Genesis

Chapter 34 & 35

SHECHEM

• 1. An ancient fortified city in central Palestine and the first capital of the northern kingdom of Israel

• Its name means "shoulder," probably because the city was built mainly on the slope, or shoulder, of Mount Ebal.

SHECHEM

• Shechem is first mentioned in connection with Abraham's journey into the land of Canaan.

• When Abraham eventually came to Shechem, the Lord appeared to him and announced that this was the land He would give to Abraham's descendants (Gen 12:6; Sichem, KJV).

• This fulfilled God's promise to Abraham at the time of his call (Gen 12:1-3).

• In response, Abraham built his first altar to the Lord in Canaan at Shechem (Gen 12:7).

• Because of this incident, Shechem is an important place in the religious history of the Hebrew people.

SHECHEM

• Jacob ,Upon his return from Padan Aram, also built an altar to the Lord at Shechem (Gen 33:18-20).

• This marked Jacob's safe return to the Promised Land from the land of self-imposed exile.

• According to Jewish tradition, Jacob dug a deep well here (John 4:12).

SHECHEM

• At the close of his life, Joshua gathered the tribes of Israel at Shechem. Here he reviewed God's gracious dealings with Israel and performed a covenant-renewing ceremony on behalf of the nation.

• He closed his speech with his famous statement, "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Josh 24:15).

SHECHEM

• The significance of Shechem in Israel's history continued into the period of the Divided Kingdom.

• Rehoboam, successor to King Solomon, went to Shechem to be crowned king over all Israel (1 Kings 12:1).

• Later, when the nation divided into two kingdoms, Shechem became the first capital of the northern kingdom of Israel (1 Kings 12:25).

• Samaria eventually became the permanent political capital of the Northern Kingdom, but Shechem retained its religious importance.

•It apparently was a sanctuary for worship of God in Hosea's time in the eighth century B.C. (Hos 6:9).

Jacob - Dina

• Laziness• Slaking• Negligent• Rev 3:15-17• 15 "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I

could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say,'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing' — and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked

SHECHEMSychar

• At Shechem Jesus visited with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well (John 4).

• The SAMARITANS had built their temple on Mount Gerizim, where they practiced their form of religion.

• To this outcast woman of a despised sect Jesus offered salvation.

• John 4:18• 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom

you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."

• John 4:10-14

• 10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."

• 11 The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?"

• 13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."

• NKJV

• Gen 34:8-10• 9 And make marriages with us; give your daughters to

us, and take our daughters to yourselves. 10 So you shall dwell with us, and the land shall be before you. Dwell and trade in it, and acquire possessions for yourselves in it.

• Gen 34:22-23• 22 Only on this condition will the men consent to dwell

with us, to be one people: if every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. 23 Will not their livestock, their property, and every animal of theirs be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us."

A Module of Repentance

• Jacob• Gen 35:2-3• "Put away the foreign gods

that are among you, • purify yourselves, and • change your garments. • Then let us arise and go up to

Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God,

• The Prodigal Son• Luke 15:17-19• "But when he came to himself,

he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I

have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants."'

• 20 "And he arose and came to his father

• Beyth-' El (bayth-ale'); house of God

• Nexem (neh'-zem); meaning; a nose-ring

EARRING

• From the earliest ages the Orientals have believed in the influences of the stars, in spells, witchcraft, and the malign power of envy; and to protect themselves against the maladies and other evils which such influences were supposed to occasion, almost all the ancient nations wore amulets

• (from McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 2000 by Biblesoft)

EARRING

• They were probably precious stones, or small plates of gold or silver, with sentences of the law or magic formulae inscribed on them, and worn in the ears, or suspended by a chain round the neck.

• "Ear-rings" is not perhaps a bad translation. It is certain that ear-rings were sometimes used in this way as instruments of superstition, and that at a very early period, as in Gen 35:4, where Jacob takes away the ear-rings of his people along with their false gods.

• Ear-rings, with strange figures and characters, are still used as charms in the East

• El Beyth-'El —• El Bethel = "The God of the House of God“• OT:1683

• Debowrah or (shortened) Deborah —• Deborah = "bee"• 1) the nurse of Rebekah who accompanied

her from the house of Bethuel

• 'Allown Bakuwth (al-lone' baw-kooth'); oak of weeping;

• Allon-Bakuth, a monumental tree

• Ya` aqob (yah-ak-obe'); heel-catcher

• Yisra'el (yis-raw-ale'); Prince “he will rule as God”

• parah (paw-raw'); to bear fruit (literally or figuratively):

• bear, bring forth (fruit), (be, cause to be, make) fruitful, grow, increase.

• Shadday (shad-dah'-ee); the Almighty

• Ben-' Owniy (ben-o-nee'); from OT:1121 and OT:205; son of my sorrow

• Binyamiyn (bin-yaw-mene'); son of (the) right hand

• Benjamin• The Only son born at the

promise land• At his birth Rachel

Jacob’s beloved wife died• Luke 2:34• "Behold, this Child is

destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel

• Christ• He is the only son

(Omonogenes)• His Birth marked the end

the Jewish nation• His Salvation bring joy to

the world but not the Jewish

Jacob buried

• The idols

• Deborah

• Rachel

• His Father Isaac

• Matt 22:37-40• 37 Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD

your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

• Matt 10:37• 37 He that loveth father or mother more than me

is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.