392 SKETCHES OF PALESTINE. 



Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you 

 this day ' (inscribed with the words of the law) ' in Mount Ebal ; 

 and thou shalt plaster them with plaster ; and there shalt thou build 

 an altar unto the Lord thy God.' The Samaritan Pentateuch has 

 Mount Gerizim in this place ; and the chief-priest contended that 

 the Jews had maliciously altered the Hebrew text out of odium to 

 the Samaritans : ' putting, for Gerizim, Ebal, upon no other account 

 but only because the Samaritans worshipped in the former moun- 

 tain, which they would have for that reason not to be the true place 

 appointed by God for his worship and sacrifice. To confirm this, 

 he pleaded that Ebal was the mountain of cursing, Deut. xi.29, and 

 in its own nature an unpleasant place ; but, on the contrary, Geri- 

 zim was the mountain of blessing, by God's own appointment, and 

 also in itself fertile and delightful ; from whence he inferred a prob- 

 ability that this latter must have been the true mountain appoint- 

 ed for those religious festivals, Deut. xxvii. 4, and not (as the Jews 

 have corruptly written it) Hebal. We observed that to be in some 

 measure true which he pleaded concerning the nature of both 

 mountains; for, though neither of the mountains has much to boast 

 of as to their pleasantness, yet, as one passes between them, Geri- 

 zim seems to discover a somewhat more verdant, fruitful aspect 

 than Ebal. The reason of which may be, because fronting towards 

 the north, it is sheltered from the heat of the sun by its own shade ; 

 whereas Ebal, looking southward, and receiving the sun that comes 

 directly upon it, must, by consequence, be rendered more scorched 

 and unfruitful. The Samaritan priest could not say that any of 

 those great stones which God directed Joshua to set up, were now 

 to be seen in Mount Gerizim; which, were they now extant, would 

 determine the question clearly on his side.' 



Both Mount Gerizim and "Mount Ebal deserve to be explored. 

 Their altitude appeared to Mr. Buckingham to be nearly equal, not 

 exceeding 7 or 800 feet from the level of the valley, which is itself 

 elevated. Captains Irby and Mangles are the only modern travel- 

 lers who appear to have ascended either. They say : * We went 

 to the summit of Mount Gerizim, and found the ruins of a large 

 town, with a tank near a conspicuous sheikh's tomb.' They do 

 not appear, however, to have bestowed much attention on these 

 ruins, among which some traces of their boasted temple must, one 

 would imagine, be still discernible ; nor do they notice any syna- 

 gogue there. Mount Ebal they did not ascend.* In the Itinerary 

 of Benjamin of Tudela, the Cutheans are stated to offer sacrifice oa 

 Mount Gerizim, on an altar constructed of stones brought from the 

 Jordan by the children of Israel. He describes this mountain as 

 full of fountains and gardens, and Ghebal (Ebal) as arid and rocky. 

 As a topographical authority, the Itinerary is unquestionable. 

 With regard to the point at issue, it may be thought only to state 



* Dr. Richardson says : c On Mount Ebal we saw a considerable village, and a larg 

 building like a ruined fort. But he did not ascend its summit. 



