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Genesis 33 (WEB)

Shechem — Journeys of Abram—Shechem·City

Journeys of Abram

1. Ur of the Chaldees (Gen 11:31; Acts 7:2-4)

Haran died before his father Terah in Ur (Gen 11:28). Sometime after this death, Terah took his son Abram, and Lot the son of Haran, Sarai, Abram's wife, and went from Ur of the Chaldees to the land of Canaan, to the city called Haran (presumably named after his father) to make that his new home (Gen 11:31).

It appears that in Haran, Yahweh spoke to Abram and informed him that it was He who brought Abram out of Ur, in order to give the land of Canaan as an inheritance (Gen 15:7). Nehemiah confirms this (Neh 9:7), where the text of Scripture says that Yahweh is the God who chose Abram (great father) and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees and gave to him the name Abraham (father of many nations).

2. Haran (Gen 12:1-4; Acts 7:4)

Haran is the name of the son of Terah who died in Ur of the Chaldees, and also the name of the city in Canaan. Genesis 11:27 indicates that Terah lived seventy years before he became the father of his sons Abram, Nahor, and Haran. It may be that the order of the sons (Gen 11:26), as is common, depicts the order of their birth (see the sons of Noah, Gen 10). If this is so, then the youngest brother of Abram, Haran, preceded his brothers and father in death (Gen 11:28), after he had already become the father of Lot (Gen 11:27), the nephew of Abram.

The biblical account continues that Abram married his half-sister, Sarai (Gen 11:29). This may be due to the scarcity of possible wives where they went, but the text does not speak of this, but the Bible reveals that Abram and Sarai were married before they left Ur (Gen 11:31). Upon coming to Haran, Terah, at two hundred and five years old, died there (see the map of the Ancient Near East and location of Haran. (Map Link to Haran and Mesopotamia, click map to have a larger map).

Upon the death of Terah, Abram, now seventy-five, was approached by Yahweh, who commanded him to leave Haran, and many of his relatives (Gen 12:1) and travel south from Haran to the places that Yahweh would show him (Gen 12:1).

The biblical text indicates that Abram, in obedience to Yahweh's command, left relatives in Haran, but also took a number of his extended family into the land of Canaan, including Sarai, his wife and half-sister, his nephew Lot (son of Haran), and apparently several others (Gen 12:5) on this journey. Several years later, at Isaac's command, his son Jacob returned to Haran, to escape the wrath of Esau, to live with his uncle Laban (Gen 27:43; 28:10).

Several of the foregoing details in Genesis are substantiated in the sermon of Stephen (Acts 7:2-4).

3. Damascus (Gen 15:2)

4. Shechem (Gen 12:6, 7)

5. Bethel (Genesis 12:8)

6. Egypt (Gen 12:9-20)

7. Bethel (Gen 13:1-9)

8. Hebron (Gen 13:10-18)

9. Dan (Gen 14:1-14)

10. Hobah (Gen 14:15, 16)

11. Salem (Gen 14:17-21)

12. Hebron (Gen 15:1-21; 17:1-27)

13. Gerar (Gen 20:1-18)

14. Beersheba (Gen 21:1-34)

15. Moriah (Gen 22:1-18)

16. Beersheba (Genesis 26:23-33)

17. Hebron (Gen 23: 1-20)

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Genesis 33 (WEB)

1Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. He divided the children between Leah, Rachel, and the two servants. 2He put the servants and their children in front, Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph at the rear. 3He himself passed over in front of them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

4Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, fell on his neck, kissed him, and they wept. 5He lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, “Who are these with you?”

He said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” 6Then the servants came near with their children, and they bowed themselves. 7Leah also and her children came near, and bowed themselves. After them, Joseph came near with Rachel, and they bowed themselves.

8Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company which I met?”

Jacob said, “To find favor in the sight of my lord.”

9Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; let that which you have be yours.”

10Jacob said, “Please, no, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present at my hand, because I have seen your face, as one sees the face of God, and you were pleased with me. 11Please take the gift that I brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” He urged him, and he took it.

12Esau said, “Let’s take our journey, and let’s go, and I will go before you.”

13Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are tender, and that the flocks and herds with me have their young, and if they overdrive them one day, all the flocks will die. 14Please let my lord pass over before his servant, and I will lead on gently, according to the pace of the livestock that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord to Seir.”

15Esau said, “Let me now leave with you some of the people who are with me.”

He said, “Why? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.”

16So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. 17Jacob traveled to Succoth, built himself a house, and made shelters for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

18Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan Aram; and encamped before the city. 19He bought the parcel of ground where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred pieces of money. 20He erected an altar there, and called it El Elohe Israel.

World English Bible · public domain · ebible.org

Shechem