Genesis 37:12

Genesis 37:12

And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem.

a. Shechem was an area where Jacob had lived and had bought property right after he returned from Haran.

1). Genesis 33:18-20 And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city.

And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money.

And he erected there an altar, and called it Elelohe-Israel.

b. Before this the brothers had the flocks in Hebron. Why they traveled 50 miles away to Shechem where Jacob probably still owned the property is unknown. It is easy to guess that the enmity in the brothers because of Jacob’s favoritism of Joseph and Joseph receiving prophetic dreams from the LORD and Joseph blabbing them to the family contributed to the hatred they felt toward Joseph.