Sychar

Sychar in Fausset's Bible Dictionary. John 4:5. Shechem or Nablus (Jerome Quaest. Genesis 48:22) corrupted into Sichem, Sychar. Some think it an intentional corruption, as if from sheker "falsehood," or shikor "drunkard" (Isaiah 28:1; Isaiah 28:7), due to Jewish bigotry against the Samaritans. It is objected that Jacob's well at the entrance into the valley is a mile and a half from Shechem, and that it is unlikely the woman, if belonging to Shechem, would go so far for water when plenty was nearer at hand; but Robinson conjectures the town had extensive suburbs anciently which reached to near Jacob's well. The woman probably went to this well, irrespectively of distance, just because it was Jacob's; her looking for "Messiah" is in consonance with this, besides the well was deep and the water therefore especially good. However Sychar may have been close to the well; and (Thomson, Land and Book, 31) the present village, Aschar, just above Jacob's well, on the side of Ebal and on the road by which caravans pass from Jerusalem to Damascus, and by which doubtless Jesus passed between Judaea and Galilee, may answer to Sychar. So Jerome and Eusebius (Onomasticon) make S. "before," i.e. E. of, Neapolis (Shechem) by the field of Joseph with Jacob's well. The Bordeaux pilgrim (A.D. 333) puts Sechar or Sychar a Roman mile from Sychem, which he makes a suburb of Neapolis. "A city of Samaria called Sychar" is language not likely to be used of the metropolis Shechem; moreover the name Sychem occurs Acts 7:16. On the other hand "called" suits the idea that Sychar is a Jewish nickname for Shechem. Lt. Conder favors Aschar, which is the translation of the Samaritan Iskar, not from the Hebrew "drunkard," but from a Hebrew Aramaic root meaning "to be shut up." This derivation and the description in John 4:5-6 answer accurately to Aschar. Jacob's well is at the point where the narrow vale of Shechem broadens into the great plain; it is 2,000 yards E. of Nablus (Shechem), which is hidden from it. The tomb of Joseph is a third of a mile northeastward, thence a path ascends to Aschar which is visible from Jacob's well.
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Sychar
Askar. Place containing Jacob's well, John 4:5. Sychar has been identified with Shechem. It is now commonly located at the site of the village of 'Askar, on the eastern slope of Ebal, almost two miles from Nablus (Neapolis), about a half mile N of the traditional Jacob's well, and a short distance SE of Shechem. Eusebius (4th Cent AD) mentions a Sychar distinct from Shechem, lying before Neapolis, the present Nablus. In spite of ecclesiastical tradition, the name Sychar should have remained the location of ancient Shechem. Because of the uncertainty of the precise location Neapolis can also be identified with Shechem.

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Sychar in Bible Cities
More about Ancient Sychar

Israel in the First Century

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Sychar Scriptures

John 4:5 - Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.