Gerizim

Gerizim (gĕrˈəzĭm, gērĪˈ–) [key], Arabic Jabal at Tur, mountain, 2,890 ft (881 m) high, in the Samaritan Hills, in the West Bank. Nablus, near the ancient Shechem, lies in the valley between Gerizim and Mt. Ebal. Gerizim is sacred to the Samaritans, whose tradition holds that Abraham's offer to sacrifice Isaac occurred there. The 300-year-old Samaritan temple at Gerizim, a replica of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, was destroyed by the Maccabean leader, John Hyrcanus, in the 2d cent. B.C. (Joshua 8.33; Judges 9.7; John 4.20,21). Excavated ruins lying below a Byzantine church on Gerizim are believed to be those of the replica, whose history is described in the writings of Flavius Josephus.

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