Vincent's Word Studies in the NT

John 4:20

Our fathers. Probably meaning the ancestors of the Samaritans, as far back as the building of the temple on Mount Gerizim in the time of Nehemiah. This temple had been destroyed by John Hyrcanus, 129 B. C., but the place remained holy, and to this day the Samaritans yearly celebrate there the feast of the Passover. See the graphic description of Dean Stanley, who was present at the celebration (" Jewish Church, " vol. 1, Appendix 3).

This mountain. Gerizim, at the foot of which lies the well. Here, according to the Samaritan tradition, Abraham sacrificed Isaac, and met Melchisedek. By some convulsion of nature, the central range of mountains running north and south, was cleft open to its base at right angles to its own line of extension, and the deep fissure thus made is the vale of Nablus, as it appears to one coming up the plain of El Mukhna from Jerusalem. The valley is at least eighteen hundred feet above the level of the sea, and the mountains on either hand tower to an elevation of about one thousand feet more. Mount Ebal is on the north, Gerizim on the south, and the city between. Near the eastern end the vale is not more than sixty rods wide; and there, I suppose, the tribes assembled to hear the "blessings and cursings" read by the Levites (Deuteronomy 27:28). The panorama seen from the top of Gerizim is about the most extensive and imposing in all Palestine. The summit is a small level plateau. In the midst of the southern end is a sloping rock, said by the Samaritans to be the site of the altar of their temple, and on approaching which they remove their shoes. At the eastern edge of the plateau, a small cavity in the rock is shown as the place on which Abraham offered up Isaac. Ebal is three thousand and seventy - nine feet above the sea - level, and more than two hundred and thirty feet higher than Gerizim. 24 Ought to worship [δ ε ι]. Better, must worship. She puts it as a divine obligation. It is the only true holy place. Compare ver. 24.

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Vincent's Word Studies in the NT

John 4:20

Old Testament

New Testament