It may not be without interest to compare the historical notices of Shechem with that one visit of two days spent by the Lord Jesus at Sychar, so many of the events of which Shechem was the theater in Old Testament times appearing, when we read John 4 as foreshadows of what should take place when the Messiah Himself should visit it.
Very early in the world's history after the flood, we have mention made of the land of Canaan, destined to be the scene of the pilgrimages of the patriarchs, the victories of their descendants, the blessings of the people and glory of the kingdom under David and Solomon, the nativity of the Lord, the sphere of His labors, the place of His crucifixion; within whose confines is that mountain from which He ascended to heaven, and on which He will stand when He comes back to earth. How soon after the flood the children of Canaan settled in it is not recorded, but we do learn that about three hundred and sixty seven years after the deluge Abraham first set foot in it. He was " seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran " (Gen. 12:44So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. (Genesis 12:4)); and the first place in the land at which he rested, the name of which is recorded, is Shechem. There the Lord first appeared to him; and there he built an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him, the first witness for Jehovah which he set up in that land.
Many years elapse ere we read of Shechem again. Then it comes before us as the first named resting place of Jacob on this side Jordan, as he journeyed homewards to Bethel and Hebron. Returning from the country of his exile he pitched his tent at Shechem, and " bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money," and he erected there an altar, his first altar after his return, to not simply Jehovah, as Abraham had done, expressive of God as the self-existing one, but to God the God of Israel. The treacherous conduct of Simeon and Levi forced him to leave it; but, before he departed for Bethel, he collected the false gods of his family and their ear-rings, and buried them under the oak which was by Shechem, perhaps the very same tree under which Abraham between 180 or 190 years before had spread his tent. See Gen. 12:66And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. (Genesis 12:6), where for the plain of Moreh we should read oak of Moreh. Sometime during his sojourn here he dug that well, mentioned in the gospel of John, and visited to this day by travelers. Owning no other spot in the country besides the cave of Machpelah, which came to him, as we should say, by the right of inheritance, though the reversion of the whole land belonged to him and to his descendants,' he went down into Egypt, and there died, bequeathing as the birthright " the parcel of the field " to his son Joseph. Before his descent into Egypt his children revisited Shechem from time to time with their flocks (Gen. 37:1212And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. (Genesis 37:12)). But Joseph only entered on the possession of it as his place of sepulture and that, when the children of Israel fulfilled his command in laying his bones in that "parcel of a field," after they had crossed the Jordan under the leadership of Joshua (Josh. 24:3232And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph. (Joshua 24:32)). Before that took place, whilst they lay encamped in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, Moses gave commandment respecting the solemn ceremony, which all Israel under Joshua and Eleazar were to be engaged in, on the slopes of both Ebal and Gerizim, and in the valley which lies between them. Situated on a shoulder of Mount Gerizim (hence probably the name of Shechem), it must have been within the limits where the Amen of all the people could be heard; and that shoulder of the mountain on which their forefathers had trodden, was now' the ground which part of the six tribes appointed to stand on Gerizim must have occupied, not to pronounce-the blessings as the others had the curses, but, to hear' recited how, if obedient, God would bless His redeemed, people (Deut. 11, 27, Josh. 8).
The next notice of Shechem which calls for remark is its appointment to be one of the six cities of refuge, to Which the manslayer could repair, and, if subsequently acquitted of murder, where he could remain sheltered from the wrath of the avenger of blood, till the death of the high priest permitted his return to his own place without fear of molestation. To this same spot, rich in patriarchal associations, and where the whole congregation had once assembled, did Joshua assemble them all again to remind Israel of God's great goodness to them in all that he had done, and to exhort them to put away the strange gods from their midst, and to serve the Lord only. The people promised obedience. How long they adhered to their promise is known. " They served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that He did for Israel." Very little progress in the reading of the book of Judges brings us to a passage (2:12) which speaks of idolatry as rife in their midst. And Shechem, one of the cities of the Levites though it was, where the knowledge of God and obedience to Him should have been diligently fostered and enforced, chooses a god for itself, and builds a house for Baalberith, in the hold of which about a thousand inhabitants of the city subsequently lost their lives.
In connection with this sad history another chapter in the annals of the city commences It was the first place where a kingdom was attempted to be set up in Israel; it was also the place where the kingdom established by David and carried on by Solomon was divided never again to be united under one scepter, till David's son shall sit on his father's throne. Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal was made king by the plain (rather oak) of the pillar that was in Shechem. Rehoboam went down thither to be crowned king as successor to his father Solomon. After his flight, and the revolt of the ten tribes, it became the first capital of the newly appointed kingdom of Israel. Abraham's first halting-place in the land, the site of Abraham's and. Jacob's first altars, the scene of the first attempt at a kingdom in Israel, and the first capital of the tribes who had revolted from the house of David, it subsequently was famous as the first place where a temple was built professedly for God besides His house at Jerusalem: The first because there was another built in Egypt by Onias in the time of Ptolemy Philometer. The temple at Gerizim was a rival to that at Jerusalem.
Turning to Sychar the notice of it is brief; all that is recorded in the Bible concerning it being found in the gospel of St. John Chapter iv., yet, though brief, full of deep interest. As Shechem was the first place on record where the patriarchs Abraham and Jacob showed whom they worshipped, so Sychar was the first place where the Lord unfolded the principles of true worship, such as God can now accept (iv. 21-24). And as Shechem Was the place where Jacob first erected the altar to God the God of Israel, expressive of the position in which Jehovah had consented to stand to him and his descendants, (for hitherto He had been described by Jacob as " the God of my fathers "), so here it was that the Son of man made known the relationship in which God was pleased to stand to all who should believe on His Son. That God was His Father, He had declared at Jerusalem (John 2:1616And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. (John 2:16)); that He was God's Son John had borne witness (iii. 35); now the Lord goes further, and speaks of the Father whom men should worship. In that relationship God would now stand to them, and they should know it. In the midst of the Hivites both Abraham and Jacob erected their altars; in the midst of a people worshipping they knew not what did the Lord first unfold what true worship now is. And as Jacob buried the idols of his family under the oak of Shechem, and Joshua had recalled Israel at the same place to the worship of the Lord Jehovah once more; so the Lord Jesus carried on a similar work in separating hearts from the worship of what they knew not, to know, and surely to worship, the Father in spirit and in truth.
There too was the well; and sitting by its side Jesus proved Himself to be greater than their father Jacob. Jacob gave them the well to which they had often to go; not once for all; the Lord revealed, what had hitherto been to them as a fountain sealed, God's precious gift,- living water, which should be in each believer as the well of water springing up unto everlasting life. And this water once partaken of, the thirst of the drinker would be forever satisfied. How fully He responded to the challenge of the woman! How surprised must she have been, if the truth ever dawned on her, and surely it must have done so when she knew who He was, that He had wrestled with Jacob, thus conclusively in a different manner showing His superiority, for " he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him;" and Jacob went on his way with the marks of that conflict. We can trace, perhaps she did afterward, the same hand in His dealing with her. Both the one and the other had to be brought down ere they could have the blessing the Lord was willing to impart. In both cases he brought them down Himself, and then bestowed it. Jacob asked for His blessing after He had touched the hollow of his thigh; she got the blessing after He had put His finger on her conscience. He could bless, what the six tribes standing on Mount Gerizim could not do, because all who were under law, standing on the ground of creature responsibility, were under a curse; He, who was shortly to stand on another mount to bless (Matt. 5), allowed her and the Samaritans, who flocked to Him, to taste of blessings rich, free, unfading. Moses had said, and Joshua repeated " If thou shalt diligently hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice, of the Lord thy God" (Deut. 28:1,21And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. (Deuteronomy 28:1‑2); Josh. 8:3434And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law. (Joshua 8:34)). Who of all the children of Israel had done this? Which of the Samaritans had observed this? Most 1 certainly that woman could not claim the blessings on that ground. To her however, and to all who received Him was that living fountain imparted which would forever quench the thirst of the soul.
With blessing to the soul was linked deliverance from judgment. The Samaritans owned Him as the Savior of the world. This was just what they wanted-a refuge from the wrath of an offended God. However glad the manslayer in former days might have been to gain that city, and to know he was safe from the avenger of blood who followed him in hot pursuit, far greater was the relief of soul those enjoyed, who believed on the Lord Jesus whilst He dwelt for those two days in their midst. It was not with them deliverance from death with restriction as to their movements till the death of the high priest, but deliverance from the second death with the liberty which belongs to the children of God. The conviction grew on their minds, as they heard Him, who He was; and they own His title to the affections of their heart to be this-the Savior of the world.
Another truth remains to be touched on as unfolded at Sychar in perfect keeping with the previous history of the place. Where Abimelech had endeavored by unlawful means to set up a kingdom in Israel, and Rehoboam, by following the foolish advice of the young men, gave the ten tribes an ostensible reason for revolt, in that same place centuries afterward the Son of David announces Himself to be the Christ, the king who was to come. And what Rehoboam could not do, gain the hearts of those outside Judah, and the rent which none of his successors had been able to that date to heal, the Lord did accomplish by drawing hearts to Himself. In Him the Samaritans and His disciples then found a coin-men center. Those who had often maltreated the Jews, and some of whose kindred at a later date refused to " receive Him because His face was as though He would go to Jerusalem " (Luke 9:5353And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. (Luke 9:53)), now submit themselves to this stranger, as He appeared at first sight, who had come from Jerusalem. Had Rehoboam hearkened to the advice of the old men, " that stood before Solomon his father," all might have been well. " If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants forever" 1 Kings 12:77And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever. (1 Kings 12:7). Observe the order here. If you serve them, they will serve you. Sagacious counsel! He rejected it. The opportunity was lost, the kingdom was divided and the heir to David's throne had to fly from Shechem to
Jerusalem How differently did the Lord act. Just what Rehoboam should have done, He did. Though far higher than Rehoboam, His ancestor according to the flesh, He emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form Of a servant, and in that character presented Himself to Israel and the Samaritans. In Israel He went about doing good, ministering to the need of those who came to Him. In Sychar He offers the woman the gift of God, and ministers to the souls of the people of the city. He became their servant, and they owned Him as the Savior. He spent His life in service for sinners and even died to serve them. He also spake good words to them. Rehoboam at Shechem showed himself to be unfit to reign over Israel. The Lord at Sychar shows how competent He is to make all hearts bow to Him. He had been in Galilee, and He had visited in Jerusalem; in neither had He announced Himself as the Christ. That was reserved for Sychar. There in the first capital of the ten tribes did He first announce this. Where the link between Judah and Israel had been broken, does He forge a new one to unite Samaritans and Jews, and gathers up as it were, by a secret which He alone possessed, the two ends of the thread, which had been severed after the death of Solomon.
What interesting associations are connected with that spot I Various reasons may have led Abraham and Jacob to select it as the site of their first altars in the land. The lie of the ground many might affirm as the reason for its selection by God for the solemn ceremony under Joshua. Reasons of state craft may have induced Rehoboam to go thither to be made king. But with the narrative of Sychar before us such reasons will surely be deemed insufficient. Why was it that in the days of the patriarchs, at the first entrance of the land, in the time of the judges, and under the kings this place should be the scene of events worthy of note, and of sufficient importance never to be forgotten? Was there not a cause for this, depend-in not on the judgment of Abraham, the sagacity of Jacob, the conformation of the valley, or political designs? God had an end in view, and we see it since the Lord visited Sychar, because there Jehovah should be found to show by His intercourse with the woman at the well, and His subsequent sojourn in the city, that what had taken place there before, however to be explained at the time of its occurrence, was a kind of earnest of what should be, when Messiah should appear to " tell them all things."
C. E. S.