Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal are twin mountains flanking the valley of Shechem in the heart of the Samarian mountains, designated by Moses as the mountains of blessing and curse. The ceremony that Moses commanded, and that Joshua later performed, is one of the most dramatic rituals in the Bible, and the geography of the two mountains, facing each other across a narrow valley, makes the scene vivid and immediate.
Command
Moses gave the instruction before the Israelites crossed the Jordan: “When the Lord your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses” (Deuteronomy 11:29). Six tribes were to stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, and six on Mount Ebal to pronounce the curses. The Levites, standing in the valley between the mountains, recited the blessings and curses, and the people responded “Amen” (Deuteronomy 27:11-26).
Ceremony
Joshua performed the ceremony after the conquest: “Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses, just as it is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them” (Joshua 8:34-35). The acoustics of the valley between Gerizim and Ebal are remarkable: voices carry clearly from one mountainside to the other, and guides who demonstrate the phenomenon leave visitors with a tangible understanding of how the ceremony could have worked.
Mount Gerizim
Mount Gerizim is the sacred mountain of the Samaritans, who believe it, not Jerusalem, is the place God chose for his Temple. The Samaritans maintain a community on the mountain to this day and perform the Passover sacrifice on its summit each year, the only community in the world that still practices the biblical animal sacrifice.
Mount Ebal
Mount Ebal is the higher of the two mountains (940 meters, compared to Gerizim’s 881 meters) and the more barren, consistent with its role as the mountain of the curse. On its summit, an ancient stone structure was discovered by the archaeologist Adam Zertal in 1980 and identified by him as Joshua’s altar, a claim that remains debated but has drawn significant attention.
Visit with Hoshen Tours
Gerizim and Ebal are where the covenant was dramatized in the landscape. Hoshen Tours reads Deuteronomy 27 in the valley between the mountains and demonstrates the acoustics that made the ceremony possible.