Shechem is a strong walled city, with a triple gate, a fortress-temple, and an acropolis during the rule of Egypt’s Hyksos kings.

The Hyksos may include elements of a grouping of people, largely Semitic, called the Habiru, or Hapiru.

The term, meaning outsiders, is applied to nomads, fugitives, bandits and workers of inferior status, and may be etymologically related to the word Hebrew.

The Habiru apparently establish a frontier military aristocracy in Palestine, bringing to the Canaanite towns new defenses and new prosperity, as well as many Egyptian cultural elements, without interrupting the basic character of the local culture.

The Egyptians destroy Shechem around 1550.