In the account given of the reading of the Law, we find that the Israelites stood half "over againstâ Gerizim, half over against Ebal, and that an altar of whole stones was built "in Mount Ebal,â where also a copy of the law was written by Joshua (Josh. viii. 30, 33). Later on we find reference to a great stone under an oak by "the holy place of Jehovahâ (Josh. xxiv. 26), and the same place is probably intended by "the oak of the pillar that was in Shechemâ (Judges ix. 6); it is even conjectured that the "oak which was by Shechem,â where Jacob hid the strange gods (Gen. xxxv. 4), was the same place. The pillar of the oak must not be confused with the altar on Ebal, and we have next to discuss the question of the probable position of this sacred oak.
It has been pointed out by Canon Williams and other writers that a natural amphitheatre exists, between Ebal and Gerizim, in the sloping sides of two recesses opposite each other, formed by a tributary valley from each hill; there is space for the assembly of a vast multitude, and the voice of a speaker in the valley could probably have been heard by the entire congregation, though such a requirement is not necessarily involved in the description of the reading of the law. It is striking to find here at the foot of Gerizim a place called the "Pillar,â but it cannot represent the altar on Ebal, and if it be the great stone by the oak, where Joshua made a covenant with Israel, it has no direct connection with the reading of the law. The Mosque of the Pillar (el 'Amûd) is a little shrine similar to many in the country, with small whitewashed domes and a wall surrounding a little garden. The gate is on the north, and cool pitchers of water here await the thirsty pilgrim; within is a paved court shaded by an aged tree, shrubs and palms are visible through the doorway, and the small building stands in the midst with whitewashed walls and wooden door. The modern Samaritans seem to regard this as the true site of Joshua's stone by the oak (Josh. xxiv. 26).
It is not, however, at this mosque that the Samaritan chronicles and the early Christian pilgrims seem to agree in placing the site of the oak. Jerome and Eusebius speak of a place called Balanus or Balata, the Samaritan or Aramaic equivalent of Elon an "oak,â and the same place is noticed in the Samaritan chronicles under the Arabic titles of Balâta and Shejr el Kheir (the "tree of graceâ). The site is thus carried about half a mile east, to the village of Balâta (equivalent to Ballut, an "oakâ), close to Jacob's Well.