Deuteronomy 11:29-30

A return to the Sg. form of address, with phrases peculiar to that form (see Deuteronomy 6:10; Deuteronomy 7:1). Whether it is original here, or dependent on Deuteronomy 27:12 f. (cp. Joshua 8:33 f.), is doubtful.

29. shall bring thee unto the land, etc.] Song of Solomon 7:1, q.v.

the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal The two most prominent hills on the Western Range, whether seen from the Mediterranean or from the E. of Jordan, on either side of what is not only the natural centre of Western Palestine, but the part most open to approach from E. Palestine. See the present writer's HGHL, ch. vi., and pp. 335 ff. Gerizim lies to the S., or, according to Semitic orientation, the right hand and lucky quarter of the heavens; -Ebal on the N., the left or sinister quarter. But the visitor to the locality will also be struck by the sympathy between our verse and the contrasted aspects of the two hills as they face each other: the N. face of Gerizim, the mount of blessing, is the more fertile; the opposite face of -Ebal, the mount of curse, much the more bare.

30. A geographical gloss similar to those in Deuteronomy 1:2, and in chs. 2, 3, and introduced by are they not, as Deuteronomy 3:11.

beyond Jordan True to the speaker's position on the E. of Jordan, so Deuteronomy 3:20; Deuteronomy 3:25. Contrast, as untrue to the speaker's position, Deuteronomy 3:8 (part of Moses'speech), Deuteronomy 1:1; Deuteronomy 1:5; Deuteronomy 4:46-47; Deuteronomy 4:49 (all titles), and Deuteronomy 4:41 (a historical fragment).

behind the way of the going down of the sun Of doubtful meaning. Behindis, of course, west of(according to the orientation alluded to above). But what is the way? It has been understood by most as the great road traversing WesternPalestine from N. to S., to the immediate west of which the two mountains lie (Dillm., who quotes Ritter, Erdkunde von Asien, xvi. 658 f. = Geog. of Pal. iv. 293 ff., Driver, Marti). Steuern. proposes, by the addition of one letter, to read west of it, i.e. the Jordan, and to translate the rest in the direction of the sunsetting; cp. the LXX ὀπίσω ὁδὸν (not ὁδοῦ) δυσμῶν ἡλίου -behind (it) towards the sunset." Such redundance is not uncharacteristic of the deuteronomic editors.

in the land of the Canaanites Not D's usual name for the inhabitants of the land; see on Deuteronomy 1:7.

which dwell in the Arabah See on Deuteronomy 1:1: the Jordan valley, not relevant to the position of -Ebal and Gerizim. The whole clause is very probably a still later addition, especially as the following clause connects naturally with that position. So, too, the Massoretic punctuation of the text implies.

over against Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh The Gilgal, i.e. stone-circle. There were several places of this name W. of Jordan and still marked by Arabic forms of it (see -Gilgal" in E. B.by the present writer): (1) One was the Gilgal near Jericho, and with this certain Rabbis, followed by Eusebius, Jerome, and a constant Christian tradition, have identified the Gilgal of our text. So, too, a number of modern commentators. Others, changing the punctuation, refer the words over against the Gilgalto the Canaanites which dwell in the -Arabah. (2) A second Gilgal lay on the Western Range above Bethel (2 Kings 2:1-8) and has been identified with the present Jiljilyeh seven miles N. of Bethel, which, though actually lower than Bethel, stands on a hill so bold and isolated that the phrase to go down thence to Bethel would not be inappropriate. This also has been identified with the Gilgal of our text, yet it is at a good distance from Gerizim and -Ebal, and stands in no definite relation to them. (3) Dillmann supposed some Gilgal near Shechem, and his hypothesis has been justified by the discovery of the name Juleijil (Ar. dimin. of Gilgal) on the plain one mile E. of the foot of Gerizim and 2½ miles SE. of Shechem. This suits the data of our passage (including the following oaksor terebinths of Moreh), and its claims have been defended in detail by Schlatter (Zur Topogr. u. Gesch. Palästinas, 246 ff.) and accepted by Buhl (Pal.202 ff.); cp. the present writer in Critical Review, Oct. 1895, 346 ff., and art. -Gilgal" in E.B.; and Driver, Deuteronomy 3 rd ed. (1901), p. xxi. In 1901 the present writer visited Juleijil, and a thorough examination of the site convinced him that it is the Gilgal of our text. A hill, some two hundred feet high, rises from the Makhneh plain just opposite the valley between Gerizim and -Ebal. The trace of a broad winding road leads to the summit, which is covered with ancient remains, including those of a large stone-circle composed of huge blocks. There is no more suitable site for a sanctuary in all W. Palestine. Cp. G. Hölscher, ZDPV, xxxiii. 102 f.

beside the oaks of Moreh Read, with Sam. and LXX, the oak. The oakor terebinth of Moreh, -the Revealer," takes us back to Abraham, who found it here by Shechem and built an altar, Genesis 12:6 (J), from which the above mention of the Canaanites (it is J's word for the inhabitants of the land) may have been derived by the annotating editor. On trees, as impressing especially the nomads of the treeless desert with their speaking and oracular powers, see on Deuteronomy 12:2 and the present writer's Early Poetry of Israel, 32 f.