a mount near Shechem, in Ephraim, a province of Samaria.
Shechem lay at the foot of two mountains, Ebal and Gerizim. Gerizim was
fruitful, Ebal was barren. God commanded that the Hebrews, after passing
the Jordan, should be so divided, that six tribes might be stationed on
Mount Gerizim, and six on Mount Ebal. The former was to pronounce
blessings on those who observed the law of the Lord; the others, curses
against those who should violate it, Deut. xi, 29; xxvii, 12. As to the
original of the temple upon Gerizim, we must take Josephus’s relation of
it. Manasseh, the grandson of Eliashib, the high priest, and brother to
Jaddus, high priest of the Jews, having been driven from Jerusalem in
the year of the world 3671, 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. When Antiochus Epiphanes began to persecute the Jews, A. M.
3836; B. C. 186, the Samaritans entreated him 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. The temple of Gerizim subsisted some time
after the worship of Jupiter was introduced into it; but it was
destroyed by John Hircanus Maccabæus, and was not rebuilt till Gabinius
was governor of Syria; who repaired Samaria, and called it by his own
name. It is 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, “Our fathers worshipped in
this mountain, and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men
ought to worship,” John iv, 20. We are assured, that Herod the Great,
having rebuilt Samaria, and called it Sebaste, in honour of Augustus,
would have obliged the Samaritans to worship in the temple which he had
erected there, but they constantly refused.
Shechem lay at the foot of two mountains, Ebal and Gerizim. Gerizim was
fruitful, Ebal was barren. God commanded that the Hebrews, after passing
the Jordan, should be so divided, that six tribes might be stationed on
Mount Gerizim, and six on Mount Ebal. The former was to pronounce
blessings on those who observed the law of the Lord; the others, curses
against those who should violate it, Deut. xi, 29; xxvii, 12. As to the
original of the temple upon Gerizim, we must take Josephus’s relation of
it. Manasseh, the grandson of Eliashib, the high priest, and brother to
Jaddus, high priest of the Jews, having been driven from Jerusalem in
the year of the world 3671, 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. When Antiochus Epiphanes began to persecute the Jews, A. M.
3836; B. C. 186, the Samaritans entreated him 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. The temple of Gerizim subsisted some time
after the worship of Jupiter was introduced into it; but it was
destroyed by John Hircanus Maccabæus, and was not rebuilt till Gabinius
was governor of Syria; who repaired Samaria, and called it by his own
name. It is 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, “Our fathers worshipped in
this mountain, and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men
ought to worship,” John iv, 20. We are assured, that Herod the Great,
having rebuilt Samaria, and called it Sebaste, in honour of Augustus,
would have obliged the Samaritans to worship in the temple which he had
erected there, but they constantly refused.