644
GERIZIM
GERIZIM
rity, the reading 'Gergesenes' may have originated. But how then accoint for the, presumably, true reading which Origen found in tlie MSS ? There can be here no certainty, but the probability is tliat Origen was right, and that the true name of the vUlage or to%vn where the miracle occurred, ' over against Galilee,' was Gergesa. It is ex- tremely rare to find a soft changing into a harsh sound, such as Gerasa into Gergesa. But any one who has lived long in Palestine knows how common it is, among the uneducated natives, to find a hard sound like the second g in 'Gergesa' not only changing into a softer sound, but dropping out altogether. The pronunciation of ' Gergesa ' among the common people would almost certainly be 'Ger'sa' (Gerasa). Hence from the common speech it would find its way into the text. The modern name of the village which has been identi- fied as the scene of the miracle is Khersa or C/iersa, which is nearer to ' Gerasa ' than to ' Gergesa. '
The identification of the ruins of Khersa with the Gerasa of the Synoptists is due to Thomson, [LB ii. 355). The identification might have been made much earlier had not men's minds been set on selecting some place near Gadara. Had the eastern shore of the Lake been carefully scrutinized in the light of the three passages, Mt 8'-, Mk 5'^, Lk 8^, the identification of Khersa with the place described must have taken place. There is one spot only on the eastern shore which answers coni- pletely to the description of the Synoptists. On the eastern side 'over against Galilee' Jesus landed from the boat, and 'straightway there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.' The encounter, then, must have been close to the shore. Were tliat all we had to guide us, identification of the spot would be impossible, for there are caves, which may have been used as tombs, all along the mountain side. But it would appear from all three Synoptists that the place where the swine were destroyed ran down somewhat steeply to the water's edge. Now, as we have said, there is only one place on the eastern side where the mountain comes at all near to the beach, and just there the incline is such that one rushing down would be precipitated at once by the impetus into the water. Everywhere else along the coast [there is a broad belt — half a mile or more at most parts — between the foot of the hills and the Lake. This spot is at Khersa just below Wddy es-Semak. Sailing up the Lake from Wddy Fik, which is almost exactly opposite Tiberias, the next valley, about a mile north, is Wddy es-Semak. Close to the seashore directly below the Wady are the ruins of Kliersa, the walls of which can yet be distinctly traced. Directly below Khersa the hills approach close to the Lake, leaving only a narrow pebbly strand, and liere the slope of the mountain side is so steep and near to the water that a herd of animals would be likely in a headlong rush to be precipitated into the sea. In the mountains above, where in all probability the swine were feeding, there are numbers of caves and also rock-cut tombs where the demoniacs may have lived. See art. Demon.
LiTBRATORE.— Thomson, LB ii. ch. 10; Wilson, Recovery of Jerm. p. 368 f. ; Schumacher, Jaulan, 179 ; MacCTegor, The Rob Roy on the Jordan, p. 422 ff. ; artt. ' Gadara * ana ' Gerasenes ' in Hastings' DB and in Encyc. Bibtica. J. SOUTAH.
GERIZIH. — In relation to the life and teaching of Jesus, the interest of Mt. Gerizim lies in its being the mountain to which the woman of Samaria referred on the occasion when Jesus uttered His memorable words, ' Woman, believe me, the hour Cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father' (Jn 4-').
The establishment of Mt. Gerizim and its temple a-s the saored place of the .Samaritans in rivalry to Jerusalem, la bound up with
the growth of the jealousy and hatred between Jews and Samaritans, which had attained such masinitude in the days of Lord. The story ^iven by Josephus of the founding of the
'* ■■". 2-4) is that Maiiasseh,
Jerusalem, married the this marriage he was
high pr ■yphal Jei
iiple on Mt. Geriznn (Ant.
ither of Jaddua, hi daughter of Sanballat threatened with e thereupon appeaii
temple on Mt. Gerizim, and made h This story * seems to be derived from
account of
' Sanballat" „ . „ . „
the high priest was son-in-law to Sanballat, and was expelled for this 'mi.xed marriage.' More reliable, if less definite, pround is to be found in 2 K 1724-23, from which we learn that the king of Assyria sent back one of the priests whom he had carried away from the Northern Kingdom, to teach the heathen peoples whom he had settled there ' the manner of the God of the land.' Thus the worship of Jehovah was preserved in Samaria, and gradually asserted itself over the ' gocfe of their own ' which every nation made. In the days of Ezra, when the temple at Jerusalem was being rebuilt, the Samaritans, who are called ' the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin," desired to assist in the task, for they said, ' We seek your God as ye do." This request was refused (Ezr 4i-3), and thus the founding of a rival shrine became inevitable. See also art. Samaritans.