Seder Olama timeline of Jewish history

Shechem שכם

The first place Avraham stopped in Canaan, the city of Dina and Yosef, and the site where the kingdom split.

Shechem is a narrow valley between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, and almost every time Jews arrive there something breaks open. Avraham stops here first upon entering Canaan and builds an altar. Yaakov, returning from Charan, buys a field from the townsmen — one of the three parcels of the Land purchased outright.

Here the story of Dina unfolds, and here Yosef sets out to find his brothers and is sold. Centuries later his bones, carried out of Egypt, are buried in that same field. Under Yehoshua the tribes stand between the two mountains for the blessings and curses, and there he gathers them for a final covenant.

Finally Rechavam comes to Shechem to be crowned, refuses to lighten the burden, and the kingdom splits in two. The sages say plainly: Shechem is a place «designated for trouble».

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