Recent Find of Joshua's Altar in Samaria on Mt Gerizim and Mt. Ebal

 Nadene Goldfoot                                             

Mt Gerizim and Mt. Ebal in Samaria

Mount Ebal is located in Samaria of Israel, near the middle of Samaria. It is one of a pair of twin peaks, the other being Mount Gerizim. Both mountains were designated by God for the reading of His blessings and curses Israel would incur for obeying or disobeying His law. Deuteronomy 11:26–29 records the Lord’s words to Israel: ”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. . . . 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.” The Bible identifies Mount Ebal as “near the great trees of Moreh, in the territory of those Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal” (verse 30).

The Mount Ebal site was discovered by Israeli archaeologist Adam Zertal during the Manasseh Hill Country Survey in 1980. Zertal.  (This find in itself was an absolute miracle).  

 who later excavated the site for eight seasons, suggested to identify it as Joshua's Altar as featured in the Book of Joshua of the Tanakh / Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). "Zertal was severely wounded in the Yom Kippur War. He later told a reporter for The Jerusalem Post, “I spent a year at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, and I became interested in archaeology. Although I had argued that the Bible was full of myths, I decided after my recovery to travel the land by foot to look for archeological evidence.”

Zertal was not trying to find the altar and prove its history.  He found it accidently just by staking out a section of land and removing the rocks, which displayed the altar, much to his surprise.  I'm quoting the youtube discussion.  

Zertal's work was not without controversy, and, in particular, his claims about Mount Ebal, where he worked for nine years, never gained traction within the wider archaeological community. Many archeologists agree that the structure was a site of an early Israelite cultic activity, however, its identification with Joshua's altar is disputed."    (The youtube presentation certainly makes it plain that it is Joshua's altar, as

they cite the Bible for reference about it having a ramp and not steps, etc. My 

advice is for Israeli archaeologist to give it another look at the presentation-a 

discussion between an archaeologist and his bible friend.  

Mount Ebal is one of the two mountains near the city of Shechem in Samaria and forms the northern side of the valley in which the city is situated. Shechem’s southern side is bordered by Mount Gerizim. The event at Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal or the event of blessing and cursing occurred near the entry of the people of Israel into the Land of Israel at the beginning of the settlement period, after the forty years of wandering in the desert. The commandment to hold the event appears in the book of Deuteronomy and the report on how it was carried out appears in the book of Joshua.

Jews had not been allowed into this area from 1948 to 1967's end of the Six Day War.  Only a few archaeologist were in this area.  

Shechem, now called Nablus by the Arabs, was an ancient Canaanite town, originally situated between Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal. The earliest walls were figured from 1913 to 1934 by German archaeologists to be from 2000 BCE.  Moses was born in 1391 BCE, died in1271 BCE at age 120. It was under Egyptian control from 12th dynasty.  Shechem was pillaged by Simeon and Levi (Gen.34) but had been camped under its walls by Joshua.   

Later, the capital of the Northern kingdom of Israel would break away from Israel in a civil war and Solomon's head man of the workers, Jeroboam (933-912BCE), would become king.  The capital would be Samaria (Shomron) founded in 880 BCE by King Omri on a hill bought from Shemer (I Kings 16:24) The site was 7 m. NW of Shechem on an isolated elevation dominating a wide countryside.  The city occupied 25 acres.  The northern tribes would be taken by the Assyrians in 721 BCE and never heard from again until today with the return happening all over the world.  They had wandered the most away from their directions of being faithful to their Mosaic laws.                                        

A small, folded 3,200-year-old lead tablet that was unveiled on Thursday may shed new light on Biblical study as we know it. The tablet, which was discovered on Mount Ebal in Samaria, known as the biblical “Curse Mountain,” includes the explicit name of God and the text of a curse, both in the ancient Hebrew script.

Christians are also taking the discovery of a tiny piece of lead with the ancient alphabet of Canaanites and others including Israelites who did write in this ancient form the word for G-d.  It was written with an iron pen, a common way of writing found in Turkey archaeological finds.  This was found by sifting, a newer technique, but took him several years to realize it, from this site.  This was on a you tube report this morning.

"A small, folded 3,200-year-old lead tablet that was unveiled on Thursday may shed new light on Biblical study as we know it. The tablet, which was discovered on Mount Ebal in Samaria, known as the biblical “Curse Mountain,” includes the explicit name of God and the text of a curse, both in the ancient Hebrew script."  

In advance of the Israelites' entry to the Promised Land, Deuteronomy 11:29 records Moses' direction that "when the Lord your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal".

The directions of building this altar is found in Deuteronomy 27 with Joshua AND the elders (leaders) of Israel giving the commandment to cross the Jordan and set up great stones and coat them with plaster and inscribe them with the commandments, on Mt. Ebal.  

Tablet with G-d's name, Biblical curse discovered on Curse Mt. Ebal in Samaria, 

This was an act of recommitment to G-d and the Torah (1st 5 books of Moses that he wrote during the 40 years).  The understanding is that this was to be done on 12 huge stones bearing the inscription of the entire Torah.  They were to bring; offerings and by gathering at 2 mountains to affirm their allegiance.  

From 27, verse 11-26, the directions continued.

Six of the 12 tribes were to stand on Mt. Gerizim and six on Mt. Ebal, with the Ark,  the Kohanim, and the elders of the Levites in the valley between the 2 mountains.  

The Levite elders were to turn to Mt. Gerizim and call out, " Blessed is the man who...." and everyone would answer, "Amen!" (Rashi's comment)

In chapter 28, we read that Moses, just before his death, gave the people a chilling prophecy of the horrors that would befall them if they spurned G-d and the Torah. He gives a blessing if loyalty to the commandments is followed and would give infinite spiritual bliss.  

“The new finding is a death blow to all Bible deniers,” said Professor Galil of the University of Haifa."Gershon Galil is Professor of Biblical Studies and Ancient History and former chair of the Department of Jewish History at the University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel. Gershon Galil earned his doctorate from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

"The archaeologists will submit their findings for peer review within the coming months, so at the moment many are waiting with bated breath before declaring it to be the significant archaeological discovery it is hoped to be."

Scott Stripling, Pieter van der Veen, and Prof. Galil claim to have found the earliest written example of God’s name, often expressed in English as “Yahweh”. The discovery could have huge implications on the accepted timeframe and veracity of biblical events, as well as providing evidence that the ancient Hebrews were literate much earlier than had been previously thought by many in the academic community.

Stripling announced, “We now have the name ‘Yahweh’, the biblical God of Israel, in an inscription dating from [Late Bronze Era II], which is earlier than many skeptics would argue that the Bible existed or that there was even the ability to write down a sacred text”.

1. Prof. Galil in Yedioth Ahronoth, March 25, 2022; Israel Hayom, March 25, 2022
2. The late Professor Adam Zertal who had conducted excavations on Mount Ebal in the 1980s wrote in his book A Nation Born:“My academic background made it difficult for me to accept the idea of Joshua’s altar being a tangible reality …. I had argued that the Bible was full of myths.” Yet he added, “If we have found material evidence of a story as early as Joshua’s, who knows how far back the archaeological record can take us.” It was Zertal’s wet sifting project which yielded the discovery of the curse tablet, seven years after his death.
   The Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology; Christian group

 

Resource:

YouTube, Christian presentation

https://www.gotquestions.org/mount-Ebal.html

https://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/tablet-with-gods-name-biblical-curse-discovered-on-curse-mount-ebal-in-samaria/2022/03/25/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Zertal

https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/the-curse-from-mount-ebal-that-became-an-archeological-blessing/