See our yesterday’s post for a map showing all 6 cities of Refuge.
Another city of refuge was Shechem, a West Bank site known as Tel Balata.
This Old Testament city had an important history. It was here that Abraham (Abram) stood as a childless man (age 75), when God told him he would give to him (his descendants) the land of Canaan (Gen. 12:6-7).
It was here that Joshua assembled Israel with his farewell speech and uttered the famous works, “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord” (Josh. 24:15).
It was very near here that Jesus sat down weary by Jacob’s well, and skillfully led a Samaritan from a point where her only interest was drawing up the water, to a point of faith in Him as Messiah (John 4).
Shechem, a City of Refuge. Photo by Leon Mauldin.
You can see the excavated ruins of the city. At center was the Temple of Baal-berith. At right you see a portion of Mt. Ebal, and at left is Mt. Gerizim. I took our group here Oct. 22, not only for them to see Shechem but also to have a good vantage point to take photos of the mount of cursing (Ebal) and Gerizim (blessing). See further on this in Josh. 8. Again, when cities of refuge were appointed in the days of the conquest, Shechem was the one for the central residents of the land west of the Jordan River.
For a previous post on Shechem see here and several other entries. Use search box and it will bring them all up.
Click on image for larger view.
You can see the excavated ruins of Shechem. At
Leon's Message Board 