Then Jeroboam built Shechem in mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and went out from thence, and built Penuel.
Ver. 25. Then Jeroboam built Shechem.] Shechem had been ruined and sowed with salt, Jdg 9:45 it had been rebuilt, 1Ki 12:1 but now made a royal city, as being in meditullio regni, in the middle of the kingdom: as Constantinople, for its situation, is said to be a city fatally founded, to command a great part of the world. a
And built Penuel.] Beyond Jordan, to be a bulwark there.
a Turk. Hist.