Gerizim

GERIZIM. Mount Gerizim, near Schechem, in the Tribe of Ephraim, a Province of Samaria. The City of Schechem lay at the foot of the two Mountains Ebal and Gerizim. Gerizim was very fruitful, and Ebal very barren. God had commanded, that the Hebrews, after the passage of the river Jordan, should go to the Mountains Ebal and Gerizim, and that Deut. xi. 29. xxvii. 12.the twelve Tribes should be divided in such a manner, that six might have their station on Mount Gerizim; and six upon Mount Ebal. The former were to pronounce Blessings upon those, who should observe the Law of the Lord; and the others, Curses against those, who should violate it.

Josh. viii. 33.After the passage of Jordan, Joshua made no delay in executing God’s command. He went with all the people to Mount Ebal, there he built an Altar, and offered burnt-sacrifices; and having divided the people according to the Lord’s order, he disposed half of them on Mount Gerizim, and half on Ebal; and directed them to pronounce the Blessings and Curses, which we see set down by Moses.

In the Year of the World 2553, before J.C. 1447, before the Vulgar Æra 1451Eusebius¹, St. Jerom, and after them, Procopius², and Scaliger³, were all of opinion, that the Mounts Ebal and Gerizim were not near Schechem, but lay to the east of Jericho and Gilgal; that the Mountains so called near Schechem, were not rightly named, and were not those which were meant by Moses in the book of Deuteronomy. St. Epiphanius places these Mountains beyond Jordan, (Hæres. ix. p. 24.) But this opinion is not any way to be maintained. Gerizim was so near Schechem, that Jotham the son of Gideon from the top thereof spoke to the people of Schechem assembled at the bottom, and escaped without their being able to pursue Judg. ix. 7.him.

While the Hebrews continued well united, and but one Religion prevailed among them, there was nothing in Gerizim, which distindistinguished it from other Mountains of the country; nor do we see that even under the Kings of Israel it was in any respect remarkable. There is nothing said of it in the Kings or Chronicles. But after the Cuthæans were settled in the Province of Samaria, Ezra In the year of the World 3183, before J. C. 717, before the Vulgar Æra 721.upon the return from the Captivity, prosecuting Idolatry every where, and by the help of Nehemiah driving away Manasseh the son of Joiada, and grandson to the High-Priest Eliashib, for having married the daughter of Sanballat, Governour of Samaria; Epiphanius⁴ and Procopius⁵ affirm, that then the Nehem. xiii. 28. In the year of the World 3671, before J. C. 329, before the Vulgar Æra 333.Samaritans took away the Idols which were upon the tops of their houses, and put them into a cave belonging to Mount Gerizim, where they lay concealed; and that they continued secretly to worship them, by turning themselves always at their prayers this way. And after that Manasseh, Sanballat’s son-in-law, by the permission of Alexander the Great, had built a Temple to the true God on Gerizim, the Samaritans joined the Joseph. Antiq. l. xi. c. 8. p. 383, 384, & seq. 2 Kings xvii. 33.worship of the true God to that of the Idols, which were hidden under Gerizim; whereby these words of Scripture were verified: They feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations, whom they carried away from thence.

But this Tradition of Idols concealed under Mount Gerizim, has no foundation either in Scripture, Josephus, or the Samaritan historians. The accusation raised against the Samaritans, of worshipping certain Idols hid under their Mountains, proceeds in all probability only from what is related in Genesis of Jacob’s arrival at Sichem upon his return out Gen. xxxv. 3, 4.of Mesopotamia, of his receiving God’s order to go to Bethel, and his enjoining thereupon all his family to put into his hands all their Idols, and the superstitious Pendants of their ears, which he hid under a turpentine-tree behind the town of Sichem. From hence the Jews have forged a story, that the Cuthæans, or Samaritan inhabitants of Sichem, worshipped the idols which were thus concealed under a turpentine-tree, at the foot of mount Gerizim.

Gen. xii. 6,7. & xiii. 4. Gen. xxxiii. 20.The Samaritans maintain, that Abraham and Jacob erected Altars at Gerizim, and that there Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac. It is certain this was upon Mount More or Moriah; now More was in the neighbourhood of Sichem and Gerizim, as we see by Genesis xii. 6. Pertransivit Abram terram usque ad locum Sichem, usque ad convallem illustrem; the Hebrew, usque ad convallem More. And Deuteronomy xi. 30. Super montem Gerizim & super montem Hebal… juxta vallem tendentem & intrantem procul; the Hebrew, juxta Elon More, as far as the oak or turpentine-tree of Moreh. It is likewise agreed, that Jacob having purchased Hemor’s field at Sichem, built an Altar there, and offered sacrifice upon it to the Lord.

Deut. xxvii. 12, 13.The Samaritans add, that God hath shewn in two places, that it was upon this mountain he desired principally to be adored, since he required the blessing to be given here to those who observed his Laws; and his curses upon Ebal; that Joshua erected an Altar upon Gerizim composed of twelve stones taken out of the channel of Jordan, and that this Altar erected by Joshua is still in being at this day: That Mount Gerizim being beautiful and fruitful, whereas that of Ebal is intirely barren, Gerizim was chosen for the place of blessing rather than Ebal, as the very Books of the Hebrews own. To maintain their opinion, they cite the text of their Bible, Deuteronomy, chap. xxvii. 4. which runs thus; Therefore it shall be, when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day in Mount Gerizim, (in the Hebrew it is, on Mount Ebal,) thou shalt plaister them with plaister, and inscribe on them the words of this Law, &c. v. 12,13.

And in Exodus xx. after the 17th ver. they read; When the Lord hath brought thee into the land of Canaan, which thou goest to possess, thou shalt set up two great stones there, thou shalt plaister them over, and write thereon all the words of this Law; and when thou hast passed over Jordan, thou shalt put these stones on Mount Gerizim, (the Hebrew reads Ebal) and thou shalt build an Altar there to the Lord thy God, an Altar of stones, which shall not be cut with iron, of rough stones: and upon this Altar thou shalt offer Burnt-offerings to the Lord thy God, and shalt sacrifice Peace-offerings, and shalt rejoice before the Lord, upon this Mountain beyond Jordan, beyond the way of the west, and in the land of the Canaanites, who dwelleth in the plain, over against Gilgal, near the oak of Moreh towards Sichem. Which is taken partly from Deut. xi. 29, 30. and partly from the xxvii. 2. and following verses.

We see here a manifest corruption of the text, either by the Jews, who substituted Ebal in the place of Gerizim, or by the Samaritans, who substituted Gerizim in the room of Ebal. But that which makes infinitely against the Samaritans, and aggravates the suspicion of their infidelity in this respect, is, first, their having an interest in the falsification. And, secondly, that all the Versions of the Bible agree in general with the Hebrew, and read Ebal instead of Gerizim. It is true, these translations being all made from the Hebrew, prove nothing against the Samaritan, the text whereof is not represented by them; and if people had bethought themselves of making as many Versions of the Samaritan text, as they have of the Hebrew, the Samaritans might have as much reason to reproach the Hebrews with having falsified their text, as these have had to reproach the Samaritans in this manner. Wherefore it must be agreed, that this argument is not of any great force.

Besides it is certain, that the Hebrews would have much less advantage over the Samaritans, if they did not shew by good histories, and authentick monuments, that the publick exercise of the true Religion was always settled among them, and solemnized in Jerusalem, or other places, and never at Gerizim; whereas the Samaritans have only histories of very little certainty or antiquity, to prove their worship at Gerizim: and although we should confess, that Gerizim, and not Ebal, were to be read in the places where this latter is to be met with, it would not follow that Joshua, and his successors in the government of God’s people, had fixed the exercises of their Religion on Mount Gerizim: but only that an Altar was set up in haste there, for a particular, temporary ceremony. The religious observances of the Jewish worship attended certainly the Ark of the Covenant; and the Ark was not fixed in any settled place till after David took it to his palace in Jerusalem, and Solomon had built a Temple for it in the same city.

The Samaritans assure us in their Chronicle, that Joshua built a Temple⁶ upon Gerizim, which was served by Priests of Aaron’s family, the first High-Priest whereof was named Rus, from whom all those are descended who have ever to this day performed their office on this Mountain. The same Chronicle imports, that Nebuchadnezzar having transplanted the Jews and Samaritans to Babylon, and sent people of other nations into Samaria; these all died, because the fruits of the country were mortal poison to them; and that Nebuchadnezzar upon intelligence of this misfortune, sent back the Samaritans thither, who refused to go, unless the King would publish a general Edict, whereby all the captives were restored to liberty. When this Edict was drawn up, there arose a dispute between the Jews and Samaritans, whether the Temple should be rebuilt at Jerusalem or Gerizim. After many contests, the King commanded that a trial should be made by fire. The Samaritan and Jewish Pentateuchs were both thrown into it; but the latter was consumed in a moment, and that of the Samaritans remained intire, and without damage. Whereupon Nebuchadnezzar decreed, that the Temple of Gerizim should be rebuilt.

It were very needless to set about a confutation of this Chronicle⁷, the accounts whereof are so visibly false, and so plainly meer inventions. As to the original of the Temple upon Gerizim, we must take Josephus’s relation of it. Manasseh, the grand-son of Eliashib, the High-Priest, and brother to Jaddus, High-Priest of the In the year of theJews, having been driven from Jerusalem, as we have observed, and not enduring patiently to see himself deprived of the honour and advantages of the Priesthood; Sanballat his father-in-law addressed himself to Alexander the Great, who was then carrying on the siege of Tyre; and having paid him homage for the Province of Samaria, whereof he was Governor, he farther offered him eight thousand of his best troops; which disposed Alexander to grant what he desired for his son-in-law, and for many other Priests, who being married, as well as he, contrary to the Law, chose rather to forsake their country than their wives, and had joined Manasseh in Samaria.

The Temple was therefore built on Gerizim, and consecrated to the God of Israel; and as the Mountain was very high, there were many steps made for the conveniency of the people. When King Antiochus Epiphanes began the persecution of the Jews a, the Samaritans wrote to him, intreating him⁸ to give leave that their Temple upon Gerizim, which hitherto had been dedicated to an unknown and nameless God, might be consecrated to Jupiter the Grecian; which was easily consented to by Antiochus. There is a medal, upon which this Temple is represented with many steps. Procopius⁹ says, there were sixteen hundred and one. But an old traveller, who lived in the reign of Constantine, says, there were but three hundred.

Antiq l. 13. c. 6. p. 433, 434.Josephus relates a dispute which arose in Egypt, in the reign of Ptolemy Philometor, between the Jews and Samaritans concerning their Temple; the Samaritans maintaining that their Temple upon Gerizim was the only true Temple of the Lord, and the Jews affirming on the contrary, that theirs at Jerusalem was the only true one. The dispute was brought before the King; Advocates on both sides were named, and it was agreed, that they who should make a bad defence, and lose their cause, should be condemned to death. Both parties promised that they would produce all their testimonies from the Law only. Andronicus, Advocate for the Jews, spoke first, and proved so evidently the antiquity of the Temple of Jerusalem from the Scriptures, the Succession of the High Priests, and the Consideration which the Asiatick Princes had always had for this Holy Place, while at the same time they never so much as thought of the Temple at Gerizim, that the King and his Friends declared he had carried his cause, and ordered Sabbæus and Theodosius, the advocates for the Samaritans, to be put to death.

If this account which Josephus gives us, is true, the Samaritans must have very soon forsaken the worship of Jupiter the Grecian, which out of policy they had received in the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes; for this whole dispute supposes, that the same God was worshipped both at Gerizim and Jerusalem; and Ptolemy Philometor reigned from the year of the World 3824, to 3861; and Antiochus Epiphanes from the year of the World 3828, to 3840.

a Antiq. l. 13. c. 17. In the year of the World 3874, before J. C. 126, before the Vulg. Æra 120. b Jul. Africa­can. in Syncelli Chronico, p. 308. In the Year of the World 3947, before J.C. 53, before the Vulg. Æra 57. c John iv. 20.The Temple of Gerizim subsisted for some time after the invocation of Jupiter the Grecian, or Olympian, was introduced into it; but it was destroyed by John Hircanus Maccabæus a, and was not rebuilt till Gabinius was Governour of Syria; who repaired Samaria, and called it by his own name b: nor do I find that this fact is related very distinctly in any History. But it is very certain, that in our Saviour’s time this Temple was in being, and that the true God was worshipped there, since the woman of Samaria, pointing to Gerizim, said to him, c Our Fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. We are assured that Herod the Great, having rebuilt Samaria, and called it Sebaste, in honour of Augustus, would have obliged the Samaritans to come and worship in the Temple which he had there erected: but they constantly refused to go thither, and have continued to this day to worship God upon this mountain.

Read this article in its place on the printed pages