Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
Stony. (1.) A mountain 3,076 feet above the level of the sea, and 1,200 feet above the level of the valley, on the north side of which stood the city of Shechem (q.v.). On this mountain six of the tribes (Deut. 27:12, 13) were appointed to take their stand and respond according to a prescribed form to the imprecations uttered in the valley, where the law was read by the Levites (11:29; 29:4, 13). This mountain was also the site of the first great
altar erected to Jehovah (Deut. 27:5-8; Josh. 8:30-35). After this the name of Ebal does not again occur in Jewish history. (See GERIZIM.) (2.) A descendant of Eber (1 Chr. 1:22), called also Obal (Gen. 10:28). (3.) A descendant of Seir the Horite (Gen. 36:23).
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1863)
(stone, bare mountain).
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
E'BAL (stone). 1. A descendant of Seir the Horite. Gen 36:23; 1 Chr 1:40. A descendant of Eber, 1 Chr 1:22; called Obal in Gen 10:28,
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898) & Schaff's Bible Dictionary
E'BAL (stone, stony), one of the two mountains upon which Israel stood pronouncing blessings and cursings. Deut 11:29; Josh 8:30-35. Ebal and Gerizim are opposite each other, nearly meeting at their bases, but are a mile and a half apart at their summits. Mount Ebal, the northern peak, is rocky and bare; it rises 3070 feet above the sea and 1200 feet above the level of the valley, which forms a natural amphitheatre. From repeated experiments it
has been found that the voice can be heard distinctly from the top of one mountain to the other and in the valley between. In the valley lay ancient Shechem, now Nablus. The summit of Ebal is a plateau of some extent, reaching its greatest height toward the west, from which there is an extensive view of the country from Hermon on the north to the heights of Bethel on the south, and from the plain of the sea on the west to the Hauran plateau on
the east. Conder suggests that the site of Joshua's altar may be represented by the modern sacred place called Amad-ed-Dia, "monument of the faith," on the top of Ebal. See Gerizim and Shechem.
Hitchcock's Bible Names (1869)
ancient heaps