Ancient Sources

Mount Ephraim and Benjamin

39. The (place) of Joseph - (Qabr an-Nabi Yusuf)

ORIGINAL TEXTS Balanus, id est quercus, Sicimorum, ubi regnavit Abimelech. Quae usque hodie ostenditur in suburbano rure Neaspoleos propter sepulcrum Iosef. (Jerome 55:24-25)	ENGLISH TRANSLATION Eusebius, Onomasticon 54:23-24 (ca. 295 A.D.); Jerome 55:24-25 (ca. 390 A.D.) Balanus, that is, the oak, of Shechem (Judg 9:6), where Abimelech was made king. It is shown in the suburbs of Neapolis, beside the tomb of Joseph.
BIBLICAL BACKGROUND Gen 33:18-20 Jacob buys a piece of land near Shechem And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan-aram; and pitched his tent before the city. 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. And he erected there an altar, and called it El-elohe-israel. Josh 24:32 Joseph buried in Shechem 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. Judg 9:6 Abimelech is made king near the oak of Shechem Then all the lords of Shechem and all Beth-millo came together, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar at Shechem. John 4:5 Jesus at Sychar So he [Jesus] came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
MORE ANCIENT SOURCES Itinerarium Burdigalense586-588 (333 A.D.) City of Neapolis (15 miles). Mount Gerizim is there, where according to the Samaritans, Abraham offered his sacrifice. There are leading to the top of the mountain. Nearby, at the foot of the mountain, is the place called Shechem, which is the site of the tomb in which Joseph is buried, in the estate given him by his father Jacob. Georgian Calendar, september 4 (11th cent. A.D.) [Memory] of the patriarch Joseph, and of the death of the great prophet Moses.
	see also: 35. Neapolis - (Nablus) see also: 38. Sychar which is now Sycchora - ('Askar) see also: 40. Sychem also Sikima and Salim - (Tell Balatah) see also: 41. Here is Jacob's well see also: 42. Tur Gobel (Mount Ebal) - (Jabal Islamiyah) see also: 43. Tur (Mount) Garizin - (Jabal al-Tur)

Map Section 5

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