against Israel. He sent word to Balaam, summoning Beor's son to put a curse on you. But I wasn't willing to listen to Balaam. So he had to bless you, and I delivered you from his control. "Next, you crossed the Jordan River and arrived at Jericho. But the citizens of Jericho fought you, as did the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and the Jebusites, so I gave them into your control. "Then I sent hornets ahead of you to drive out two kings of the Amorites before you without your using either sword or bow. I gave you a land for which you never worked and cities that you didn't build, but that you have lived in. You're eating from vineyards and olive groves that you didn't plant.' "Now you must fear the LORD and serve him in faithfulness and truth. Throw away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Instead, serve the LORD. If you think it's the wrong thing for you to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves today whom you will serve the gods whom your ancestors served on the other side of the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose territories you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." In response, the people said, "Far be it from us that we should abandon the LORD to serve other gods, since the LORD our God is the one who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, from a life of slavery. He did those great things right in front of us, preserving us along the way that we traveled and among all the nations through whose territory we passed. The LORD expelled all the people before us, including the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore, we also will serve the LORD, since he is our God." So Joshua told the people, "You will not be able to serve the LORD, because he is a God of Holiness. He is a jealous God, and he will forgive neither your transgressions nor your sins. If you abandon the LORD and serve foreign deities, then he will turn and do you harm, consuming you after all the good he has done for you." "No," the people replied to Joshua. "We will serve the LORD." Joshua responded, "You are giving testimony against yourselves, that you have chosen to serve the LORD." They replied, "We are witnesses!" Joshua said, "Therefore abandon the foreign gods that are among you, and turn your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel." The people replied, "We will serve the LORD our God and obey his voice." So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, making statutes and ordinances in Shechem. He wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God, took a large stone, moved it under the shade of the oak tree that was near the sanctuary of the LORD, and then told all of the people, "Look! This stone will testify for us, because it has heard everything that the LORD has spoken to us. So it will stand as a witness against you in the event that you deny your God." Then Joshua dismissed the people, and each man returned to his territorial inheritance.
I gave Jacob and Esau to Isaac. And I gave Mount Seir to Esau as his possession, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. "Later I commissioned Moses and Aaron, and I inflicted plagues on Egypt by what I did among them. Afterwards, I brought all of you out. "Then I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, and you came to the Sea, and the Egyptians followed your ancestors with chariots and horsemen to the Reed Sea. But when they cried out to the LORD, he placed darkness between you and the Egyptians, brought the sea upon the Egyptians, and swallowed them up. Your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you lived in the desert for a long time. "I brought you into the territory of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan River. They fought you, but I gave them into your control, and you took possession of their land. I destroyed them from your presence. "Then Zippor's son, King Balak of Moab, showed up and fought against Israel. He sent word to Balaam, summoning Beor's son to put a curse on you. But I wasn't willing to listen to Balaam. So he had to bless you, and I delivered you from his control. "Next, you crossed the Jordan River and arrived at Jericho. But the citizens of Jericho fought you, as did the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and the Jebusites, so I gave them into your control. "Then I sent hornets ahead of you to drive out two kings of the Amorites before you without your using either sword or bow. I gave you a land for which you never worked and cities that you didn't build, but that you have lived in. You're eating from vineyards and olive groves that you didn't plant.' "Now you must fear the LORD and serve him in faithfulness and truth. Throw away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Instead, serve the LORD. If you think it's the wrong thing for you to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves today whom you will serve the gods whom your ancestors served on the other side of the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose territories you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." In response, the people said, "Far be it from us that we should abandon the LORD to serve other gods, since the LORD our God is the one who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, from a life of slavery. He did those great things right in front of us, preserving us along the way that we traveled and among all the nations through whose territory we passed. The LORD expelled all the people before us, including the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore, we also will serve the LORD, since he is our God." So Joshua told the people, "You will not be able to serve the LORD, because he is a God of Holiness. He is a jealous God, and he will forgive neither your transgressions nor your sins. If you abandon the LORD and serve foreign deities, then he will turn and do you harm, consuming you after all the good he has done for you." "No," the people replied to Joshua. "We will serve the LORD." Joshua responded, "You are giving testimony against yourselves, that you have chosen to serve the LORD." They replied, "We are witnesses!" Joshua said, "Therefore abandon the foreign gods that are among you, and turn your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel." The people replied, "We will serve the LORD our God and obey his voice." So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, making statutes and ordinances in Shechem. He wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God, took a large stone, moved it under the shade of the oak tree that was near the sanctuary of the LORD, and then told all of the people, "Look! This stone will testify for us, because it has heard everything that the LORD has spoken to us. So it will stand as a witness against you in the event that you deny your God." Then Joshua dismissed the people, and each man returned to his territorial inheritance.
Shechem » Also called sychar, a city of refuge in mount ephraim » Jesus visits; disciples made in
Now when Jesus realized that the Pharisees had heard he was making and baptizing more disciples than John although it was not Jesus who did the baptizing but his disciples he left Judea and went back to Galilee. read more.
Now it was necessary for him to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the piece of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's Well was also there, and Jesus, tired out by the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus told her, "Please give me a drink," since his disciples had gone off into town to buy food. The Samaritan woman asked him, "How can you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" Because Jews do not have anything to do with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, "Please give me a drink,' you would have been the one to ask him, and he would have given you living water." The woman told him, "Sir, you don't have a bucket, and the well is deep. Where are you going to get this living water? You're not greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it, along with his sons and his flocks, are you?" Jesus answered her, "Everyone who drinks this water will become thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never become thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become a well of water for him, springing up to eternal life." The woman told him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I won't get thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water." He told her, "Go and call your husband, and come back here." The woman answered him, "I don't have a husband." Jesus told her, "You are quite right in saying, "I don't have a husband,' because you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true." The woman told him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet! Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain. But you Jews say that the place where people should worship is in Jerusalem." Jesus told her, "Believe me, dear lady, the hour is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You don't know what you're worshiping. We Jews know what we're worshiping, because salvation comes from the Jews. Yet the time is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Indeed, the Father is looking for people like that to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." The woman told him, "I know that the Anointed One is coming, who is being called "the Messiah'. When that person comes, he will explain everything." "I am he," Jesus replied, "the one who is speaking to you." At this point his disciples arrived, and they were astonished that he was talking to a woman. Yet no one said, "What do you want from her?" or, "Why are you talking to her?" Then the woman left her water jar and went back to town. She told people, "Come, see a man who told me everything I've ever done! Could he possibly be the Messiah?" The people left the town and started on their way to him. Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, have something to eat." But he told them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." So the disciples began to say to one another, "No one has brought him anything to eat, have they?" Jesus told them, "My food is doing the will of the one who sent me and completing his work. You say, don't you, "In four more months the harvest will begin?' Look, I tell you, open your eyes and observe that the fields are ready for harvesting now! The one who harvests is already receiving his wages and gathering a crop for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who harvests may rejoice together. In this respect the saying is true: "One person sows, and another person harvests.' I have sent you to harvest what you have not worked for. Others have worked, and you have adopted their work as your own." Now many of the Samaritans of that town believed in Jesus because the woman had testified, "He told me everything I've ever done." So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there for two days. And many more believed because of what he said. They kept telling the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, because now we have heard him ourselves, and we know that he really is the Savior of the world."
Now it was necessary for him to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the piece of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's Well was also there, and Jesus, tired out by the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus told her, "Please give me a drink," since his disciples had gone off into town to buy food. The Samaritan woman asked him, "How can you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" Because Jews do not have anything to do with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, "Please give me a drink,' you would have been the one to ask him, and he would have given you living water." The woman told him, "Sir, you don't have a bucket, and the well is deep. Where are you going to get this living water? You're not greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it, along with his sons and his flocks, are you?" Jesus answered her, "Everyone who drinks this water will become thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never become thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become a well of water for him, springing up to eternal life." The woman told him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I won't get thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water." He told her, "Go and call your husband, and come back here." The woman answered him, "I don't have a husband." Jesus told her, "You are quite right in saying, "I don't have a husband,' because you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true." The woman told him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet! Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain. But you Jews say that the place where people should worship is in Jerusalem." Jesus told her, "Believe me, dear lady, the hour is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You don't know what you're worshiping. We Jews know what we're worshiping, because salvation comes from the Jews. Yet the time is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Indeed, the Father is looking for people like that to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." The woman told him, "I know that the Anointed One is coming, who is being called "the Messiah'. When that person comes, he will explain everything." "I am he," Jesus replied, "the one who is speaking to you." At this point his disciples arrived, and they were astonished that he was talking to a woman. Yet no one said, "What do you want from her?" or, "Why are you talking to her?" Then the woman left her water jar and went back to town. She told people, "Come, see a man who told me everything I've ever done! Could he possibly be the Messiah?" The people left the town and started on their way to him. Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, have something to eat." But he told them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." So the disciples began to say to one another, "No one has brought him anything to eat, have they?" Jesus told them, "My food is doing the will of the one who sent me and completing his work. You say, don't you, "In four more months the harvest will begin?' Look, I tell you, open your eyes and observe that the fields are ready for harvesting now! The one who harvests is already receiving his wages and gathering a crop for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who harvests may rejoice together. In this respect the saying is true: "One person sows, and another person harvests.' I have sent you to harvest what you have not worked for. Others have worked, and you have adopted their work as your own." Now many of the Samaritans of that town believed in Jesus because the woman had testified, "He told me everything I've ever done." So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there for two days. And many more believed because of what he said. They kept telling the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, because now we have heard him ourselves, and we know that he really is the Savior of the world."
Shechem » Also called sychar, a city of refuge in mount ephraim » Abimelech made king at
His mistress in Shechem bore him a son whom he named Abimelech.
Shechem » Also called sychar, a city of refuge in mount ephraim » Rebuilt by jeroboam
Later on, Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. He also expanded from there and built Penuel.
Shechem » Also called sychar, a city of refuge in mount ephraim » Men of, killed by ishmael
eighty men from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria came with their beards shaved, their clothes torn, and their bodies slashed. They had grain offerings and incense with them to present at the LORD's Temple.
Shechem » Also called sychar, a city of refuge in mount ephraim » Rehoboam crowned at
Rehoboam traveled to Shechem because all of Israel went there to install him as king.
Shechem » Also called sychar, a city of refuge in mount ephraim » Destroyed by abimelech
Abimelech fought against the city all that day, captured the city, killed the people in it, then tore the city to the ground and sowed it with salt.