Shechem

Abdi–Ḫeba of Jerusalem, among other Canaanite rules, appeal to Pharaoh for help against the ‘Apiru, who are destroying towns. Some local rulers are even accused of being in league with the ‘Apiru, the most colorful and notorious of which was Labʾayu of Shechem.

After Cain is exiled for killing Abel, he founds the first עִיר (ʿir), usually translated as “city.” But the biblical depictions of Shechem and Sodom, and the archaeology of ancient Israel, show that the average ʿir was a “village” or “town” at most.

Shechem, a local prince, falls in love with Jacob’s daughter Dinah, and her brothers approve of the marriage as long as he is willing to be circumcised. Given Deuteronomy’s prohibition against intermarriage, later scribes revised the story into a slaughter of the natives. This was too harsh for later scribes, who recast the story as brothers avenging their sister’s rape.

Originally the sons of Jacob saw the interest Shechem took in marrying their sister as an opportunity to plunder Shechem. A later editor, uncomfortable with this story, blamed the carnage on Simeon and Levi, and added the rape of Dinah as a motivation for their actions.