Shechem (Tel Balata) Abraham's First Altar in Canaan

Bible story

Shechem in the Story of Abraham

The first place of the promise

"And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Shechem, unto the terebinth of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said: 'Unto thy seed will I give this land'; and he builded there an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him."

Genesis 12:6-7 (JPS 1917)

Shechem is Abraham's first stop in the Promised Land. Here God appears to him for the first time in the land and promises it to his descendants; here Abraham builds his first altar — the act that, in the narrative, inaugurates the worship of Abraham's God in Canaan.

The first altar

The altar Abraham builds at Shechem carries great symbolic weight: it is the first act of worship performed in the Promised Land. This gesture of adoration and gratitude makes Shechem a founding place of the patriarchal story. The "oaks" (or "terebinth") of Moreh probably refer to a prominent tree used as a landmark — perhaps a place of oracles, since "Moreh" can mean "the one who teaches".

Theological significance

The choice of Shechem is no accident. Lying at the heart of the land, between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, the site symbolises a spiritual taking of possession. Abraham's altar opens a tradition continued by Jacob's altar at Shechem (Genesis 33:18-20) and culminating in the covenant renewal under Joshua (Joshua 24).

A strategic crossroads

Lying between Mount Ebal (≈ 940 m) to the north and Mount Gerizim (≈ 880 m) to the south, Shechem controls the junction of two major ancient routes: the north–south ridge route through the highlands and the east–west corridor linking the Jordan Valley to the coastal plain. This position explains the city's early importance — and why the narrative places Abraham's first promise and first altar here.

After Shechem

Abraham then continues south and stops on the mountain between Bethel and Ai, where he builds another altar (Genesis 12:8), before moving on to the Negev. This route, marked out by altars, traces a spiritual geography that later generations would retrace — see also our article on Abraham.

Bible story

Jacob at Shechem: the El-Elohe-Israel Altar (Genesis 33-35)

Two generations later, Jacob returns from Paddan-aram after twenty years with Laban. Having passed through Peniel, where he received the name Israel, and made peace with Esau, he makes Shechem his first major stop in Canaan. There he buys from the sons of Hamor, for a hundred kesitah, the parcel of ground where he has pitched his tent — just as Abraham bought the Cave of Machpelah at Hebron, the promise takes the shape of an actual plot of land — and builds an altar.

"And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money. And he erected there an altar, and called it El-elohe-Israel."

Genesis 33:19-20

It is the first altar the narrative attributes to Jacob; at Bethel, twenty years earlier, he had set up a pillar (28:18). Its name, El-Elohe-Israel, "God, the God of Israel", marks a turning point: Jacob, now Israel, proclaims that the God of his fathers has become his own God, echoing his vow at Bethel: "then shall the LORD be my God" (28:21).

Dinah, then the purification under the oak

The stay is also marked by tragedy: Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, is taken and violated by Shechem, son of Hamor (Genesis 34). Simeon and Levi kill the men of the city, a violence Jacob condemns (34:30; 49:5-7). At God's command he leaves Shechem for Bethel, after burying his household's idols and earrings "under the oak which was by Shechem" (35:4).

Jacob's field, Joseph's inheritance

The field Jacob bought stays in the family memory: it is to Shechem that Joseph is sent to join his brothers before finding them at Dothan (37:12-17), and it is there that his bones, brought up from Egypt, are buried "in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought" (Joshua 24:32). Two nearby places of memory belong to this story: Joseph's Tomb, a few hundred metres from the tell, a sensitive site with very restricted access, and Jacob's Well, preserved inside a Greek Orthodox church, where John's Gospel sets the meeting of Jesus and the Samaritan woman (John 4:5-6). The field itself has not been identified archaeologically.

Bible story

Shechem in the Bible: Key Passages

Genesis 12:6-7: Abraham's promise and altar

The first place in Canaan named on Abraham's journey, the first divine appearance in the land, the first altar.

To see today: the archaeological site of Tel Balata, the pass between Ebal and Gerizim, and views over this natural crossroads.

Genesis 33:18-20: Jacob's altar

The purchase of the field, the El-Elohe-Israel altar, the story of Dinah and the purification under the oak: see the section Jacob at Shechem above.

To see: Jacob's Well (a Christian tradition linked to John 4), a few hundred metres from the tell, and nearby Joseph's Tomb (a sensitive site with very restricted access).

Joshua 8 and 24: the covenant renewal

"And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem […] choose you this day whom ye will serve […] but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

Joshua 24:1, 15 (KJV)

To see: Mount Gerizim (Samaritan tradition, remains of the Samaritan temple) and Mount Ebal (a structure some interpret as Joshua's altar, Joshua 8:30-35).

Shechem through the biblical narrative

• Abraham — promise and first altar by the oaks of Moreh (Genesis 12:6-7).
• Jacob — purchase of a field, the altar El-Elohe-Israel, then the tragedy of Dinah (Genesis 33–34).
• Joseph — sent by his father to his brothers pasturing the flocks at Shechem, he finds them at Dothan (Genesis 37:12-17).
• Joshua — blessings and curses between Gerizim and Ebal (Joshua 8:30-35), the great assembly and covenant renewal (Joshua 24), burial of Joseph's bones (Joshua 24:32).
• Abimelech — a short-lived kingship, Jotham's fable from Mount Gerizim and the destruction of the city (Judges 9).
• Rehoboam and Jeroboam — Israel gathers at Shechem, the kingdom splits; Jeroboam first makes Shechem his residence (1 Kings 12:1, 25).
• Gospels — Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well, near Sychar (John 4:5-6).

Nablus, Samarian hillsShechem: Joshua Renews the CovenantBetween Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, Joshua has the Law read aloud, then gathers the tribes at Shechem and asks them to choose whom they will serve.View site →

Archaeology

Archaeology: Shechem / Tel Balata

A fortified Canaanite city

The Tel Balata archaeological park reveals a fortified Canaanite city of the Middle Bronze and Iron Ages: massive ramparts, monumental gates flanked by towers, a fortress-temple, cultic areas and successive rebuilding phases. The fortifications reached their peak in the Middle Bronze Age II (17th–16th centuries BC), the so-called "Hyksos" period.

Later levels attest Israelite occupation in the Iron Age, then a Samaritan town in the Hellenistic period, destroyed at the end of the 2nd century BC. The Roman city of Neapolis — today's Nablus — was founded in AD 72 a little further west. This material setting is consistent with Shechem's importance in the texts, without allowing Abraham's altar to be identified.

• IdentificationTel Balata = Shechem (consensus)
• OccupationChalcolithic → Hellenistic period
• Excavations1913–1934 (German team), 1956–1973 (American expedition)
• PeakMiddle Bronze Age II

Defensive structures

• Cyclopean ramparts of very large blocks, several metres thick.
• North-west gate with three pairs of piers (Middle Bronze Age).
• East gate flanked by rectangular towers.
• Glacis (a beaten-earth slope) protecting the foot of the walls.

Cultic areas

• Middle Bronze Age fortress-temple (migdal), often linked with "the house of the god Berith" (Judges 9:46).
• Altar platform in the temple courtyard.
• Standing stones (masseboth), including a large stone some associate with the one in Joshua 24:26 — a hypothetical link.
• Samaritan occupation in the Hellenistic period (the Samaritan temple itself stood on Mount Gerizim).

Shechem in Egyptian sources

Shechem is one of the few Canaanite cities mentioned outside the Bible as early as the 2nd millennium BC: the stela of Khu-Sebek (19th century BC) records an Egyptian campaign against "Sekmem", and the Amarna letters (14th century BC) mention Labayu, the unruly ruler of the Shechem region.