Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal #33

Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal are two facing mountains in the hill country of Ephraim, with the ancient city of Shechem and the modern city of Nablus in the valley between them. Ebal lies to the north, and Gerizim to the south. Moses commands Israel, once across the Jordan, to set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal (Deuteronomy 11:26-29).

Biblical Significance

Deuteronomy gives the instructions in detail. On the day they cross the Jordan, the people are to set up large stones, coat them with plaster, and write the words of the law on them. On Mount Ebal they are to build an altar of uncut stones and offer burnt offerings and peace offerings (Deuteronomy 27:1-8). Six tribes, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin, are to stand on Gerizim for the blessing, and six, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali, on Ebal for the curse, while the Levites recite the curses and the people answer “Amen” (Deuteronomy 27:11-26).

Joshua carries out the command. After the defeat of Ai, he builds an altar on Mount Ebal, offers sacrifices, writes a copy of the law on stones, and reads all the words of the law, blessings and curses, to the whole assembly, with the ark in the middle (Joshua 8:30-35). Later, Gideon’s son Jotham stands on the top of Gerizim to shout his parable of the trees to the people of Shechem (Judges 9:7).

In the New Testament, Gerizim appears in the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. She says that her ancestors worshiped “in this mountain,” while the Jews say Jerusalem is the place to worship. Jesus replies that the hour is coming when neither will be the place, and true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth (John 4:20-24).

Today

Ebal rises to about 3,080 feet (940 m), Gerizim to about 2,890 feet (881 m). The Samaritans, who hold that Gerizim is the place God chose, preserve a version of the Pentateuch that reads Gerizim rather than Ebal in Deuteronomy 27:4. A small Samaritan community still lives on Gerizim, and its members celebrate the Passover sacrifice there each year. Excavations on the mountain, led by Yitzhak Magen, uncovered the remains of a large sanctuary complex from the Hellenistic period, destroyed by the Hasmonean ruler John Hyrcanus around 110 BC.

On Ebal, in the 1980s, Adam Zertal excavated a large stone structure dated to about 1200 BC and argued it was the altar of Joshua. Other archaeologists have interpreted it as a farm building or another kind of installation, and the identification remains disputed.