Shechem (person)

Shechem ( Hebrew שְׁכֶם Shechem ) is the name of the son of Hivite Hamor mentioned in the Torah of the Tanach or in the Old Testament .

The story in the Bible

Jacob , one of the patriarchs of the Israelites , comes to the small town of Shechem on his way to Canaan and buys a piece of land from the sons of Hamor to camp there with his family ( Gen. 33: 18-20 EU ). Dina , daughter of Jacob and Leah, notices Hamor's son Shechem . At first he rapes her, but then he falls in love with her. He asks his father to arrange a marriage. Hamor discusses this matter with Jacob and his sons. As a condition for consent, they state that all men in the city must be circumcised , which Hamor promises after consulting the leading men in the city. Three days after circumcision, while the men were still suffering from the wound fever it caused, Simeon and Levi , Jacob's second and third eldest sons, attacked the city, plundered it and killed all the men in the city to avenge their sister's dishonor ( Gen. 34 EU ).

Exegetical notes

The story focuses on the failure of the Israelites to coexist with the Canaanites. The personal name Shechem is probably representative of the entire population of the city of the same name.

literature

Stefan Wimmer: Shechem. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (eds.): The scientific biblical lexicon on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff., Section 2.1. Shechem in the patriarchal tales .

Individual evidence

↑ Stefan Wimmer: Shechem. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (eds.): The scientific biblical lexicon on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff., Section 2.1. Shechem in the patriarchal tales .

[1] Stefan Wimmer: Shechem. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (eds.): The scientific biblical lexicon on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff., Section 2.1. Shechem in the patriarchal tales .