John Gill Commentary Deuteronomy 27:4

"And it shall be, when ye are passed over the Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaster them with plaster." — Deuteronomy 27:4 (ASV)

And therefore it shall be, when you have gone over Jordan
Some time after they had passed that river:

[that] you shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in
Mount Ebal ;
a mountain near Shechem in Samaria, and was, as Benjamin of Tudela says ^F18 , dry as stones and rocks itself, and perhaps had its name, as some think ^F19 , from the root in the Arabic language which signifies to strip a tree of its leaves, and a derivative from it, white stones and a mountain in which such are found.

Hither the stones commanded to be set up were to be brought, and fixed here; from where it is not certain; it may be from some part of the mountain. Here the Samaritan version has Gerizim instead of Ebal, which is generally thought to be a wilful corruption of the Samaritans, in favour of their temple built at Gerizim:

and you shall plaster them with plaster ;
as before directed, (Deuteronomy 27:2) .

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FOOTNOTES:

• F18: Itinerar. p. 40.
• F19: Reland. Dissert. 3. de Monte Gerizim, p. 128. See Castel. Lexic. Heptaglott col 2642.