Mount Gerizim

The Geography of Gerizim

mountain in central Samaria;

A mountain 2849 ft above sea level, with a prominence of about 1000 ft above the valley below

1200 ft higher than Stone Mountain in Atlanta; about 200

Shechem (Nablus) rests in the valley between Gerizim and Ebal, which is 3 mi NE

Gerizim and Ebal are the highest mountains in central Palestine; Gerizim is much steeper

Centrally located in Israel

10 miles SE of Samaria

Events in the Shadow of Gerizim

Gerizim only mentioned explicitly 4 times in OT

Moses instruction (Dt 11:29; 27:12)

Covenant ceremony (Josh 8:30-35)

Joshua’s farewell (Josh 24:1-26)

Joseph’s burial Josh 24:32

Jotham’s parable (Judges 9:7)

Abraham enters the promised land

Intertestamental Period

Temple built after the Jews returned from exile to rival the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem

Josephus dates it to the time of Alexander’s conquest in the area (332 BC) but modern excavation to the time of Nehemiah, 100 years earlier.

Like Jerusalem temple, Samaritan temple desecrated and renamed by Syrian-Greek rulers (2nd century BC)

John Hyrcanus I, high priest and ruler of Judea (134-104 BC) destroyed the Samaritan temple

Later History

Samaritans rallied on Gerizim during Roman war against the Jews in 67.

11,600 Samaritans died

The Goodness of Gerizim

The Girl of Gerizim

The Samaritan woman’s ancestors worshipped at Gerizim (Jn 4:20)

The Talmud, which records the oral tradition of the early rabbis from the 1st century—7th century AD, regulates interactions between the Jews and Samaritans

For a Samaritan to be accepted by the Jews, he needed to renounce Gerizim and accept Jerusalem.

No sacred places only sacred worship