GERIZIM AND VISAL, two mountains celebrated in Scripture story. They are sepa rated from each other by a narrow valley-about 200 yards wide, in which stands the town of Nitbulus, the ancient Shechem or Sychar, the metropolis of the Samaritan sect. They are nearly equal in altitude, neither of them exceeding 700 or 800 ft. above the level of the valley, which, however, is itself 1800 ft. above the sea. The view from the top of Mt. Gerizim, the southern hill, is said to be among the finest in Palestine, embracing, as it does, glimpses of the blue waters of the Mediterranean on the w. the snow-capped heights of Hermon on the n., and on the C. the wall of the trans-Jordanic mountains, broken by the deep cleft of the brook Jabbok.
In all probability, mount Gerizim, and not the mere hillock called Moriah, on which Solomon afterwards built the temple, was the place where Abrahant offered up his son Isaac. Along with Mt. Ebal, it was also the scene of a grand and impressive ceremony, in which the whole people of Israel took part after crossing the Jordan, in obedience to a command which Moses had given them. Half of the tribes stood upon the declivities of the one hill; the rest occupied the sides of the other, while in the valley between, the Levites, surrounding the sacred ark, pronounced, "with loud voice," the blessings affixed to the performance of the law. and the curses affixed to the of it. According to the mishna, their manner of procedure was as follows: They first turned towards Gerizim, and pronounced the blessing, whereupon the vast host that thronged the ascent of that bill rolled back'their multitudinous " Amen ;" then turning towards Ebal, they uttered the corresponding malediction, to which the tribes there stationed responded in deep and solemn tones. In this way, alternating blessing and
curse; they went through the whole series. The narrative of the ceremony (which is to be found in the 27th chapter of Deuteronomy) gives only the curses—the customary explanation of which fact is, that probably these were merely the reverse form of the blessings, and may have been selected by the writer of the book on account of the greater awe inspired, among a rude people, by a malediction than a benediction. At a later period the Samaritans, by permission of Alexander the great, built a temple on mount Gerizim, as a rival to that of Jerusalem, and organised a rival priesthood. And though this temple was destroyed by Hyrcanus about 200 years after, the mountain on which it stood continued to be held sacred by the Samaritans. It was to Mt. Geri zim that the "woman of Samaria" referred when she said to our Saviour: "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." Subsequently, a Christian church in honor of the virgin was built on it, which Justinian surrounded with a strong wall to protect it against the assaults of the Samaritans, who were even then a powerful and important sect. The ruins of this wall are still visible.