Genesis 33:18-20

"And Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram; and he encamped before the city. And he bought the parcel of ground, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred pieces of money. And he erected there an altar, and called it El-Elohe-Israel."

The last verses of the preceding paragraph recounted Jacob's stopping in Succoth (meaning booths), and so named by Jacob after the shelters he erected there for his cattle. Whitelaw supposed that it was winter time, a fact also supported by the fact of the cattle having young calves. There, Jacob was still east of the Jordan, occupying an elevated plain affording a beautiful view of the whole area. His stay at Succoth was probably about two years.

These final verses of the chapter speak of the patriarch's entry into Canaan, to the city of Shechem, where he purchased property, built a house, and apparently intended to stay a long time. However, misfortune that befell Dinah, and the bloody vengeance of her brothers (recounted in the next chapter) interfered with those plans.

The property which Jacob bought here was the first that he owned in the Promised Land. It later served as a burial plot; and Joseph's bones were interred there (Joshua 24:32), when the children of Israel entered Canaan. "Thus the grave of Joseph, like that of Abraham at Machpelah, belonged to Israel by purchase."[20]

It is notable that Jacob built an altar here, thus following in the steps of Abraham who built an altar wherever he went. The name of it is also significant, for this is the first time that the name "Israel" was used after God gave it.

How long Jacob stayed in Shechem is not exactly known, but it was apparently a minimum of ten or twelve years. As Unger said, "However long it was; it was too long!"[21] The entry of Jacob, however, into Canaan, was evidently considered by the inspired author of Genesis as an extremely important event. The repetition of the word Paddan-aram as the place of his previous residence indicates this. Jacob was then in the Promised Land, but as God had revealed prophetically to Abraham, some four hundred years of servitude lay ahead of Israel before God would bring the whole nation into Canaan. That period of bondage was destined to be in Egypt. And the Genesis account moves swiftly and dramatically to recount the events that set the stage for the posterity of Israel in the land of Egypt. The key figure in those events of destiny was Joseph, and a great deal of the remainder of Genesis will be concerned with him.

Before ringing down the curtain on Jacob in Shechem, we should remember that Jacob digged a well there, that the Christ himself sat on the edge of it and taught the Samaritan woman from Sychar. It is situated between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, and was located very near the future city of Samaria, which became the capital of the Northern Israel after the division of the kingdom. Oddly enough, the well of Jacob here was never mentioned in the O.T., but John 4:6 speaks of it. Samaria had not been built when Jacob resided there. This whole territory became, in time, the portion of the Promised Land occupied by Ephraim, the principal tribe of Northern Israel.

The peculiar word for altar in Genesis 33:20 is connected with a word sometimes used for pillar; and "because of this some scholars want to emend (change) the text here to make it read pillar. However, there is no support for this in the ancient versions."[22] One reason for this could lie in the rather peculiar manner in which Jacob built his altars, a fact we noted in the incident at Mizpeh. He first put up a pillar, and then built the altar around it and to the top of it. Of course, what the critical scholars are aiming at is some excuse for making a pagan out of Jacob.

"El-Elohe-Israel ..." This name, given by Jacob to the altar he built may be translated, "Mighty is the God of Israel, or God is the God of Israel."[23] Here, then, is another addition to the names of God found in the O.T.