Ebal in the Bible — Hidden Meaning & Symbolism

stripped of all covering; bare; naked; barren; stone. a Son of Shobal and grandson of Seir the Horite (Gen. 36:23). b A mountain in Samaria on the opposite side of a valley from Mount Gerizim. When the Israelites entered the Promised Land, half of the tribes stood on Mount Ebal and pronounced the curses that would come upon the Israelites if they disobeyed the law of God; the other half stood on Mount Gerizim and declared the blessings that would follow obedience (Deut. 11:29; 27:13). Meta. The activity of the law, in an adverse way, in those who think and act out of harmony with divine principle. It is that in us which takes cognizance of the working out of error that results from ignorance and disobedience. This phase of the activity of the law always seems hard (stone) to the sense consciousness upon which it falls, and it surely makes bare, exposes the nothingness of, all that does not measure up to the spiritual.