SYCHAR sī’ kär (Συχάρ, G5373). The one Biblical allusion to it describes it as “a city of Samaria,” near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave his son Joseph (John 4:5; cf. Gen 33:19). Jerome in his Onomasticon distinguishes Sychar from Shechem, though in his other works he identifies them as the same place, arguing that the form of spelling Sychar is a scribal error. The Old Syriac VS also reads Shechem. In the Itinerary of Jerusalem of a.d. 33 a Sechar is located one m. E of Nablus.

Recent debate still leaves the identity of Sychar open to question. W. F. Albright identified it with an ancient site near Shechem. There is an ancient site “askar” nearby, meaning in Arab. a military camp, and Dr. Albright argued that “askar” is a corruption for Sychar. This village of El-Askar is on the eastern slope of Mount Ebal about half a m. N of Jacob’s Well and just E of Shechem. There is confusion in such identity. First, it is unlikely that Sychar is to be identified with “askar,” as a textual corruption. Moreover, El-Askar is much further away from Jacob’s well than ancient Shechem. There is also the objection that at El-Askar there is a copious spring more than adequate to supply the water needs of the village. The narrative of John 4:15 suggests the woman of Sychar was in the habit of going to Jacob’s well for water. It seems therefore unlikely to identify Sychar with El-Askar.

Others have argued that Shechem is Sychar. But the recent excavations of G. E. Wright have revealed that the end of Shechem as a city occurred in 107 b.c. when Jews from Jerusalem under John Hyrcanus (134-104 b.c.) destroyed the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim in 128 b.c. and finally destroyed the city of Shechem in 107 b.c. However, at the site of these ruins, Tell Balatah, there is evidence of occupation from the period of the Samaritans to Rom. times. Jacob’s well, according to an unbroken tradition, lies about half a m. to the E of the village of Balatah. Historically, the well is one of the best attested sites in Pal., at least since NT times. It stands on the eastern edge of the valley which forms the pass between Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim. The watertable that feeds the well rests upon an impermeable layer of basalt some twenty meters below the valley floor. With the accumulation of town debris and older sites since Hyksos times, Shechem is twelve to twenty-five meters above the surrounding valley floor. The woman of Samaria was correct in asserting “the well is deep,” possibly thirty-two to fifty-five meters in depth (cf. John 4:11). The sacred associations of the well, and its quality of water, in contrast to the harder water from neighboring springs on the slopes of Mt. Gerizim, would form attractions for the popularity of the well throughout its history.

Bibliography G. E. Wright, Shechem, the Biography of a Biblical City (1965).