Shechem

The son of Hamor the Hivite, ruler of the area around Shechem; we do not know if he was named after the town, or possibly because he had broad shoulders (shechem means shoulders). He is mentioned only in Gen 34. Shechem was smitten with Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob, when Jacob paid a friendly visit to the town. Unable to control his passion, he violated her and then asked for her hand in marriage. Jacob agreed on condition that all the men of the town were circumcised. They accepted the terms. While they were recovering from their wounds, and without reason for suspicion, Simeon and Levi fell upon them, murdered all of them and then looted the town; they felt they had been humiliated when Shechem violated their sister. For this act of faithless violence Jacob would "curse" them to be scattered among the tribes of Israel (Gen 49:5).