Ebal

Ebal is, first and most prominently, a mountain in Ephraim paired with Gerizim and assigned the role of curse in the covenant ceremony Moses commands and Joshua executes. The name also belongs to two minor figures in the genealogies: a son of Joktan and a Horite chief among the sons of Shobal.

The Mountain of the Curse

Moses fixes the geography of the covenant before Israel crosses the Jordan. As Yahweh brings the people into the land, "you will set the blessing on mount Gerizim, and the curse on mount Ebal" (Deut 11:29). The two summits stand opposite one another, and Israel's tribes are deployed across them in a single antiphonal scene. On Gerizim stand Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin (Deut 27:12). "And these will stand on mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali" (Deut 27:13). Ebal, then, is not a place picked at random; it is liturgically assigned to receive the law's negative sanction.

Moses also commands a stone monument on Ebal: "you⁺ will set up these stones, which I command you⁺ this day, in mount Ebal, and you will plaster them with plaster" (Deut 27:4). The mountain that bears the curse is also where the law itself is to be visibly inscribed.

Joshua's Altar and the Covenant Renewal

Joshua carries out the Mosaic instruction at the same site. "Then Joshua built an altar to Yahweh, the God of Israel, in mount Ebal" (Josh 8:30). The altar follows the Sinai pattern: "an altar of uncut stones, on which no man had lifted up any iron: and they offered on it burnt-offerings to Yahweh, and sacrificed peace-offerings" (Josh 8:31). The whole assembly is then arranged for the covenant reading: "all Israel, and their elders and officers, and their judges, stood on this side of the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites... half of them in front of mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of mount Ebal; as Moses the slave of Yahweh had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel" (Josh 8:33). The site that hosts the curse also hosts the altar and the burnt-offering — the two are not held apart.

Gerizim Across the Canon

Ebal's partner mountain reappears later in Israel's history without its twin. Jotham mounts Gerizim to deliver his fable against Abimelech and the Shechemites: "he went and stood on the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said to them, Listen to me, you⁺ men of Shechem" (Judg 9:7). The pairing with Ebal is not invoked here; Gerizim alone serves as the platform for prophetic speech. Ebal itself does not recur as a named locale after Joshua 8.

Ebal in the Genealogies

The same name attaches to two figures outside the geography. The first is a son of Joktan, listed in the Chronicler's table of nations: "and Ebal, and Abimael, and Sheba" (1 Chr 1:22). The second is a Horite, one of the sons of Shobal in Esau's territory: "And these are the sons of Shobal: Alvan and Manahath and Ebal, Shepho and Onam" (Gen 36:23). The Chronicler preserves the parallel list with a few spelling shifts: "The sons of Shobal: Alian, and Manahath, and Ebal, Shephi, and Onam" (1 Chr 1:40). Both men are known only as names in clan registers; nothing of their lives survives.