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Selected Verse: Genesis 33:18 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Ge 33:18 |
King James |
And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
Shalem--that is, "peace"; and the meaning may be that Jacob came into Canaan, arriving safe and sound at the city Shechem--a tribute to Him who had promised such a return (compare Gen 28:15). But most writers take Shalem as a proper name--a city of Shechem, and the site is marked by one of the little villages about two miles to the northeast. A little farther in the valley below Shechem "he bought a parcel of a field," thus being the first of the patriarchs who became a proprietor of land in Canaan. |
Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
From Succoth, Jacob crossed a ford of the Jordan, and "came in safety to the city of Sichem in the land of Canaan." שׁלם is not a proper name meaning "to Shalem," as it is rendered by Luther (and Eng. Vers., Tr.) after the lxx, Vulg., etc.; but an adjective, safe, peaceful, equivalent to בּשׁלום, "in peace," in Gen 28:21, to which there is an evident allusion. What Jacob had asked for in his vow at Bethel, before his departure from Canaan, was now fulfilled. He had returned in safety "to the land of Canaan;" Succoth, therefore, did not belong to the land of Canaan, but must have been on the eastern side of the Jordan. שׁכם עיר, lit., city of Shechem; so called from Shechem the son of the Hivite prince Hamor
(Note: Mamortha, which according to Plin. (h. n. v. 14) was the earlier name of Neapolis (Nablus), appears to have been a corruption of Chamor.)
(Gen 33:19, Gen 34:2.), who founded it and called it by the name of his son, since it was not in existence in Abraham's time (vid., Gen 12:6). Jacob pitched his tent before the town, and then bought the piece of ground upon which he encamped from the sons of Hamor for 100 Kesita. קשׂיטה is not a piece of silver of the value of a lamb (according to the ancient versions), but a quantity of silver weighed out, of considerable, though not exactly determinable value: cf. Ges. thes. s. v. This purchase showed that Jacob, in reliance upon the promise of God, regarded Canaan as his own home and the home of his seed. This piece of field, which fell to the lot of the sons of Joseph, and where Joseph's bones were buried (Jos 24:32), was, according to tradition, the plain which stretches out at the south-eastern opening of the valley of Shechem, where Jacob's well is still pointed out (Joh 4:6), also Joseph's grave, a Mahometan wely (grave) two or three hundred paces to the north (Rob. Pal. iii. 95ff.). Jacob also erected an altar, as Abraham had previously done after his entrance into Canaan (Gen 12:7), and called it El-Elohe-Israel, "God (the mighty) is the God of Israel," to set forth in this name the spiritual acquisition of his previous life, and according to his vow (Gen 28:21) to give glory to the "God of Israel" (as he called Jehovah, with reference to the name given to him at Gen 32:29), for having proved Himself to be El, a mighty God, during his long absence, and that it might serve as a memorial for his descendants. |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem - Or rather he came safe, or in peace, to the city of Shechem. After a perilous journey, in which he had met with many difficulties, he came safe at last, into Canaan. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem - The word שלם shalem, in the Samaritan שלום shalom, should be translated here in peace, or in safety. After resting some time at Succoth, which was necessary for the safety of his flocks and the comfort of his family, he got safely to a city of Shechem, in health of body, without any loss of his cattle or servants, his wives and children being also in safety. Coverdale and Matthews translate this word as above, and with them agree the Chaldee and the Arabic: it is not likely to have been the name of a city, as it is nowhere else to be found. Shechem is called in Act 7:16, Sychem, and in Joh 4:5, Sychar; in the Arabic it is called Nablous, and to the present day Neapolis. It was near to Samaria; and the place where the wretched remains of the sect of the Samaritans were lately found, from whom Dr. Huntington received a perfect copy of the Samaritan Pentateuch. |
15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
21 So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:
7 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.
6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
32 And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.
6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.
2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her.
19 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.
21 So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:
5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
16 And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.