gerizim Summary and Overview

a mountain of Samaria, about 3,000 feet above the Mediterranean. It was on the left of the valley containing the ancient town of Shechem (q.v.), on the way to Jerusalem. It stood over against Mount Ebal, the summits of these mountains being distant from each other about 2 miles (Deut. 27; Josh. 8:30-35). On the slopes of this mountain the tribes descended from the handmaids of Leah and Rachel, together with the tribe of Reuben, were gathered together, and gave the responses to the blessing pronounced as the reward of obedience, when Joshua in the valley below read the whole law in the hearing of all the people; as those gathered on Ebal responded with a loud Amen to the rehearsal of the curses pronounced on the disobedient. It was probably at this time that the coffin containing the embalmed body of Joseph was laid in the "parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor" (Gen. 33:19; 50:25). Josephus relates (Ant. 11:8, 2-4) that Sanballat built a temple for the Samaritans on this mountain, and instituted a priesthood, as rivals to those of the Jews at Jerusalem. This temple was destroyed after it had stood two hundred years. It was afterwards rebuilt by Herod the Great. There is a Samaritan tradition that it was the scene of the incident recorded in Gen. 22. There are many ruins on this mountain, some of which are evidently of Christian buildings. To this mountain the woman of Sychar referred in John 4:20. For centuries Gerizim was the centre of political outbreaks. The Samaritans (q.v.), a small but united body, still linger here, and keep up their ancient ceremonial worship.

(cutters), a limestone mountain, 2855 feet high (800 feet above the valley at its foot), in Ephraim, near Shechem (Sychar), from which the blessings were read to the Israelites on entering Canaan. [See EBAL] According to the traditions of the Samaritans it was here that Abraham sacrificed Isaac, that Melchizedek met the patriarch, that Jacob built an altar, and at its base dug a well, the ruins of which are still seen. Some scholars think there is ground for the first belief (so Smith); but careful observers of the locality discredit it and believe Moriah to be the spot. [See MORIAH] Gerizim was the site of the Samaritan temple, which was built there after the captivity, in rivalry with the temple at Jerusalem. [See SAMARITANS] Gerizim is still to the Samaritans what Jerusalem is to the Jews and Mecca to the Mohammedans.

(See EBAL.) The mount of the Gerazim, i.e. the dwellers in a shorn (desert) land; subdued by David. 1 Samuel 27:8, "Gezrites" or "Gerzites." Smith's Bible Dictionary identifies Gerazim with the mount on which Abraham offered Isaac, (see Moriah); it is objected to the temple mount being the site of Isaac's offering that "Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off," whereas the temple mount is not conspicuous from afar; also the Samaritans identify the site of the sacrifice with the natural altar on Gerazim. (See MORIAH.) But Genesis 22:4 means simply that Abraham saw the spot at such a distance as the place admitted. Abraham had uttered an unconscious prophecy, Genesis 22:8, "God will provide (or 'see') a lamb." Now in Genesis 22:14 he sees that "God" (the Elohim whose resources he knew to be infinite) proves Himself to be JEHOVAH the Provider for the people in covenant with Him, "Jehovah-jireh." The meaning of "Moriah" "what Jehovah has made one see", alluding to "the mount of the vision of Jehovah" (Genesis 22:14), favors the view that the name "Moriah" in Genesis 22:2 is used by anticipation, and originated in Abraham's words, Genesis 22:14. The identity of name favors the temple mount being the site (2 Chronicles 3:1). The distance, two days journey from Beersheba, which would bring him in sight of the temple mount at Jerusalem on the third day whereas Gerazim could not be reached on the third day from Beersheba, favors the same view. Gerazim commands one of the finest views in Israel, being 2,500 ft. above the Mediterranean on the W. Hermon's snow-clad heights lie on the N., and the trans-jordanic mountains, cleft by the Jabbok, on the E. Manasseh, brother of Jaddua the high priest, married the daughter of Sanballat the Cuthaean (2 Kings 17:24), who in order to reconcile his son-in-law to this forbidden affinity obtained leave from Alexander the Great to build a temple on Gerazim (Josephus, Ant. 11:8, sections 2-4.) Henceforward the Samaritans and Jews assumed mutual antagonism; but whereas the Jerusalem temple and worship were overthrown soon after our Lord's crucifixion, the Samaritan on Gerazim have continued from age to age, and the paschal lamb has been yearly offered by this interesting community; they possess a copy of the law, attributed to Manasseh, and known to the Christian fathers of the second and third centuries. To Gerazim our Lord alludes: "Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem (exclusively) worship the Father" (John 4:21). Lieut. Anderson within the ruin called "the castle" excavated the foundations and piers of an octagonal church, probably that built by Justinian. The church and castle were built on a rough platform of stones without mortar, including the so-called "twelve stones." On this platform perhaps the Samaritan temple stood.