§ 7. Samaria Province.
Nablus.—Nablus, the capital of Samaria Province, is peculiar among the towns of Palestine in having kept its more recent name, Νεάπολις, in preference to its original name Shechem.
Shechem is associated with the earliest period of Jewish settlement in Palestine, for here Abraham pitched his tent on entering the country, and set up the first altar to Jehovah on a spot still shown on the slope of Mt. Ebal. Again, to Shechem, which lies in the long and narrow valley separating Mt. Ebal from Mt. Gerizim, Joshua led the Israelites after the miraculous passage of the Jordan, and on the slopes of the two mountains recited the Law of Moses. From Ebal and Gerizim were pronounced the blessings and the cursings.
The community most enduringly associated with Nablus is that of the Samaritans (cf. Part II., § 16), who claim Gerizim as the hill of Joshua's altar and as "the place where men ought to worship" (S. John, iv., 20).
Abimelek, who was the son of Gideon and a woman of Shechem, ruled here for three years, and then destroyed the city in order to punish the Samaritans, who had risen against him. Rehoboam's foolish speech at his coronation in Shechem led to the division of the Jewish State into the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and Jeroboam established here the first capital of the Northern Kingdom. After the fall of Jerusalem Shechem is recorded as being inhabited by the Samaritans (Jeremiah, xli., 5), and, after the Jewish wars, becomes, under Vespasian, the city of Flavia Neapolis.
In the early centuries of Christianity Neapolis was constantly the scene of strife between the Samaritans and the Christians, and Justinian was compelled to put down with severity a serious revolt of the former; from this revolt is to be dated the decay in the numbers of the Samaritan people.
Nablus was captured by the Crusaders under Tancred, and an important ecclesiastical Council was held here in the reign of Baldwin II.
