Thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim - literally, thou shalt give, i. e., “give” utterance to it. On the ceremony see Deuteronomy 27:14 ff.
Mount Gerizim, barren like Ebal, was probably selected as the hill of benediction because it was the southernmost of the two, the south being the region, according to Hebrew ideas, of light, and so of life and blessing. The situation of the mountains is described more accurately in Deuteronomy 11:30. The words “by the way where the sun goeth down,” should run, beyond the road of the west; i. e., on the further side of the main track which ran from Syria and Damascus to Jerusalem and Egypt through the center of Palestine. This is called “the way of the west” in contrast to the ether main route from Damascus to the south which passed through the district east of Jordan. The further specifications “Gilgal” and “the plains (rather, the oaks, compare Genesis 12:6 note) of Moreh,” are added to define more particularly the section of Canaanites intended.
This Gilgal is perhaps to be found in Jiljilia, a large village about twelve miles south of Gerizim.