Gerizim

Gerizim

(gĕr`əzĭm, gērī`–), Arabic Jabal at Tur, mountain, 2,890 ft (881 m) high, in the Samaritan Hills, in the West BankWest Bank,
territory, formerly part of Palestine, after 1949 administered by Jordan, since 1967 largely occupied by Israel (2005 est. pop. 2,386,000), 2,165 sq mi (5,607 sq km), west of the Jordan River, incorporating the northwest quadrant of the Dead Sea.
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. NablusNablus
, Heb. Shechem, city (2003 est. pop. 127,000), the West Bank. It is the market center for a region where wheat and olives are grown and sheep and goats are grazed. Manufactures include soap made from olive oil and colorful shepherds' coats.
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, 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.