1. (Sept. rf/(i«)' [Vat. MS. omits], Vulg. Hebal.) A various reading for Ogal (q. v.), the son of Joktan (1 Chron. i, 22 ; comp. Gen. x, 28).
2. (TcnftnX V. r. Tn(/3/A [1 Alex. MS. rao/3//X], Vulg. Fbal.) The fourth son of Shobal, son of Seir, the Horite of Idumaja (Gen. xxxvi, 23 ; 1 Chron. i.
In closing this subject, we may properly notice the "^^J- I'-C. ante 1G94. obligations which are considered by Eastern people ! 3. (Sept. TaijViX, Josephus r/'/3rtXoc,Vulg. Ilebal.) to be contracted bj'. eating together. Niebuhr says, ' A mountain on the northern part of the tribe ofEphra- "When a Ik'douin sheik eats bread with strangers, im, on the north-eastern side of the valley in which they may trust liis fidelity and depend on his protec- was situated the city of Slicchem (now Nablous), in tioii. A traveller will always do well, therefore, to Samaria (q. v.). See Mills, Three Months at iXablus take an early opportunity of securing tlie friendslii]) (London, 1864).
of his guide liy a meal." The reader will recollect the 1. It was here that the Israelites were enjoined to complaint of the Psalmist (xli, 9), jienetrated with the ere^-t an altar, setting up plastered stones, and re- deep ingratitude of one AvliomJic describes, as having spond to the imprecations uttered in the valley, ac- been his own familiar friend, in whom he trusted — cording to the divinelj' prescribed formula, upon those
EBAL
17
EBAL
■who should prove faithless to the Sinaitic law (Deut. xi, 29 ; xxvii, 4, 13), while the responses to the bless- ings were to be uttered by the other division of the tribal representatives stationed upon the opposite mountain, Gerizini. Both the benediction and the anathema were pronounced by the Levites, who re- mained with the ark in the centre of the interval (compare Deut. xxvii, 11-26, with Josh, viii, 30-35, with Joseph. Aiif. iv, 8, 44, and -vuth the comments of the Talmud, Sota, 30, quoted in Herxheimer's Penta- teuch). But, notwithstanding the ban thus appar- ently laid on Ebal, it was furtlier appointed to be the site of the first great altar to be erected to Jehovah : an altar of large unhewn stones, plastered with lime, and inscribed with the words of the law (Deut. xxvii, 2-8). On this altar peace-offerings were to be offered, and round it a sacrificial feast was to take place, with otlier rejoicings (ver. 6, 7). Scholars disagree as to whether there were to be two erections — a, kind of cromlech and an altar ; or an altar only, with the law inscribed on its stones. The latter was the view of Joscphus (^Ant. iv, 8, 44; v, 1, 19), the former is un- hesitatingly adopted b}' the latest commentator (Keil, Comment, on Josh, viii, 32). The terms of Moses's in- junction seem to infer that no delay was to take place in carrj'ing out this sjnnbolical transaction. It was to be "on the day" that Jordan was crossed (xxvii, 2), before they "went in unto the land flowing with milk and honey" (ver. 3). Accordingly Joshua ap- pears to have seized the earliest practicable moment, after the pressing affairs of the siege of Jericho, the fcxecution of Achan, and the destruction of Ai had been dispatched, to carry out the command (Josh, viii, 30-35). After this Ebal appears no more in the sa- cred story. By a corruption of the above-cited texts, the Samaritans transferred the site of the appointed altar to the opposite mountain, which has hence at- tained the greater notorietj'. See Gerizim.
2. The question now arises, where were Ebal and Gerizini situated ? The all but unanimous reply to this is, that they are the mounts which form the sides of the fertile valley in which lies Nabliis, the ancient Shechem — Ebal on the north and Gerizim on the south.
(1.) It is plain from the passages alreadj' quoted that they were situated near together, with a valley between.
(2.) Gerizim was very near Shechem (Judg. ix, 7), and in Josephus's time their names appear to have been attached to the mounts, which were then, as now, Ebal on the north and Gerizim on the south. Since that the}' have been mentioned bj^ Benjamin of Tu- dela (Asher, i, 66) and Sir John ISIaundeville, and among modern travellers by Maundrell {Mod. Trav. p. 432).
The main impediment to our entire reception of this view rests in the terms of the first mention of the place by jNIoses in Deut. xi, 30: A.V. "Are they not on the other side Jordan, bj' the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the cliampaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of ^lorch?" Here the mention of Gilgal, which was in tlie valley of the Jordan near Jericho, of the valley itsu'lf (/I rrtWf, mistranslated here only, "champaign"), and of the Canaanites who dwelt there, and also the other terms of the injunction of Moses, as already noticed, seem to imply that El)al and Gerizim were in the immediate neighborhood of Jericho. This is strengthened l)y the narrative of Joshua, who appears to have carried out the prescribed ceremonial on the mounts while his camp was at Gilgal (comp. vii, 2 ; ix, 6), and before he had (at least before any account of his having) made his way so far into the interior of the country as Shechem.