taken place at the ford ed-Dāmiyeh, a little S of the Jabboḳ,
on the road from es-Salṭ to Shechem.—in safety ((
Hebrew characters))] after
his escape from Esau, E not having recorded the lengthened
stay at Succoth. On the rendering of (Hebrew characters) as a proper name,
v.i.—encamped in front of the city] in the vale to the E of it,
where Jacob's well is still shown (Jn. 46. 12.—19. The purchase
of the ground is referred to in Jos. 2432 in the account
of Joseph's burial. It is significant that Israel's claim to
the grave of Joseph is based on purchase, just as its right
to that of Abraham (ch. 23).—The Bnê Ḥămôr were the
dominant clan in Shechem (ch. 34, Ju. 928).—a hundred ḳĕsîṭāhs] an unknown sum (v.i.).—20. he set up there an altar]
or more probably (since (Hebrew characters) is never used of an altar) a maẓẓebāh.—called it 'Ēl, God of Israel] the stone being
identified with the deity; cf. 2822 357, Ex. 1715, Ju. 624. For
heathen parallels, see Mey. INS, 295.
Israel is here the name of the nation: cf. Jos. 830, where Joshua
builds an altar on Ebal (E of Shechem) to Yahwe, God of Israel. The
stone and its name are undoubtedly historical, and go back to an
early time when Shechem (or Ebal?) was the sacred centre of the
confederacy of Israelitish tribes (cf. 1 Ki. 121). We cannot therefore
conclude with Di. that the v. refers back to 3229, and comes from the
same document.
with usage; there being no case of a village described as a 'city'
of the neighbouring town (De.). We. (Comp.2 3161) emends (Hebrew characters):
'Shechem the city of (the man) Shechem.' Procksch accepts the
emendation, but regards the words as a conflation of variants from two
sources (p. 34). G distinguishes the name of the city ((Greek characters), see on
126) from that of the man. ((Greek characters), v.19 342ff.).—(Hebrew characters)] as 2617.—19. (Hebrew characters)
(Jos. 2432, Jb. 4211 † )] apparently a coin or weight; but the etymology is
obscure. GVTO render 'lamb'; and it was thought that light had been
thrown on this traditional explanation by the Aramaic Assuan papyri,
where (Hebrew characters) (lamb) is used of a coin (of the value of 10 shekels?) (so Sayce-Cowley,
Aram. Pap. disc. at Assouan, p. 23). But Lidzbarski (Deutsche Lzg., 1906, 3210 ff.) holds that the word there should be read (Hebrew characters) (found
on a Persian weight: PSBA, 1888, 464 ff.).—20. Read (Hebrew characters) for (Hebrew characters),
and consequently (Hebrew characters) for (Hebrew characters) (We. al.).—(Hebrew characters)] G (Greek characters).—Except
the clause (Hebrew characters) in v.18, which
is evidently from P, the whole section 18-20 may safely be assigned
to E.
