1. Joshua 8:33 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What is the significance of the two mountains (Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim)?

Joshua 8:33 (ESV)

33 And all Israel, sojourner as well as native born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded at the first, to bless the people of Israel.

The two paths of the covenant—life and blessing versus death and curse—are represented by two mountains: Gerizim (life) and Ebal (death) (Deuteronomy 27:1 – 30:20; Deuteronomy 11:29). As with the promises and threats of Leviticus 26:1–46, these paths call the people of Israel to love the Lord and to walk in his ways. Drawing nearer to the Lord would lead to abundant life, whereas departing from his path would lead ever more deeply into death.1