Endnote 2 – The Shechem Temple

Perhaps Abimelech’s mother came from the most powerful founding family and leading clan of Shechem, the Hamorites (literally, the “Donkey” clan), whose eponymous ancestor, Hamor, father of Shechem (Judges 9:28), is also “chief” of the land of Shechem in the patriarchal tale of Dinah (Genesis 34:2). All of the sons of Gideon, including Abimelech, however, would have been known primarily by their paternal household and identified with the Abiezerites, a clan of the Israelite tribe of Manasseh, with headquarters in Ophrah. Both the clans of Abiezer and Shechem are mentioned as “sons of Manasseh” in the land allotments of that tribe (Joshua 17:1–2) and as descendants of Manasseh (1 Chronicles 7:14–19). In the eighth century B.C.E., these two clans were living near each other in the vicinity of Samaria, the capital city to which the clan territories of Abiezer and Shechem sent wine and olive oil. See Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager, Life in Biblical Israel (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2001), pp. 312–14.