Gerizim

Gerizim (meaning: cutters, hatchets) was the mountain of blessing designated by Moses, standing opposite Mount Ebal across the valley of Shechem in the central highlands of Canaan. When Israel entered the land, half the tribes were to stand on Gerizim to pronounce the blessings of covenant obedience while the other half stood on Ebal for the curses (Deuteronomy 27; Joshua 8:30–35). The ceremony was carried out under Joshua's leadership at Shechem, anchoring Israel's covenant renewal to the sacred geography of their new homeland.

Gerizim's theological significance intensified during the Second Temple period when the Samaritans built their rival temple on its summit, maintaining it as the true holy mountain against Jerusalem's claim. This dispute forms the background to the Samaritan woman's question to Jesus: our fathers worshipped on this mountain (John 4:20). Jesus's response — that neither Gerizim nor Jerusalem would be the definitive locus of true worship, but that true worshippers would worship the Father in spirit and in truth — transcended the centuries-old controversy. The Samaritan temple on Gerizim was destroyed by John Hyrcanus in 128 BC, but the mountain remains sacred to the small Samaritan community to this day.