Ebal and Gerizim

 

Welcome! Today, as we continue our exploration of the intersection of archaeology and the truths of the Bible, we are going to look at a very recent discovery. This morning, we are going to chain some seemingly unconnected passages together.

Our first passage comes from the book of Job. Recall that Job was a devout follower of God who enjoyed a good life, prosperous and filled with the joys of family. But God allowed Job’s faith to be severely tested, and in a very short time he lost his health, his wealth, and even his children. Job, as he mourned, initially responded by continuing to praise God, accepting the tragic turn of events even if God did not tell him why it had happened. But Job’s friends said in speech after speech that it had to be because of Job’s sin. Job began to be worn down by their accusations, and in Chapter 19, he says the following:

 

“How long will you torment me and crush me with words?” […] “Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever!” – Job 19:2, 19:23-24

 

Why am I pointing out this particular passage? Stay tuned. For now, let me mention that we know that Job is one of the oldest books of the entire Bible, if not the oldest.

 

Let us now turn to Exodus 20. Many of you, without even looking at your Bibles, can probably tell me what famous passage occurs in this chapter. What is it? It is in Exodus 20 that God gives Moses the Ten Commandments. What are the Ten Commandments?

 

1. No other gods before God.

2. No worshipping images.

3. No misusing God’s name.

4. Remember to keep the Sabbath.

5. Honor your parents.

6. Do not murder.

7. Do not commit adultery.

8. Do not steal.

9. Do not give false testimony.

10. Do not covet what is not yours.

 

Remember the context in which God gives these commandments. The setting was Mount Sinai. There was thunder and lightning and a thick cloud over the mountain. There was the sound of a loud trumpet blast. There was tons of smoke, and the mountain itself shook violently. As the trumpet sound increased in volume, Moses spoke, and God answered him. And then God spoke these commandments. The people were terrified, and they begged Moses to make it so that no more would God speak in this way, but that God would only speak (more quietly) to Moses, and then they would listen to whatever Moses would pass on to them. And this is what happened. God began by telling Moses, tell the people that they have seen for themselves that God has spoken to them, and tell them not to make idols. But what did God tell Moses next?

 

“Make an altar of earth for Me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Wherever I cause My name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you. If you make an altar of stones for Me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it. And do not go up to My altar on steps, or your private parts may be exposed.” – Exodus 20:24-26

 

Huh. Maybe not what you would expect. We go from the Ten Commandments, which really feel like the most important laws there are, foundational and categorical rules to live by, to a passage that is quite detailed, and, frankly, not as easy to understand. I mean, I get it, don’t murder people. Don’t worship false gods, etc. But is it really so terrible to cut the stones a bit to make them fit better? Or carve some pictures on them to make them prettier? And what is the deal exactly about the no steps rule? God can certainly see us through our clothes. But part of following God is to follow Him even if you don’t fully understand the reasons for His commands. We need to trust in His directions when we don’t understand them, just as we need to trust in Him when we don’t understand what is going on in our lives, as was the case in Job’s situation.

 

God gave a variety of other commands to Moses, and then we read the following:

 

When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.” Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.” Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” – Exodus 24:3-8

 

You can be sure that the altar was made according to the specifications in Exodus 20. It used uncut stones and did not have steps. Moses then goes back up to be with the Lord on the mountain, for 40 days, to learn additional laws and regulations mostly focusing on the mobile house for God, the Tabernacle, but unfortunately, the people who have just pledged themselves to the Lord lose patience and break the laws they have already been given. They make an idol and worship it! We know that the people disobey God again and again, and ultimately God sentences them to 40 years in the desert, rather than being able to go immediately to the Promised Land. The older generation dies in the desert, and the younger generation grows up.

 

I want us to turn next to the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is written in the first person – it is Moses’ own words. The book appears to be a combination of several addresses Moses made to the people and additional historical events.

 

In Chapter 11, we are near the end of the 40 years, and it will soon be time to cross the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land. Moses reminds the people of all the powerful things they have seen God do until now and encourages them to remain faithful and obedient to the Lord.

 

We then have the following passage:

 

See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse—the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known. 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. As you know, these mountains are across the Jordan, westward, toward the setting sun, near the great trees of Moreh, in the territory of those Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal. You are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you have taken it over and are living there, be sure that you obey all the decrees and laws I am setting before you today. – Deuteronomy 11:26-32

 

Now, we will go deeper into this location later today. But let me say for now that these two mountains are very close together, and it is possible to do what is being suggested here, to proclaim the blessings of following the Law from one side and the curses for disobeying the Law from the other.

 

Note that this activity is very important to God – it is one of the first things God wants the Israelites to do. Why? It is what we call in teaching a reinforcement activity. It is a way to get the ideas to sink in more deeply. As we have already seen, the earlier generation couldn’t make it 40 days without throwing away everything that they had been commanded.

 

Now this passage isn’t the only passage where Moses describes this activity. He comes back to it later in Deuteronomy, in Chapter 27, and there he also gives description of an additional activity, which is described first.

 

Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: “Keep all these commands that I give you today. When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the Lord your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. Build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool on them. Build the altar of the Lord your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. Sacrifice fellowship offerings there, eating them and rejoicing in the presence of the Lord your God. And you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones you have set up.” – Deuteronomy 27:1-8

 

I want to highlight the fact that this is indeed an additional activity. It was not mentioned at all in the previous passage. The people are to get large stones, coat them with plaster, and on them, write the words of the Law. They are to set these stones up on Mount Ebal. And there, on this mountain, they are to build another altar. Once again, altar is to be made from stones, stones that have been uncut. Although not specifically mentioned, to obey previous commands, this altar would also have no stairs. And there on the altar they are to prepare offerings and eat them. One detail I love about this passage is that they are to rejoice. Why are they to rejoice? Because God is with them, and by extension, He is why they have made it at last to the Promised Land. The passage goes on:

 

On the same day Moses commanded the people: When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. And these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali. – Deuteronomy 27:11-13

 

Now, Deuteronomy 27:14-26 describes twelve initial curses that the Levites are to recite to all the people. This is interesting, because the Levites are on Mount Gerizim, the blessing side. After each curse, all the people are to say, “Amen!” Following this passage, Deuteronomy 28:1-14 gives a list of blessings for obedience, and Deuteronomy 28:15-68 presents a much longer list of curses for disobedience. We don’t have time to go through these verses, and much of it is depressing reading. Assuming that these were the actual passages read from the two mountains, it would have been quite sobering to hear the curses, which go on and on compared to the blessings. I do want to highlight the fact that at the beginning of each passage there is a kind of summary, and the two passages are very parallel in their structure.

 

Compare verses 1-2 and 15:

 

If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all His commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: – Deuteronomy 28:1-2

 

However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all His commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you: – Deuteronomy 28:15

 

Although the differences in the verb choices “accompany you” for blessings and “overtake you” for curses sound interesting, they aren’t actually there. The Hebrew verbs are identical in both passages, so the passages are even more parallel than they appear in this English translation.

 

Here are verses 3 and 16:

 

You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. – Deuteronomy 28:3

 

You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. – Deuteronomy 28:16

 

Here are verses 4 and 18:

 

The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. – Deuteronomy 28:4

 

The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. – Deuteronomy 28:18

 

(Note that we have jumped from verse 16 to verse 18. The verse order is a bit different.) Here are verses 5 and 17:

 

Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. – Deuteronomy 28:5

Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. – Deuteronomy 28:17

 

And verses 6 and 19:

 

You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. – Deuteronomy 28:6

You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. – Deuteronomy 28:19

 

It is very interesting to me that the word “blessed” and the word “cursed” each appear exactly 6 times in these verses. Recall that there are 6 tribes on each mountain. Perhaps each tribe says the word assigned to them once.

 

Let’s now jump ahead to the book of Joshua. The people at last did enter the Promised Land, and as the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant entered the Jordan River, the water dried up, reminiscent of the parting of the Red Sea forty years earlier, and the people crossed the river by going through dry ground. Soon after, the Lord delivered Jericho and the people of Ai into their hands. And now, with a measure of peace, Joshua had the opportunity to obey the command that Moses had given them about what they should do when they entered the Promised Land. From Joshua 8:

 

Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses—an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings. There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on stones a copy of the Law of Moses. All the Israelites, with their elders, officials and judges, were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Both the foreigners living among them and the native-born were there. – Joshua 8:30-33a

 

I want to point out that this was probably not something just erected over a few hours – it was probably a reasonably significant structure. Note that it had to be built somewhere where there was room for a huge amount of people to be there – using the census data in the Scriptures themselves, it is reasonable to estimate that there were about 2 million people who left Egypt, and also about 2 million people who entered the Promised Land 40 years later.  

 

And so this structure was built, and then when they had this sacrifice, it would have been a large sacrifice, a huge event. We would expect there to be a ton of animal bones left over after this event. Continuing with the passage:

 

Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel. 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 8:33b-35

 

Now, through most of history, people have assumed that the location for the reading of the blessings and the curses matches the location of the earlier part of the passage. But this does not actually make sense. The altar had to be one location, a location where everyone was together celebrating the Lord, as we read earlier. They were all on Mount Ebal. And then the people had to move, change positions, so that they could do the calling of blessings and curses from the two mountains. Six tribes were on Mount Ebal, and the other six were on Mount Gerizim. I would assume that there were no foreigners with them as they did this. Now it is possible that the location of the altar on Mount Ebal was also where the six tribes stood when they shouted out the curses, but there is no reason to think that this had to be the case.

 

Hopefully you now see where this is going. It is going to these two mountains. We know exactly where they are. There is a valley, and Mount Gerizim is south of this valley, and Mount Ebal is north of it. The valley itself is the location of Shechem, which could lead to another whole discussion. The entire location is about 30 miles or so north of Jerusalem. On a Bible map, you can see the path the Israelites must have taken, as you can see the Jordan River, and then Jericho, and then Ai, further into the interior of the Israel, and further north, you find Shechem and the two mountains. It is in the West Bank, and the Palestinian city of Nablis is at the location of Shechem.

 

One of the first interesting things about these two mountains is that it is immediately clear why Mount Gerizim was chosen as the place to represent the blessings of obeying God, whereas Mount Ebal was chosen as the place to represent the curses of disobeying Him. Mount Gerizim has natural springs and is, relatively speaking, lush compared with Mount Ebal, on which almost no trees grow. Recently, there has been some farming projects on Mount Ebal, but even that is difficult because the mountain is absolutely covered with rocks. 

 

In the 1980s, an Israeli archaeologist discovered a site on Mount Ebal that looked interesting. Access to this area is currently restricted by the Palestinian Authority. The location has been controversial, because it is several miles away from Shechem, and people who thought that the location had to be the same as that used for shouting the blessings and curses argued that it was too far away. Indeed, one of the reasons the site wasn’t discovered until so recently is that previous searches focused on the area very close to Shechem (literally within shouting range). But as I have explained, the Bible doesn’t say that these locations had to be identical. The Bible is briefly summarizing these events, and in only a few verses, little detail is given. Furthermore, the location that has been found makes a lot of sense if it needed to support the massive numbers of people that were there. Even the archaeologist who excavated the site was skeptical of the idea for several years while he was doing the work.

 

Now if you look at the more close-up image of the site, you notice two things: It is made of uncut, natural stones, and there is a ramp up to the center, instead of steps. Israelite altars are the only ones that use ramps instead of steps. Another interesting feature is that the ramp is on the west, so that the altar would have faced towards the east. The reason this is significant is that the Tabernacle of Moses in the desert had the same orientation, according to Exodus. And you also have this huge flat area behind the altar where huge crowds could congregate. And all of them, as they faced the altar, would also be facing east.

 

After this ceremony, the people could have gathered again in Shechem, and the men could have climbed the steep areas close to the village at the feet of Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, and they could have shouted the blessings and curses. They could be quite close to each other, and close to the people in Shechem. It is awesome to imagine the sound of hundreds of thousands of men shouting the words of God in this place. Recall that just a short time earlier, the Israelites had used sound (along with God’s mighty hand) to destroy the walls of Jericho. For a foreigner living there, who had already undoubtedly heard about both Jericho and the military rout at Ai, the experience must have been terrifying.

 

Now, let’s talk more about the site. They found the remains of an even older altar under the upper altar layer. The two structures were only about 200 years apart, so it appears that it was rebuilt sometime within the first couple hundred years of Israel’s conquest of the land. It gets even more interesting: They found large collections of bones in pits attached to the site. Bones of humans? No. That would be indicative of a site of Baal or Asherah worshippers. Did they find the bones of pigs or other non-kosher animals, animals that the Law forbids the Israelites to eat? No. They found the bones of sheep, goats, and deer, all of which are permissible for Israelites under the Law to eat. The fact that there were no non-permissible bones there makes it impossible that it was anything other than an Israelite location.

 

The site also had scarabs. What are these? Scarabs are Egyptian amulets. They were used as jewelry. Hmmm. What are these doing there? The only reasonable explanation is that these were Hebrews there who had a recent connection to Egypt!

 

The evidence does not stop here. Just in the last decade, new technology has been developed for exploring archaeological sites. One item used is a dirt sifter that carefully sifts discarded dirt from excavations looking for very small items such as bits of pottery. This technology was initially developed in Israel for looking at tombs on the hill where the Temple Mount is. This area was torn up by Palestinians between 1948 and 1967. The sifter has been used to discover important small artifacts in the rubble that was left behind. The developer of this technology was invited to the site on Mount Ebal and encouraged to try it. It had not been used before on a non-corrupted site.  Did they find anything? Yes – they found two things of interest.

 

First, they found small bits of ancient plaster! The plaster is being analyzed presently. But expectations are that this was what was described in the book of Joshua, Joshua himself writing the Law on stones. If we can find any evidence still of writing, we might actually have Joshua’s own writing! Remember that Moses instructed Joshua to do this, to coat the stones with plaster, and then to write the Law on them.

 

The second thing they found is the most amazing of all, and this goes back to the first verse we discussed today. They found a tiny tablet, only about 2 cm in length, with the earliest known form of Hebrew writing on it. Talk about a needle in a haystack! What was this tablet made of? Lead. Lead etched by metal. The tablet has been dated, and it is older than any previously found Hebrew writing, older by several centuries! The dating is consistent with the time that Joshua would have been at these two mountains. It was actually very difficult for scientists to decode the writing of the tablet because it consists of two sheets of lead smashed together. But the writing has been determined and translated.

 

Are you ready to hear what the tablet says? Here it is: Cursed, cursed, cursed—cursed by the God YHW. You will die cursed. Cursed you will surely die. Cursed by YHW—cursed, cursed, cursed.

 

Now, YHW is the most ancient rendition of the God of Israel. Later spellings added the Hebrew letter “Heh” at the end, giving YHWH, or Yahweh, or Jehovah, depending on how you want to pronounce it. Not only does this tablet add incredible evidence that this site really is the site of Joshua’s altar; it also destroys a long-held claim by Bible skeptics that there was no writing at the time of Moses, and so, the first five books of the Bible were written centuries later, and therefore, they would argue, mostly fiction. The translation of this folded lead tablet only came out this year, in 2022. 

 

Let me mention that there are also multiple letters, known as the Amarna tablets that describe various enemies of the Israelites at the time of Joshua requesting military aid from Egypt to help them defend against the Israelites who were winning all their battles. They include multiple Biblical details, such as the fact that Gath was spared.

 

Now, before we finish today, I have a question. Why was the altar on Mount Ebal, the mountain of cursing, instead of on Mount Gerizim, the mountain of blessing? The answer is that sacrifice is needed as a response to sin. In the Old Testament, the sacrifices of animals innocent of the sins of man were God’s foreshadowing of the once-for-all sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. He too was innocent of any sin, unlike every other person who has ever lived. All others “have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” 

 

For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” – Galatians 3:10

 

This means that we are under a curse, as we, like all people, are sinners. But a few verses later, Paul reminds us of the following:

 

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” – Galatians 3:13

 

This verse reminds me of the events that happened when Joshua defeated Ai:

 

So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place to this day. He impaled the body of the king of Ai on a pole and left it there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take the body from the pole and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day. – Joshua 8:28-29

 

A body hung on a pole and left until evening at which time it was taken down and buried. Does this sound familiar to you?

 

Of course, the ending is different, because the king of Ai was a sinner receiving the just punishment of God for his own sins. Jesus, also, was hung on a pole until evening, and He too was taken down and buried, in His case, behind a single large stone. But He did not remain there! Jesus rose from the dead, because He did not die for His own sins. He was innocent of any sin. He died for our sins. And He rose and now He intercedes for us before His Father.

 

In the end of the book of Joshua, Joshua, now an old man, is back at Shechem, between the two mountains. He is near the end of his life. And he asks the people, “Choose this day whom you will serve.” In the years since Joshua had led them into the land, the people had again turned to idols. As Joshua recounts the history of God’s faithfulness to the people, they promise to serve the Lord. But Joshua had heard this before. He says, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.” The people promise again, but we know how that went.

 

In our own strength, we too are not able to serve the Lord. We absolutely need to depend on the Lord not only for our salvation, but for our daily walk. May we choose this day to serve the Lord, and choose to serve Him tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that, day by day, as long as we live. But may we also rely on Him, lean on Him, every moment, and continually receive His grace, through faith.