Shechem
The great city of Samaria.
Inhabitants or natives
Reuben, Elisha and Isaac, the young children saved from the thieves.[1]
Description
"The day after: the apostolic group that left in the morning is about to enter Shechem in the evening, having passed through Samaria, a beautiful town, surrounded by walls, adorned with splendid imposing buildings, around which are grouped some lovely tidy houses. I am under the impression that the town, like Tiberias, has been recently rebuilt with systems borrowed from Rome. Outside the walls, around the town, the land is very fruitful and well cultivated.
The road from Samaria to Shechem winds down from terrace to terrace, in a series of walls supporting the earth, which reminds me of the Fresoli hills. There is a splendid view of green mountains to the south and of a most beautiful plain westwards.
The road tends to descend to the valley, but it climbs now and again to cross other hills from the top of which one commands the land of Samaria with its lovely olive-groves, corn fields, vineyards, watched over from the hill crests by woods of oak and other forest trees, which must be protective against the winds that blowing through the gorges are inclined to create whirlwinds damaging cultivations. This area reminds me very much of certain spots in our Apennines, around Mount Amiata, where one can contemplate at the same time the flat cultivations of cereals in the Maremma and the bright hills and majestic mountains that rise higher inland. I do not know what Samaria is like now. It was very beautiful in those days."[2]
"The main square in Shechem. A characteristic of springtime is given to it by the new foliage of the trees that surround it in a double row along the square-shaped walls of the houses, forming a kind of gallery. The sun plays among the tender leaves of plane-trees projecting an embroidery of light and shadows on the ground. The basin in the centre of the square is a silver plate in the sunshine."[3]
"Here is Shechem, beautiful and ornate, crowded with people of Samaria going to the Samaritan temple, and with pilgrims from all regions going to the Temple in Jerusalem.
The town is all flooded with sunshine, stretched as it is on the eastern slopes of Mount Gerizim, that dominates it from its western side and is all green as the town is all white.
To the north-east Mount Ebal, the appearance of which is even wilder, seems to protect it against northern winds. The fertility of the land, rich in the waters that come down from the mountain watershed and form two charming little rivers, nourished by many brooks, flow towards the Jordan [...]"[4]
"The two water courses, near which it rises, form a silvery blue semicircle around the city; then one of them enters it gurgling and glittering among the white houses, it then comes out and flows through the greenery towards the river Jordan, appearing and disappearing under olive-groves and luxuriant orchards. The other river, smaller in size, remains outside the walls, almost lapping on them, and irrigates fertile vegetable gardens [...]"[5]
Key facts
During his passage through this city, on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus was well homely:
"The apostles are speaking to the Master, and although they are convinced Israelites, they are compelled to acknowledge and praise the attitude of the people of Shechem, who invited Jesus to stay with them as I understand from the conversation I hear."[6]
This home leaves the traces of a genuine sympathy.[7]
It is on the territory of Shechem that Ennon is located, the place where the Baptist took refuge while pursued.[8] He too was homely and respected by the Shechemites.
Its name
שכם (Nablus)[9]
Shechem means "shoulder" or "neck" and refers to its position between Mount Ebal and Mount Garizim on which was the Samaritan Temple. Today Nablus (Shekhem) - Other spellings: Nablus, Tel/Tell Balatah, Nabulus, Neapolis, Shakim, Shechem, Sychem.
Note that Maria Valtorta mentions a Roman milestone[10] alternately indicating "Neapoli" and "Shechem". According to this indication, the name Neapolis would be older than that of Flavius Neapolis mentioned in historical records, as in the year 30 the future emperor Titus Flavius Vespasian, who would be the origin of the name, was not famous enough to be thus honored.
The name Neapolis (new city) evolved into Naples during the Crusades and then into Nablus, the current name.
Where is it mentioned in the work?
GRM 193
GRM 211
GRM 483 GRM 484
GRM 553 GRM 554 GRM 557 GRM 563 GRM 564 GRM 566 GRM 570 GRM 571 GRM 572 GRM 573 GRM 576 GRM 581
Learn more about this place
An important city in the center of Palestine, in the hills of Ephraim, near Mount Garizim. It is the first site in Palestine mentioned in Genesis. Abraham camped there, as did Jacob who buried his foreign idols there.[11]
After the Israelite conquest, Joshua renewed the covenant of the nation with God there.[12] It is also where he made his farewell speech.[13] At the time of the judges, it was still a center of Canaanite worship which was destroyed by Abimelech, son of Gideon.[14]
After the death of Solomon, it was in Shechem that the ten northern tribes rejected Rehoboam as king and anointed Jeroboam as their king. He restored the city and made it for some time his capital.[15] The Assyrians destroyed it in 724-721 BC. Around 300 BC, Shechem became the main city of the Samaritans who erected a Temple on Mount Garizim. John Hyrcanus destroyed the Temple in 128 BC and the city in 108 BC. It was later rebuilt and named Flavia Neapolis in honor of the Roman emperor Flavius Vespasian.
Explore