The Way of the Setting Sun
דֶּרֶךְ מְבוֹא הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ
Where was the Way of the Setting Sun? Adam Bridge up the Tirzah Valley to Shechem, roughly Route 57. I mark it probable.
Jacob came back from Haran, built shelters at Sukkot in the Jordan Valley, and climbed west to Shechem. Generations later Moses pointed Israel up the same way to find Mount Gerizim and Mount Eival.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- Adam Bridge up the Tirzah Valley to Shechem, roughly Route 57
- How sure
- Probable The best case we have, with real alternatives.
- Other names
- Derech Mevo HaShemesh, Adam, Damiya, Bridge – Shechem road
- Location
- 32.1824° N, 35.4568° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
The name comes from Moses' directions. The two mountains lie "beyond the Jordan, past the way of the setting sun." Rashi reads only a direction, westward. Ibn Ezra reads a real road heading west.
The geography makes the road easy to find. The one gentle, natural route from the Jordan into the hills starts at the ford at Adam, where the river stood in a heap for Joshua, and runs up the broad Tirzah Valley to Shechem, right between Eival and Gerizim. Jacob's route fits it, and so do Hosea's bandits on the road to Shechem.
The text never names the Tirzah Valley, so this is a reading, not a certainty. Because the verse also mentions Gilgal, some start the road near Jericho instead.
Visiting today
Route 57 follows the Tirzah Valley from the Jordan Valley toward Shechem, and visits depend on the security situation.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Way of the Setting Sun on the interactive map →
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Get the print + free ebookNearby places
- Shechem right beside it
- Adam 1 km
- Mount Gerizim 2 km
- Mount Ebal (Eival) 2 km
- Tirzah 7 km
- Samaria (Shomron), the City 11 km