Tabbur-erez
Tabbur-erez is a mountain mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Samaria in modern-day Israel. Known today as Mount Gerizim. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Tabbur-erez, meaning "navel of the earth" in Hebrew, is an ancient designation for what is almost certainly Mount Gerizim, the prominent summit overlooking Shechem in the hill country of Samaria. The phrase appears in Judges 9:37, where Gaal son of Ebed observes Abimelech's forces descending from this direction during the ill-fated revolt against Abimelech's tyranny. Mount Gerizim itself carries enormous significance in Old Testament theology: it was upon its slopes that Joshua commanded the Israelites to pronounce blessings upon entering Canaan (Deuteronomy 11:29; 27:12), enacting a liturgical counterpoint to Mount Ebal's curses. The mountain's association with blessing made it the natural cultic center for the Samaritan community, who constructed their own temple atop its summit in opposition to the Jerusalem sanctuary. This rivalry between Gerizim and Jerusalem forms the backdrop for Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman in John 4, where he transcended the old geographical debate by declaring that true worshippers would worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Modern excavations on Mount Gerizim, conducted extensively by Israeli archaeologist Yitzhak Magen from the 1980s onward, have uncovered substantial remains of the Samaritan temple complex, likely constructed in the fifth or fourth century BC. The site preserves thousands of dedicatory inscriptions in Aramaic and Hebrew, offering rare epigraphic evidence of Samaritan religious practice. A sacred precinct with a large altar platform and surrounding administrative buildings attests to an active cult center. The mountain continues to be the spiritual home of the small Samaritan community, who still celebrate Passover with animal sacrifice on its slopes today.
Verse Appearances (1)
Judg
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]