But i am going to head out to um nablus, uh ancient shechem and i’m gon na try to get to the altar site that was excavated um up on mount ebal, i’m going to uh enter nablus into area a which means that it’s under the military, the Palestinian military and police – i want to get up there before i get kicked out of here: okay, just a truck so the altar – i don’t know if you can see it, but it’s up to my left here. This is mount ebal in the bible. Joshua 8 30 says then joshua built on mount ebal an altar to the lord. In the 1980s israeli archaeologist, adam zertal discovered and excavated a stone altar on mount ebal and identified it as joshua’s altar. Mount ebal is located north of the dead sea and about 30 miles north of jerusalem in the west bank of israel.
[ Music, ] south of mount ebal is mount gerizim and between them the biblical city of shechem. This is what the region looks like today. The ruins of shechem are in the palestinian city of nablus, between mount gerizim to the south and mount ebal to the north. Just to the north of shechem. Mount ebal rises to 3805 feet above sea level and located on the eastern side of the mountain.A considerable distance to the north of shechem is the stone altar zertol excavated this altar was discovered by adam zertal from the university of haifa. He was doing a survey in this area and in 1980 he found this this structure and from 1982 to 1984, he excavated it and ended up interpreting it as not only an altar, but the altar that is talked about in deuteronomy and joshua, that joshua built and The israelites here on mount ebal now zertol’s interpretation was met by a bunch of skepticism. So recently a curse tablet was discovered that comes from zirtol’s excavation site, and so this has brought the debate back to the surface, and so the arguments are swirling around again. There’S many arguments that are posed against this altar being joshua’s altar, but one of the main ones is its location. What i want to do for this video is focus on the location of this altar.
Is there anything in the bible that would contradict its location or disqualify zertal’s interpretation that this is joshua’s altar, or is there good reasons for why the israelites may have chosen this as the site and location for the altar? Now the wrong location argument is that the altar that zertol found is not located close to the important biblical city of shechem. It doesn’t overlook. Shechem, it’s located a couple miles further to the north on a slope of mount ebal, and indeed it’s true that when you are at zertol’s excavation area where the altar is, you can’t see the uh, the ruins of shechem, because it’s located a couple miles further south. So therefore, it’s pretty simple, the bible says that joshua built an altar on mount ebal and dr zirtal discovered and excavated a stone altar on mount ebal.
There is nothing in the bible that is more specific. It’S very general there’s nothing that specifies where the altar was built on the mountain. So there’s nothing in the bible that contradicts or disqualifies zertol’s interpretation that the altar that he discovered and excavated is the altar of joshua. Really, when you’re thinking of an orientation of worship towards shechem, there really isn’t an ideal place on mount ebal. For this to happen, even if you’re on the summit of the mountain, the highest place, you still can’t from there see the ruins of shechem, because the slopes of mount ebal towards the south are very gradual until they finally drop off towards the city.
So really the only place that you’re overlooking shechem is on these steep slopes, and this would not be ideal to gather a large multitude of israelite worshipers. Somebody chose this location for an altar. Why did they choose this location? Well, obviously, it is oriented towards the east. We know this because zirtol’s team uncovered the ramp on the western side of the altar.
If a priest is ascending the altar on the ramp and offering sacrifices, then he is facing the east. So, there’s nothing in the bible that mandates that the orientation of the altar on mount ebal should be towards shechem. There is information in the bible that gives the sacred direction as being east. It says in exodus, 27, 13, that the courtyard is to be on the east end toward the sunrise and, of course the altar is in the courtyard. So the altar is on the east side of the temple.
So it makes biblical sense that the altar on mount ebal would be on the east side of the mountain oriented in the direction of east, where the sun rises and when you’re thinking of an eastern orientation. Then the location of the altar that zertol found is ideal, and this is because there is a natural shell for bench and the altar itself is on the eastern side of that. So you have this flat area and then you have the western slopes of the mountain. If you’re looking at it, it’s like a theater where a multitude of israelite worshipers could gather and all of them would be facing the sacrificial altar, as well as the direction of east. So after the ceremony on mount ebal, the israelites go down to shechem and renew the covenant, and we’re told about this in deuteronomy 27 11, which gives the instructions that six tribes shall stand on mount gerizim to bless.
The people and the other six tribes shall stand on mount ebal to pronounce curses mount. Ebal is the mountain of curses. That’S why joshua didn’t build the altar on mount gerizim. You don’t need an altar of sacrifice on the mount of blessings. You need it on the mountain of curses.
Joshua 8 30 says that joshua built the altar on top of mount ebal and then a few verses. Later in verse, 32, it says joshua wrote on stones a copy of the law of moses. There was a copy of the law at the altar on the mount of curses. Can you imagine that when the plaster was still intact, the law of the lord was at this place, so this foreshadowing event helps us understand our own reality in galatians, 3. 10.
It says for all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse as it is written cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law. We are on the mount of curses. We don’t need an altar of sacrifice somewhere else. We need it where we are, and this is why a few verses later in verse, 13, it says christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written cursed. Is everyone who is hung on a pole?
Jesus came down out of heaven the place of blessing to the earth, which is the place of cursing to offer himself as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins, so that we would not receive the curses that we do deserve. But instead we would receive the blessings that we don’t deserve, so there’s nothing in the bible that contradicts the location of the altar that zertol found as being the altar of joshua there’s nothing that would disqualify this interpretation and, in fact, there’s good reason for why the Israelites may have chosen this location for the altar because they were orienting their worship towards the sacred biblical direction of east towards the sunrise. So there’s many other issues that also have to do with this altar that i hope to cover in future videos. So i encourage you to subscribe and hit the notification bell. Also, if you enjoyed this video, please hit the like button.
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