Alon Moreh (Elon Moreh, the Oak/Terebinth of Moreh) is one of the most significant locations in the Bible: it is the first place where Abraham stopped when he entered the land of Canaan, and the first place where God promised the land to his descendants. The site, near Shechem in the Samarian mountains, marks the very beginning of the story that connects the Jewish people to the land of Israel.
Abraham’s Arrival
When Abraham (then Abram) left Haran and entered the land of Canaan, his first stop was at the great tree of Moreh at Shechem: “Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him” (Genesis 12:6-7). This is the first divine promise of the land, the founding moment of the covenant between God and the Jewish people. Every subsequent promise, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Moses, refers back to this moment at Alon Moreh.
Jacob’s Return
Generations later, Jacob returned to Shechem and the area of Alon Moreh after his years of exile with Laban. Before going to meet his brother Esau, Jacob buried the foreign gods that his household had collected: “So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem” (Genesis 35:4). The tree of Moreh was already a sacred landmark, a place where the patriarchs marked their relationship with God by building altars and burying idols.
Joshua’s Covenant
At the end of the conquest, Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem for a covenant renewal ceremony, standing at the same sacred tree: “On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he reaffirmed for them decrees and laws. And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the Lord” (Joshua 24:25-26). The continuity is striking: Abraham built an altar here, Jacob buried idols here, and Joshua established the covenant here. The same tree, the same place, three moments that define the Israelite story.
Blessing and the Curse
Alon Moreh sits in the valley between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, the mountains of blessing and curse. Moses commanded that when the Israelites entered the land, they should stand on these two mountains and pronounce blessings and curses: “When the Lord your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses” (Deuteronomy 11:29). The location of Alon Moreh between the two mountains places it at the geographic and theological center of the covenant.
The View
The view from the area of Alon Moreh encompasses the valley of Shechem, the slopes of Mount Gerizim (the Samaritan holy mountain), and the Samarian hills stretching in every direction. The landscape is green and cultivated, with olive groves and terraces that have been farmed for thousands of years. Standing here, you are standing where the story of Israel in the land began.
Visit with Hoshen Tours
Alon Moreh is where the covenant started. Hoshen Tours reads Genesis 12 at the site and connects Abraham’s first stop to the full arc of the biblical narrative, from the promise to the conquest to the blessing and the curse.