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Dead Sea SCROLLS AND Mt.Gerizim as Temple
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The Discovery of an Unknown Dead Sea Scroll: The Original Text of Deuteronomy 27? 

One reason I went in 1958 to Ohio Wesleyan University from southeast Florida was because my mother’s brother, Les Hamilton, graduated from there and she dreamed of following his footsteps but the depression denied her dream. I also desired to major in religion and continue my fascination with the Dead Sea Scrolls. The religion and philosophy department at OWU was acknowledged to be superb, especially in Christian Origins and Dead Sea Scrolls. My freshman thesis was on the importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

At OWU I met people that I admired and have continued to acknowledge as cherished viatori on this short and challenging via. Two in particular provided viaticum for nourishment over the years since I graduated in 1962. In honor of my alma mater and in recognition of my 50th anniversary, I wish to salute all these classmates and friends of OWU by dedicating this publication to Kathe Law Rhinesmith and George Conrades. My former classmates’ recent leadership at OWU is well known.

This popular publication announces the recovery of a Dead Sea Scroll.1 Along with approximately 40 other Dead Sea Scroll fragments, some relatively large, it was taken from the Holy Land to Europe by Arabs, notably those related to the man who served as mediator between the Bedouin who found the Dead Sea Scrolls and scholars who proved their antiquity and edited the early discoveries. The fragments were taken to Europe, often through Lebanon, in the sixties (whether before or after the so-called Six-Day War I am unable to ascertain).

I have spent 40 years talking to this famous Arab Christian family. They tell me that it was customary to collect the fragments in something like a basket. Most of them were sold and subsequently hailed as the greatest manuscript discovery of modern times; others (unknown to most specialists on the Dead Sea Scrolls) were hidden and taken to Europe before or after some of the wars between the Arabs and the Israelis. Why? These fragments had been judged in the 1950s and 1960s as the most valuable biblical texts, according to internationally renowned biblical scholars who lived in Jerusalem. The Arabs wanted to reserve the Dead Sea Scrolls for economically challenging times and sell them for millions of dollars.

The Purpose of Deuteronomy

The authors and compilers of Deuteronomy stressed unity and centralization, among other things. For them the altar on Mount Gerizim was part of ancient history that had been supplanted by David, who established Jerusalem as the capital, and Solomon, who christened the Jerusalem Temple as the only place on earth in which to worship the God of Israel.

What then is Mount Gerizim? It is the most southern of two mountains that rise above Nablus which is about four km. northwest of Shechem. The authors and editors of Deuteronomy salute Mount Gerizim as the Mount of Blessing.

On the top of the mountain archaeologists have found remains of an ornate Byzantine church and ruins that are much earlier.2 The Samaritans, who call themselves Israelites (Hebrew haššōmerōnî; Greek Samareitēs) and trace their present high priest back to Aaron, claim that Abraham and Joshua sacrificed near the remains of the church. They proudly show the precise location in which this occurred. Observing Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, Samaritans thus claim to own the location of Mount Moriah (Gen 22:2). According to Deuteronomy 12:5, this axis mundi is where God chose to commemorate his name.

Non-Samaritans follow the Davidic tradition, stressed in Deuteronomy, that only on Zion is one to worship. Two examples from two contiguous psalms should suffice to prove that point:

Psalm 132:13–18 (NRSV)
13 For the Lord has chosen Zion;
he has desired it for his habitation:
14 “This is my resting place forever;
here I will reside, for I have desired it.
15 I will abundantly bless its provisions;
I will satisfy its poor with bread.
16 Its priests I will clothe with salvation,
and its faithful will shout for joy.
17 There I will cause a horn to sprout up for David;
I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one.
18 His enemies I will clothe with disgrace,
but on him, his crown will gleam.”

Psalm 133:3 (NRSV)
3 It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord ordained his blessing,
life forevermore.

Zion, of course, is Jerusalem, not Gerizim.

The Problem with the Text of Deuteronomy 27

The text of Deuteronomy shared by Jews and Christians stipulates that the Mount of Blessing is Gerizim (881 meters or 2849 feet above sea level) and the Mount of Cursing is Ebal (about 940 meters or 3084 feet above sea level). Note this excerpt:

When the LORD your God has brought you into the land that you are entering to occupy, you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. (Deut 11:29 NRSV)

Thus, it is unthinkable that any text of Deuteronomy would report that God wanted Israel to build an altar on the Mount of Cursing, Ebal.

Yet that claim is precisely what is found in the present text of our Bibles. According to Deuteronomy 27:1–13, Moses, following God’s word, commands Israel to build an altar on Mount Ebal, the Mount of Offense. That reading is problematic, suggesting either a copyist error or some intentional alteration. Note the translation in the New Revised Standard Version (italics are mine):

Then Moses and the elders of Israel charged all the people as follows: Keep the entire commandment that I am commanding you today. 2 On the day that you cross over the Jordan into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and cover them with plaster. 3 You shall write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over, to enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you. 4 So when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, about which I am commanding you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall cover them with plaster. 5 And you shall build an altar there to the LORD your God, an altar of stones on which you have not used an iron tool. 6 You must build the altar of the LORD your God of unhewn stones. Then offer up burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God, 7 make sacrifices of well-being, and eat them there, rejoicing before the LORD your God. 8 You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very clearly.

9 Then Moses and the levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying: Keep silence and hear, O Israel! This very day you have become the people of the LORD your God. 10 Therefore obey the LORD your God, observing his commandments and his statutes that I am commanding you today. 11 The same day Moses charged the people as follows: 12 When you have crossed over the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim for the blessing of the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13 And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

This text and translation is inherited by all Jews and Christians (Protestants, Roman Catholics, and others) in the world. The lone exception is the Samaritans (their text in 27:4 reads “Mount Gerizim”).

For non-Samaritans this passage is problematic. Why? The Mount of Blessing is Mount Gerizim; there Israel gathers to bless (27:12). But, our text of Deuteronomy 27:4 records a very perplexing commandment: to build the altar on Mount Ebal, the Mountain of Cursing. Did some scribe mistakenly copy “Ebal” for “Gerizim”? Should we imagine that once the text read “Mount Gerizim.” For centuries, experts have assumed that the Samaritans changed the text and that “the received text” is original. There are reasons to doubt these experts; and a recently discovered text may prove their argument ceases to be persuasive.

Why? We now have textual support for another option.

Text and Translation of this Challenging Dead Sea Scroll

2012Summer-Charlesworth1The image at right improves the clarity of the ink and leather through infrared photography. The Scroll is in black ink on brown leather. It is about 40 millimeters wide and contains four lines of text. The leather is mutilated with at least two holes and a tear from above line three through line four. There are no margins, no horizontal or vertical lining visible, and no writing on the back.

Only this little piece remains from a full leather scroll of Deuteronomy. The scribe who copied this biblical text knew archaic forms of the Hebrew letters that can be dated perhaps to 175 B.C.E. and later forms that date from around 50 and even conceivably to 30 B.C.E. Thus, this copy of Deuteronomy was most likely inscribed in the latter part of the first century BCE.

Most importantly, in the middle of line two in this fragment, the scribe wrote bhrgrzim; that means “on Mount Gerizim.” Except for Samaritan manuscripts, all extant Hebrew manuscripts of this document preserve “on Mount Ebal” in that verse. Note the translation of this challenging scroll (brackets [] circumscribe restored letters):

1 (Deut 27:4) “[when yo]u [have crossed] the Jo[r]dan, you shall set up
[these stones, about
2 [which I charge you t]oday, on Mount Gerizim, and coat [them
with plaster. (Deut 27:5) And there, you shall build an altar to the LORD
your God, an altar of]
3 st]ones. [You must] not [wie]ld upon them an iron (tool). (Deut 27:6) [Of
unhewn] st[ones you must build the altar of the LORD]
4 [you]r [God], and you shall offer upon it burnt offerings to the
LOR[D your God.]”

Note how different this text is from “our text” of Deuteronomy 27:4: “when you have crossed the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, about which I charge you today, on Mount Ebal, and coat them with plaster.”

Now it should be more obvious that our common text should render shock. Our received text preserves a command to build an altar on Mount Ebal, the Mount of Offense. How significant is the new discovery?

Finally, we have a more reliable text for Deuteronomy 27:4. Since we do not have the original manuscript, we should not claim what the original author may have penned; it is possible it was lost through other alterations over centuries.

The two words—Ebal and Gerizim—are too dissimilar to the form and sound in Hebrew to warrant a mistake caused by faulty seeing or hearing. They are also too different for us to imagine that a copying scribe made an error. We should ponder who would deliberately alter the biblical text, and why?

Reflecting on the Conceivability that the Received Text of Deuteronomy 27:5 is Original

A scholar must contemplate all possible scenarios for a reading and its alleged variant. Too many experts fail to ask: “What is a variant?”

Some Rabbis and Christian pastors would be prompted to defend the accuracy of the received reading. They would argue that this text has become sacred from over 2000 years of study and worship. They are certainly correct about the sacredness of tradition; but that recognition should have nothing to do with discerning the earliest and best reading (and possibly speculating on what was in an original text). Scholars now recognize that the biblical texts evolved from numerous divergent readings to one standard reading (the received text or Masoretic Text). Our task is to seek to discern what reading seems earliest and is the best extant reading.

Why would Deuteronomy 27:4 and Joshua 9:30 report the building of an altar on Mount Ebal, the Mountain of Curse? Perhaps, some Hebrew (before Saul, David, and Solomon) wished to establish a cultic center on Mount Ebal as a sociological and theological response (faithful to the Moses traditions) to the massive Cannanite temple nearby at Shechem. A subsequent composition could reflect the building of such an altar.

Another possibility is the surprising discovery of “an ancient altar” on Mount Ebal, the highest peak in the region. Perhaps later texts were created to justify this altar from Scripture. On 6 April 1980, Adam Zertal of Haifa University found what he claimed was an ancient altar on Mount Ebal.3 Because of the discovery of only “unhewn stones” and a massive amount of animal bones in ashes, almost all from male and kosher animals, one can surmise that the structure is an altar that seems connected to Israelite cultic traditions known in the Bible and the Mishnah.  Because of pottery found in situ, it is certain that “the altar” dates from about the 12th century BCE.

Scholars are debating the purpose and date of the Elbal altar, as well as its relevance (if any) for biblical texts and exegesis. Some scholars are convinced that “the altar” is a farm house or a tower.4 If it is not an altar, then it has no relevance for our present research. If it is an altar, it does not seem related to the traditions about Joshua. He faced south and spoke to the Hebrews; the alleged altar is on the north side of Mount Ebal.

While the structure has no parallels in ancient architecture, it does seem constructed in line with the Bible and the Mishnah. If the building is too late to fit what we imagine, or know, about Joshua, it may have little relevance for the much later writings by Israelite and Judean scribes. All scholars concur that Deuteronomy was composed centuries after Joshua.

If these archaeological and textual traditions are ancient and reliably connected to biblical history, then one can imagine they are somehow related to the traditions that Abraham (Gen 12:7) and Joshua (Gen 33:20) built an altar at Shechem. If so, that is very intriguing, but Shechem is in a plain and not a mountain. It is neither Mount Ebal nor Mount Gerizim.

All these observations are often related to etiological legends; that is, they may have originated late to add credence to something believed. Cumulatively, they fail to construct a convincing case for most scholars that among the varied pre-70 readings of Deuteronomy the received (Masoretic) text is original. We are thus led to search for other reasons to explain the text was changed.

Speculating on the Reasons the Text was Deliberately Altered

Why did some scribe—or school of scribes—choose to change Deuteronomy 27:4? At the outset, let us admit that it is conceivable that the scribe or scribes wished to harmonize Deuteronomy with the earlier traditions in Joshua. In Joshua 8 we learn:

Now Joshua built an altar to the LORD God of Israel on Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of whole stones (which) upon them no one has wielded an iron (tool). (Joshua 8:30-31 [my translation that shows the link with Dt 27:5).

I have not discerned a significant variant reading that in Joshua 8:30 “Ebal” is “Gerizim.”

Scholars surmise some editing of Joshua 8:30-35. On the one hand, this section seems to be a later interpolation because it interrupts the flow of the narrative. In our texts, it jumps from 8:29 to 9:1.

On the other hand, we have another non-Hebrew version of the Hebrew Bible that often is not just a translation but preserves ancient Hebrew readings. It is the Greek Bible or Septuagint; and it is ancient, antedating 200 BCE. The Greek places this section of Joshua between Joshua 9:2 and 9:3. For us, we may now imagine that some scribe harmonized Joshua with a reading in Deuteronomy. He did so by inserting a new series of verses.

Such harmonization is obvious in the copying of biblical texts. Is this the only or best solution?

Judeans and Samaritans were often bitter enemies. In the time of Hillel and Jesus, they often killed the “other.” That is, Judeans killed Samaritans; Samaritans killed Galilean Jews. That hatred is not only mirrored but turned on its head in Jesus’ Parable of the Good Samaritan. Most likely, Jesus tried to get Judeans to comprehend that a Samaritan can obey the Torah in ways that may be more faithful than priests and Levites.

Let us pause to ponder the history of Pontius Pilate. Such a review reveals that Samaritans are known to have killed Galilean Jews who were going to worship in the Jerusalem Temple. The Judean (Hasmonean) general, John Hyrcanus (135-105/4 BCE), lead an army to Mount Gerizim and burned the Samaritan altar (or temple) about 112 BCE37. That time is less than one hundred years before out manuscript was copied.

Note the report by the first-century Jewish history, Josephus, a Judean and descendant of Hasmonean priests:

With Syrian cities stripped of manpower, Hyrcanus now rebelled against the Macedonians and no longer assisted them. He also attacked neighboring enemies and defeated them, including the Samaritans. Hyrcanus took Mount Gerizim, destroying the temple there, and then marched against the city of Samaria. (Ant 13.254)5

The reliability of this account is accepted by historians of Early Judaism. According to the polemics of the author of 2 Maccabees, the Samaritans called the Gerizim temple “the temple of Zeus-the-Friend-of Strangers” (6:1-2). Actually, the Samaritans today point out that they have an altar not a temple.

Less than one hundred years after Hyrcanus destroyed “the temple” on Mount Gerizim, one can imagine scribes in Jerusalem copying the Torah. We know that under the Hasmoneans, beginning before 100 BCE, Judeans were not only influencing Galileans but also shaping (and altering) the words of Scripture.

I hypothesize that Judean scribes, after Hyrcanus, supplied the reading “on Mount Ebal” as in the Bibles we share. Here are my reasons: 1) The scribes knew about the recent destruction of the temple on Mount Gerizim. When they looked at Deuteronomy 27, did they wonder how any text could refer to Moses’ command to build an altar on Mount Gerizim? 2) Many of the Jerusalem scribes were pro-Hasmonean and hated Samaritans and their elevation of Gerizim over Zion. 3) Conceivably, the copyist imagined that the Samaritans were not “Jews,” but belonged to the “many nations” that were to be obliterated from the Holy Land. He may have thought that God ordered their “altars” to be destroyed (Deut 7:1–5).38 4) These Judean scribes certainly knew about numerous different readings of a biblical book, might have imagined the reading they wanted was in one of them, and were trained to correct and even change manuscripts (most of the Dead Sea Scrolls I edit reveal marginalia, corrections, and alterations). 5) Thinking that Moses would not have commanded building the altar where the Samaritans had worshipped, they might have felt constrained to change the text before them. 6) They would wish to justify Hyrcanus’ actions and continue to celebrate that only Jerusalem is the Holy Mountain and “The House of God.” 7) As the evolution of the canon of biblical books sometimes proves, scribes changed Scripture or added to it so that it would better serve their own theological contexts. Thus, the text was changed by Jerusalem scribe; they are most likely the once who preferred and emphasized the superiority of the Masoretic Text. This explanation explains the text that is read today in synagogues and churches.

Is the reading in the Dead Sea Scroll now in focus before us the only one that contains the preferred reading: “Mount Gerizim”? As stated previously, it is in the Samaritan Pentateuch. Among the tens of thousands of manuscripts of Deuteronomy, I have found it in only two other manuscripts, one in Latin and one in Greek. The Old Latin Manuscript Codex 100 has “garzin.”6 A Greek manuscript, Papyrus Giessen 19 (which preserves Deut 24-29), has en ar(?) garsim, “on Mount (?) Garizim.”7

In my judgment, it is highly unlikely that both a Latin scribe and then a Greek scribe changed their exemplars in precisely the same way and in the same place. It is more likely that they were working from a manuscript that had the better extant reading—the one now preserved in a Dead Sea Scroll.

Deuteronomy, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jesus, and the Palestinian Jesus Movement

The three books most popular at Qumran (where the Dead Sea Scrolls were read before 70 CE) are the Psalms (37 mss), Deuteronomy (30 mss [not counting the present fragment]), and Isaiah (21 mss [but there are some fragments not yet announced]). When one recognizes that Deuteronomy is the only book in the Pentateuch that claims precisely that it is a record of Moses’ laws (viz., Deut 1:5; 4:8), gives prominence to the Torah (Law) and its interpretation, and mentions God’s covenant with Israel twenty-six times, one can readily comprehend why the scroll was popular to the Qumranites. They stressed the supreme importance of a precise interpretation of Torah (especially in the Pesharim) and God’s “New Covenant” with them alone.

Precisely these same three books were the most popular ones to Jesus and his earliest followers. Jesus is reputed to have heavily used the Psalms, Deuteronomy, and Isaiah. The latter was probably his favorite prophet.

As we all know (and many of us learned about this report in religion courses at OWU), Jesus was popular in Galilee. His reputation spread to Judea; and he is described teaching in the Jerusalem Temple. According to the Fourth Evangelist, Jesus spoke to a Samaritan: “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem” (John 4:21 NRSV). Jesus is speaking to a Samaritan woman in Samaria at Jacob’s well; when Jesus reputedly said “on this mountain” he referred to Mount Gerizim. Why? He was speaking to a Samaritan who believed God had told his faithful to build an altar on Mount Gerizim. Something extremely important evolves from our study of the best reading in Deuteronomy 27:4. Let me explain.

According to many New Testament passages, Jesus is questioned by scribes sent out from Jerusalem; that is, from Judea. Note this passage from Mark 7:1-8:

Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2 they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. … 5 So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.’ 8 You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”

Why would Jerusalem scribes quarrel with Jesus? No scholar seems to have asked this focused question. The above passage clearly refers to traditions Jesus claimed were not based on the commandments but on Pharisaic interpretations (= alterations) of Torah. If some of the scribes were changing Scriptures Jesus knew, cherished, and used as the basis for his teaching, he would not be pleased. These learned “doctors of the Law” would also be upset that Jesus seemed to know Torah better than them and they had been trained in the Holy City and within “the House of God.”

Thanks to research on the biblical texts found in the eleven caves near Qumran, we know that the words of Scripture were fluid, appearing differently in divergent manuscripts;  some scribes thus felt empowered to change a text. Their work antedated and was contemporaneous with Jesus. The newly discovered text of Deuteronomy, announced now in this magazine, helps us understand some scribal practices probably in Jerusalem.8 Does this new insight help us understand some of the traditions associated with Jesus?

Conclusion: Questions Raised

The Samaritan High Priest and Charlesworth on Mount Gerizim. Charlesworth is receiving the Samaritan medal of honor for his services to Peace and Scholarship.

The Samaritan High Priest and Charlesworth on Mount Gerizim. Charlesworth is receiving the Samaritan medal of honor for his services to Peace and Scholarship.

The biblical manuscripts found in the Qumran caves antedate by over 1000 years the manuscripts used to establish the Hebrew Bible and all modern translations based on it. Almost always the Qumran biblical manuscripts prove the antiquity and reliability of our Scriptures. Occasionally, as with the newly discovered portion of Deuteronomy, we will be able to change texts and translations (and some of them, like Deut 27:4, were considered corrupt).

We are left with many questions; here are some for future study:

  • What text of Deuteronomy did Hillel prefer?
  • What text of Deuteronomy did Jesus know?
  • Why did Judean scribes interrogate the Galilean Jesus?
  • What other original portions of Scripture were preserved best by Samaritans?

We have glimpsed some of the excitement created by divergent readings preserved in biblical scrolls over 2,000 years old. These texts formerly were considered set and determinative for theological reflection—and for services in synagogues and churches. We have also observed the importance of studying texts within contexts and the sometimes surprisingly scribal alterations of what is signaled in our culture as “sacra scriptura.” We have also noted the extreme importance of words, especially when they are deemed Scripture.

Most likely many scholars will urge the text and translation of Deuteronomy to be changed in all subsequent Bible. These reflections disclose the exciting world in which Hillel and Jesus lived. Their time in the early first century CE was the zenith of Early Judaism and “ground-zero” of Christian Origins. Now, thanks to the discovery of a Dead Sea Scroll, the two siblings may study the preferred text of Deuteronomy 27.

Appendix: An Historic Speculation Now Confirmed

In 1722, during the Enlightenment and before the American Revolution, a gifted scholar speculated on the original text of Deuteronomy 27. In 2011, we celebrated the 500th anniversary of a translation of the Bible know around the world and honored for its elegance, the King James Bible; it appeared in 1611. Willliam Whiston, who remains famous for his translation of Josephus in the 18th century, authored a book in 1722. His book has a riveting title: An Essay Towards Restoring the True Text of the Old Testament and for Vindicating the Citations made thence in the New Testament (London: Senex, 1722). Whiston’s pioneering reflections are the following:

First, the quotations of the Bible “in the New Testament, in Josephus, in the Apostolic Constitutions, and the Apostolic Fathers” sometimes agree with the Samaritan Pentateuch, and sometimes differ from the present Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of the Bible. [We have found proof of this claim.]

Second, Whiston opined that the Samaritans did not admit “one voluntary corruption into their whole Pentateuch.” [This is an interesting but unproved opinion.]

Third, Whiston claimed that the Samaritan Pentateuch “is the most authentic record now extant in the church that relates to the time before the coming of our Saviour; and by consequence the greatest treasure relating to those times now extant in the whole Christian world.” [Perhaps it is wise to study not only the readings in the Masoretic Text but also within the Samaritan Pentateuch.]

Fourth, Whiston focused on one place in the Samaritan Pentateuch that is extremely important.  According to Whiston, the tradition in Deuteronomy 27:4 enjoining an altar to be built and sacrifices offered “not at Mount Ebal, as our present copies, both Hebrew and Greek, have it, but on Mount Gerizim where the Samaritans built an altar is most likely the original reading.” Whiston held the unpopular opinion that although the Samaritan Pentateuch is “universally rejected by the learned, both Jews and Christians,” it may “upon a fair examination” free the Samaritans from accusation of falsifying the sacred text. Most likely, some Jewish scribes caused “the corruption in this matter.” Here are Whiston’s reasons:

  1. That in all other cases, Samaritans cannot be censured by anyone, which makes it unreasonable to attribute the corruption to Samaritans without convincing proof. [This claim is worth debating.]
  2. That it seems likely “that the altar for divine worship and sacrifice, as well as for the inscription of the laws … should be at the Mountain appointed for the blessings, as Gerizim was; and not at that appointed for the curses, as was Ebal.” [This receives agreement.]
  3. That this seems to “the very place where Joshua set up a stone for a witness unto the Israelites, because, as he speaks, … was expressly at Shechem, or close by Mount Gerizim, and not at Mount Ebal.”  [Too many assumptions seem to be made.]
  4. That when “the woman of Samaria said to our Saviour, from her Samaritan Pentateuch, that their fathers worshipped in that mountain of Gerizim; which probably refers to this very matter and these very texts: our Saviour’s answer seems to allow, from his Jewish Pentateuch, that what she said was true.” [This claim implies that Jesus knew the reading preserved in the announced Dead Sea Scrolls. There are reasons to take this claim seriously.]
  5. “I see no other sufficient reason for the Samaritan’s choice of Mount Gerizim before Mount Ebal, but because the ancient place for worship was in their old genuine copies Gerizim and not Ebal. For had it been otherwise, they would naturally have made choice of Ebal, which was not but a little way from Shechem and Gerizim, and recommended by their Pentateuch; which would, in that case, have” served just as well “as the other.”

A study of the topography in Samaria indicates that long before Abraham and Joshua wandering tribes would hail the green fertile Gerizim as blessed and the barren and hard Eocene chalked Ebal as cursed. Why? As one looks at both mountains, even today, one sees that only one mountain has many springs and foliage and the other remains barren without life-giving springs.

The five observations led Whiston to the remarkable conclusion that shortly after Jesus, the incomparable Jewish historian, Josephus, also knew and used a text that referred to building the altar on Mt Gerizim. That text has been found and is now announced in this magazine. Note Whiston’s conclusion:

  1. “It seems to me that Josephus, the Jewish Historian, read in his Hebrew copy the same that the Samaritans still read in theirs; and to have had” in the Hebrew scroll known to him “Gerizim, and not Ebal. For he informs us that this altar was in a plain, between Mount Gerizim,” and not on Mount Ebal which is “not far from Shechem.” The altar on Mount Gerizim is “in the Samaritan” copies of the Pentateuch, but not found “in the Hebrew” manuscripts (except for this one DSS).[Whiston continues:]Josephus “also takes particular notice, for which the Scripture here gave him to occasion, that such oblations were never to be made” on Mount Gerizim “any more after that day.” He wanted “to guard against” any inference that Mount Gerizim was an acceptable place to worship, as that would give authority to Samaritans. Admittedly, the extant copies of Josephus were copied many centuries later and altered to be agreeable “to our present Hebrew;” that is, the text supports the absurdity “that this altar was on Mount Ebal.” Such alterations are obvious; they contradict what Josesphus “had before said, that it was between the two mountains, and near Shechem.” We “may justly” postulate an “interpolation, or correction” to support the received Hebrew and Greek copies of the Pentateuch.” These were frequently altered by copyists. Whiston concludes: “I think” there is insufficient evidence “to charge the Samaritans with a voluntary corruption of their Pentateuch, even in this single place, where they were under the greatest temptation, much less in any other place whatsoever.” (pp. 168-71)

These words and this judgment may now be studied by English readers, since this year is also the time when a Samaritan and his assistant publish the first translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch with a comparison of the received [Masoretic] text. It is published by Eerdmans.

Most surprisingly, one of Whiston’s fundamental speculations is now confirmed by a new manuscript discovery. How? The Dead Sea Scroll announced here contains the reading Whiston surmised must have been the intent of the author of Deuteronomy.

Footnotes

1 The manuscript is now owned by Azusa Pacific University. The Princeton Dead Sea Scrolls Project is publishing the critical edition of this scroll by professors at APU. My own expanded study will appear in the H.-W. Kuhn Festschrift that is edited by Professor Joerg Frey.

2 Y. Magen, et al., Mount Gerizim Excavations (Jerusalem: IAA, 2004).

3 See The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavation in the Holy Land, edited by E. Stern, vol. 1, pp. 375-77. A. Zertal, The Manasseh Hill Country Survey (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2004).

4 M. Sturgis, It Ain’t Necessarily So: Investigating the Truth of the Biblical Past (London: Headline, 2001).

5 P. L. Maier, translator and editor, Josephus: The Essential Writings: A Condensation of Jewish Antiquities and The Jewish War (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1988) p. 221.

6 See the apparatus criticus in J. W. Wevers, ed., Deuteronomium (Septuaginta 3.2; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1977) p. 287. Professor Ulrich rightly states (in an email of 8 Aug 2008) that the many so-called Samaritan Pentateuch readings in the Greek translation (LXX) manuscripts are more widespread than scholars usually think. And most of the divergent readings are in fact “Jewish.” For the Vetus Latina of Deuteronomy, see vol. 4 published by the Stiftung Vetus Latina (Vetus Latina Institut, D-88631 Beuron).

7 The manuscript is in the Universitätsbibliothek in Diessen. See the improved edition of Pap. Giessen by Tov in RB 78 (1971) 359. He advises that it is impossible to discern if the scribe one “Mount Gerizim” in one or in two words (see p. 360 and p. 373 n. 20).

8 The blessings and curses written in the famous climax in Deut 27-30 influenced a Dead Sea Scroll (More Works of the Torah) and also Paul’s Galatians. Each Jew recalls that the curses have already fallen on Israel and await an eschatological completion.



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This manuscript of Exodus has several unique features. The most obvious is its paleo-Hebrew script, the Hebrew script of the First Temple period. Several other biblical scrolls found in the Qumran caves were also written in this script. Also, the version of this manuscript does not match the Hebrew Masoretic Text of the Bible or any other known version of Exodus. It includes some expansions, which are found neither in the Hebrew Masoretic Text nor in the LXX (Septuagint; the Greek translation of biblical texts). Some of these expansions seek to harmonize between the texts of Exodus and Deuteronomy. A similar penchant for harmonization is found in the Samaritan version of the Pentateuch. Although other textual features of this manuscript match those found in the Samaritan Pentateuch, there are also significant differences. For example, the Samaritan Pentateuch emphasizes the command to build an altar on Mount Gerizim, and includes it among the Ten Commandments, an expansion which is absent in the 4QpaleoExodm version. This has led scholars to conclude that the Samaritan Pentateuch was based on an earlier text, which was used also by Jews during the Second Temple Period. At a later phase, the Samaritans adopted this version and made a few small changes that legitimized the special status of Mount Gerizim. The textual version of 4QpaleoExodm has therefore been labeled "proto-Samaritan".

 

http://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/explore-the-archive/manuscript/4Q22-1?locale=en_US



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Mount Ebal to Mount Gerizim: From Cursed to Blessed

May 10, 2010 @ Nollie → 8 Comments

 

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How shall we escape from these curses and receive God’s blessings when we can never perfectly obey God’s law? We are to march from the Ebal, the Mount of Cursing to Gerizim, the Mount of Blessing, through the perfect obedience of another Man.

Scripture Readings: Deuteronomy 11:26-29 (text); Joshua 8:30-35Galatians 3:10-14
May 9, 2010

Moses on Mount Sinai by Jean-Léon Gérôme

Moses on Mount Sinai by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1824-1904 (click to enlarge)

Tomorrow is a historic day in the Philippines. It will be the first automated election ever, and the beginning of a change in leadership after nine years under a single administration. Among evangelicals, there is a movement to elect one of their own, believing that if an evangelical was elected, corruption will end and the nation will be blessed with peace and prosperity. Is this a realistic expectation? The answer is not hard to find in the history of the church.

In the early church, when Constantine, who converted to Christianity and declared Christianity as the state religion, became emperor of the Roman Empire, the empire experienced Pax Romana for some time, but within a century, Rome was sacked by a northern pagan warlord. In medieval Christendom, nations failed even when they were ruled by so-called Christians. In modern history, Netherlands even had a Prime Minister, Abraham Kuyper, who was a Reformed pastor and theologian, for four years. But there was really not much change in the country during and after his term.

So how shall a Christian vote with wisdom? Michael Horton offers three principles and guidelines:

1. Clearly distinguish the different roles played by the church and the civil government. A Christian is a dual citizen, performing duties to both kingdoms. But the church must be concerned with spiritual things and the state with earthly things. The church should not meddle in the affairs of the government, and neither should the state meddle with the church. The church is not qualified to run the affairs of the country. Because of common grace and conscience, unbelieving lawyers, economists, scientists and professors are able govern more wisely than unqualified Christians.

2. Distinguish clear divine commands from issues that require wisdom. Implementation of civil law requires prudence, and even Christians differ in many complex matters of governing a nation.

3. No political party or political ideology can claim that their ideology and program of government are the only ones grounded on solid Biblical ground. Ideologies are not doctrines, and as such they arise from the necessities of a specific time, place and society.

Who should you vote for? Your conscience should dictate your vote. I, for one, would not vote for a Communist or a Muslim, because they advocate violent change of government. Those who support homosexual lifestyle and abortion on demand will not get my vote either. These issues are clearly defined in Scripture. But the Bible does not clearly address many other issues such as taxes, economics and health care. So in these matters, it should be up to your conscience.

Our text today is related to this issue of hope for the blessings of peace and prosperity on a nation if it is governed by a godly leader. Israel was such a nation. It was the only political nation in human history that God called his chosen people—no one before it, no one after it. As such, most of God’s civil and ceremonial laws were given exclusively to them. God’s covenant promises to Israel were clear: “Obey my commandments and you shall live and be blessed in the Promised Land. Disobey and you shall be cursed and driven away from the land.”

Our text takes us forty years after Israel escaped from their slavery in Egypt and wandered in the wilderness. They are now finally at the River Jordan, the gate to the Promised Land of Canaan. On the third month after they left Egypt, they arrived at Mount Sinai where God gave them the Book of the Covenant as the rule for their doctrine, worship and life. Now forty years later, Moses gathers them one last time and renews God’s covenant with them.

He reminds them of God’s commandments for their worship, their life as God’s people, and their life as a nation. Unlike us, they had single citizenship: their allegiance is only to God, the King of Israel. The laws of their nation are God’s laws.

He commands them that after they enter and conquer the land, they are to go to Shechem where there are two mountains: Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. Before these two mountains, they are to renew their vows to God. At Mount Gerizim, they will hear God’s blessings for obedience, and at Mount Ebal, they will hear God’s curses for disobedience.

We will study the implications of these two mountains to Israel and to us today:

1. Ebal: The Mount of Cursing
2. Gerizim: The Mount of Blessing

Ebal: The Mount of Cursing
Mount Gerizim and Mount EbalIn Joshua 8:30-35, we read more details about how the covenant renewal at Shechem took place after they crossed the Jordan River and conquered that part of the Promised Land. The twelve tribes divided themselves into two groups, six tribes on the slopes Mount Ebal, and the other six on Mount Gerizim. The two groups straddled the narrow mountain pass between the two mountains, with the Ark of the Covenant surrounded by the Levites in their midst. The tribes on Mount Ebal listened to God’s curses for disobedience; the tribes before Mount Gerizim listened to God’s blessings for obedience. In the hearing of all the people, together with all sojourners, Joshua and the Levites read the whole Book of the Covenant “with a loud voice” (Deut 27:14), and the people responded with their vows.

In the history and drama of redemption, these places and the ceremony itself are significant in their symbolism. Shechem is the place where God first repeated his promises to Abraham when he arrived in Canaan (Gen 12:6-7). Under the leadership of Moses and Joshua, God again makes his promises of blessing to Israel, Abraham’s descendants.

Gerizim is also the site of the temple that the Samaritans built as their counterpart to the Jerusalem temple. They believed that Joshua built the altar on Gerizim and not on Ebal. When the Samaritan woman mentioned that her people worshiped on this mountain, she was probably including Abraham and Jacob who built altars in the same region. But Jesus countered by declaring that the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father”¦ “when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:21-24).

The higher portions of Mount Ebal are barren rock—the name means “bald stone”—where only thistles and shrubs grow. Gerizim’s lower slopes are abundant in fountains and are beautifully cultivated with much olive and fig trees.[1] Perhaps the group to whom the curses where shouted were made to stand on  the barren and fruitless slopes of Mount Ebal, while the group to whom blessings were read stood on the fertile and fruitful slopes of Mount Gerizim.

The list of tribes in Deuteronomy 27:12-13 composing the two groups is also striking. Those on Mount Ebal, the mount of cursing, are the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali, sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, slave women of Jacob’s two lawful wives. Those on Mount Gerizim are Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. Those on Gerizim, the mount of blessing, are children of Jacob’s lawful wives, Leah and Rachel (Gen 35:23-26). Reuben is the exception—though he was one of Leah’s legitimate sons, he was cursed because he had sexual relations with Bilhah, his father’s concubine
(Gen 35:22; 1 Chron 5:1).

Map of Mount Gerizim and Mount EbalAfter they arrive at Mount Ebal, Joshua was to build an altar for burnt and peace offerings to the Lord to atone for their sins and to thank God for his blessings. But God added a command about the building of the altar, You shall wield no iron tool on them; you shall build an altar to the Lord your God of uncut stones” (Deut 27:5-6). Why uncut stones? God is saying that the Israelites should not think that they could make the worship of God better by making an elaborate altar. Even one mark of a cutting tool would corrupt the worship of God.

At Mount Ebal, the Levites shouted a list of twelve curses on the people for disobedience that included idolatry, dishonoring father and mother, dishonesty, stealing, lying, sexual immorality, and murder
(Deut 27:15-26).  This is also what we find in the Decalogue. The last curse is a summary of all the other curses, Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.

The severity of curses is emphasized in Deuteronomy Chapter 28 where 54 verses (15-68) are devoted to curses, while only 14 verses list the blessings (1-14). All kinds of curses proceed from disobedience—pestilence, famine, disease, barrenness, sword—ending in destruction and exile by Assyria in 722 BC and Babylon in 586 BC. “The Lord will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me(Deut 28:20). Even their Temple was destroyed. Finally, like sheep without a shepherd, they were scattered all throughout the earth:

And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. And among these nations you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting place (verses 64-65).

Because they became profane and unclean, God spit them out of his holy land. Their numbers decreased so greatly that only a tiny remnant of 50,000 returned to Canaan after their exile to Babylon and Persia. Such was Israel’s misery and destruction for disobedience.

But the terror and misery of the curses on Israel as a result of God’s wrath for their disobedience was just a foretaste of the terror and anguish of hell that our Lord Jesus Christ suffered in his life and death on the cross. On Mount Ebal, Israel sacrificed burnt offerings for their sins, a foreshadow of the final sacrifice that God himself will offer for our sins: Christ’s death on the cross.

We are an accursed people because of our disobedience, “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them’” (Gal 3:10). Like the tribes on Mount Ebal, we are children of slaves, and we ourselves are slaves of sin. The altar of good works that we build is not a sacrifice that rises as a pleasing aroma to God, because without faith in God’s final sacrifice of his only-begotten Son, our good works are filthy rags, a bad taste, and a repulsive stench before God. But Christ’s sacrifice removes the curse from us, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Gal 3:13), “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph 5:2).

Our own Mount Ebal is the hill of Calvary in Jerusalem where our sacrifice was offered once for all, hanged on the cross for our disobedience.

Today, we honor our mothers, especially Christian mothers who brought us up in the nurture and discipline of the Lord, mothers who had sincere faith that they passed on to their children, as Eunice and Lois did to Timothy (2 Tim 1:5). God’s law hasn’t changed and anyone who violates one of his commandments violates the whole law. If we violate the commandment to honor our parents, God’s curse is upon us.

But it is not only this commandment that we violate, it is the whole law, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it” (Jas 2:10). Not only do we violate the whole law, but when Jesus made the law stricter, we not only sin when we actually do evil things, but we sin even in our words and thoughts.

So how shall we escape from these curses and receive God’s blessings when we can never perfectly obey God’s law? We are to march from Ebal, the Mount of Cursing to Gerizim, the Mount of Blessing, through the perfect obedience of another Man.

Gerizim: The Mount of Blessing
At Mount Gerizim, the blessings are introduced in Deuteronomy 28:1-2:

And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God.

While disobedience results in pestilence, famine, disease, barrenness, sword, destruction and exile, obedience results in a fertile land, abundance, prosperity, victory over enemies, a place of honor among nations, peace, and a great number of children. Not only that, God will be with them–they shall be his people, and he will be their God. Because of this, every aspect of their life in the Promised Land will be blessed by God who will dwell with them (Deut 28:1-6).

This is very readily seen all of Israel’s history. During the reign of the judges, Israel had peace and prosperity when they were governed by righteous judges such as Gideon, Barak and Jehthah. During the reign of David, Hezekiah and Solomon, when they were faithful to God, the kingdom was united, prosperous and victorious over their enemies.

This peace, rest and abundance were but a foretaste of life in the kingdom of God. In the new Mount Gerizim where Jesus preached a long sermon in Matthew 5-7, Jesus pronounced his blessings on kingdom citizens as long as they were poor in spirit, mourn over sins, meek, righteous, merciful, pure in heart, had peace with God, and persevere in persecution for righteousness’ sake. Our reward is not earthly, but heavenly (Matt 5:2-12).

These are commands that even the holiest of believers can only begin to obey. They are very difficult words. But in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus challenges us with practical ethics to live by in our life in this imperfect world while we await the perfect world that he would give us when he returns.

God’s law is still with us as believers. They regulate our lives as Christians. They regulate our civil society so that earthly citizens can also have a semblance of peace, order and prosperity. We point our unbelieving family and friends to Christ our Savior by telling them about God’s holy character through the teaching of the Law. Without the Law, they will not comprehend their sin and misery and their absolute need for a Savior.

And without Christ being sacrificed on the Mount of Calvary to remove the curse from us, we can never receive any blessing from God. Because we can never obey God’s law perfectly and be righteous before God, our only hope for blessing is only through Christ who gives his perfect obedience to us—obedience all the way to an accursed death. Only by trusting Christ can we be redeemed from the curse of the Law and then receive blessings from God.

Like Old Covenant Israel, we the holy nation of the New Covenant only have a foretaste of God’s blessings. We enjoy these blessings now, spiritually and even materially. Unlike the Samaritans and the Jews, we do not have to go to Gerizim or Jerusalem to worship and receive blessings from God, because Christ has been sacrificed on his Mount Ebal, the altar of Calvary. This is why after his sacrifice for all the elect from the whole world, Jesus commanded his disciples to go and teach all nations because salvation has expanded from Jerusalem, to Judea and all Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

Through Christ’s sacrifice, God “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Eph 1:3). But the perfect blessings of Mount Gerizim would only come when we finally dwell in the new heaven and new earth, where we will dwell with God forever.

Conclusion

Beloved in Christ, all of you still dwell between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. You look back to Mount Ebal when you remember Christs sacrifice to remove God’s curse on you when you were still lost sinners. But then you also remember Mount Gerizim as you enjoy your blessings in this life while you wait for the fullness of your blessings in the life to come.

To those of you who have not trusted Christ alone to deliver you from the curse of your sin, but rely on your own efforts to obey God’s law, you are still stranded on Mount Ebal. You can only hear God’s curses for your unbelief and disobedience. Because no matter how you try to obey God’s law or do good to your neighbor, your obedience is only a little speck in your world of rebellion against God. Until you put your trust in Christ whose sacrifice was the once for all fulfillment of the animal sacrifices on the altar of Mount Ebal, you will never be allowed to march upward to the heavenly Mount Zion, the mountain of God’s blessings.


 

[1] Information about Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim from Orr, James, Gen. Ed. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1915).

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GERIZIM, MOUNT (V05p630002.jpg).

 

 

—Biblical Data:

Mountain south of the valley in which Shechem was situated; the present Jabal al-Ṭur (Deut. xi. 29, xxvii. 12; Josh. viii. 33; Judges ix. 7). It is 2,849 feet high, declines sharply to the north, and is sparsely covered at the top with shrubbery. After their separation from the Jews the Samaritans built a temple on it, which was destroyed by John Hyrcanus. But the mountain continued to be (John iv. 20), as it is to-day, the holy place of the Samaritans, reverenced by them as the scene of the sacrifice of Isaac and as the site of their temple, and upon which they still celebrate the Passover. The temple was surrounded by fortifications (comp. II Macc. v. 23), which survived the destruction of the temple (Josephus, "Ant." xiv. 6, § 2; xviii. 4, § 1; "B. J." iii. 7, § 32). After Christianity had secured a foothold in Shechem, there were frequent disturbances among the Samaritans, on account of which Justinian in 529 built a wall round the church which had been erected on Gerizim, to protect it; the line of this wall is probably to be seen in the extensive ruins still existing on the top of the mountain. Among others there are some ruins called "Lozah," the "Luza" mentioned by Eusebius ("Onomasticon," 214, 135), nine (Hieronymus says three) Roman miles from Shechem.

V05p630001.jpgMount Gerizim, From Nablus.(From a photograph by Bonfils.)
Bibliography:
  • Robinson, Researches, iii. 318-321;
  • Pal. Explor. Fund, No. 2, pp. 187 et seq.;
  • Gael, Altisraelitische Kultstätten, pp. 102 et seq.
—In Rabbinical Literature:

Mount Gerizim, though more than sixty miles from the Jordan, was miraculously reached by the Israelites on the same day that they crossed that river. They proceeded at once to perform the solemn ceremony enacted there. Six tribes ascended to the summit of Gerizim, and the remainder placed themselves on the top of Mount Ebal; while the priests and the Levites, clustering round the Ark, took their stand in the valley between the two mountains. On turning their faces to Gerizim the Levites pronounced a benediction; on turning to Ebal, a curse (Soṭah 35a, 36a).

Mount Gerizim was one of the foremost causes of division between the Israelites and the Samaritans, the latter of whom, regarding it as the holy place chosen by God, built their temple there. This temple was destroyed on the twenty-fifth of Ṭebet in the days of Alexander by Simeon the Just, to whom that monarch had given permission to destroy it (Yoma 69a; comp., however, Josephus, "Ant." xiii. 3, § 4; "Yuḥasin," p. 138; Karme Shomron," p. 12).

The Samaritans are charged with having changed the words "in mount Ebal" (Deut. xxvii. 4) to "in mount Gerizim" ("Karme Shomron," p. 37). In the Samaritan Bible the words V05p631001.jpg are always written as one, and V05p631002.jpgis always changed into V05p631003.jpg (ib). According to Simeon ben Eliezer, the wines of the Samaritans were forbidden because the latter used them in the worship of an image of a dove erected on the summit of Mount Gerizim (Ḥul. 6a). According to a midrash, this image was the idol that was buried by Jacob under the oak at Shechem (Gen. xxxv. 4; Tosafot Ḥul. l.c.). The first condition a Samaritan has to fulfil to be admitted into the fold of Judaism is to renounce the belief in the sanctity of Mount Gerizim (Masseket Kutim, end).



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