Shechem is not a place that many of us think much of, but for centuries it was more significant than even Jerusalem.

Today, Shechem is a couple of miles from the West Bank town of Nablus. A week before I wrote this article, two Palestinians were killed there at Joseph’s Tomb. In biblical times too, Shechem was a place of conflict. Yet more important than the conflict is that Shechem is a place of covenant and of choice.

When Abram entered Canaan for the first time, Shechem is the first...