GERIZIM

(cutters), a limestone mountain, 2855 feet high (800 feet above the valley at its foot), in Ephraim, near Shechem (Sychar), from which the blessings were read to the Israelites on entering Canaan. See: See Ebal, Mount According to the traditions of the Samaritans it was here that Abraham sacrificed Isaac, that Melchizedek met the patriarch, that Jacob built an altar, and at its base dug a well, the ruins of which are still seen. Some scholars think there is ground for the first belief (so Smith); but careful observers of the locality discredit it and believe Moriah to be the spot. See: See Moriah Gerizim was the site of the Samaritan temple, which was built there after the captivity, in rivalry with the temple at Jerusalem. See: See Samaritans Gerizim is still to the Samaritans what Jerusalem is to the Jews and Mecca to the Mohammedans.