Texts in Conversation
Deuteronomy 27 instructs the people to erect stones and build an altar on Mount Ebal. The Samaritan Pentateuch replaces “Ebal” with “Gerizim,” harmonizing the command with the Samaritans' distinct temple location.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Deuteronomy 27:4
Hebrew Bible
2 When you cross the Jordan River to the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must erect great stones and cover them with plaster. 3 Then you must inscribe on them all the words of this law when you cross over, so that you may 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, said to you. 4 So when you cross the Jordan you must erect on Mount Ebal these stones about which I am commanding you today, and you must cover them with plaster. 5 Then you must build an altar there to the Lord your God, an altar of stones—do not use an iron tool on them. 6 You must build the altar of the Lord your God with whole stones and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Samaritan Deuteronomy 27:4
Samaritan Penteteuch
Samaritan
2 And on the day you cross the Jordan to the land which Shema your God gives you, you shall set up for yourselves large stones, and plaster them with plaster. 3 And you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you cross, so that you may go in to the land which Shema your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Shema, the God of your fathers, has promised you. 4 And when you have crossed the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, on [Mount] Ārgarizem, and you shall plaster them with plaster. 5 And there you shall build an altar to Shema your God, an altar of stones; you shall use no iron [tool] on them. 6 You shall build the altar to Shema your God of uncut stones, and you shall offer burned offerings on it to Shema your God.
Date: 130–120 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Magnar Kartveit ('The Origin of the Samaritans') is of the opinion that the cult site on Gerizim provides the distinguishing mark for the origin of the Samaritan community: “The moment of birth of the Samaritans was the construction of the temple on Mount Gerizim.” He goes on to say, “A Samaritan identity must have developed long enough before the early second century B.C.E. to have spread into the diaspora.” Therefore, “we may confidently assume that the temple was erected in the Persian age”. The manner by which Kartveit identifies the beginning of the Samaritan community with the construction of a cult site on Gerizim only may not be sufficient. While it is certainly true that Samaritans worshiped at Gerizim, particularly in and following the Hellenistic age, all who worshiped at Gerizim may not have been Samaritan, particularly earlier than the Hellenistic age. If, as now appears probable, Deuteronomy 27:4 originally read “Gerizim” instead of “Ebal” in the pre-Samaritan texts, Gerizim is likely to have been visited by more than the Samaritan religious faithful ..."
Robert T. Anderson and Terry Giles, The Samaritan Pentateuch: An Introduction to Its Origin, History, and Significance for Biblical Studies (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2012), 16.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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