4.2.2. The Location of Gerizim and Ebal

Another difference between the Valediction of Moses and Deuteronomy relates to the location of Gerizim and Ebal within Canaan. In V, this pair of hills is nowhere near Nablus:

Deut 11:30

G 3:8–9

Deuteronomy (MT)

הֲלאֹ הֵמּ͏ָה בְּ͏עֵבֶר הַיּ͏ַרְדֵּ͏ן אַחֲרֵי דֶּ͏רֶךְ

מְבֹוא הַשּׁ͏ֶמֶשׁ͏ בְּ͏אֶרֶץ הַכְּ͏נַעֲנִי הַיֹּ͏שׁ͏ֵב

בּ͏ָעֲרָבָה מוּ͏ל הַגִּ͏לְגּ͏ָל אֵצֶל אֵלֹונֵי

מֹרֶה

Valediction of Moses (Vb)

הלא המה בעבר ה[ירד]ן דרך

מבא השמש בארץ הכנעני בע[רבה

· נג]ד הגלגל אצל אלני מרא

The differences between the Valedictoric and Deuteronomic versions are extremely subtle, but they make a world of difference. According to V, Gerizim and Ebal are located “across the [Jord]an westward, in the land of the Canaanites, in the A[rabah, oppo]site the stone circle, beside the oaks of Moré.” In other words, near the familiar gilgal in the Jordan Valley. Deuteronomy, for its part, places Gerizim and Ebal not דֶּ͏רֶךְ מְבֹוא הַשּׁ͏ֶמֶשׁ͏ “westward,” but somehow אַחֲרֵי “beyond” there. Difficult syntax notwithstanding, “beyond” serves to move their location away from the Jordan Valley region. Also, it is the Canaanites who reside in the Arabah – a seeming non sequitur – rather than the hills themselves, again transporting Gerizim and Ebal out of the Arabah. Remarkably, the tradition that Gerizim and Ebal are located in the Arabah, and not near Nablus, is attested in antiquity. In the early fourth century CE, Eusebius of Caesarea wrote the following:

It is said that there are two mountains located near Jericho across from each other in close proximity, one being Gerizim and the other Ebal. But the Samaritans show others that are near Neapolis. They are mistaken, because those that are shown stand too far apart from each other, to the extent that it is not possible to hear from one (mountain) the calling from the other (Onomasticon §307).

It is quite extraordinary that V’s placement of Gerizim and Ebal in the Arabah, which seems so idiosyncratic at first glance, is supported by Eusebius’s early testimony. But what about the biblical evidence? It does not seem likely that the Gerizim–Ebal episode in Joshua 8 occurs anywhere near the Jordan Valley’s gilgal, or else we would have expected the episode to appear earlier in the story, considering that the Israelites had previously camped at that very location (Josh 4:19). As it happens, this is precisely what we find in an intriguing Qumran manuscript of Joshua. Although this manuscript, 4QJosha, is fragmentary, it is nevertheless clear that the fulfillment of the Gerizim/Ebal commandment occurs several chapters earlier in this version than it does in the MT and LXX traditions. As Stefan Schorch writes: “4QJosha most likely originally presented the altar account between the verses 5:1 and 5:2 (according to the numbering of MT) and therefore localized the erection of the altar at Gilgal in the Jordan Valley.” Thus, in this ancient manuscript, the intertext between V and Joshua’s Gerizim–Ebal pericope includes an additional feature. While the Masoretic and Greek versions agree with V– against Deuteronomy – on the placement of the Levites, the version of Joshua in 4QJosha also shares V’s unorthodox ideas regarding the location of Gerizim and Ebal themselves.