Genesis 37:14

Genesis 37:14. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, &c.— Hebron, where Jacob now dwelt, was at a considerable distance (sixty miles, according to Ainsworth) from Shechem, where Jacob having purchased some lands, ch. Genesis 33:19. his sons, driving their flocks to pasture according to the custom from place to place, came thither to feed them: and Jacob, not having heard of them for some time, began to be solicitous about their welfare, as the remembrance of their behaviour towards the Shechemites, see ch. 34: could not fail to fill his mind with uneasy apprehensions. Joseph found them in Dothan, about eight miles north from Shechem: and thus the fond father himself furnished his sons with an opportunity to wreak their revenge on his favourite! so blind are men to events, which yet, as the consequence shewed, the Wisdom of Providence over-rules to the most important ends! Dr. Wall is of opinion, that this was not that Shechem where they had so lately murdered and robbed the people, and where they had been afraid of being pursued by their neighbours. The LXX make a difference in the spelling of that name and this; here it is, εις Συχεμ ; that Shechem they always call Σηκιμα, and would have said, εν Σηκιμοις; and the Vulgate generally observes the difference, but not always. That Shechem was more northward; this Shechem and Dothan, which must be nigh it, was in the way which the Ishmaelites took from Gilead to AEgypt.