stands upon the hill to the east of the town, between Bethel on the
west and Ai on the east; others are determined by means of a tree
or a well, as that of Shechem or Beersheba. /1/

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1. The correct explanation of this is found in Ewald, Gesch. d. V.
lsraels, i. 436 seq. (3d edit.). A. Bernstein (Ursprung der Sagen
von Abrabam, etc., Berlin, 1871) drags in politics in a repulsive way.
"He does not indeed actually enter Shechem and Bethel-- these are places
hostile to Judah--but in a genuine spirit of Jewish demonstration
he builds altars in their vicinity and calls on the name of
Jehovah" (p. 22). Rather, he builds the altars precisely on the
places where, as can be shown, they afterwards stood, and that was
not inside the towns. In Gen. xviii. also the oak of Mamre is
employed to fix not Abraham's residence, but the place of Jehovah's
appearing.
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But of course it was not intended to throw dishonour upon the
cultus of the present when its institution was ascribed to the
fathers of the nation. Rather, on the contrary, do these legends
glorify the origin of the sanctuaries to which they are attached,
and surround them with the nimbus of a venerable consecration. All
the more as the altars, as a rule, are not built by the patriarchs
according to their own private judgment wheresoever they please;
on the contrary, a theophany calls attention to, or at least
afterwards confirms, the holiness of the place. Jehovah appears at
Shechem to Abraham, who thereupon builds the altar "to Jehovah who
had appeared unto him;" he partakes of his hospitality under the
oak of Mamre, which is the origin of the sacrificial service there;